Research and Planning: "That Kiss" The Courteeners

“That Kiss” The Courteeners

Today we worked on “That Kiss” by the Courteeners, who are an Indie group that come from Manchester. The challenge was to use the lyrics and the song to create a concept and storyboard for a music video for the song. In my team we decided to place the bad in a London tube station, as even though they are a band we believed that the symbolism of travel and journeys is very similar to the idea that a relationship is very much a journey, and the song to us was about that particular journey coming to an end.

The camera would be at a point of view shot, as it watches the tube come to the stop the doors open, and then a close up shows the guitar begin to play. There is then an extreme close up of the lead singer as the song begins.

The scene then moves to a dank bar, where there are three key people, the boyfriend, the girlfriend and the man that the girlfriend is cheating on him with. The shot then moves to a long shot of the lead singer following the boyfriend down a dark street. The scene then moves back to the tube station with a montage of close ups, mid shots and long shots of the band and the lead singer.

It then returns to watching the boyfriend walking down the street, and then a series of reaction shots are focused on him as he sees his girlfriend once again in the street with the man she is having the affair with. Once again it moves to the montage of the bad playing on the platform. You then see the boyfriend and girlfriend in the flat arguing with each other and the argument moves through the flat until they eventually come to sit on either end of the sofa. The song ends and the camera still at a point of view angle moves back on to the tube the doors close and the band are left on the platform as the tube moves away.

The Lyrics

The way that you looked at him, and then you looked at me.
You must think that I’m proper blind,
Proper blind not to see.

That I was just a stop gap sitting somewhere in-between his hand and his lap
Let me tell you that I wasn’t born yesterday, my dear.

That kiss that lasted too long, we probably shouldn’t have danced to that song
It was nothing, it was everything, it’s really such a shame it’s so hard to explain to you

He’s back in town tonight, he’s expecting you round a quarter to nine
but you won’t be there, cuz he prefers the proverbial of you.

If he only knew what you thought, the lust, the lack of trust, the temptation you thought
He’s worthless as maxims and flouts
He’s just a passing fashion and he’s on his way out

That kiss that lasted too long, we probably shouldn’t have danced to that song
It was nothing, it was everything, it’s really such a shame it’s so hard to explain to you.

I know that I shouldn’t but I enjoyed it
I know that I shouldn’t but I enjoyed it
I know that I shouldn’t but I enjoyed it

I know that I shouldn’t but I enjoyed it
I know that I shouldn’t but I enjoyed it
I know that I shouldn’t but I enjoyed it

That kiss that lasted too long, we probably shouldn’t have danced to that song
It was nothing, it was absolutely everything, it’s really such a shame it’s so hard to explain to you.

The video

The real music video for this song is far different to the idea that my team and I came up with, however it portrays and man (the lead singer) at a house, most likely set in Manchester, where he was at the party, the music is in time with the changing lights within the party. The story is of the lead singer constantly making eye contact with a girl throughout the part despite the fact that she is there with another man. It moves from the house to him walking through the streets.

At the start of the video you see him place a small piece of paper in his pocket, it is then later revealed that this is what was given to him by her and it has her lip print on it.

The video portrays the story of the lead singer, wanting a fling with a girl who’s in a relationship and misses his chance and perhaps to an extent he regrets this and all his left to remember her by is that one piece of paper.