Shine Seoul City Lights~ A BTS Encounter

MV

I woke up the day of the music video filming and rubbed my eyes tiredly. I'd gotten bags under them, but did my best to get more sleep. I was to meet the stylists at 8am after taking a shower and dressing in the first outfit, which they'd given to me the day before. I had made the recording yesterday at ten after practicing the choreography for my other songs. I imagined Bangtan, tired to the point of dropping but recording their popular songs anyway. The thought almost made me smile; a Taehyung oppa with half-open eyes and messy hair singing beautifully into the special mike.

The music video would be very simple and low-budget. I was going to be filming in four different places; in a dark concrete room with nothing in it, on a rooftop, in the dance studio, and in a nearby high school, which was closed for the summer. The first outfit was simple; a pair of black shorts and a loose black T-shirt with some sort of vintage pattern in the front. I was going to wear a cotton red-and-black checkered jacket, and pair of old-looking red sneakers.

The music video would be about a trainee that worked day and night to the point of extreme exhaustion and depression. The trainee had to study for hours, and go to school to keep up grades, but once school and studying was out of the way, they came to the dance studio and danced for hours, and into the early daylight.

I met up with my stylists, who messed with my hair and makeup, which was very natural looking today. They took me up to the dance studio, where I was going to dance to EX'd. They put in special lights and there were cameras everywhere. I had to be angled in a special way so that the camera wouldn't be seen in the mirrors. I danced four times, with the cameras moving and changing places each times. I was just glad that I didn't have to keep track of all that. Then they filmed me outside the door, opening it, and stepping through. They filmed me taking my sweater off and tossing it to the side.

My stylists wet my skin a bit with some sponges, causing my baby hairs to clump together. My arms were slick and wet. The director person had me pretend to slump and stumble against the mirror as if I'd worked myself so hard that I couldn't get up. I had to refilm it multiple times to satisfy him. The clip was me finishing my dance and then stumbling to the side until I slammed into the mirror and stared at myself for a second before turning and sinking to the floor, leaving a trail of sweat across the pristine glass. It was pretty good acting, if you ask me.

I was next taken to the rooftop, where they recorded me dancing again. It was strange dancing without a mirror in front of me, but my hours of practice had paid off. I did it twice and then began to lip-sing to the song. They sped it up a bit and then pointed some special fan at me to make my hair flow back a bit. I had to lip-sing to the faster lyrics, which was a serious pain when I reached the rap part.

We filmed at the school next. It was where I could really act. There was a group of about ten kids there, all dressed in school uniforms that matched with mine. Did girls seriously have to wear these types of skirts to school? It would be dress-code for me back at home. I pretended to study, which wasn't hard, since it was all I did with my free time recently. I had to open my locker in the hallway and flinch as papers flowed out, each reading offensive messages that were supposed to lower the self-esteem of my character. I had to pretend to curl up in an empty classroom and cry, which I couldn't actually do, so they had me turn my face away and move the camera around my hunched form. Lastly was the concrete room, where I basically just sat in a corner and stared at the wall the whole time. Then I started to punch and kick the walls. It was actually really fun to act. But, like everything else, it was repetitive.

I was told that the final form of the music video would be revealed three days from today. A teaser would be posted on BangtanTV, which was the YouTube account for Bangtan. After filming, I thanked everyone and then went back to the studio to... guess what? Practice and study. I needed everything to be perfect for the concert; I couldn't afford to let anyone down. Twelve hour practice sessions would be starting in six days, but I was already spending a similar amount of time in the dance practice room, whether it was by myself, with a choreographer, or with Jimin oppa. Jimin oppa was also checking up on my I Need U and Spring Day choreography.