2nd Day of Filming - 27th October 2011

Today was my second and last day of filming. The location was mainly within a bedroom, this is where I filmed my actress miming the whole song and expressing deep and depressing emotions. The only issue I had was directing my actress to act a certain way, we were held back by the amount of laughing that occurred while filming. This was soon resolved after a few shots. Throughout the process, the confidence of the actress grew and we moved onto another location, which was in the forest. It was here that we filmed the opening and closing of the music video. All in all, the actress and I worked together to come up with more ideas, which were actually better than I originally planned. I feel like, with all the filming done, I have done everything I possibly can and although I had to resort to another actress, it may bring a new aspect upon the video. This could be a bonus. I will soon start editing and putting my shots together.

1st Day of Filming - 22nd October 2011

Today was my first video shoot for the A2 production, however, I had to resort to a new actress, due to the fact that the previous character had an accident. Although, she is recovering, she is not well enough to cast in my music video. My current actress is Danielle Alcaide, who suits the look that I am aiming for, her modern approach to style depicts the young audience that I am targeting.

The weather was just right for the section I was filming in; sunny yet slightly cloudy. Most of my filming was centered around iconography within Central London, such as The London Eye, Big Ben, Waterloo Bridge and Nelson's Colossium. These will be used as establishing and master shots to indicate the urban vibe that I am portraying. I also filmed Danielle within the areas of the iconography, pondering upon her thoughts of desperate love. I came up with an idea using a silver charm bracelet as a metaphor for the protagonist; this is a bracelet her boyfriend gave her. The constant use of the bracelet being tightly held onto, will indicate how tightly she is holding onto this relationship. My overall problem was the shakiness of the video camera when I was attempting panning shots, on the contrary, I tightened the knobs on the tripod and re-filmed the shots. I also took the opportunity to take some shots with my still camera, for my digipack. I am hoping to continue my filming and picture taking on Thursday. Overall, my first filming session was a success.

Filming Schedule

IN THE FOREST: 27th Ocotber 2011
-Opening and closing of the music video.
-Barnet or Hyde Park?
-360 degree panning shot.
-Actor needs a change of clothes.
-Props needed: boyish clothes, envelope.

CENTRAL LONDON: 22nd October 2011
-Main body of the music video.
-Southbank, Leicester Square (Trocodero).
-Need just one set of clothes.
-Props needed: coffee cup, money.

BEDROOM: 27th October 2011
-Main body of the music video.
-Need a set of home clothes or pyjamas.
-Props needed: teddy bear, ice cream, hair ties.

Lyrics and Visuals

Storyboard

Montage of Ideas

My actress has a bold yet simple look. With her bright hair and piercing eyes, she will be more of a focus to the target audience (16-24 year old females). Her body language and simple look will define the vulnerability she is faced with, the wide range of cinematography will help set this concept in place.

Within this mood board, there are pictures that are centered around the theme of London. The coffee represents a calming and relaxing atmosphere which will contrast with the anxiety that the protagonist is portraying. I am hoping to have a particular shot whereby the actress is drinking coffee on her own while gazing out into the distance. The editing will be fairly slow-paced to suit the beat of the song.

I am planning to involve a montage of shots that will link in with the lyrics and the emotion shown. Such as hearts, couples holding hands and hopefully a sunset if the schedule goes to plan, these are all metaphors of what the protagonist is wanting in the near future. Basically, a pipe dream. I am also going to film shots of the surroundings that the music video is set in, so the audience can get the urban vibe that I am giving across. Shots of iconography such as Big Ben and Tower Bridge will be used, shots of compact crowds and street art - this in particular, is being used to show how the actress blends into the crowd as does her story, her situation is just one of the many city life situations. This idea was inspired by the closing scene of the 'Bicycle Thieves', in which I am studying in film studies.

Within the mood board, there is a picture of a simple, girly bedroom. This will be a cliche that I am going to use, of the actress miming the song whilst looking out the window, and frantically walking around the room. A good example of this is from the music video 'Little Too Late' by JoJo.

I am slightly breaking the conventions of the R&B genre, because within my music video the narrative is not the main theme, the performance is. However, I could argue that it is the fact that I am portraying on independent recording artist, as does a lot of females in the music industry e.g. Keri Hilson, Ciara, JoJo and Lady Gaga.

Mind-Mapping

Planning - Storyboard

I am currently in the process of producing a storyboard for my A2 production. I decided to make some research into the making of a storyboard, so I could gain some ideas.
A storyboard is the base of planning when producing a theatrical visual, it is the foundation of what is going to be shown on the screen. A storyboard often involves ideas of sounds, editing, props, actors but most of all cinematography and iconography. It allows the director and production artists to figure out exactly what is going to happen and how it is going to take place, it must also be suitable for the target audience. A detailed storyboard needs a visual element, some written dialogue and signs that suggest how long the shot is going to last for.
For example, this is a basic storyboard for the music video of Rihanna's 'Disturbia'...

Here is a detailed storyboard that contains a written element...

I have been drawing and annotating my storyboard, however, I am still in the process of adding in more ideas.

Gender Representation in Music Videos

Recently, my class and I had a lesson on gender representation in music videos of many genres. This reflects how viewers see males and females in society as well as behind a camera. We looked at the music video 'Buttons' by Snoop Dogg and Pussycat Dolls, and how the female R&B band represent themselves. We deconstructed the video down to use of body, facial expressions, mise-en-scene, others' reactions to person/s - the gaze(s) and how the camera frames the body. Overall, we analyzed that the Pussycat Dolls came off as sexual objects available to the viewers, although they did some teasing to make the video more independent, Snoop Dogg played the role of the onlooker because he didn't take much part in the video, and a lot of the shots seemed to be taken from his perspective.

Personally, I would like to subvert these stereotype conventions and represent the artist as a calm and collected human being. Especially because the song has more of an emotional element rather than sexual context. I am hoping to use simplistic shots that will give off this concept:

In terms of costume, I would like it to be simplistic yet bold enough to recognize the artist, as opposed to revealing any part of the body other than the face...

 This is more of the look I am choosing. >>>

<<< This is the look I wish NOT to choose.

In terms of make-up, the actor's skin will look natural, this would make the facial expressions more visible according to the lyrics, especially if I am hoping to use a lot of close-ups. For example, this picture of Katy Perry...

 

Mood Board