Details of actors, costume plans and lighting plans

Details of actors

Due to the decision Jack and I had to have both narrative and performance in our music promo we had to find a way to add actors or an actor into the actual performance side of the video. As we decided to film locally at Jack's house we came to the conclusion just to have Jack as the actor and me (Hayley) filming. This would be easier as we wouldn't have to mess around getting actors out of school, explaing the idea to them and getting them to learn the lyrics in time etc. As Jack already knew the song it was easy for him to perform over the two days we had. However, working from the storybaords was proven difficult as different sections didn't look like or work so we had to re-arrange shots quickly. With this in mind, Jack being the actor worked well with this and we got enough variety of shots to work with when editing.

Costume Plans

The costume plans weren't very difficult for us to decide as once we decontructed the lyrics the message we got was that he is pure lazy, has a poor attitude and can't be bothered with life. With this in mind and the location we decided on (Jack's house including the bedroom and kitchen) the costumes would include 'scruffy' clothing such as, PJ's or random clothes changing depending on the time of day.

For example, the images below suggest what the character mighr wear throughout the promo.

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see having the Spongebob bottoms and a random football top shows the lazziness of the character to the audience and how he can't be bothered to get changed correctly. These clothes would be both for performance and narrative as the character would simply just grab a guitar and start singing along with the song. Also, as we are adding stop motion within our promo, we are hoping to use the effect of changing tops giving the audience a sense of time flying by. If worked well this would be an effective feature in our promo.

 

 

Lighting plans

 

 

The lighting within our promo could be proved difficult due to filming in a bedroom, natural light will be shinning through the window. This could work effectively as it could shine on the character for extra light and show the time of day. If the natural light doesn't work effectively and becomes dull it would create a bad image but also create the sense of the day passing - from day to night. If it came to it, we would have to cover the window and just have the light on for the same lighting for each shot. As we are in such a small space, there isn't much we can do for lighing apart from hope it look right in the shot.

 

For the kitchen scene of the promo natural light benefits us due to it being an open, spaced room. This is something that would be effective to us as we don't have to worry about the shot being to bright due to lighting or to dull. Once again, if it came to it we'd have to put the light on but to be honest, I don't think lighting would cause us a problem in this scene.





Mood boards - to show influences

I have created a mood board to show all the different influences and ideas that should come together when creating our promo. Some of the images show the settting and props that we'd like to use within our promo. These are just rough images and something we'd work on when actually filming. for example, props such as the guitar would be use for the performance side of the promo. There are also images of artists that have influenced us such as Kate Nash, McFly and GO Ok. McFly have influenced us through their mise-en-scene and up beat music. Our song sounds just like something they'd produce so if we look at their mise-en-scene we could create a similar setting. Kate Nash and GO Ok have influenced us through their stop motion in their promos. Jack and I are hoping to use stop motion as it's something that seems like it fits throughout the song for example, we're hoping to use stop motion using a clock to show how time is passing quickly - leaving the srtist doing nothing with his time and also stop motion using a hover as a lyric in our song is 'the floor in the back-room, could do with a vaccum' - we're are hoping to have the effect of the vaccum disapearing creating an effective feature throughout our promo. There are also some images of stop motion placed at the bottom of the board board just to show how other artists have used it.

Influences

Kate Nash - Foundations

As Jack and I are attempting stop motion within our music promo we decided to reseach into artists that have successfully achieved this in their promos. The first artists that we redearched into was 'Kate Nash'. She has many videos where stop motion has been added but her promo 'Foundations' is something that influenced us due to the mise-en-scene that she has used. It's set in a typical setting of a house containing shots of the bedroom, living room and kitchen - this is something Jack and I are hoping to shoot within our promo. This is because this setting would fit within the lyrics and something that would work effectively with the song.

This is the promo for 'Foundations' by Kate Nash; when watching this music promo you can see how stop motion has been used effectively and works well with the beat of the song.

Examples of stop motion used in her music video;

Some more examples;

As you can see from the examples above, the objects that have been used for stop motion are everyday objects for example, watches, toothbrushes etc. For our music promo we are attempting to use a clock on a wall to change the speed of time while the character is staying still - something that if worked well will be effective.


OK Go - End Love

The second artist that Jack and I researched into was 'OK Go' as we got this recommended for their successful stop motio within their song 'End Love'. This song also influenced us due to the fast editing techniques between each shot - this is something Jack and I are hoping to achieve when editing as the style of the song fits within this editing - fast, quick shot changes.

This is the promo for 'End Love' by OK Go; when watching this music promo you can see how quick the editing is and hoe effective stop motion is used to the beat of the song.

Examples of stop motion used their music video;

As you can see from the examples above they have used the technique of one character staying at one position while the other characters changed behind him. This is something Jack and I are attempting to do within our music promo for example, the chacter is going to sit in bed singing the song while he's clothes change - an example of stop motion. If worked well this would be an effective part of our music promo

Charlotte Church - Moodswings (To Come At Me Like That)

The third artist Jack and I researched into was 'Charlotte Church' as this was recommended to us by the stop motion used. The song is called Moodswings (To Come At Me Like That) and includes the actor (Charlotte Church) changing outfits several times throughout the promo. As me and Jack were worried about our stop motion and if it would fit together successfully we looked at her promo to see how successful her editng was towards her stop motion.

This is the promo for Moodswings (To Come At Me Like That) by Charlotte Church.

When watching this promo you can see that when stop motion is in place certain aspects of her body move for example, her hair, arms legs etc. Stop motion is hard to get perfect as you have to be in the exact same place for each shot. From this you ca see that her hair, arms and leg moves slightly out of place for each different shot. This doesn't effect her stop motion as it has still worked effectively but once you really look at the editing you can see what's slightly moved.

With this in mind, I am not worried anymore about how our stop motion turnes of. When we did a try out of stop motion we could see it didn't work effectively but if we try ro get it as perfect as possible on the actual day of the shoot we'd be fine. We don't want it to be so out of place that it's really noticeable as this would create a negative towards our video, but if it jump cuts slightly we can always smooth out the clip so it still looks effective.

Here is an example of stop motion used in her video and if you look closely you can see her leg move slightly out of place in each shot.

Shooting schedule for day of filming

This is a plan out of the two days filming Jack and I are hoping to achieve. It includes where we're meeting, different times and what we're filming throughout the day. This is something to work towards on the actual day of filming so we have a clear idea of how the day will plan out. Although, we might not stick to this plan as some difficulties might occur causing us to run behind on certain timings so we might overlap on different sections. This is something not to worry about as we have all of the two days to film so if we have enough footage to work from we should be ok.

Prop planning - images/lists

From decontrucing the lyrics and designing a storybaord to fit our song, Jack and I came up with a number of props that would be required when filiming our music video.

Firstly, we will require a used pizza box with some pizza left in (or just simply some left over food). The idea of this will be that the food will be left from the night before and involves the character in our music video to eat this instead of getting up and eating some actual breakfast. This is to show the characters lazziness and will be repeated several times in the song to get this message across.

Secondly, we will require quite a bit of rubbish from empty packets in order to set the scene for our music video. The idea of this is to show the charqacters lazziness again, but also show how the character lives in such a mess and it just pils up more and more everyday. In order for this to happen, we would have to save up as much rubbish as possible and then simply 'chuck it' on the floor of the bedroom we will be filming in. As well as this, our msuic video will create an overflowing bin which has various bits of rubbish falling from it. This is to emphasis the character being lazy and a bit of a 'bum'. It will be an effect part of our music video and something which is noticeable.

As well as this, we will also need to require a form of fizzy drink such as Coca Cola. This is for the idea that the character will drink this when getting out of bed, which simply gives the character a lazziness attitude.

As our music video is both narrative and performance, we will require a guitar for the performance side of the music video. This is for the fact that the character will sit in bed (while stop motion is in place) or dance around the room singing the lyrics to the song. This shows how we can use both narrative and performance in one setting and have it work effectively.

We are also attempting to have an effective form of stop motion in our msuic video. We have several ideas for this to happen for example, the lyrics 'the floor in the backroom, could do with a vacuum'. We are hoping to create an effect of having the vacuum disapearing which is something that if worked well, will be effective. It would work in the fact that the camera would have to be stopped, the prop moved out the shot, and the camera being played again - with this in mind the character would have to stay still so it works effectively. Another way we are going to use stop motion is in the form of a clock. As the character is sining a clock in the corner will gradually speed up time. This will work in the same way as the hover with the character staying still while the camera stops. this would show time passing quickly and the character simply doing nothing. If these are successfully done well, our music video will involve some unique features.

So to summarise, the lists of props needed to create our music video will be:

• used pizza box with left over pizza (or any other food of some kind)
• various pills of rubbish (bedroom scene) - with bin so rubbish can overflow
• a type of fizzy pop
• guitar for the performance side of the msuic video
• a vacuum for stop motion
• a clock for stop motion

We would also require to have two cameras and two tripods. One character for perfomance and one camera for narrative - but also for different angles for shots so we have a variety of different shots to work with when editing.

Location shots

The music video Jack and I are going to create will be filmed entirely at Jacks House (the shot below). We came to this conclusion as we thought it best suited the song and how we deconstructed the lyrics.

 For the bedroom scenes, we will be using Jack's bedroom for the mise-en-scene which will be shot from the corner of the room. With this mind, there will a scatter of litter on the floor in order to improve the visual setting of the promo. We will also use another angle of the room to shoot from remembering not to brake the 180' rule. These two different shots will give us different effects of the setting and more footage to work with when editing.

Just outside the bedroom there will be a setting for one or two different shots. The only way this area will be used is when the character is going in and out his bedroom - on other circumstances this area will not be used.

Further along in the promo there will be a shot of the character sat at the bottom of the staircase - to which the audience think he has fell down the stairs. This is when the character will sing along to the chorus of the song (as seen in our storyboards). This shot will be used effectively for the transition of going downstairs to the kitchen.

This is the first shot used within the kitchen area and will show the character going into and out of the kitchen. This shot wont be used for long and is only used to improve the flow of the promo.

 This is the second shot used within the kitchen scene and our final area of filming our promo. The camera will be placed in the corner of the kitchen showing a long shot of the camera walking in and out. It was also show an establishing shot of the kitchen showing the typical elements involved. On the left hand side of the shot is a fridge and cupboards in which the character will grab things out of and 'shove' them on the side. The character will be placed in the middle of the shot so he is the focal point. At the end of the shot he will leave the kitchen a mess with the fridge being left open and food all over the side - this is to get a message to the audience that he is a lazy character.

 To conclude, I feel as though the house provides a perfect setting for our music promo. The bedroom will be covered in litter and food creating a character to the audience. However, outside his room is a very clean and organised house which is well looked after. Once the character uses the room and is finished he will leave it in such a mess showing his laziness and poor attitude.

Jack and I decided on this location as it was convenient for us both to get to and was well structured to fit our plans for our promo successfully.

Storyboard and shot lists

The image below shows a birdeye view of Jacks kitched - a location we we going to use in our music promo

The other storyboards show the basic outline of our idea for our msuic promo including where the camera will be placed, editing between each shot, how the mise-en-scene will be placed, what part goes with each lyric etc.

This is just a rough copy and when filming can be changed if problems occur with the camera, actors etc.

Shot list

• (establishing) pan shot from one side of the bedroom to the other showing the mess of the room
• mid shot of the character laid in bed
• mid shot of the chacater that sits up in bed singing the first lyrics
• mid shot of the character that dops back down looking at a photoframe singing the next lyrics
• character flops out of bed and sits on the floor
• mid shot of the character looking 'bored'  moving the rubbish around from him whilst eating and drink 'junk food'
• close up of the character getting up walking towards the door
• long shot of the character walking out the door, kicking clothes as he passes and closing the door after him
• mid shot of the character falling down the stairs, landing on the last step and singing the first two lines of the chorus
• pan shot of the character walking into the kitchen
• long shot of the charcter grabbing food and drink out of the fridge and cudboards
• slow motion shot of the character getting beer out the fridge and smiling
• mid shot of the character signing certain lines of verse two looking at the mess around him
• long shot of the character walking out the kitchen leaving it a mess
• slow motion shot of the character walking towards the staris
• slow motion shot of the character walking up the stairs, kicking clothes outside his room and closing the door on the way in
• mid shot of the character sat in bed singing the second chorus
• quite, flash shots of the character moving around in bed looking bored
• fast paced, long shot of the character looking bored and drinking cola drink
• fast paced, long shot of the characters 'mum' handing the vaccum to the character
• stop motion of the vaccum disapearing on a certain line of the verse
• close up of the character sining the second from last chorus while stop motion is in place on the clock (suggesting time is going quick)
• (this continues for the second from last chorus)