Rehearsals

This is the rehearsal for the 'fight scene' in our music video. We have been rehearsing the scenes with our actors/actresses so that on the day of shooting they are very clear about what needs to be done. This will effectively save time on the day as we would have already gone through the acting needed.

Story Board

This is the 'two column' story board that we made to take with us on our shoot. We included a third column entitled 'Emotion' to make clear to us when we direct the actors what kind of emotion we want them to portray as the emotion of the video is one of our key focuses. We will also give this document to the actors involved so they have a clear understanding of the kind of role they are playing and when. We also allocated an estimate of the time we think each shot will take, to ensure they cover the length of the song so we have enough footage to choose from so our video is not repetitive.

Storyboard for Blog

Two Column Story Board

Today we have chosen the two-column format for our story board because it is specifically useful for our short production. The two columns are focused on description for example the video column and not so much the artistic vision. This is particularly useful because drawing the images often takes far longer than just describing the key shots. This works well in our small group of four as we already have a good vision of what we want our video to look like as we are the ones who came up with the idea. Thus we do not have to storyboard every sketch because we do not need to translate this image to a camera man who has no idea what our pitch is about, we are the ones shooting the video and we are already very clear on what we want it to look artistically. The columns will act as prompts to remind us when we are filming, and not to teach us what we want to film. However it is important to note that the format is subject to change regarding the complexity and length of a production. For example the storyboard of a feature film will be drastically longer, with very detailed sketches and notes that the camera man will need to learn from and then produce. A traditional storyboard with sketches will be more useful in that case as it is precise and clear for complex shots like an action sequence from James Bond. In our case we are very limited in regard to what we can include in our videos, we cannot for example, blow up a car or hire stunt men to jump off roofs. This is why our format of storyboarding is useful because we don't actually have such vital responsibilities in comparison to real producers.

Individually we tested a draft two-column story board that we created on our own, and showed other members of the class to see if they understood what the plot and the summary of what was going on. This was effective as it proved successful and we received feedbacks from our peers on what went well and how we could improve. As a trial run this was useful as I had forgotten to indicate the length of the shots which would be really useful when filming, but now I am aware of this and will make use of it in the filming stage. 

Secondary Research

Genre Research

We have a strong image of our protagonist that we want to display through the music video to appeal to the 'Punk Rock' audience that we want to target these spanning the age group from 14-26 year olds. Already existing artists in the industry that are successful in this genre are Pink and Avril Lavigne. I will be researching their music videos, fan sites and statistics to get a variety of qualitative data and quantitive data that I can use to develop my own music video and artist.

 

Avril Lavigne

From the very successful video 'Complicated' we get the idea of a cheeky teenage girl who is a risk taker and gets in trouble. There are a lot of fun scenes  that run along side with violence which takes away the serious of the offences like stealing chips off of a police officer, scaring the public by hiding in clothes lines in a shop etc. It gives the video a fun aura but with a serious song about love being complicated, so we still understand the song but have fun watching the video. This is something I want to portray in my own music video. 

Fan Sites
I have researched one of the prominent Avril Lavigne fan sites and I found a popular post under the title of 'If you could describe Avril Lavigne in one word, what would it be?' I found this quite useful as I scanned the posts and the most common words I found where 'Unique' 'Amazing' and 'Pretty/Beautiful'. Analysing these words allowed me to understand that my video needs to be unique, and creative. I can portray the protagonist as 'pretty' via the use of makeup and costume that I think will achieve this effect. http://avril-l.org/ - the link to the fan site.

Image

This image is what we are aiming for, a paradox of pink and black, femininity and prettiness against dark mischievousness. 

 She also has blonde fair hair like our own actress who is playing the protagonist and this is usually symbolic of angels or good.

Alecia Beth Moore AKA P!NK

Pink is famously known for her outrageous behaviour in music videos and her unique sense of style. She is portrayed as very 'naughty' in her music videos, yet not as a villain as we are still made to love her. 

 

Again similar to Avril's 'Complicated' P!NK is in the middle of a love crises in her video 'So What' and shows her emotions in an exaggerated way. This is common and effective in these types of videos rather then just telling a boring story of a breakup. It diverts us from every day life because we don't actually react in these ways to the situations and so it is entertaining to watch. P!NK is causing a traffic jam by riding a tractor on a busy road, she also cuts down a tree with her and her ex lovers name on it, a great deal of effort for someone that appears  'not to care' as her song is entitled 'so what'. A parody again. The lyrics state 'I've got a brand new attitude' - we like this attitude and we want our protagonist to have elements of this attitude. 

Fan Video

When questioned one fan states that she loves P!NKS 'freaking attitude'  and she 'Says what she wants to say'. This is something we can take from her attitude and apply it to our music video.

Image

This is what we want our protagonist to look like aesthetically in the video, as the black clothes contrasted with the pink on her top will give us the Chroma Key look we desire. We want to keep the color scheme pink and black, and only make the pink stand out.

It is useful to note the tattoo on this picture too, we could include a false one on our artist for the same rock chick effect, for a close up shot maybe.

 



A Vision Of The Actresses Outfit/Makeup

Pink sprinkles as a substiute for lipstick is particularly creative and bizarre, and not what an ordinary person would wear day to day. Perfect for a unique look in a music video.

This tutu stands out, and is the right color   

and is right for the girly punk look we want to achieve.

Location Recce

Blog Location Recce

Freytag

Freytag for Blog

Chroma Key

For the look of our music video, I put forward the idea of using Chroma Key as an effect to give our music video a bit of an creative edge, and it goes really well with our narrative and story line as we want certain clothing to stand out. For example the colour pink, of the protagonists skirt to highlight the parody and give the video greyscale contrasted with the colour pink. To do this though, we are going to film some footage and edit it as a trial run to see if we can dedicate ourselves to it at the editing stage as it can be quite tricky. This is just and idea but I am really kean on it as it is something different and something I would be willing to spend time on to get our video to a near professional standard.The image below represents the kind of look we are intending.

Purposes of Music Videos

The Track

I have chosen this song because as the song went along it triggered off many ideas that would take a light-hearted approach to the song in a form of a parody. I really liked the genre and the idea of having a band, in an unusual environment like a library, churchyard, funeral which would juxtapose the humor with darkness. Listening to the song also instantly gave me an idea of which actors/actresses I could use as I know a girl with the same sort of personality as I wish to portray and she is a drama student who is very confident which is vital for a good professional video as she will be comfortable infront of the camera.

Copy Right Permission Print Screen

 

Pitch

28/11/2012 - Today we altered our previous idea for our pitch due to the fact that at second glance we realised the idea was very similar to Britney Spears' song 'Baby, One More Time'. And I believe that setting the music video in our school, was not stretching our creative capacity regarding location and narrative style so we altered the pitch, and included a variety of locations that will creativley facilitate our story line. We want to take a lighthearted parody approach on a dark event, and so will need to ensure this is obvious to the audience through little clues.

Our Finalised idea is as follows:

• The protagonist will be on a date with her boyfriend and catch him flirting with an older woman on a different table. This is a direct reference to the lyrics as the protagonist suggests that her boyfriend is fond of slightly older women. 'Single and past thirty' as the lyrics denote.

• Then it will cut to a different date where he repeats the flirtatious behaviour with a different woman and yet again does not pay much attention to the protagonist. This is when she begins to sing the lyrics, as he is distracted and does not even notice. She storms off and this is when he realises and follows.

• The protagonist will quickly lead her boyfriend into her home, where he teases her and they PLAYfighst (so he thinks), his girlfriend has a jelous and vengeful demeanor and gets carried away in the 'playfight' as her bubbling emotions overtake her. She gets angrier and hits her boyfriend with the closes thing she can find, a giant lollipop that is on the side table. The audience are left wondering what happened to him.

• She then goes up the stairs to get ready for an occasion that is not yet revealed, this is the part that gets really creative with our focus of the candy as makeup and costume, as the audience are taken on her journey of her unstable mindstate as the candy acts as symbol of revenge, against the darkess that she has felt.

• There is a brief cut to a group of girls dressed in black, sobbing, the audience will notice that these are the girls that the boyfriend has flirted with.

• The protagonist is walking (whilst singing the lyrics of the song) in a field with the band and ends up at the same gathering as the girls.

• Cut scene of the protagonist pouring sherbet into the ashes.

• She does a nice gesture to the girls by giving them sherbet to comfort them. This is the irony of the repeated lyric in the song of 'how do my leftovers taste'? Ofcourse they eat the ashes mixed with sherbet.

• The camera moves back to reveal the occasion is her boyfriend's funeral.

• It then ends with the protagonist licking her lips, which have sherbert on, and the empty urn in her hand.

Lyric Annotations

Mood Board