Tuesday 10th November
AIM: We have asked our actors to meet at 2.30 so we can begin filming our opening scene. Depending on how much footage we can get on this day and depending on the weather and setting we will also try to film the gym scene on this day too.
ACTUAL: Unfortunately the camcorder we had was unable to accept a tape so we had to go back to school and get a new one. By this time, it was too late to use the gym and the time we had left before it got too dark was limited. We did however shoot some footage in this time.
Below is the footage of our first filming. We have decided not to use this in our video as there is no continuity; it goes from light to dark whilst filming what was meant to be a 2 minute walk up the road. We did use this however to practice editing techniques and we learnt how important it was to get a variety of different camera angles whilst filming.
Friday 13th
AIM: To film the gym scene and the opening sequence.
ACTUAL: We managed to film a lot of footage for the gym scene and tried some new ideas out which could be used towards another scene for the video. We also filmed the 'bush scene', where one of the main characters is pushed into a bush by her rival. Unfortunatley we didn't have time to film the opening sequence aswell but as we filmed the 'bush' scene this wasnt too much of a problem.
Wednesday 18th
AIM: To film the opening sequence and 'the trip' scene.
ACTUAL: We filmed both of these scenes within the time we had and filmed roughly 15 minutes of footage to be used towards the opening and trip scenes.
Friday 4th December
AIM: To film Rosco walking out of his house in a number of outfits (roughly 6). Get at least two different angles of each outfit, altogether filming 12 frames.
ACTUAL: We managed to film this well and found some interesting angles which we could use when editing.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Propps theory
Propp (1895-1970) examined fairy tales in the generic for 'the folk wondertale'. He identified 8 character roles;
1) The villian
2) The hero- a seeker character motivated by an initial lack.
3) The donor- provides an object with some magic property.
4) The helper- aids the hero
5) The princess- the reward for th hero. The object of the villians schemes.
6) Her father- he validates the hero
7) The dispatcher- who sends the hero on his way
8) The false hero.
Propps theory is a form of structuralism, a view that all media is inevitably in the form of certain fixed structures. These structures are often culturally derived and from expectations in the mind of an audience from within the same culture. Eg- fairy tales always have happy endings, or the princess always marries the handsome prince.
Propps theory doesn't apply directly to our music video, as it is easier to link his theory to films or trailers than a music video. Although our video has quite a focused storyline, only 1 or 2 of Propps 8 character roles comply.
You could consider the male throughout the video to be the villian, womanizing and messing around with numerous girls. From this you could then take the girls in the video as the princesses as they're the object of the villians schemes (the boy is going out with all these girls and playing them off eachother.) The male, although considered powerful is also frowned apon by the audience whereas the audience will sympathise with 'the princesses' ( in this case the girls ).
1) The villian
2) The hero- a seeker character motivated by an initial lack.
3) The donor- provides an object with some magic property.
4) The helper- aids the hero
5) The princess- the reward for th hero. The object of the villians schemes.
6) Her father- he validates the hero
7) The dispatcher- who sends the hero on his way
8) The false hero.
Propps theory is a form of structuralism, a view that all media is inevitably in the form of certain fixed structures. These structures are often culturally derived and from expectations in the mind of an audience from within the same culture. Eg- fairy tales always have happy endings, or the princess always marries the handsome prince.
Propps theory doesn't apply directly to our music video, as it is easier to link his theory to films or trailers than a music video. Although our video has quite a focused storyline, only 1 or 2 of Propps 8 character roles comply.
You could consider the male throughout the video to be the villian, womanizing and messing around with numerous girls. From this you could then take the girls in the video as the princesses as they're the object of the villians schemes (the boy is going out with all these girls and playing them off eachother.) The male, although considered powerful is also frowned apon by the audience whereas the audience will sympathise with 'the princesses' ( in this case the girls ).
Target Audience
The main demographic for our video will mainly be the fans of the artist- Britney Spears, females between 12-21 that were brought up in the western civilisation, mainly located in Europe, America and Australia. They will have an interest in pop music and will have knowledge of previous Britney songs and videos. As this song was vital to her comeback album, the video needs to be strong and memorable to reflect this important time of her career. Her main fan base would have previously been young teenage girls between the ages of 12-21. As however a great deal has happened to the artist between her previous career and her comeback, fans may have been lost and new fans may have been created. As her life was so publicly aired and shown throughout the media, people less likely to have listened to her before started to show an interest in her. This therefore means, this video does not only have to relate to her old fans, but to her new ones too. A lot of attention was put onto her comeback album so this video needs to not only be of a high quality, but show off the artist, the lyrics and the overall song. It needs to promote the artist in a positive way. Our audiences income and occupation will fit into the brackets D and E, regarding their ages (mainly the younger generation and students. Below are the Income Brackets that the industry target.
Income Brackets
A - Top management, bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals.
B - Middle management, teachers, many 'creatives' e.g. graphic designers etc.
C1 - Office supervisors, junior managersm nurses, specialist clerical staff etc.
C2 - Skilled workers, tradespersons (White Collars).
D - Semi - skilled and unskilled manual workers (Blue Collars).
E - Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers
Income Brackets
A - Top management, bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals.
B - Middle management, teachers, many 'creatives' e.g. graphic designers etc.
C1 - Office supervisors, junior managersm nurses, specialist clerical staff etc.
C2 - Skilled workers, tradespersons (White Collars).
D - Semi - skilled and unskilled manual workers (Blue Collars).
E - Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers
Initial Ideas
We will try and include as many over the top situations as possible which will fit under the subtitles;
- 'The Meet'
- 'The Trip'
- 'The Push'
- 'The Muscle Man'
- 'The Fall' and..
- 'The ending'
We will use subtitles so the audience can understand the storyline and humerous theme of the video. We decided to use these as a light hearted, humerous introduction to each scene as the whole video is based around a fun, slightly exaggerated storyline. The aim is to edit our footage with regular quick editing to keep in time with the tempo of the song. The whole micky taking theme of the video will be it's unique selling point as it makes the video exciting and interesting to watch. The up beat editing and various scenes and settings will also make the video more appealing to the viewer.
Setting
The Gym: We rang up our local gym Lush to see if we were able to use their gym to film our gym scene. Luckily for us they agreed and this was a great setting to use as it looked professional and had a mirrored wall which made for interesting camera angles and compositions. We made full use of the equipment and tried to use the other gym users to our advantage to make the scene seem realistic.
For the majority of the other scenes we used local roads to film the rest of our footage. We tried to find quiet roads which we could use and for 'the push' scene we searched around for the perfect bush for our actor to be pushed into. We knew we wanted the roads to be typical of the outer London area so our target audience could relate to the video.
We will try and capture moments of the artist singing the lyrics to her song throughout the video as this helps to promote the artist and reinforces her status in the video. It's her song so it makes sense for her to be in the video. Although there is a lot of focus on the storyline of the song, which helps to promote the song, their also needs to be emphasis on the artist as the artist needs to be promoted too.
Camera Angles
We will try to use as many different shots as possible, from different heights, angles and points of views. We will try to capture unique and creative camera angles to ensure that our video is interesting and more exciting to watch than other pop videos that could be in competition with ours. As the video is based around a competition to win the attention of the male character, we will try to use the camera angles to display which characters have the authority and status at which time. For example, for the opening scene, as the male character is introduced coming out the car, we will try to include a high angle looking up at the male which represents he's the character with the power. These type of camera angles can be used throughout the video, the lower angles being used for the weaker character (the one that is loosing the 'battle' for the males attention) and the higher angles being used for the stronger character (the one that is winning the 'battle' for the males attention) at that time.
Editing
To be able to edit successfully and to our best ability we need to have enough footage so we can choose the best out of a variety of shots. If we have a lot of filming, were able to select only the best and the most relevant footage to use instead of having to use weaker shots because we don't have enough to fill the song. For the mouthing of the lyrics, sung by the artist, it is vitally important that the actor singing is 100% in time with the song so it looks natural and realistic. If the lyrics are out of time to the song, we won't be able to use the footage. We have decided that the best way to ensure this will happen is to play the music in the background when filming the lip-syncing so the actor mouthing the lyrics will know what part of the song they're at. We will use fast paced editing to meet the tempo of the music and will try to cut frames on the beat of the song so the video is at its most effective. This will help the video to flow and fit in with the song and also keeps the viewer interested in what they're watching.
Music
The music is from the artists new album 'circus' following her comeback album 'blackout' of 2008. The music is upbeat and we've found the tempo of the song relatively fast which is why our editing is also reasonably quick. We thought to help the video flow and to provide a link from the storyline to the music, that we should edit in time to the music cutting between frames exactly on the beat.
Special Effects
The only special effects we plan to use are ways to enter the subtitles. This could be with a dissolve, wipe, slide etc but we will try each one out and see which fits in best with the overall theme of the video. We will also speed up and slow down some sections of the video, for example when during the gym scene the pace of the running machine is being increased, this would look better if it was increasing faster and would add a more dramatic effect.
The chosen actors.
For our video we needed 3 main characters.
- The boy = who the girls are 'fighting' for. He is the 'womanizer' mentioned throughout the song. It was important that we found someone who was able to take the filming seriously to make the video look professional and realistic. We therefore chose Rosco, a good looking boy in our year who managed to keep in character throughout filming.
The girls = The two main girls are those in competition with each other in order to win the affections of the boy. Although other girls are included in the video, the main story line is based around them competing so it's important we find two girls comfortable enough with each other to perform competitively against each other in a professional way. We therefore chose two friends, Charlotte and Hannah, both who took drama at GCSE so are therefore confident and professional enough to pull off this act.
- 'The Meet'
- 'The Trip'
- 'The Push'
- 'The Muscle Man'
- 'The Fall' and..
- 'The ending'
We will use subtitles so the audience can understand the storyline and humerous theme of the video. We decided to use these as a light hearted, humerous introduction to each scene as the whole video is based around a fun, slightly exaggerated storyline. The aim is to edit our footage with regular quick editing to keep in time with the tempo of the song. The whole micky taking theme of the video will be it's unique selling point as it makes the video exciting and interesting to watch. The up beat editing and various scenes and settings will also make the video more appealing to the viewer.
Setting
The Gym: We rang up our local gym Lush to see if we were able to use their gym to film our gym scene. Luckily for us they agreed and this was a great setting to use as it looked professional and had a mirrored wall which made for interesting camera angles and compositions. We made full use of the equipment and tried to use the other gym users to our advantage to make the scene seem realistic.
For the majority of the other scenes we used local roads to film the rest of our footage. We tried to find quiet roads which we could use and for 'the push' scene we searched around for the perfect bush for our actor to be pushed into. We knew we wanted the roads to be typical of the outer London area so our target audience could relate to the video.
We will try and capture moments of the artist singing the lyrics to her song throughout the video as this helps to promote the artist and reinforces her status in the video. It's her song so it makes sense for her to be in the video. Although there is a lot of focus on the storyline of the song, which helps to promote the song, their also needs to be emphasis on the artist as the artist needs to be promoted too.
Camera Angles
We will try to use as many different shots as possible, from different heights, angles and points of views. We will try to capture unique and creative camera angles to ensure that our video is interesting and more exciting to watch than other pop videos that could be in competition with ours. As the video is based around a competition to win the attention of the male character, we will try to use the camera angles to display which characters have the authority and status at which time. For example, for the opening scene, as the male character is introduced coming out the car, we will try to include a high angle looking up at the male which represents he's the character with the power. These type of camera angles can be used throughout the video, the lower angles being used for the weaker character (the one that is loosing the 'battle' for the males attention) and the higher angles being used for the stronger character (the one that is winning the 'battle' for the males attention) at that time.
Editing
To be able to edit successfully and to our best ability we need to have enough footage so we can choose the best out of a variety of shots. If we have a lot of filming, were able to select only the best and the most relevant footage to use instead of having to use weaker shots because we don't have enough to fill the song. For the mouthing of the lyrics, sung by the artist, it is vitally important that the actor singing is 100% in time with the song so it looks natural and realistic. If the lyrics are out of time to the song, we won't be able to use the footage. We have decided that the best way to ensure this will happen is to play the music in the background when filming the lip-syncing so the actor mouthing the lyrics will know what part of the song they're at. We will use fast paced editing to meet the tempo of the music and will try to cut frames on the beat of the song so the video is at its most effective. This will help the video to flow and fit in with the song and also keeps the viewer interested in what they're watching.
Music
The music is from the artists new album 'circus' following her comeback album 'blackout' of 2008. The music is upbeat and we've found the tempo of the song relatively fast which is why our editing is also reasonably quick. We thought to help the video flow and to provide a link from the storyline to the music, that we should edit in time to the music cutting between frames exactly on the beat.
Special Effects
The only special effects we plan to use are ways to enter the subtitles. This could be with a dissolve, wipe, slide etc but we will try each one out and see which fits in best with the overall theme of the video. We will also speed up and slow down some sections of the video, for example when during the gym scene the pace of the running machine is being increased, this would look better if it was increasing faster and would add a more dramatic effect.
The chosen actors.
For our video we needed 3 main characters.
- The boy = who the girls are 'fighting' for. He is the 'womanizer' mentioned throughout the song. It was important that we found someone who was able to take the filming seriously to make the video look professional and realistic. We therefore chose Rosco, a good looking boy in our year who managed to keep in character throughout filming.
The girls = The two main girls are those in competition with each other in order to win the affections of the boy. Although other girls are included in the video, the main story line is based around them competing so it's important we find two girls comfortable enough with each other to perform competitively against each other in a professional way. We therefore chose two friends, Charlotte and Hannah, both who took drama at GCSE so are therefore confident and professional enough to pull off this act.
Storyboard
Opening scene
1)Establishing shot of girls walking down a street and a car going past. Pan slightly to follow the car. This sets the scene and introduces two of the characters.
2)'The meet' dissolves into the shot and out again. The two characters have walked a little further on and the car has also moved slightly.
3)Medium shot of the girls walking. This reinforces that these are the characters and again acts as an introduction.
4)Point of view shot- boy looking out of the car at the girls. The shot will be from inside the car.
5)Tracking shot following the girls (as if the boys looking at them). The boys head enters the shot towards the end, from inside the car.
Girls walking along, medium shot. Possible pan?
7)Medium close up of girls- shows their reaction to the entrance of the boy.
8)Car driving past, girls in the background. Long shot of the girls, gives the viewer and better understanding of what's going on by seeing the bigger picture. The car moves out of the shot at the end.
9)Boy inside the car. Close up of profile. An introduction to the boy. Immediate close up signifies his importance.
10)Reflection of boy in the wingmirror. Close up of his face. Different shot to make the video more interesting to watch.
11)Extreme close up of the cars indicator. Quick shot, gives the editing some pace, the flash of the indicator will match the upbeat tempo of the song.
12)Medium close up of boy getting out of car. Facing the boy straight on so although there's alot of the car in the shot, the boy remains the main focus.
13)Side angle, long shot. Boy getting out of the car (his foot hasnt hit the floor yet)
14)Close up/ extreme close up of his foot coming out of the car. Specifically cut on a major beat if possible. Door also closes at end of shot.
15)Boy out of the car, a long distance tracking shot. He walks away, throws his jacket over his shoulder and locks the car. The girls enter the shot where the circle and arrow is at the end of the shot.
16)Medium shot of boy, he's in the front of the shot. Where he's bigger and clearer to see it makes him the main focus of the shot even though the girls are in the background. They're there so we can see their reaction and see the scene from a distance.
17)Medium close up of the girls, emphasises their reaction.
18)Camera behind the boy as he walks away. He walks out of the shot.
The 1st Gym Scene (The muscle man)
We found it hard to plan this scene because we were unsure of what would be available and the camera space that would be free to use as we were unaware of other objects or people that would be in the gym on the day of filming. Although we went to the gym to check out the setting and to make sure it was suitable, these things were out of our control and we had to wait until the actual day to find out what we could work with. We have therefore not planned this scene in as great detail but we do plan to film a variety of angles of the actors on gym equipment.
The rest of the storyboards below wont be shown in as much detail as the opening scene as it took too long to upload every picture and took up too much space. I will therefore show the storyboard in sets of 6 frames and write about each main point underneath.
1)Establishing shot of girls walking down a street and a car going past. Pan slightly to follow the car. This sets the scene and introduces two of the characters.
2)'The meet' dissolves into the shot and out again. The two characters have walked a little further on and the car has also moved slightly.
3)Medium shot of the girls walking. This reinforces that these are the characters and again acts as an introduction.
4)Point of view shot- boy looking out of the car at the girls. The shot will be from inside the car.
5)Tracking shot following the girls (as if the boys looking at them). The boys head enters the shot towards the end, from inside the car.
Girls walking along, medium shot. Possible pan?
7)Medium close up of girls- shows their reaction to the entrance of the boy.
8)Car driving past, girls in the background. Long shot of the girls, gives the viewer and better understanding of what's going on by seeing the bigger picture. The car moves out of the shot at the end.
9)Boy inside the car. Close up of profile. An introduction to the boy. Immediate close up signifies his importance.
10)Reflection of boy in the wingmirror. Close up of his face. Different shot to make the video more interesting to watch.
11)Extreme close up of the cars indicator. Quick shot, gives the editing some pace, the flash of the indicator will match the upbeat tempo of the song.
12)Medium close up of boy getting out of car. Facing the boy straight on so although there's alot of the car in the shot, the boy remains the main focus.
13)Side angle, long shot. Boy getting out of the car (his foot hasnt hit the floor yet)
14)Close up/ extreme close up of his foot coming out of the car. Specifically cut on a major beat if possible. Door also closes at end of shot.
15)Boy out of the car, a long distance tracking shot. He walks away, throws his jacket over his shoulder and locks the car. The girls enter the shot where the circle and arrow is at the end of the shot.
16)Medium shot of boy, he's in the front of the shot. Where he's bigger and clearer to see it makes him the main focus of the shot even though the girls are in the background. They're there so we can see their reaction and see the scene from a distance.
17)Medium close up of the girls, emphasises their reaction.
18)Camera behind the boy as he walks away. He walks out of the shot.
The 1st Gym Scene (The muscle man)
We found it hard to plan this scene because we were unsure of what would be available and the camera space that would be free to use as we were unaware of other objects or people that would be in the gym on the day of filming. Although we went to the gym to check out the setting and to make sure it was suitable, these things were out of our control and we had to wait until the actual day to find out what we could work with. We have therefore not planned this scene in as great detail but we do plan to film a variety of angles of the actors on gym equipment.
The rest of the storyboards below wont be shown in as much detail as the opening scene as it took too long to upload every picture and took up too much space. I will therefore show the storyboard in sets of 6 frames and write about each main point underneath.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
The storyline of our video
"The set of all the events in the narrative, both the ones explicitly presented and those the viewer infers, compose the story."
Bordwell & Thompson
The video is going to be based on the relationship between a boy and two girls and the extent that girls will go to to receive attention from the male gender. This relates back to the songs title- womaniser and reinforces the lyrics to the song. The video will include typical conventions that are found in pop videos and exagerated acts to gain attention. As the target market of this video is most probable to be teenage girls they can relate to the video and will understand the humour of it. Similar to Pinks- stupid girls video, the scenes re-created in the video will be over the top and extreme to make the video interesting and amusing to watch.
The narrative of our story fits in with some of Roland Barthes 5 action codes, which enable an audience to make sense of a narrative. The 2 concepts the video meets is;
Hermeneutic (narrative turning point)
The story line is one that we are familiar with, the typical girls chasing boy scenario. Because we are known to this type of narrative (intertextuality) the viewer knows where the story will go next. We will use this action code to our advantage and follow this theme up to the end of the video. At this point the viewer is pretty much positive that they know what will happen as this has been the case for the whole video. However at the end of the video we will surprise the audience with something they don't expect to happen. We will then be following Levi Strauss's concept of bricolage where we will use the process of 'deletion'- taking something typical of a genre out.
Bordwell & Thompson
The video is going to be based on the relationship between a boy and two girls and the extent that girls will go to to receive attention from the male gender. This relates back to the songs title- womaniser and reinforces the lyrics to the song. The video will include typical conventions that are found in pop videos and exagerated acts to gain attention. As the target market of this video is most probable to be teenage girls they can relate to the video and will understand the humour of it. Similar to Pinks- stupid girls video, the scenes re-created in the video will be over the top and extreme to make the video interesting and amusing to watch.
The narrative of our story fits in with some of Roland Barthes 5 action codes, which enable an audience to make sense of a narrative. The 2 concepts the video meets is;
Hermeneutic (narrative turning point)
The story line is one that we are familiar with, the typical girls chasing boy scenario. Because we are known to this type of narrative (intertextuality) the viewer knows where the story will go next. We will use this action code to our advantage and follow this theme up to the end of the video. At this point the viewer is pretty much positive that they know what will happen as this has been the case for the whole video. However at the end of the video we will surprise the audience with something they don't expect to happen. We will then be following Levi Strauss's concept of bricolage where we will use the process of 'deletion'- taking something typical of a genre out.
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