Audience Research: Current Trends

I decided to look at artists of a similar genre to Emily to gather information on current trends in the industry. This will help me when attempting to appeal to my target audience as I will be able to reflect upon the artists' work and gauge whether mine would appeal to a similar target audience.

When looking at some of their marketing materials and imagery, it's clear to note that they all keep a theme throughout their work to ensure their brand identity is kept the same. When creating my music video, digipak and magazine advert I will keep the same style of imagery throughout. This would help a newer artist in the industry by allowing them to create an identity and attract their target audience. The fonts used are usually serif or hand written to create a synthetic personalisation - this is something I will have to consider when creating my digipak and advert. Darker areas are used on the digipak and advertisements so the songs or information can be placed there and be easily seen. 

Locations // Set Dressing

Overall Project Schedule

Shot Maps

MY ROOM:

THE HALLWAY:

OUTSIDE MY HOUSE:

Final Proposal: Pulling Ideas Together

As a summary of my music video ideas and concepts I have decided to produce a final proposal. 

Synopsis
The idea for my music video centers around a female with an illness who slowly deteriorates throughout the video. At the outset she is seen to be getting ready for a party but she is unsteady on her feet and not sure that she wants to go. Nevertheless, she goes to leave her house but suddenly decides to return home shortly after leaving as she doesn't think she's ready: "Even thinking about going out alone makes me wan't to say/ No I'm going to stay home". She rushes back upstairs, at which point we see a flashback to her making the decision to miss a crucial hospital appointment in order to go to the party. It then flashes forwards to her getting a box of old memories and going to sit outside with them. She opens the box, lights the candles and looks at the pictures. It cuts to a scene where she is sprawled on the grass, candles still lit and photos around her. There's a pan up her arm and an empty pill bottle is shown near her hand with only a couple of pills scattered on the floor. The video ends on a cliffhanger. 

Performance
I have chosen to break the video up by including a performance aspect. Sophie will be playing Emily; playing the guitar and 'singing' along to the track. I will film her when the sun is setting to ensure the light works well. The location I am using for this is on a bridge, my reason for this is because it's a metaphor for Heather's character: she is crossing the bridge from illness to possible death due to the decisions she's making. 

Camera Angles and Editing
Although not explicit, I am using the camera angles to signal Heather's deterioration in the music video. The shots of her passed out on the grass are all high angled which makes her seem inferior and weak (due to her illness). The shots of her during the narrative are also positioned at a slightly higher angle and they gradually look down on her more to represent her character's decline. The cuts are mostly straight jump cuts but there are a few transitions (see shot list for extended information on transitions). 

Editing: Cuts in the Music Video

To help me with the pace of my editing I will study an artist of a similar genre and who has a similar song to analyse the pace of editing. Lisa Loeb's song 'Stay' is similar to Emily Denton's song 'Home' as it begins slow and gradually increases tempo in the chorus. 

After listening to 35 seconds of the song (without looking at the video), I estimated that it had 14 cuts in it. I then watched the music video and found that there weren't any cuts, instead tracking and panning shots were used to convey the narrative. I feel that this made the video seem less interesting and slow because the action was only focused on one corridor - in which not a lot was happening. 

I will also study Stacey Randol's song 'Fragile Forest' as this is also a similar genre and has a close pace to Emily's song at the start.

After listening to 35 seconds of the song (without looking at the video), I estimated that it had 14 cuts. When watching the video I counted 8 cuts - all of which occurred during the key changes in the song. I thought that the music video would cut when the beat of the song changed as opposed to the change in key. When the shots weren't cutting they were panning or some sort of action was happening in the shot, for example Stacey was singing. This has inspired me for my music video as I can use a similar sort of concept for the performance parts of my music video. 

Music Video: Footage Review 1

Today I imported my footage onto iMovie in order to screen shot the still images I need for the second half of my filming. I reviewed the footage as I imported it in order to know which, if any, parts needed re-filming. There are a couple of continuity and filming errors that I noticed whilst reviewing my footage - I will come up with solutions in order to fix these. Above I have put together a short section of some of my clips for a particular scene to gauge whether the continuity flows smoothly. I noticed that Heather's jumper is slightly raised at the back in one scene and lower in the next - this could be problematic but I added the shot of the diary in between them to disguise this fact. What's more, I noticed that my arm was visible in the mirror of two of the shots - I shall crop the side of the shot to rectify this. As well as simply putting the shots into an order I added a blue overlay and altered the contrast and exposure to experiment with the appearance of the colours for when I edit the final thing on Final Cut. 

I am planning to film the second half of my music video within the next couple of weeks so I can begin editing my first draft. In the mean time I will begin working on my digipak and continue finding the last few props I need for the ending. 

Below are some stills from the footage I have so far:

FILMING: DAY 1

After deciding to change filming days yesterday due to the weather I chose to film today as the weather looked relatively promising in the morning. However, by midday clouds had formed and rain was imminent which meant I couldn't film outside. I felt it was important to at least get the inside shots done so I definitely had something to work with for the photo stills. I began setting up at around 1:30pm and Heather and Sophie arrived at 2:00pm. I let Heather get dressed into costume and did her make up (making her look tired using eye shadows and foundation). We began filming at around 2:20pm and continued filming until about 4:40pm. As Sophie wasn't in any of the indoor shots she helped me to set the shots up and create Heather's "bruise". I had to abandon the idea of Heather having a scar because we couldn't make it look realistic enough. Instead Sophie created a bruise using eye shadows on Heather's side to imply that something had happened.
Overall I feel that the filming went well and I hope to finish the rest on the second day of filming in the next couple of weeks. Below are some photos of the day.

Filming Update

I've made the decision today to move my filming day as the weather isn't quite right for the shots I want to film. I made a location change to film Sophie's parts at Lenwade (on the bridge) instead of in front of a brick wall as I felt that the bridge was more symbolic of a transition in the narrative. Due to this, I needed a sunny afternoon/evening to film and, as it's been sunny all week, I decided to film today. However, as it's overcast I have taken the option to film either tomorrow or Sunday (weather permitting). It's mainly the scenes with Sophie in that I need to be conscious of as I want them to have a certain lighting and a certain atmosphere about them. The initial scenes with Heather are filmed indoors so the weather doesn't matter as much.

There have also been some changes in my storyboard/narrative as when I was creating my shot list I found that I didn't have time in the song to incorporate all of the different shots and camera angles. So, I have had to get rid of the scene where Heather is given the party invite - instead she already has it. What's more I've had to make the final few shots much shorter as time is very limited towards the end. I can link the faster edited shots to the reduction of time left in Heather's life in the narrative.

Finally, I am yet to purchase a box and source a container of pills. I have a 'back up box' I can use if I can't manage to find a different one but I would like one with a slightly different style. The container of pills is proving more difficult to find as we don't have an appropriate one at home. To resolve this I will ask around to see if anyone has an empty container I could borrow. Other than these two items I have been in contact with Heather and Sophie and managed to get all their costumes sorted. I wanted to make Heather look quite tired using make up but I was unsure of how to do this so I went on YouTube to find a tutorial. I wasn't able to find an appropriate one for this purpose so instead I will attempt to put a small amount of purple eye shadow under her eyes to create the illusion of eye bags. Similarly, I will create the scar on the day using make up.

Full Shot List

Transitions:

The majority of my shots will be straight cuts between shots due to the nature of my music video. However, the shot of Heather laying on the grass with photos around her will be slightly different. I will be doing an extreme close up on the photo and then going into the next shot which will follow on from the still on the floor. To do this I will use a fade transition to make it appear more smooth. The only other different transition I will have is the fade to black at the end of the video. I feel that this will be symbolic of the end of the video and signal a close of the narrative. 

Filming Schedule

I have devised a shooting schedule so I ensure that everything is filmed and that I have all the correct equipment and props with me. Included in my shooting schedule I have a contingency date in case the actors are unable to make it or another situation arises. Both locations are at my house so I can set up the shots quite easily and I already know the restraints of the location (e.g. lighting issues or filming difficulties). As well as the equipment listed I need to have my iPod with the song on so I can time exactly how long each shot should be. 

Contingency Plan

As some of my video will be shot outside I must come up with a contingency plan in the event of rain or another reason why I can't film outside. The scenes where Heather is laying and sitting on the grass outside I will film inside instead and change the end of the video so she doesn't walk downstairs. Instead, the end will be filmed in my room (where she was originally) and I will add more shots of 'Emily' singing at the end to fill the gaps where Heather would have been walking downstairs.
In the scenes where 'Emily' is singing against the brick wall I could also film this inside but film against a black wall. This would be slightly difficult as I would need the correct lighting to make it seem like a studio and not like a black sheet or wall. Hopefully I will be able to film outside for these scenes and as I only need Sophie for these scenes I should be able to change the day if the weather isn't good.

Costume

Aesthetics of the video

After I have filmed and edited the video I have decided to experiment with the hue/filter of the video to give it an added effect. It will depend on how I have shot it, but I think I will use a blue-ish filter over my video to make it seem more sad. Oppositely, I could experiment with grayscale if this suits better. Below I have used a photo of an eye to experiment with different hues, although the eye will be different to filming mid shots and long shots, it will still be effective in showing the hue.

No Effect:

This is the photo of the eye with no effect.

Blue/Yellow Hue:
This is the photo of the eye with a blue/yellow hue over the top. I think it makes the skin look slightly washed out which would work well as Heather is supposed to be ill and therefore pale.

 Yellow Hue:
I added a yellow hue over this photo. I feel that it makes it look too fake and processed so perhaps if I was to do this I might fade the hue slightly so it's not as bright.

 Grayscale:
I like the aged effect that the grayscale has on the eye. The scenes of the past in my music video could be done in grayscale to indicate that it's already happened.

 Sepia:
I don't like the sepia effect on the photo as it makes it look completely processed. I won't be using this in my music video.

 Blue Hue:
I think the blue hue makes the eye look really tired which, again, would work well in my music video. This can definitely be an option for my music video.

Casting: Actresses

 

Heather:
17, Female.
Heather will play the main protagonist of the narrative. She suffers from an illness but is in denial; therefore wants to attend a party that she is invited to. However, as the video progresses her condition is seen to slowly deteriorate - showing she is getting worse again. Hense, when the line "and if I didn't know that you are the one, then the answer to me would be clear" plays I have a shot of Heather writing in her diary - Heather is writing to her illness as she knows that it will only get worse so it could be "the one" relapse where she dies. Heather is available to film during the October half term and is free most weekends should we need to re-film anything.


Sophie:
18, Female.
Sophie will play the role of Emily Denton as Emily doesn't live locally so wouldn't be able to appear in the video. She appears often in the video in front of a brick wall (to convey the isolation and entrapment that Heather feels with her illness) playing her guitar and miming to the track. There will be close, mid and long shots of her so I must ensure she is styled correctly to appeal to the target audience and to fit the theme of the video.


Extras 1, 2 and 3:
17-18, Female.
I will need three extras to play the characters in the video who invite Heather to a party. These characters will almost be the antagonists as they try to persuade Heather to do something she's not comfortable with or opposed to doing (going to the party). When they give her the invite they almost sneer at the fact that they know she can't go. They will only appear in a short part of the video so I will ask my friends to appear.

Reasons behind casting:
Heather featured in my thriller film last year which was shot around the same time as my music video will be shot. I'm aware of her capabilities and I know she will act the role that I give her well. I think she will perform well as the person with an illness as she's able to convey sadness well when she's acting. There wasn't a specific appearance that I wanted when I was looking for someone to cast as the main role but I think Heather's image would suit it well. Her blonde hair makes her seem more innocent and child-like, demonstrating her weaknesses as a character. The make-up I use to make her seem tired will be fitting and the costume choices will reflect her character well. Heather is interested in the same sort of acoustic music so I think her own personality will reflect the genre as well as her character's personality. 
Sophie plays the guitar and is very musical which was my main reasoning for casting her as Emily. I feel that she would be able to perform well and the video will look more effective. Her appearance with dark hair makes her look more mature and older which would set her apart from Heather's character well. There aren't many popular female acoustic artists but I think Sophie's image will reflect the genre well. 
Since completing this post I have decided to discontinue the idea of having extras as I didn't have enough time in the video to have this scene. Therefore, that section is no longer relevant to give reasons for. 

Prop List

'Home' - Emily Denton Storyboard

Final Narrative Idea

After coming up with some initial ideas for my music video, I have finalised them in order for me to begin planning shots, editing and mis en scene. I have decided to have one main character - Heather - she will play the person in the narrative who is facing difficulties. I have decided not to name a specific illness that she faces as I feel that if I was to pick a certain one I would have to ensure I portray the side effects and downfalls correctly - something which would be quite difficult. Instead, I will make her look like tired and "under the weather" to signal to the audience that she isn't herself - thus they could possibly relate it to a situation that they or someone they know has experienced. This ties into the lyrics "But I'm finding it hard to gear myself up, because I haven't been out for a year" and "Even thinking about going out alone makes me want to say 'no, I'm going to stay home'" as Heather has been ill and she hasn't seen many of her old friends for a year - representing her as a social recluse. Additionally, I can include shots of her previously with friends so the juxtaposition in her personality can be seen.

As well as being a narrative based music video I'd like to include some performance elements too. I shall get a second actress to play Emily Denton and perform parts of the song. This will break up parts of the narrative and keep the video from being too repetitive. What's more, this also allows me to create an identity for Emily Denton which will be extended to the Digipak and Advertisement tasks. Below are some quick sketches for shots that I would like to experiment with and include in my music video:

Idea Moodboard / Inspiration

As I have decided to base my music video on someone with some kind of illness I began research on music videos that are already popular based on this topic. It was the editing in Eminem's music video to 3 a.m. which intrigued me as I felt it strongly reflected the mental illness that the main character in the video had. The jumpcuts and transitions between shots convey the characters unsettling thoughts and feelings. Obviously I won't be able to mirror this effect exactly in my music video as this song is of a much faster tempo and it therefore works well, however I can still think about making the editing mirror the characteristics of my character. An idea that I could expand and develop is making the shots longer when the character is feeling weak and tired as it would demonstrate her slow nature. 

 Two shots within the music video that I found interesting can be seen to the left. The first shot inspired me to think about the locations in my own music video. I plan to make a part-performance based music video and, much like Eminem's music video, I want to convey entrapment and isolation with the location of this part of the music video. A forest setting would be ideal because the trees can act as physical and metaphorical barriers - demonstrating my character's battle with the illness she has. Conversely, I could choose to shoot this part of the music video in a small enclosed space such as a brick corridor or a small room. Both of these locations would indicate isolation to the audience.
The second shot that interested me was an out of focus shot of a knife. The composition of the shot has inspired me to think about props that I could use to convey my character's illness and how I could set the shot up to convey this. For example, the fact that this shot is out of focus could be interpreted as the mental illness distorting the main character's view on his own actions. This is because we typically associate blurred vision with someone who is unwell or ill-sighted.

I have previously analysed this music video by P!nk but I feel it's a good narrative example of someone with a mental illness. I thought the narrative in this video was particularly strong - the way that Todorov's narrative structure is followed. The video begins with equilibrium as the main character is shown, it then leads to disequilibrium when the audience learn about her life struggles and finally returns of equilibrium when she gets better.

Two shots that I found particularly inspiring in this music video are to the right. The first is a close up shot of the young girls face. I found this shot interesting because of the filter that's been used in the editing process which gives the video and yellow-ish tint to convey that this happened in the past and that the girl isn't happy. In my video I could experiment with hues and filters to convey a certain emotion - for example using a blue filter to create a sad atmosphere and convey my character's struggle with an illness.
The second shot that I liked was P!nk's performance shot where the video is being projected onto the wall behind her. This was demonstrative of the notion of looking and this is something I really want to include in my music video as it is has appeared in many of the music videos I have studied. What's more, the performance part of this music video is something I want to incorporate into my own music video - meaning I shall cast someone to be Emily Denton to perform along to parts of the song.

Aerosmith's music video to Janie's Got A Gun was different to the other music videos that I have studied for inspiration because the narrative wasn't explicitly focusing on an illness. However, the music video gave me inspiration for shots and also how to balance out the performance with the narrative. I feel that this video was evenly split with around half of it being the narrative and half being the performance. With my music video I think I would like to have slightly less focus on performance due to the fact that some of the song's lyrics do repeat themselves and I don't want to repeat the same shots over and over.

Two shots that I was inspired by in this music video can be seen to the left. The shot of the hand on the floor with the back lighting stood out as it revealed a lot about the narrative in such a short shot. The blue filter on the shot gave a cold and lifeless feel to it which connoted death and sadness. The back lighting placed focus upon the hand and could be seen as a symbol of the life being removed from the person. I'd like to recreate a shot like this within my video as I think it can be applied to almost any illness to convey a weakness within the character.

The second shot is a silhouette of a male's figure. This music video used lighting in a way to portray mystery and darkness  in a way that has inspired me to use lighting in a similar way. The silhouette shots not only convey to the audience that the character is hiding something but they can indicate that they are empty and have lost their identity - something an illness can do to a person.

Next I will begin to plan my music video in more depth thinking about:

• Mise-en-scene - locations, props, lighting etc
• Camera shots and movements
• Editing
• Sounds - not so much this as the sound track I have is already nearly 4 minutes and it will be difficult to continue the narrative for much longer than this time. 

Chosen Song: Lyric Analysis

I'm not going to make it
Life changing event has occurred - cancer/break up/death/drugs.
I'm so tired and I feel frustrated
Drained - can't cope.
Stressing out just trying to face it, but I can't
Facing her problem is difficult - must be a large problem.

I'm rushing to get ready
Not able to move quickly - illness?
When I walk, no, I'm not steady
"I'm not steady" - not used to it, recovering/ill?
Everything I wear feels extra heavy, and I just can't
Weak - drained.

But I'm finding it hard to gear myself up, because I haven't been out for a year
Stressed - isolated/recluse.
And if I didn't know that you are the one, then the answer to me would be clear
Talking about parents/boyfriend/friend/talking to the cancer or illness?

And it's just because I know that I can't do that to myself
Can't put herself at risk - letting herself get ill? Letting herself fall in love?
Even thinking about going out alone makes me want to say "no, I'm going to stay home"
Shy/trapped/isolated/fearful/depressed.

Even thinking about going out alone makes me want to say "no, I'm going to stay home"

Shy/trapped/isolated/fearful/depressed.

I create my own false deadlines
School work - certain date she doesn't want to happen/has forgotten is happening.
It makes no sense when I can't find the time
At home all the time - has an abundance of time? Ironic - has no time left?
To put thoughts down into words and rhyme, like I know how
Writing in a diary. Writing a letter. Writing a book.

But when I take a moment

Step back.
Clear my head and see wide open
Fresh air - bigger picture.
I can see that I'm still broken, but only on the outside
Still ill - deceiving. 

But I'm finding it hard to gear myself up, because I haven't been out for a year

Faced struggles - tired of it.
And if I didn't know that you are the one, then the answer to me would be clear
Talking about parents/boyfriend/friend/talking to the cancer or illness?
And it's just because I know that I can't do that to myself
Can't revert back to old habits - doesn't want to get ill again. 

Even thinking about going out alone makes me want to say "no, I'm going to stay home"

Shy/trapped/isolated/fearful/depressed.

Even thinking about going out alone makes me want to say "no, I'm going to stay home"

Shy/trapped/isolated/fearful/depressed.

Even thinking about going out alone makes me want to say "no, I'm going to stay home"

Shy/trapped/isolated/fearful/depressed.

Even thinking about going out alone makes me want to say "no, I'm going to stay home"

Shy/trapped/isolated/fearful/depressed.