Female Character Role

These are the words that describe how we wanted to represent our main character to the audience:

We thought that we would mainly portray her being melancholic and depressed as her boyfriend broke up with her. We did this so our audience would be able to identify themselves and this is what stereotypical teenage girls would act if their boyfriend breaks up with them. Also we want the female character role to match with meaning of the song because we want our audience to see what the song is about. 

The female character is portrayed as modern by using latest technologies and also the latest fashion trends. This is because we want to show that she is not different from other people. It also implies that she likes to get in contact with her friends which is what stereotypically most teenagers do these days.

We have decided to use mascara and false eyelashes as part of the props because we want to portray that she is just like any other teenage girls. It also implies that she is trying to cover up all of her problems by putting make up on and changing herself.

Additional Screenshots from Party Scene

We have used the Hall as our location because it contains the lighting that we need to portray the "disco" atmosphere and also it is the shortest and easiest way we could get my group, the main characters and other people. Our first idea was to have an indoor house party but the characters can't get to the location that we want so we decided to do this instead. It was easy for us to get people ebcause they have free times and also we chosed the people that knows how to dance as we don't want our disco scene to get ruined. At the start of the disco scene we have used upbeat and mainly recent music because we want to match the characters happy and lively mood. Also the characters will be able to dance with the songs. The  upbeat and recent songs that we have used are:

•  Whistle - Flo Rida
• Low - Flo Rida
• Pass Out - Tinie Tempa
• Gangnam Style

At the end of the disco scene where it goes from past to present, we ahve used slow tempo music such as I'm yours by Jason Mraz. We have used this song so it reflects on her melancholic mood and it also implies that she still thinks that her ex wants her back and she hasn't moved on from him yet.

These are the still shots from the party scene:

This is a screenshot from the first part of party scene and it contains past and present memories. Our first idea was to have the female dancing with her ex but we decided to dance with her friend instead because it portrays that her boyfriend doesn't want her anymore and this is the reason why he dances with another girl. However, the female character doesn't realise that her boyfriend is about to break up with her so she is still having fun at the start of this scene. Also we have used the long/mid shot because we want to show the female having fun but also the male dancing with another woman. We have cropped this video clip into a small one because there was a big gap of light which ruins the whole "disco"  atmosphere and also the hall doesn't look empty. The first disco scene is going to be an normal clip because we want to match the up beat tempo of the song but the disco scene at the end will be in slow motion because the tempo of the song is quite slow and it also matches the melancholic mood of the song. We are going to add a timecode at the bottom right of the screen so it ilpies that this is part of the past memories.

This is the part where she is stood on her own in the corner and remembers her past memories. We have decided to place her at the corner as we want portray her being isolated from everyone in the hall. There is a close up shot of the female's face ovarlapping with the mid shot of her face. We have used this effect to match with her melancholic feelings and the meaning of the song. This also implies that her bad memories are starting to fade away and she will be able to move on. We have used close up shots and mid shots on this part because we want the audience to focus more on her facial expressions so they will be able to reflect with her feelings and it makes them to feel sympathise on her situation.

After showing the past memories of her having a good time, we decided to portray her being lonely as we want to show that this is the part of her present. We have placed the female character at the centre of the frame as we want her to stand from the crowd and the audience. The lighting also helps this as she is stood where the spotlight is shined on. We have kept this part in low key lighting as we want to reflect it on her melancholic mood. We have used a slow tempo music such as I'm Yours by Jason Mraz because we want the song to match with her lonely feelings. It will also make the audience to identify themselves within that situation because stereotypically, girls expresses their emotion because of the song that they listen to.  

This is flashes back again from her past memories where her ex is about to break up with her. We have used the lighting on them and placed them at the centre of the lighting because we want the audience to focus on them. It also implies that the female is thinking that her boyfriend might be proposing on her. We have made our characters to wear something white on them as we want to portray their innnocence and purity. We did not use any of the music in the background to put an enigma to the audience as they might think the same way as the female.

We wanted to show the guy walking off first as we want the female character to stay where she is stood at so the audience will feel sympathis on her even more. This also shows what a stereotypical man would do to their relationship and it is mainly them who breaks up with their girlfriends. The female that still stood on the spotlights implies that she can't believe her boyfriend did this to her and also maybe he decided to come back to her again.

We have made the female character to walk in the opposite direction to where her ex walks off to as we want to portray her trying accept the fact that her ex doesn't want her anymore. Her face looking down towards the floor implies that she is broken hearted which makesthe audience to identify on her situation and feel sorry for her.  

Day 4 - Filming

We went to Market Rasen Train Station today to do some filming for the second verse of our music video. The weather was alright but it was quite windy so we need to hold on tighter to the tripod as we had the lightweight one. We took different shot types so that we can use it for our music video and it doesn't look boring for the audience to watch it. Also, while we was filming, we had to make sure that we filmed more than once so we can choose the other one if one of the shots are not up to the standard we want it to be.

The female artist was wearing the white top and skinny jeans she have worn before. This is because we want to show the continuity on our music video. All she did was walking across the rail tracks and sat on the bench looking melancholic. We did this because we want to link it back with the lyrics "But I'm waiting for my morning train".

Shooting Schedule - Party Scene

We have filled in a shooting schedule form so my group knows when we are going to film next and it helps us what props/equipment we are going to take which will save us time for getting more footage.

Shooting Schedule - Party Scene from Khem Slawson

Additional Risk Assessment

This is the risk assessment form for the party scene which is located in the Hall. We filled in a form so we won't put our group and other people's health at danger.

Risk Assessment from Khem Slawson

Additional Ideas (Storyboard)

This is a picture of the storyboard that we our going to add in our music video.

These are still shots from our storyboard in closer view:

We have chosen to have this scene at the start of second chorus on the song. The first shot will be a close up shot of the female stood at the beach looking through the photos on her phone. Then one of the photos that she will see is from the party scene with her ex boyfriend having a good time. This relates back to the theme of being "heartbroken" as she remembers her past with him. We chose to do it from a high angle so the audience can see what she is looking at the phone. We decided to do it for 4 seconds because if we leave it for too long then the audience will get bored. The second shot will be a flashback of the party scene with her ex, this is the party that one of the photos she has got on the phone. It will be taken in long shot to show the location and the characters having fun and dancing around. It will have a black and white effect to show that it is part of the past memories.

The third shot is going to be a mid shot of the couple to show that they are together. Also we want the main characters to stand out to the audience eyes so they will focus on them more. We only have it for two seconds to show a quick shot of them being lively and happy. The next shot is going to be a close up shot of the female stood up on her own and looks like she is about to cry as we want to isolate her from other people. Also we did it this way to show to our audience how sad and melancholic she is. By doind this, it will help the viewers to identify and recognise her situation and it will make them sympathise on her. We are going to use a slow motion effect throughout this scene because we want to match the slow tempo of the chorus and this is what we normally see in Pop genre music videos.

The next shot will be a long shot to show the male and female walking in separate ways. We are going to use this shot because we want the audience to see how the main characters are walking in different directions. After for two seconds, we are going to zoom out slowly from that scene and then move into the scene where she was stood at the beach. We are going to use this camera technique because it implies that it is like the memories is fading away. The last shot will be the first scene of the female looking down on her phone. We did it this way so it is clear to the audience that this is just part of the memories and she just remembered her past because she saw one of the photos with her ex. She will then delete the photo that she has got on the phone so she will be able to move on from him.The last scene will not have a black and white effect as we want to match it from the first scene and we only use the black and white because we want to portray that the party scene is about the past.

We will be going to do some filming about this scene on 19th Oct. 2012 and it will be held at the hall because it will be the shortest location that we will be able to go to and that is the only free time that my group and the actors have.

Filming Ideas

We have been researching on the internet about different music videos but mainly focusing on Pop genre so we could get some ideas and maybe use it in ours. One of the song we have found is called Gone by Nsync and it was released on 4th Septer 2001. It is Pop and RnB which is the type of genre that we are doing for our music video.  The narrative of this music video is mainly how the male character is being melancholic about her ex girlfriend left him and how he needs to accept the fact that she is gone. However, it also portrays happy past memories of him and her ex girlfriend by showing both of them on his ex girlfriend's birthday party. This has similiraties with our music video because we have decided  in our group to use some of the scenes such as parties.

This is a flashback of him and his ex girlfriend having a good time. As we can see on this scene, her eyes is looking at different direction which shows that she is smiling at his boyfriend. They took it in mid shot which helps the audience to identify the location. The female is wearing white top which reflects back to the type of character she is because white connotes as purity and innocence. As we can see there aren't any shadows on the background which implies that they took it during daytime which is kind of high key lighting. This also matches to the mood that the characters are in as they are having a good time.

This is a mid shot of Justin Timerlake which is the male character throughout the music video. As we can see, they have used black and white effect which reflects back to his emotions of being lonely and melancholic. They also filmed at a bedroom which portrays that this is the bed that they both slept on. The use of lighting is very effective as it is making shadows on the background which also relates back to the atmosphere he is in because he is feeling down and his world is like falling apart. The bed with the male character on his own emphasise him as being isolated from every one else as he does not want to talk to anyone about what he feels inside.

This is where they have introduced the band members of NSYNC and also show Justin Timberlake.They are all wearing black which implies that his ex might have died from accident and now he is grieving  because black connotes as death. Black also connotes as evil which implies that the male character is treating her bad and that is why his girlfriend left him and broke up with him. The male character on the left, looks down which implies that he is upset and lonely.

This is the scene where the male character used to paint his ex's nails which gives a romantic feelings to the audience especially on women. This is also high key lighting which matches to their lively mood. The male character is wearing white top matches his attitude because white connotes as purity and innocence.

This is a flashback during his ex's birthday party. The female putting some icing on the male's nose implies that she is making fun of him but at the same time she is being sweet. This is stereotypically what couple's would do to it each when their is icing. By portraying this scene, it makes their audience to identify themselves in that situation as they might have been through it as well. The use of mid shot is also showing the kitchen and their friends having fun with them.

These are close up shots of the male and female being happy during the party. The high key lighting also emphasises the atmosphere that they are both in. They have picked the right actor for the main characters because they are both good looking and excellent at expressings different emotions.  

  

They have used generic conventions of romance as they have portrayed it on this scene. as we can see, the male is putting on a necklace around her neck which is stereotypically what a guy would buy for his girlfriend. They have used a hig key lighting as well on this one which matches to the couple's feelings.

This is also a flashback as part of the past memories that he has got with her. The use of mise-en-scene is very effective because it reflects back on the character's attitude. For example, at the end of the clip they have the couple wearing  white top which connotes as innoncence and purity. It implies that both of them are showing each other's real feelings and having fun being together. The use of long shot and mid shot also helps to establish the location and their facial expressions.

Conclusion:

Overall, I think that this video is good and they keep the audience insterested by having a good looking characters. Also the narrative of this music video is straight forward which is easy for the audience to understand. After looking at this, we decided as a group to have a party in ours but we are going to change it a little bit by having it in a club instead of house party. This is because most of the teenagers likes to go to the club more and it also helps to target our main audience. Also we have similiarities between our music videos as we have used the black effect in some parts of our music video so it portrays the times passing by and in this video they have used it throughout which matches the emotion of the male and the whole meaning of the song. In my opinion, we have mainly met the generic conventions of Pop such as using close up shots and mid shots more so it focuses on the characters feelings.

Screenshots from our Music Video

These are some screenshots that we have got from our current music video. 

We used a close up shot of her looking out the window because we wanted to make the audience look at her facial expressions. As we can see, she is looking out the window which implies that she is hoping for him to come back but he never does. We  placed the female character on the side so we would be able to include the white orchids on the windowsill because it connotes as purity and also stereo-typically most girls like flowers. It also signifies that the orchids is from her ex and it hasn't died yet.

This is an extreme close up shot of the female character looking through the photos on her phone. We decided to take it from a low angle so we can see how sad her face is and how she misses her ex boyfriend. The female is wearing red lipstick as it connotes as love and romance which matches the genre that our music video is based on.

This scene is where she is sat on the sofa feeling lonely and melancholic. We took it from a low angle and use extreme close up shot so it focuses on her emotions which makes the audience sympathies on her and they would feel the same way as her. She had false eyelashes on as the female lead singer from the original music video uses it so we decided to keep it the same.

 

This is where female character is getting ready, we took it from a high angle so the audience can still see some parts of her face. This is also to keep our music video interesting. We decide to take a shot of her brushing her hair and facing in the mirror because stereo-typically  female's always brushes their hair to looks good. It also signifies that even though she is heartbroken she still wants to look good.

 

This is a long shot of the female stood near the window, we did this because we want to establish to our audience where she is at and the objects that are in the living room. We decided to do it in this living room because it has got red curtains and sofa which connotes as love and romance. It also matches to the theme of our music video. 

This is when the female is walking away and looking through the photos of her and ex on the phone. We decided to do this scene as we want to show that she misses him but in order to move on from him, she deletes the photo that she has got with him. We decided to use a panning shot on this so the audience can see where she is going and the parts of the beach.

Our first idea was to have just a white top but we decide to use white silky gown on the female as it connotes as innocence which is the type of character we want to portray. Also we want to show that she just get up so we believe that the night gown would be suitable as this is what a female would wear when she is going to sleep. The female her holding down her neck implies that she is still upset and heartbroken.

We use the beach as part of the location because this is where a couple would normally go to and hang out. This is the scene where she is sat next to her ex's jacket, thinking that her ex is with him. This implies that the female misses her ex and she hasn't moved on yet. The location also matches the scene as she is isolated from every one else which makes her think even more about him and their past.

 

We decided to use a mid shot of her getting up to show her body gesture. As we can see, it looks like that she doesn't want to get up but she has. This implies that she has to move on by herself which reflects to the title "On My Own". The cream/ivory bedroom and bed sheets matches the clothing of the female. It also reflects back to the type of female character is.

 

We decided to take it from a low angle to show her face looking down. We also want to portray to our audience how depress she is which also relates back to the theme of heartbroken. We used natural daylight because we want to portray that this is part of every day life. This is the scene where is about to get the photo album under the table which shows the memories with her, friends and family.

 

We decided to take it in this room because the walls are white which makes our music video looks formal and professional. And also our target audience is for middle age which is white would be suitable for them. The room is also neat which shows that women are stereo-typically likes cleaning the house and making sure that everything is tidy and neat.

 

We decided to have a close up shot of her face on this one as we want to show to the audience what she is doing. The make up is also essential to most of the teenage girls so we decided to use it so she is not different from the other girls. It also implies that she is trying to cover her problems by putting up the make up on and changes herself.

 

We decided to use a phone as a prop because we want to portray that she is modern because nowadays everyone has phones and this is stereo-typically what the teenage girls do. We decided to use a mid shot as well because we want to show the beach because it would be nice for portraying isolation from everyone. We decide to do this in daytime because it would be easier for us to film this scene.

We decided to use the egg timer because it connotes as passing time. This is something that you can never get back and this also matches with the female’s situation because she can never get her old memories back that's why she has to move on. It will be placed on a windowsill at the living room. We was going to have the a clock but we wanted something different so we decided to use the egg timer.

 

We decided to do a tilt shot of this scene because we want to show the stairs and also some parts of the female so the audience can see how this song is related to the female. Also it matches the lyrics "Is this the right road to take?". The female is sat on the stairs which implies that she needs to go outside and freshens her mind as she may not be able to handle the problems she has got. Also, it signifies that she might be waiting for her ex to come back to her which he never did. This relates back to the theme of heartbroken.

Conclusion:

Overall, I think that we have used and met most of the generic conventions of love/romance theme. For example, portraying the female being melancholic and heartbroken. We also used the generic conventions of locations as we used the park and beach, which is the place where the couples would normally hang out and go for a date. We also made the scenes to match with the lyrics so it would help the audience to identify the whole meaning of the song. We also used generic conventions of pop music, as we have used mostly close up shots and mid shots to show the characters portraying different expressions and their movements. Also  the paced of the songs matches the pace of our editing. For example, we use dissolves when it is slow paced and if there is an upbeat/fast beat, we made the scenes to come up faster. We have kept the characters modern by using latest phones and latest fashion trends so our target audience would be able to identify themselves in our music video because nowadays, the teenagers get the latest phones and they are kept up to date with the latest fashion trends.

Day 3 - Filming

Today, we did some filming on the party scene for the second chorus of the song. We have to gather Sixth Form students who can dance because we want it to look crowded and nice because if we some people who can't dance, then it might put the audiences off. The concept of having a party reflects on the audience because this is what teenagers mostly do on their spare time. The filming took some time to finish because our group didn't have time to pick some up beat songs beforehand so it took awhile to find the right song so the people have the mood to dance.

Overall, the filming was successful and we took a lot of footage that we could choose for putting in our music video.

Feedback from our current music video

This screenshot was taken during showing our current music video to the whole class.

Advantages:

• They said that we have picked the right actor for the female character as she was good at portraying her role. For example, the female was good at portraying melancholic and lonely throughout the music video and it made our audience to sympathies at her and identify themselves in the situation she is in.
• One of the audience said that we have picked the beach as the right location for isolating the female character.
• The narrative and performance based was clear.
• Good at picking different locations which matches to romance/ love theme of our music video and keeps it interesting. For example, the living room with red curtains and sofa connotes as love which matches the theme of our music video.
• Excellent use of mise-en-scene  and connotations such as the female character's clothing throughout the music video. We have used white top and gown because we wanted to portray her innocence and purity.  Also the black jacket implies that every one have two different sides. She is also wearing the latest fashion trends which makes the audience feel that they are the same.
• A wide range of different camera shots and techniques to keep the music video interesting. Also they are suitable for each scenes such as close up shots to focus on her melancholic expressions so the audience focuses on her more.
• Good use of editing and effects such as dissolves which matches the slow paced of the song. And also it implies that as time goes by the bad memories will fade away.

Disadvantages:

• One of the student said that we need to split one of the clips because it's long and it doesn't make it look boring to watch.
• We need to use fast cuts as well because the song has up beat tempo.
• There is a scene where we cut to early and we need to stretch it a little bit more.
• There was too much of showing the female character which would it look boring for the audience to watch. Therefore, we need to introduce the male character as well.

Conclusion:

Overall, I think that we had a good feedback from everyone in our class and we have decided as a group to do some changes in our current music video so it looks even better. My group and I needs to do more filming this weekend to fill in the gaps. We need to film the female getting ready and the beach scene were she is sat next to her ex jacket which is part of the narrative in our music video.

Additional Editing

2nd Editing

This is a screenshot of the amount that  we have been editing so far. These are the effects that we have used so far are in some clips:

• additive dissolve
• fade through transparent - so it matches the slow paced of the song and  it implies that all the bad things happened in her past will disappear slowly.  
• sepia - to show to the audience that it is old and it matches the lyrics of the song which is "And the night is young, but time is old".
• black and white effects - this is to reflect back to the female's emotion and it shows the time passes by.

We are going to film this weekend to finish off most of the scenes for our music video. 

3rd Editing 

This is a screenshot of editing that we have got so far.

We have nearly finished editing and putting small clips into whole music video. Also we changed some of the edits we have done before because it is one of the improvements we need to do. All we need to film is the narrative part where the female and her ex are on the beach and park. This is to show as part of her memories and we also needs to do the party scene as well with her friends and ex in the hall.

4th Editing

We have added more clips at the beginning of the song because we thought that it would be too long for putting the title in. At the start of the song, the tempo is fast so we thought we would use short clips that lasts for a second or so. Within that clips, we are going to use two different scenes and split it into smaller sections so it flashes back to one another. We also overlapped some of the clips so it creates an effect that would keep our target audience interested. There are some scenes that the effects have been deleted and changed it into something else because we thought that it would not look good and it doesn't match to the meaning of the song. We also want to keep the effects simple because we wanted to match it with the main character's attitude.

These are the effects we have used so far:

• Black and white - to portray that time passes by so quick.
• Fade through transparent - so it matches the slow paced of the song and it implies that all the bad things happened in her past will disappear slowly.
• Sepia - to show to the audience that it is old and it matches the lyrics of the song which is "And the night is young, but time is old".