2. Mise-en-scene planning
It is important for us to establish the different characters, location and costumes we plan to use in
our music video to help us with our planning stage and ensure that filming process will be easier.
For example, since we are choosing an R&B genre we must consider the conventional props which
would ideally be used in R&B music videos and decide to what extent we would like to incorporate
these in our video. Having said this, aspects such as dressing provocatively – as seen in our
Polldaddy survey answers – is discouraged and seen as inappropriate.
We, as a group, also agree with this and believe that instead of complying to the conventional
dressing of women and even men which follows this ‘Notion of Looking’ identified by Goodwin we
will reject this. Thus, for clothing, we plan to have more of a cute style and a sophisticated dress
sense. As for the location, as seen in our Polldaddy survey, ‘street’, ‘park’ and ‘house’ are the most
desirable and realistic locations to film in. Due to the weather during the time we plan on filming,
we believe a park may not be the ideal option however we have decided to stick to the remaining
conventions and will take the information collected from the Polldaddy survey into careful
consideration.
3. Casting
Elijah - The character we have created as our artist is called Elijah. He will be
played by Tariq. We believe he fits very well with the role as the he dresses
very similar to the brand identity we have created collectively for ‘Elijah’. In
addition to his sophisticated dress sense we also believe that since he seems
older than his age, the music and visuals will match up well.
Justine - Justine is the character we have created as the girlfriend of Elijah.
The majority of the narrative sequence will be shots of her and we will ensure
she dresses in a cute and casual but semi-sophisticated way. Justine is being
casted by Analayah. We believe she is the best person to cast for this role
since she and Tariq are good friends and we believe that this will make
recording footage easier and the clips will seem more natural as opposed to
posed and unnatural. We aim to dress her in an ‘up-to-date’ way which fits in
with the conventional dress sense of our target audience.
4. Elijah (casting: Tariq)
Tariq will be dressed in his usual clothes which is slightly casual but also
sophisticated (as mentioned before). His usual style consists of a black trench coat,
black trousers or jeans, a simple top and potentially a chain.
We will be filming multiple different scenes and have thus set out several different
outfits for Tariq:
Outfit 1: casual outfit for the ‘memories’ scenes with Ana. This would essentially
consist of jeans, a top and a chain.
Outfit 2: slightly more formal to show a variety of memories and convey the idea that
they have been on numerous dates, numerous times and things are serious (this
narrative will be important in introducing the disequilibrium towards the end)
Outfit 3: dark colors for when Tariq is walking and singing – the dark colors will reflect
and foreshadow the death of his girlfriend which will be revealed at the end of the
sequence.
6. Justine (casting: Analayah)
Analayah will be dressed in a very modern and fashionable way (as mentioned
before). We hope to replicate the dress sense of teenagers in everyday life that
fall under our target audience. This is because we want the audience members
(who are watching the music video) to sympathise with the character and the
best way to do this is to equate her with the audience members. If she dresses
like them, she will be more relatable and the effect on the audience when she
dies will be more severe – thus clearly conveying the message of the story.
Justine will be dressed in two different outfits:
Outfit 1: casual out for the memories with Elijah (as mentioned previously)
Outfit 2: a semi-smart and slightly more sophisticated outfit (with the same
motive as Elijah’s outfit no. 2 previously mentioned)
8. Mood board of ideas
Autumn leaves
Woolly hats/scarves – theme of Christmas
Central London – South Kensington and Harrods
Christmas lights
Couple walking
Couple on date – potentially a coffee shop
Mistletoe – reinforce this theme of love
Winter Wonderland
Rain – pathetic fallacy
Christmas tree/presents/décor etc
Dark coloured clothing as contrast (to foreshadow death)
Roses – contribution to the plot
10. Streets
The primary location we intend on using for the majority of our music video is the
streets in greater London. We plan on filming around the Hillingdon borough and
specifically around the inside roads of the area of Ruislip and Ruislip Manor.
The streets are where we will have the performance aspect of the video – i.e.
Elijah singing the lyrics to the song as well as simply walking. The shots we plan
on using will consist mainly of close ups since this is a common convention in
music videos and thus we must adhere to this.
We have decided to adapt elements of the actual music video that has been
chosen (see on the next slide).
Also, we have decided to contrast these performance clips from the memories
and have therefore decided to do the narrative and performance at two different
locations to show a contrast and allow audience members to be able to
differentiate between the two locations and times of when the story is set.
11. Street-walking in Kwabs’ Perfect Ruin
These are screenshots from the actual music video of the song we are using. We intend on copying this
style as we have noticed from our real media research that close ups are a common convention.
12. Central London
At the time that we plan on filming, there will be a significant amount of Christmas lights and the
Christmas theme will be prominent thus helping to set the scene. Our primary location will be South
Kensington as we believe there is a significant amount that we can film at this location. Around
Christmas time, there will be an ice rink outside the natural history museum, Harrods is close by,
there are cute dessert shops and coffee shops and it is convenient to get there.
In addition to all of these elements, the lights on the Harrods building and the Christmas street lights,
we believe, will contribute to a really romantic and cute Christmas vibe helping to aid our narrative
and really set the scene.
Furthermore, we believe that including London despite the time of the year will give the music video
a more sophisticated look. However, again we must be weary that we aren’t offending anyone by
filming them or having them in the background of the shot. Thus we will need their consent.
13.
14. Coffee Shop
We have chosen a coffee shop for one of our locations as we
believe it not only fits well with the storyline but also adds a
sense of normality and thus verisimilitude. Similar to the effect
of the how Analayah will be dressed in a very up-to-date and
fashionable way, we hope that people will be able to relate to
the coffee shop as it is a common location for dates.
However, again we must be weary of the surroundings and
ensure that we seek permission from those in the coffee shop
if they are in the shot as well as the staff before filming since
this will be in a public area.
15. Graveyard
The graveyard will be featured at the end of the music video.
Considering the weather in the UK is generally very cloudy and
grey, we are hoping that when we film the graveyard part, we can
use this to our advantage. Since we are aware of the effect of
‘pathetic fallacy’ we hope to incorporate this from the weather
during this scene but also potentially throughout the other scenes.
Though our plans may change, we plan on filming either the
entrance of PINNER CEMETARY or RUISLIP CEMETARY.
We want to avoid entering the actual cemetery since we believe
filming inside is disrespectful and inconsiderate. It may also cause
problems with offended members of the public. We therefore hope
the footage we get will make it obvious enough that it is a
graveyard.
16. Lighting
As previously mentioned, we intend on taking advantage of the typical
British weather and hope to film the street/performance parts of the
music video during this time. The light will be symbolic to the ‘guidance’
he has and ‘clarity’ in Elijah’s thoughts as he has come to terms with the
death. However, it can also be seen as using the element of ‘pathetic
fallacy’ as the weather can be compared to the death or rather
foreshadow it therefore hinting to the audience the disequilibrium that is
to come.
The dark/low-key lighting will be used in the memories scenes when Elijah
will be remembering all the memories he had with his girlfriend. Though it
will be filmed in the evening, the artificial lighting from the shops, street
lights, Christmas lights and cars will give the scenes a more light-hearted
and romantic feel as opposed to harsh and entirely dark lighting which
may come across as scary, eerie and slightly ominous.
