PLAN FOR CHRISTMAS

We will be shooting the middle or the disequilibrium part of our music video by 19th and 20th of December. The shots angles or the shots will consist of:

• From a blurry shot to a focus
• Extreme close-up on the face
• Blurred light
• Time lapse
• Sky shot
• Focus
• Pan

We have planned to shoot the beginning and the end of the video. We will start editing our video when we get back to school.

CHANGES

We have made changes to the storyline:

The story is still going to be based on friendship however instead of having 3 characters, we will be having two characters- one good and one bad. We are going to show the journey of two friends who have  chosen to follow different paths in life. Throughout the video we are going to show the breaking point of their friendship.

Our video is going to be about two best friends who have been friends for a long period of time. One of the friend decides to joins a new group of young people/ friendship group. We are going to have a a villain and hero in our video. Levi Strauss argues that we determine the hero or villain by the opposites. In our music video, there will be a clear distinction between who is bad and who is good. We are going to demonstrate the different representations of youth. This includes how the media demonises the youth.

Instead of just showing the bad side of youth as most media does, we are also going to show the good side. We are going to show the bad character (Sara) by showing how the media represents the youth and the good side by showing the different character (Bahja) doing the the opposite.

One of the characters is going to be rebellious, after joining the other group. This will be shown by  breaking the law, go clubbing, drinking as well as taking drugs (which is the usual stereotype of youth in the media). In contrast we are going to show the hero doing all the things that are not shown on the media- she's going to be presented as a good strong girl and resistant to pressure.

We have decided to start the video with the ending scene however we have made a slight change to our storyline. Instead of having friends meeting and discussing about their friendship, we are going to show two friends who have ended in two different paths and whether they would like to continue with their friendship.

SHOT IDEAS:

Here are some inspirations that we got from some music videos. We liked these shots as we would be portraying these kind of emotions in our music videos.

We liked this shot of ASAP Rocky as it shows that he has been or is hallucinating. We would have a scene of Sara, (the character who turns from good to bad by making new friends) of being under the influence of taking drugs. However, we would not be showing drugs but using the lights to symbolise the she has been taking drugs.

We liked these shots of Blonde from her music video 'I Loved You More'. We liked these shots as it shows how unhappy and uncomfortable she is being around her friend. We also liked the second shot as it shows the lack of attention she is giving Blonde. These are the kind of shots that we wanted to use for our music video as we would be showing how one of the characters (Bahja) trying to accustom to what her friend (Sara) becomes.

We also liked this shot as it shows her dream verses reality. This is what we want to illustrate in our music video as we want to show how one of the character (Sara) changes. When looking in the mirror, she would be seeing what she had or what she wanted to become but in reality she is far from her dreams.

Research

To create the CD cover I searched the CD Cover size specifications and these were the sizes for real music Cd's, 4.75 inches square. Real printed designs include bleed, the "bleed area" is an extra 1/8" of space for backgrounds to extend beyond the finished size of the CD.

Editing Practice Shots

This is the clip that we filmed at school.  We wanted to add a sky shot to help set the mood in our music video and also show a change.

Today we played around with Final Cut Pro. We sped up the time so that the clouds could move faster and also show the transition from day to night. I also changed the colour of the clip so that it does not look simple or boring. 

This clip is helpful as we can use this same clip for our actual music video and use different colours to express the mood.

angles and effects from Bahja on Vimeo.

This is a also another clip that we played around with on Final Cut Pro. We looked at music videos such as WSTRN- IN2 and used it as an inspiration for our music video. We did not want our video to look exactly like the In2 video so we used other effects. We changed the colour into black and white. However, we came to a conclusion that we did not like this effect.

PRODUCTION/PRACTISE ...

On the 15 November 2015, we started to film our first scene however, we have decided to re-do the scene on the 29th November.

We felt that some of the videos were not focused, but we decided to use the footage to practice our split screen, which worked out well. Also, we decided to use some of the videos for fillers in the video.

Also, we realised that we needed to add a few more shots:

• The two characters walking into the screen- this is because we found it difficult to end the video as it did not make any sense. So therefore we added a different shot at the end of this clip.
• Real text from third character (pov shot)

MALE GAZE - THEORY LESSON

The male gaze is a concept by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey. It refers to the way visual arts are structured around a male viewer. It describes the tendency in visual culture to depict the world and women from a male point of view and in terms of men's attitudes (as mentioned on the video). 

The male gaze theory illustrates how we live in a patriarchal society and that men are more dominant and are seen as more 'active' in comparison to women who are seen as 'passive'.

In our music video we have decided to contradict the male gaze theory. The fact that the male characters outnumber the female characters in modern media text, we have decided that there would be little to no male characters in our music video to empower women. 

The two distinct mode of male gaze is voyeuristic and fetishistic. Mulvey argue that women where given two characters types a sexually active female character and a powerless women.however in our music video the female characters would be portrayed as being very powerful.

In our video we will be aware of how we shoot our female characters. We will not do close-up body shots like this:

Nor this ...

We will have more close-ups of their faces rather than their bodies. 

We will also make sure that the female characters aren't explicit with their costume. 

FILMING SCHEDULE /PLANS OF SHOTS ...

Shots for the 12/11/15

Haggerston school

 Sky Shot

                                                 For time lapse Show emotions of characters 

  Shots for the 15/11/15

First scene where the two villain like characters get text, but audience are unaware from who. Becomes split screen allowing the audience to believe they are meeting each other. Then they meet third character, the the clip reverses. 

Shots for 19/11/15

Filler shots

Props = Newspapers

   Mask 

Various angles, mainly high angle shots 

12/12/15

This is where the two villain characters convince the third character to rob a store. This is for immediate gratification, not thinking about the consequences. This is also where the third character sees she doesn't want part in this rebellious life. 

Characters= Bahja,Sara,Funmi, Fatima

Props= Bat, Knuckle buster,Mask

3/12/15

This is where we are going to do fast shots, of people in white mask and black clothes, to represent youth being seen as a collective. Then they will take off their mask and costume revealing their own styles etc ... showing that youth aren't the same. 

Location= Haggerston Hall & Tunnel in Shoreditch

Characters= Collective of Haggerston students

Props= Mask 

PITCH/CLASS PRESENTATION

THEORIES THAT LINKS TO OUR VIDEO...

These are the following theories that would be featuring or appearing in our music video.


Levi Strass argues that we determine the hero or villain by the opposites. In our music video, there will be a clear distinction between who is bad and who is good.






Richard Dyer's study about representation links heavily to our music video as we demonstrate the different representations of youth. This includes how the media demonises the youth as well as how they are in reality.

 
In our music video, we will be contradicting Mulvey's study about 'male gaze' as there would be limited amount of male characters in our music video as our music video focuses on 3 female friends.

TEASER VIDEO

Here is a feel for what our music video will be like. Showing the negative side of youth. Doing this helped us, as we now know to do more shots, and close-ups. This was team effort and fun to do.

While filming we found it hard as we didn't really plan what exactly what to film. so now we know the importance of scheduling and planning what shots to do. Also we wish we had done shorter shots, as while editing we realised it was really hard to cut the shots up, to hit the beat of the song, so will take this in consideration while filming.

It was really hard filming as having to wait for people to walk past, waiting for cars to drive by, as we were filming on a small road.

The characters enjoyed playing the role, having fun playing around. We didn't make the filming so seriously as we wanted to try it our and just see how it feels to do close-ups and stuff. We feel it went really well.

Enjoy ...

CASTING CHARACTER DECISION ...

Younger versions of characters 

here are to of the younger characters in our video. We are still looking for a third child, as we want the characters to look realistic. 

Main Characters

Here are the three main characters in the video. 

There will also be a group of people for the mask shots. They will be made up of a variety of students in our sixth-from. Both genders and different races. 

MAKEUP PROPS AND HOW COSTUMES MAY VARY...

This is  costume  we are wearing in our video when the characters are portraying the darker side of youth showing their rebel and dark side. The costume shows how the younger generation is portrayed in the media. We chose a red mask because red symbolizes danger. We chose to wear mask to hide our identity.

We chose to wear black because the colour black conveys invisibility,  the unknown. Creating mystery.  The media portrays the youth as rebellious, disrespectful, aggressive. They show young people in a negative way. We all wore black to show how the media portray youth.

In our video we will have a group of young people wearing all black with mask, making them look like a collective all look the same. Showing no individuality. Then they will take off the black clothes and mask dressed as themselves, we want to show that the media only shows one side of young people, we aren't the same and we never will be. We have our own voices, styles and views of society. 



We decided to include the baseball bat and the knuckle buster because to portray  how teens as reckless and short tempered. Not thinking about consequences for using these harmful objects. 

While we are filming other parts of the video, the costume will change, the characters will be wearing more hipster like clothes. As shown in the pictures. We choose these clothes because in our areas we have chosen to film this is what typically people wear. And looking at dance videos this is the costume they wear so we have decided to follow this convention. 

We have decided to use skateboards and roller skates as a prop. 

In our video the characters will be wearing minimal make-up. We don't want to focus on beauty or anything around the topic. We want the characters to look like everyday young people. The picture demonstrates what we are talking about. 

COMMENTS ON YOUTUBE ...

PRACTISE SHOTS ...

                            

Here are some practice shots we did during school. We wanted to experiment with different shots, angles, lighting and focusing. As we were in school we didn't film in exciting areas. hope you enjoy and ignore sara's stupidity :D

WHY WE THINK THIS VIDEO WILL BE SUCCESSFUL ...

Our video is based on real life issues, what young people really think about. It's a stage of life where your still finding yourself, at time your friends play a big influence in your lives. So we believe our video will be relatable to our audience.  Our video is non linear adding enigma to our video, the audience will want to know why they all meet in the beginning.

Even though our video is about a  life issue we feel as the song is upbeat and we will be filming in fascinating locations, it will never bore the audience.  We will show emotions through our visuals, such as young people playing, groups of people skateboarding showing community, reflecting the mood of the song.

Unlike conventional dance videos where their are groups of people dancing. We have decided to have shots of groups of people wearing all black with white mask. To show the subliminal message of our video, that young people are marginalized and portrayed as bad in society and this is done through media, mainly in shows and music. We want the people to take off the mask and show that they have their own individual identify, not just what is given to them.

We feel this will make our video successful as most of the time there isn't really a voice for the youth.

OUR VIDEO- LINKED TO THEORY...

At the beginning of our music video it will start off with all three characters meeting at Liverpool Street , we have decided to use the idea of a split screen like in the 'Emotion' by Destiny Child, all coming from different locations to meet. We will have fast cuts of establishing shots showing the scenery. There will also be a lot of close ups of the characters faces showing to her portray their emotions. Here we are attempting to repair the disruption, this comes from Todorv's theory, that all narratives follow the same basic formula, this helps the audience as the understand the music video. Our video non linear, it doesn't go in the order of:

1) Equilibrium
2)Disruption
3)Recognition
4)Attempt to repair disruption
5)New/Returned equilibrium

But it does have the formula within the video.

The video then rewinds to the beginning, while this happening we will show the title of the son 'YOU' '&' 'ME'.  Then it leads to shots of  young children in a park, we have decided to do this in Haggerston Park, this is our equilibrium. The young children are used to convey to the audience the fact that characters have known each other for a long time. We also want to show them as more innocent, that society, media, boys and other things haven't influenced them. In contrast to when 2 of the characters have changed and become rebellious unlike one of the characters.

Our video is mainly shot in POV of the Hero like character, the audience will see everything from her perspective. Her two friends are 'Villains'. This is Propp's theory, that every story has characters.

-Hero
-Sidekick
-Princess
-Donor
-False Hero
-Hero
-Villain
-Dispatcher
-Princesses father

In a video there should always be at least two  of these characters, unless the video will be boring. There wouldn't be a clear story.

The shots with the young kids will be mainly mid close ups, we want them close to the camera to show the characters have a close bond. After the shots of the young children playing we are going to reveal the adult versions of them. As its in pov we are going to have a long shot of them walking and it turns into the adults walking. Or we will have them walking up spiral stairs and when they walk down it will be the adult characters. The camera will go out of focus and then refocus when showing the characters faces.

We have decided to show a build up of events, where the 2 villain characters are being bad influences and conforming to the stigma that young people are hot headed and reckless. However the third character is going to show what media doesn't , her correcting her friends behavior, not being as bad and giving into peer pressure, her being her individual self and not doing what society expects of her.

We have decided to shot in Camden, Bricklane, Hackney wick. We will shot the characters having fun skating, just being kids. But then you'll see the negative side of the villain characters, while in Camden they steal and are rude/cold to people. we show the third person returning the wallet and apologizing  for her friend. During the time at Camden we will have a lot of candid shots, as there area has a lot of people that suit our video and draw in our audience as they will relate to the people in the video.

Throughout the video you will see short clips of the characters partying in Shoreditch,  by the canal in Camden, skateboarding. Like in the Blonde video ' I loved you more'. We will be doing shots of that are going to foreshadow the disruption in our video. For example you will the characters in there mask walking towards the shop they will rob. And random shots of the mask.

We will have shots of dancing (hip-hop, b-boying) to add the feel of a dance video. as well as shots of creative art pieces. We were also thinking to have shots of a group of people in white and black masks. To show that young people don't have voices. That were just unseen faces in society. Seen but not heard.

Most of our performance is going to be within out storyline. When at club or parks we will have the characters singing.

The distribution is when the 2 characters decided they want to rob a shop, as they are young and don't have income and only think about immediate gratification. You will see long shots of the worker in the hair salon. And then a 360 shot the characters showing their outfits. You will see a contrast in their costume wearing all black and red mask, portraying danger.

There will be a scene of where the girls try to convince the third character to take a gun. we've decided here to show decisions here as well. One where she does, and hurts the shop employee, but then we will rewind it to show the side the wouldn't media show, her deciding to say not and not give in to peer pressure and leads her friends to a party instead. This attempting to repair disruption,

At the party we've decided to also show decisions where,we show the other side where she has fun without drinking and remembering what happened. Or whether the third character should drink, the camera will go hazey and slightly out of focus. Here will be performance mainly people at the party will be singing showing the negative affects of drugs. Her waking up clueless. Her making the decision to leave and think about if she can handle her friends anymore as she feels there different people. She walks around locations her friends were before seeing people happy etc...

She then gets a text from her friends asking to meet as they don't understand why she left with no answer , this then leads to the end scene which was shown in the beginning. We have decided to have a long shot. Where you see the third character giving her on her friendship this is shown by her walking in front of the camera and dropping her mask. Then a close up of her face. To her surprise her friends do the same thing, as they don't want to be what society sees them as. and feel the third characters decisions has helped them see they don't have be bad. The last shot is a close up of the mask.

These ideas may change over time while creating the video. Depending on how the actually filming turns out.

HEALTH AND SAFTEY

POSTMODERNISM AND IDENTITY

VIDEO INSPIRATIONS AND LINKS TO THEORY

As our video is going to be narrative and performance based, we searched existing music videos which has both elements of narrative and performance. The music video which inspired us was "Blonde- Loved You More". However, we were also inspired by the movie "Spring Breakers".  So therefore we've  decided to use some aspects from the video as well as the movies and model it in our own way.

Todorov's theory

Todorovs theory states that most plot lines tend to follow a pattern. There are 5 stages in this pattern;

1. Equilibrium -the part of the story will display a happy/ peaceful start. However in our video the start is going to be the end. Our video is going to start with all the 3 characters walking in a dark and the scene is going to quit sad just like the beginning scene in LOVED YOU MORE video.

2. Disruption- this states that the second part of the story will feature a problem or something will disrupt the happiness. however in our video the second part is going to be us having fun and partying.we are going to use a reverse shot to show the how the characters used to friends.thedisruption is going to be when 2 of the characters decide to rob a shop and try to involve the 3rd character( the good one)

3. Recognition-this part of the plot is when everyone recognises the problem.this is going to be when the one of the characters relises that the path she is going is not good for her.

4. Attempt To Repair Disruption- At this point the problem is obviouse and the characters try to solve the problem .in our video this part is going to be When one of the characters realises that what they are doing is wrong and is not what she wants so she arranges a meeting with her 2 friends to solve the problem. 

STORYBOARD...

This is roughly what our music video would look like, we have incorporated the music with the story board. Our video change due to the practicality of the filming process 

CD COVER INSPIRATIONS...

When looking at Cd Covers these are the ones we felt most connected to. As they are all unique. For example the Christina Agurelara Cd Cover with the half her face and half her robot is rare, many artist pose in a 'cool' way, for example Justin Bieber, he has a stance that he knows would attract young girls to the cover. 

We like the one at the bottom right hand corner. as it has no writing it just focuses on the image in the centre. And the fact it looks 3d as its coming out to the audience is cool.

In general the Cd Covers are colourful and out there, which we think reprints some of our characters. 

LOCATIONS ...

We have decided to shot our video in  locations that are typically seen in dance/house music videos, as it would be easier to get candid shots of people dancing and having fun. As we are unable to stage these. We are shooting in Shoreditch and Camden for our party scenes, as the night life is what we are looking for. We are also filming in Brick Lane as it has nice creative art work. 

For our second scene with the young versions of the characters will be done in Haggerston park. 

We have decided to film in Liverpool street, during rush hour to show the rush of feelings between friends. 

NARRATIVE MAP...

We created a narrative map, in order to help us while making the music video.  As a group we went through the song, and marked the lyrics and wrote down the time, so we know what shots to put during that time.

- As in the beginning of the song for 32 seconds there isn't any lyrics we've decided to last scene, to tease the audience, then we rewind our video to the beginning.

- We have also decided that at the beginning of every time the chorus comes there will be a different scene. As there are fast cuts in the song.

- At 3:08 seconds the camera is going to go hazey, to give a distorted look.

This narrative map  is so helpful when editing and planning.

ISLAND RECORD LABEL

Island Records is a major British record label that operates as a division of Universal Music Group. 

It was founded by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica and has been based in the United Kingdom since 1962. Blackwell sold the label to PolyGram in 1989. 

Both Island, and another recent PolyGram acquisition, A&M, was at the time the largest independent record labels in history, with Island in particular having exerted a major influence on the progressive UK music scene in the early 1970s. The label operates as one of Universal Music's standalone labels since 2014, also handling Mercury Records. 

The label's US roster include Demi Lovato , Nick Jonas, Keke Palmer, Taio Cruz, the Vamps, Kieza, Nikki Williams ,Shawn Mendes,  Avicii, Bon Jovi, and Fall Out Boy, whereas the current UK roster includes  U2, Mumford&Sons , Florence + the Machine, John Newman, Hozier, Disclosure, Will Young, and many more.  

As the company has well known artist hitting Top ten in the charts, we feel we will be able to have a large audience and be successful.

We asked for permission to use the song and we direct messaged the record label and artist on Instagram.