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.

WHO IS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE FOR OUR MEDIA PRODUCT? + Interview

We asked a few people from our target audience about house music. It is important for us to ask our target audience about what they would expect from us and also take into consideration what they would like to see from us as they would be the one to watch our music video and if they did not like it, our music video would be pointless.

As well as this video, we spoke to other people and told them about our initial idea with the grave yard and the death of one of the characters. They had said it would be too confusing to add all of that in under 4 minutes, the audience would be confused so we have decided to change the idea. Which will be shown in a future post.

Were glad we spoke to our TAP because we got to find this information out before recording. and we now know our audience likes our new idea. They have give us a list of things they would like to see in a house music video which we will research in more depth.

HIPSTER INSPIRED OUTFITS

    Hair. Long Straight/Wavy hair or androgynous cuts are the most common.BUT we are going to include a bit of curly afro hair. most hipster girls have Side Swept bangs so we are going to have the same hair style. It is common to leave your hair down in a messy “just woke up” style or throw it into a messy bun. 

Don't follow mainstream nail 

fashion. While nail companies try to parade women around as Barbies, hipsters reject the norm and instead wear dark or patterned nail polish.we ll have a simple dark nail designs.

Makeup. Hipsters wear minimal make up, if any at all so we are going to put on a natural  make up/nude make up. Red lipstick is always appropriate though.

Reject any mainstream fashion. Hipsters shop at the Salvation Army, thrift stores, second-hand stores, Urban Outfitters and American Apparel. They even follow their own fashion rules.they normally wear “unconventional” fashion pieces like studded jeans, acid washed jeans shorts,vintage leathers,boyfriend ripped up  jeans.

The "right" bottoms. like Maxi skirts and dresses; High-waisted shorts and pants; Cut–out dresses, rompers, or jumpsuits; vintage dresses; backless rompers or jumpsuits; running shorts, leather shorts, abstract floral leggings or satin shorts are all great choices.we are probably gonna wear trousers or maxi dress otherwise we ll freeze(British weather:/ 

 Find the "right" shoes. Hipsters love oxfords, gladiator sandals, ankle or military –style boots, “kitten heels,” loafers, Toms, Keds, pointed ballet slippers, and moccasins so we are gonna make sure we wear these kind of shoes. It is always appropriate to wear high socks or colourful tights. Always.

The "right" tops. Invest in flannel button-ups, shirt with obscure bands titles, vintage/throw back collared shirts, ironic “Cosby” sweaters, Cut up shirts, crop tops, oversized t-shirts, over-sized cardigans, vintage blazers, American Apparel zip up hoodies, vests, and of course, ponchos.

Accessorize, but not too much. We are not gonna look like we are putting too much effort into the way you look. we want to have just enough to pull together our outfit without looking like we wasted our time getting dressed when we could have been partying and having fun together. Some accessories include: headbands, bandanas, scarves, Ray-Bans, faux fur hats, lumberjack hats, and handmade bracelets.

Bag - Bags are great and almost all  hipster girls carry a bag.Some great bag ideas include messenger bags, vintage shoulder bags and cross-body bags.

GROUP NAME ...

As a group we came up with the name’ NOVA’ for our band name. We are going to use it for our CD cover, print ad,  billboard and it may feature in the beginning of our video.

We chose Nova because in Latin it means new star; we feel this describes the characters. However it’s a star that undergoes a cataclysmic eruption, we interpret the eruption as the downfall of the friendship, the actual Nova star also goes dies with a bright light , we see this as the realization of the friends who goes down the wrong path and realizes at the end.

We looked at different fonts on dafont.com. We found a few and experimented with them on Photoshop. As seen it the video. We like the one with the black background as it looks like the scenery of London, it looks urban and cool, and we feel it fits our genre. Every band has something signature about them we feel our logo is ours.