Planning: Location

When in the planning stages of making my music video, I need to be wary of my location and where I am going to film. I need a location that is suitable to take my equipment to, is easily accessible for me and my actor while also looking the part for my music video.

When considering all these things and looking at my treatment for my music video, I based my animatic around one particular old building for the most part. This is a half-ruined building that can be 'explored' by my artist throughout the video with opportunity to climb etc. Below are a few images of the building that I have taken;

Here is the inside of one part of the building. This image
shows a doorway that when you step though leads into a
large empty area. This is not 'inside' with four walls, as
there is only about two and a half of the walls left. There
is also no roof which helps with lighting.

Here is just a picture that I took
a while ago and put onto a social
media site. It shows part of the
exterior of the building.

There is also another half to my video that involves a wood area, with a field nearby too. Fortunately for me, the building is round the back side of a field which is surrounded by a woodland area. This is very ideal for my project as I can get to both locations easily from each other. These areas are not too far from the main town so they should be easily accessible for me and my actor.

Planning: Lighting

As I am filming outside throughout the whole video, I have very limited control over the lighting, so I must make use of every opportunity I have when filming.

Due to the time of year that I am going to be filming my video (winter time) it gets very dark very quickly. Although I wanted to film with a sunset at parts and with the sun behind trees etc. I may need to change this part of the planning to account for the light changing and also with the weather conditions.

I will probably have to try and film in one session if possible and will therefore need a large amount of time to do this. With this in my mind, I will probably need to have a whole day to film in so that I have the day light on my side. Other than the day light, I have no other specific requirements for lighting apparatus. I am relying heavily of the weather conditions being good enough for me to film through out one day. I will regularly check the weather when it comes towards filming.

Planning: Costume

When looking at the costume of my actor in the music video I need to look at how well it links in with my chosen genre and also my chosen artist. The costume is very important to the success of my music video as it will set the tone and therefore my audience will be able to identify themselves with the artist and the genre. For example, if a music video for a heavy metal band had the actors dressed in tweed suits, the audience would not identify themselves with the band would discard the music video. The same applies for the characters in my music video, there is no point in my folk artist wearing a backwards baseball cap and jogging bottoms.

Previously I have posted the sort of costume that I wish for my artist to wear in the video. Now I am posting a few images of my artist and other similar artists of the genre wearing a commute similar to the one I have described to show the link I have made with existing music videos.

Above is Ben Howard, my chosen artist, wearing an open
check top. This is a jacket and I have chosen to have them
wearing a shirt. The difference isn't hugely important, the
key is the similarity in style.

As you can see more clearly in this
image, the artist has the shirt/jacket
open with a t-shirt underneath. This
is similar to what I plan to have in my
music video as you can see on the
previous page.

Here is an artist similar to mine, Vance Joy. I have analysed
some of his work previously so it seems only right to look
at his costume too. he has a check shirt in the image which
looks to be open or at least semi-open. This matches not
only to my artist but also to my target audience.

This is another artist similar to my own,
Matt Corby. He is also a folk artist
who I have come across. In this image
he is wearing a shirt that is
unbuttoned with a  t-shirt underneath,
again, linking to my audience.

Again, here is Vance Joy. To clear any confusion over the
image above, here is a separate image of him where his
shirt is fully open with a plain t-shirt underneath. This
is not just similar to my what I plan to have, but is exactly
the same to my vision.

Planning: Costume

Now that I have my main character cast, I need to decide what he will wear during the video. This piece of planning, like any other, is very important however, the costume could set the whole tone of the video. As this song is of a folk genre, the clothing that I choose for my character to wear must fit that genre and appeal to the target audience. When I looked at some existing folk bands, I found that there were some common themes in how they dress and so I would like to recreate these sorts of characters. 

The first item that I found to be popular within this genre of music and it's target audience is a check shirt. This item has cropped up a few times during my research and so I feel it is vitally important that I include it in my video. The shirt has been used in a variety of ways, with it being buttoned up for some, while it is open for others. Some have had the sleeves down while others have rolled them up. As Ben is quite a young artist and appeals to a younger target audience, I feel that having the shirt open with the sleeves rolled up would be the best idea. 

Now that this has been decided, I will need a t-shirts to go underneath this unbuttoned shirt. Quite often I see people wearing a shirt like this, and underneath they have a plain whit t-shirt. These two pieces would go together quite nicely, and would most definitely appeal to the target audience. 

On the bottom half of my character, I feel that a pair of jeans would be ideal. Although my artist is of the folk genre, he is heavily linked into the charts and therefore his appearance should suit both of them sides. A pair of normal black jeans along with a pair of pumps would appeal to both of these target audiences.

Below are a few images that I have found to demonstrate each part of the costume:

The main centrepiece for the costume is a shirt
similar to this one. I want the shirt to not be
buttoned up so that you can have the t-shirt,
that is below, underneath it. The colour is
not of major importance however, it must
be long-sleeved so that they can be rolled up.

Here is the white t-shirt that I want to use
in my video. The colour of it has to be
white and ideally has to be completely
although a small logo in the corner will
not cause major problems.

These are a pair of jeans similar

to what I would like to use.  

They must be black ideally will

be skinny or slim fitted.

These are a pair of pumps similar to what I would like to

use in my video. A whit pair would be ideal however there

are many colours that would be suitable.

Planning: Key Stages

As I move away from the researching stages for my promotional misc video, below are the sections that I must complete in the planning stages before production of the video. These will enable me to produce the best music video, with characters and locations that fit the tone of the song, along with the requirements of my target audience. The first job for me to do is to establish an order that I will work in. Below is the order that I plan to carry out these tasks:

• Casting
• Location 
• Costume
• Lighting
• Shot list
• Filming schedule

The first jobs in to establish my cast and the location. This can be done at similar times. I can have a selection of possible cast members for whom I can take to the proposed location. Here I can trial the cast members to see if they are good in front of the camera and are confident to fulfil the role of Ben Howard. Also, I can test to see if the location is suitable for the image that I am trying to present to my target audience about the song. I shall also look at the weather conditions with in this section of planning, as my location may be an outdoor space. If and/or when I am happy with the location and my chosen cast member, I can start to look at mise-en-scene. This include the costumes, props and the lighting. The costume of my character is a key part in the success of any music video. This is because my target audience will be needing to relate to the character so if the cast are dressed wrong, then they may not feel that this video is for them. 

Finally, when these details are finished and secured, I must look at the planning of filming. This will include a shot list where I will finalise what shot I wish to include in my video. Then In will need a filming schedule. This will take into account the availability of myself, the cast and also the weather conditions. When this is all complete, filming should be able to start. 

Planning: Animatic

An animatic is similar to a storyboard, however, it is in video form. This has enabled me to see if my sequence of shots is correct and will work cohesively with the song that I have selected.

Below is my animatic:

Planning: Storyboarding Process

Following on from my treatment for my music video, I now have the task to create a storyboard for my music video. A story board is a selection of sequenced pictures or drawings that tell the key stages of a story. Usually, this would be done on a large piece of paper with a number of boxes following each other where I can then draw the action happening.

 Below is a selection of photographs of me completing this process:

As this is for a music video, the pictures must match the music. The sequence is only correct so long as it is in line with the dynamics of the song. Therefore, I have chosen to steer away from the traditional method of storyboarding on paper, and turning it into an animatic. This means that the sections are drawn in a similar fashion, however, instead of presenting it like this with a short statement underneath explaining what has happened, the drawings shall be cut up separately and placed into a sequence in a video form. Behind this, I have my song playing in the background. This will enable me to cut the clips up and place them in the video to match the dynamics of the song. This enables me to view the storyborad in terms of the song, and I can then make changes accordingly.

Below are some images of me editing my animatic: