Voodoo Developement

In this post, you can see the designs we used and developed into the final voodoo doll, which we used within our video. As this was a key prop and it was going to be seen throughout the video it was a vital that it looked right. By using out mood board which had voodoo doll images on, we found out that the eyes were usually either buttons, dots or crosses; as a result we experimented with features like this. Also we added extra features like stitches and hearts; this made it easier to act out certain scenes in the video, such as the stabbing scene.

Target Audience 2

The following video shows how we have interviewed our target audience and asked them numerous questions;

Target Audience

This video shows how we have interviewed our target audience about a number of different subjects, for example storyboard feedback, animatic feedback

Narrative Theory

To help us with our video we have researched narrative theorists for example Claude Levi-Strauss and Todorov. This showed us if they matched their theories and how they did to see if they fit narrative theories in general.

Planning Timetable

We will use these throughout the project as a guide as to what we will be doing in lessons, and also for homework and out of school activities. The timetables will help us plan out our filming slots and keep us organised.




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List of Props, Locations, Lighting Plans and Costumes

Props

We will prominently be using the voodoo doll as the main prop within the music video, and throughout the many scenes and scenarios. This is because it is the motif in our narrative, and will help the viewers understand the theory behind both band and narrative scenarios. However, there will be other props that will help us to tell the story. Other props we will use include the band instruments (bass guitar, electric guitar, drum kit with sticks, microphone and microphone stand) which will only feature in the band footage. There will also be a mobile phone which will be used when the male protagonist falls over in the street. It will be used to introduce the second female character in the video, as she will be the one speaking to the male on the other end of the line. There will be a few props being used in the scene at the pub location; these include a tissue for when the new girlfriend gets upset over a spilt drink- the prop of a tissue will make the sadness realistic. In the pub scene there will also be the glasses full of drink which will be taken from the bar to the seating area. These props are used both for the purpose of the spilling scene and to make the reason for going to the pub more apparent. Another prop that will be used in the music video will be a packet of chicken dippers (!) which will be used in the freezer cam section in the kitchen location scenes. The TV and TV remote will also be props that will be used in the shots where the male protagonist sees the crazy ex-girlfriend on the TV screen. Photographs that will be attached to the wardrobe in the evil ex-girlfriends room (and will be ripped down) will be props used to help sell the angry act of the ex-girlfriend and the fact that the male and female protagonists were together in relationship as the photographs will represent memories. We will also use a clock in a time lapse, and therefore will be a prop to our music video. There will be a car scene in the video; consequently the car can be seen as a prop.

All the previously mentioned props will help the viewers understand our narrative easier once the music video has been made as the props can be used an another form of speech, or another way to express a certain emotion, or even to show the viewers of a journey.

Locations

There will be many different scenes and scenarios within the music video, as the narrative will follow the male protagonist’s life over a series of days following a break up. These locations will include a passage way in a house that is meant to be the evil ex-girlfriends. This is where we will introduce the two leading characters who have previously had a relationship, but are now arguing. We will then see the male protagonist leave the house and walk down an estate street - the next location that is seen. We will then see the ex-girlfriend in the house location, both on the staircase and in her supposedly bedroom as these cuts will all link. Another location in the video will be the pub, in which two scenes will be filmed; one at the bar (both behind the bar as a worker and in front as a customer) of the pub, and one in the seating area. When we introduce a new female character into the videos, we will also be introducing a new location - the females’ bedroom, which will be used to contrast to the evil ex-girlfriends. A car park in the Whitley Bay area will be used for one of the scenes as it will be a near location for group members and actors to get to. The car park will be used for a scene with the rather large prop of a car! There will also be some scenes in the male protagonist’s house, for example, in the living room where he will see the ex-girlfriend on the TV which shows the progression of the male’s mental state. Also, in the kitchen of the male leads house, when he gets ‘stabbed’; this will also be when the ex-girlfriend is viewed, which shows the outside location (the yard) of the kitchen and house. The kitchen location will be used as a link to progress the video to the hospital stages of the story. We will also use the location of Rake Lane Hospital to make the video fully believable whilst showing the ambulance entering the dock station. We will also use a section of the school, as the walls look as though it is a hospital; this will be a good location as we could do filming for this scene through school times. There will be a scene where the male protagonist will be in a ‘soft room’ which will be near the end of the video to show the end result of his ‘craziness and the ex-girlfriends evil ways. The actual location for this scene will again be in school for the same reasons. We will use a large white sheet to create the affect of the soft room.

These locations will be used to help the viewers understand the progression of the males ‘mental health’ (as it goes from a friendly estate street to the strange hospital) and also the evilness of the ex-girlfriend as she is situated in every location – linking with the lyrics ‘everywhere’.

Costumes

The costumes we will use for the music video will mostly be casual wear for the many ‘day scenes’; this can include casual jeans, print t-shirts and jip jackets for the male protagonist, and leggings/jeans, and a top with a cardigan or small jacket over for the female actors. For the scenes in the pub, clothing such as a smart shirt and jeans will be worn by the male actor and a nice top with jeans and heels will be worn by the female. We will dress the ex-girlfriend in a black hooded jacket for certain scenes, so that when an event happens to the lead male, he will look around and think he sees the ex-girlfriend, however after looking again she will not be there. By having the ex-girlfriend in the hooded jacket, it will make the uncertainty of the male clearer for the audience to see, as the costume would make it harder to distinguish if it really is the ex-girlfriend or not.

However, we will also use costumes such as patient’s outfits and lab coats to fit in with the narrative of the deteriorating mental health of the male character. The male protagonist will wear a patient’s gown whilst filming the hospital scenes to further the fact that he is actually in a hospital. Lab coats will also be used so that the ‘doctors’ have the authorial look, in which they would need for that particular scene. The ex-girlfriend will also wear a nurse outfit to further the mis-en-scene.

For the band scenes, the lead vocalist, who is also the lead male in the narrative, will be wearing the patients gown again, and the other band members will wear the lab coats to fit into the theme of the story.

Lighting Plans

We will try to use as much natural light as possible so that the end result looks like it is in realistic and natural lighting. In locations where it will be too dark, we will use the industrial site lights to ensure the video image can be seen clearly, and the lights make the scene look like natural daylight. However the lights may cause shadows and so we will have to learn how to use them properly before filming to ensure the finishing product will look good.

Initial Roles Developed

In this post, you can see how we have developed our initial roles further as stated in the pitch, we decided to do this so everyone within the group would know what they were responsible for and what they would need to do. This has helped us throughout the project, as we all clearly know what we all need to do, and how our skills can relate to the tasks given.


Rachael – through the planning stages, will crop and start off the animatic whilst Sherry and Sophie continue with the storyboarding on paper and Faye scans in the storyboard to ensure we do not fall behind. As Rachael takes Business Studies as an A Level she has a great understanding of time management skills, this would mean that Rachael can meet deadlines by efficiently organising the rest of the group. In addition to this, her Business awareness will help us with the target audience research and codes and conventions. With the combined skills of Sherry's ICT skills they could draw up a rota to ensure the group know exactly what needs to be done, by when, and what is left to do. Also, Rachael along with Sophie will use Textiles knowledge to create a Voodoo doll as the main prop for the video, style and dress the actors in our music video to fit the genre and mood of our project and the gender they play.


Faye – will scan the storyboard into the computer moving the images into the right folder, in preparation to be cropped to be made into the animatic. By doing this Faye will continue with the animatic knowing where the storyboard clips are and what order. By scanning in storyboard pictures, this will save time and effort as the pictures will be in the right place when needed to be found and can be quickly accessed. As a result of this, work will be in order, photoshopped to its best quality, organised and labelled correctly. As well as saving time and effort it means that the group will work more like a production line rather than have one set person doing all the computer stuff i.e. Blog, Animatic. This means that everyone puts in equal effort to achieve the best that we can. In this production Sophie will draw, then give the storyboard to Faye to scan then Sherry can access the work in the folder to go on the blog and then Rachael can check progress and tick work off. Making our system a success and constructive within our group as a whole. Since Faye is skilled in Business as well as English, she is very good at expressing her ideas on to paper, for example on mind maps. This is why Faye’s job was to write down all our ideas from the narrative and initial ideas thus elaborating on our ideas and going into more detail.


Sherry – has strengths in English by completing an A Level in this subject, therefore she will write on the description e.g. camera movements/angles on the storyboards and decide where each scene should be placed within the storyboard after discussing with the rest of the group. Sherry will also help keep the blog up to date as much as possible and remind everyone in the group of what needs to be done; this is a good role for Sherry as she takes ICT at A Level. Due to this it may also help with any technical issues we may have with the ICT aspect of the coursework. For example, if there are any issues with premier elements and when the ICT technician is not available to resolve the issue, Sherry could put her ICT skills to use and help sort the problem. As Sherry’s A Level was English Literature this allowed her to give imaginative ideas to the storyboard due to her wider reading from the subject. From this we can use Sherry’s English skills to help explain more clearly what is happening within each scene using sophisticated lexis.


Sophie – took Art as an AS, and as a result she has the ability to draw out all the pictures on the storyboard skilfully as she has the best artistic skills within the group, therefore making the images accurate and precise. This will allow the group to understand and follow what is happening within each scene. Due to Sophie’s experience we all thought it would be most appropriate if Sophie did the main drawing out of the pictures with the groups input. For example, Sophie can get the right perspective for the shot allowing us to see how the scenes should look like. Thus, Sophie’s art skills will make the storyboard look more realistic and professional as apposed to other groups, as her Art skills can be easily put to paper. As Sophie also takes Textiles as an A Level it would be safe to say that the characters within the storyboard will look real life, as she frequently has to draw out designs of different garments on models. As well as this, it means Sophie has excellent time keeping skills as she is able to meet tight coursework deadlines whilst undertaking her other A Levels.

Although we have clearly stated our initial roles, we will all take our turn equally in shooting and editing, whilst still communicating with each other to ensure everything is done as efficiently as possible throughout the music video project, for example, when filming and editing. This will allow everyone to get involved and have a go at everything, therefore getting the full experience of the project. Also due to us all taking Media Studies as an AS we have previous knowledge in the subject area, therefore we will use our terminology and skills we learnt last year e.g. Music magazine and the CLC day, for our work in this year’s project.

Pitch

As you can see, in this post you will find the pitch we used to put across our ideas for the final narrative/concept. In this we also included a brief history of the band, Yellowcard, some significant lyrics from the song we are using and various locations/props/costumes we may use.

Pitch

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Moodboard

We decided to create a mood board for our band, song and narrative, which would help us gather our ideas in a creative way. The mood board shows various things such as locations (hospital hallways), props (voodoo doll), make-up and costume (patients gowns and white face make-up) and also pictures of the band our song is from - this shows styles we may also use in our music video.

Initial Ideas - Many Narratives and Final Narrative

In this post, you can see how we developed our initial ideas for our music video. We came up with 4 different ideas and wrote down what sort of shots we would use, and how that would be done, we also then weighed up the pros and cons of each narrative we had;

Spilt Personality Narrative

Pros:
*Can show an interesting perspective on skitzophrenia
*The various shots that can be used will make the video look more professional e.g. split screen
*Keeps the viewer wanting more - expecting twists - cliffhangers
*Fits the genre of the song
*Fits the mood of song

Cons:
*Can be difficult to portray without it looking tacky
*Could offend mental health patients
*Filming could be lengthy
*Spilt personality often needs two characters so it will be difficult to use the same actor in the same shot twice.

Love Relationship Narrative

Pros:
*Everyone enjoys this type of narrative
*Can be done really well, in the sense of the girl appearing etc - see pitch
*Costume, mise en scene and location can be easily organised as it portrays everyday life
*Narrative is relevant to the age group the song projects to
*Everyone can relate to - emotionally

Cons:
*Done many times, unoriginal - can become boring if not distinctly different
*Can look like no effort has been put in as location etc is easily organised - impulse filming
*If it is done distinctly different viewers can become confused and may not enjoy the video

Boy/Girl Love Narrative

Pros:
*Distinctly different so can be good for audience
*Interesting therefore popularity of the video can be more successful.
*Raises gender issues that are commonly saw in public - this can help people - relate to.
*Can keep viewers watching - cliffhanger, expecting a twist.

Cons:
*As its different viewers may not be interested in watching - want something they can easily comprehend.
*As it can raise issues this may cause controversy - lowering popularity

Circus/Misfits Narrative

Pros:
*Interesting!
*Can be done in very good way eg. Can get people who can perform circus tricks etc.
*Shots that can be used can be good if done properly.

Cons:
*Very hard to do in the time given
*Mis-en-scene etc will be extremely hard – High budget.
*Very time consuming

Voodoo Dolls Narrative

Pros:
*Unusal narrative not done before
*Can be creative in the shots and angles used in the voodoo scenes
*Can be seen in a comic view
*Able to make the actions of the voodoo doll anything!
*Can create the voodoo doll to style we want

Cons:
*May scare viewers
*Viewers may not understand story

We then finally decided on the Voodoo doll narrative, which is explalined in more detail here: