A2 Coursework Mark Sheet

Pre-Production: Drafts

Drafts

Ideas from others whilst listening to Gravity by Sara Bareilles:

·        A girl who is being bullied and abused by her boyfriend.

·        A girl singing through a street.

·        A girl committing suicide.

·        A couple in loves but one dies in the end.

·        Themes of love, heaven, peace, loss.

My ideas:

·        A girl who is being bullied

·        I wanted her to commit suicide at the end.

·        Possibly drowns herself?

·        Flashback moments with her boyfriend.

·        This meant boyfriend had to be dead, going along with the theme of loss.

·        Bullies

·        Performance/ Narrative video.

·        Isolated singing location.

These are some of the ideas that came of both my original thoughts and when I got a group of teenagers to listen to the song. I want to use a selection from both as I believe that some of the themes that my audience came up with would be help to tell the story more.

Question 2 (Evaluation)

Pre-Production: Storyboard

Here is an example of my storyboard.

Question 1 (Evaluation)

Making my Digipak

This is the start of me making my video, I wanted to keep the storyline as the main focus of my digipak since that was one of the main concepts in my video. I decided to have the two main characters on the inside cover. I put the opacity down so it made it look more heavenly.

Next I wanted to look at the back cover. Due to my digipak having the theme of heavenly I decided to chose a photo that has a heavenly landscape. I then added the text and the song from one of Bareilles' album. I also made sure I included a barcode, qr code and copyright disclaimer.

To finish my digipak I wanted to use my main character so my audience knew where the song came from. I also made the shot look like she was lost, an emotion she feels through the story. I finally added the heaven logo and then the artist's name in a similar font!

Digipak

Gravity Magazine

Question 3: What I discovered

Question 3: Older Generation (Evaluation)

Question 3: Target Audience (Evaluation)

Question 4 (Evaluation)

My Final Music Video

Pre-Production: Production Schedule

Here is my production schedule. This will help me with keeping to my deadlines and balancing out when things need to be done.

Pre-Production: Floor Plan

Here is the floor plan of the graveyard scenes. This gives me a visual of where I will stand and where I can place my cast when filming.

Pre-Production: Shot List

Here is the first 30 seconds of my music video on a shot list table. This is to aid me in my filming so I know exactly what shot I need to do.

Pre-Production: Similar Products (Natasha Bedingfield)

Natasha Bedingfield's music is very similar to that of Sara Bareilles. They both have the same inspiration behind their music and target audience. In this video Bedingfield is portraying that she is going to be herself and doesnt want to conform to any aspect of society just like the message in Bareilles' "Brave". This video is perfomance/narrative style and uses a variety of shots to show Bedingfield's every day life and how she does what she wants. I would say that Bedingfield isn't portrayed in a sexual way and although we can sort of apply Mulvey's theory of the Male Gaze to this video because Bedingfield is an attractive woman I believe the main idea is to show that she is an independent woman, which breaks the genre stereotypes. There is lots of colour to represent the happiness and independence  this will contrast to my music video which will have very bland colours to mirror the girl's life. I like the way the artist sings in everyday life as if no one can see her and will probably use this for my main protagonist to show she is singing in her own little world.

Pre-Production: Script Annotation

<SINGING IN A ROOM TO HERSELF>

Something always brings me back to you. – She wants to be back with her boyfriend

It never takes too long.

No matter what I say or do I'll still feel you here 'til the moment I'm gone.

<GOES INTO NARRATION>

You hold me without touch.

<”TOUCH” RELATES TO BOYFRIEND, ALTHOUGH HE ISNT THERE SHE STILL LOVES HIM>

You keep me without chains. (FREEDOM – RELATES TO THE FINAL SCENE OF THE MUSIC VIDEO)

I never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love and not feel your reign.

[CHORUS:]

Set me free, leave me be. (SHE WANTS TO BE FREE/ THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE COME NOW)

I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.

Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be. (BELIEVES DEATH WILL MAKE HER STRONGER)

But you're on to me and all over me.

You loved me 'cause I'm fragile. (SHOWS THE FRAGILITY OF THE MAIN CHARACTER)

When I thought that I was strong.

But you touch me for a little while and all my fragile strength is gone. (COULD RELATE TO THE BULLIES SINCE THEY ARE MORE DOMINANT CHARACTERS THAN SUSIE)

[CHORUS]

<CLIMAX IN THE MUSIC, THIS IS WHEN THE PIECE NEEDS TO CLIMAX>

I live here on my knees as I try to make you see that you're everything I think I need here on the ground.

But you're neither friend nor foe though I can't seem to let you go.

The one thing that I still know is that you're keeping me down. (“DOWN” – COULD POSSIBLY FALL OFF A BRIDGE)

You're keeping me down, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

You're on to me, and all over... (MUSIC GOES QUIETER, SHE’S DEAD AT THIS POINT)

Something always brings me back to you. (BACK WITH THE BOYFRIEND)

It never takes too long.

<MUSIC FADES HAPPILY OUT SO THE VIDEO NEEDS TO FADE OUT ON A HAPPY NOTE>

Pre-Production: Digipak Analysis

The first digipak I am going to look at is from the Pop genre. Loud by Rihanna has been one of her most successful album and I do believe that the digipak was a contributor to that reason. I like how the colour theme is red and pink, as if it was seducing or enticing the consumer to buy it, also by having very little writing it makes sure the customer focuses on Rihanna; an attribute she uses in many of her own music videos. I can also apply Mulvey's theory of the male gaze to this digipak since it has a close up of Rihanna's face along with a long shot of her laying on a pile of roses with a very low cut dress. This goes along with Rihanna's image of being lustful and sexy whereas I dont think I would use a digipak like this for mine since I'm trying to portray innocence and elegance for my singer.



The next digipak i'm looking at is from the Indie genre. Compared to Rihanna's digipak Mumford and Sons have gone for a completely different. Sign No More was also a very successful album for Mumford but just like with most Indie artists the attention is more on the music than the digipak. Without making it too fancy Mumford have decided to go with a plain white theme of them in a shop window. It's quite unusual and conceptual which is good for bands in the Indie genre since their difference from the mainstream pop is what sells their albums. I like the idea of keeping it plain since it still looks very professional but easily tells the consumer that this is 100% them and not some sort of marketing campaign. I dont think I'll use this idea for mine since although I dont want my character to be seen as over the top I still want to draw in my audience by either the use of male gaze or bright happy colours.

Sara Bareilles Digipak



The final digipak I am looking at is from Sara Bareilles. This digipak is the sort of design that I am looking at for my one. Because of Bareilles image of being innocent and quirky there is a lot of flowery, bright colours to show her happiness and individuality. Although it could be debatable that the image in the top left corner could be seen as the Male Gaze I believe the use of the black dress and flowers shows more a cute side of Bareilles than a sexually desiring one. On the front cover there is a picture of Barielles immediately already drawing in the attention of fans of her music, she is covering her mouth with a tape recorder which really emphasizes her quirkiness and it takers away all connotations of lips and being sexual. The CD's are very plain themselves again using the idea that Mumford and Sons did with the focus being on the music itself rather than the presentation. I like the use of Bareilles' being involved in all 6 pictures since it has a unique selling point as fans could be drawn in if they like her music, this is an idea I will probably use in mine. Overall I really like the design of this digipak and will take lots of inspiration fromk it when creating mine.

Pre-Production: Similar Products (Sara Bareilles)

Here is another Sara Bareilles music video to "Brave". This video is a performance video where Bareilles, along with other "outcast" people spontaneously dance in populated areas. I believe this video has the same target audience as mine since they both are telling misfit or outcasts to be themselves and don't let yourself be pushed around by others. In her video she uses a variety of camera angles, movements and fast paced editing to film the different dancers, this gave the piece a happy and upbeat feel to the video, whereas my video will have slow camera movements which will hopefully give it a sad and moving feel to it. The locations that Bareilles uses vary massively as to show that wherever you are, whoever you are you can be yourself, this contrasts to mine as I am using narration in my video and want the audience to really connect with my character so I am using one a few location that my character will be in. There will also be little colour in my video, mostly bland, greyscale colours to show the blandness of my protagonists life wheres Bareilles has a huge range of colours in her video to show the colour of the lives these characters have now they've been "Brave". I like the way of how social media plays a big influence in this video and although I wont be including much in mine I enjoyed the way the audience filmed the dancers on the phones as if this was a type of mini flashmob. I do also think that the colour is similar to my ideas for my music video as when my character dies the shots suddenly erupts with brightness and colour as she enters heaven, showing she is free and happy now.




Now looking at one of Bareilles most famous songs "Love Song" which is another performance video, the idea she's getting across is very different from the ones in most of her other videos. In this piece she is a sort of mini entertainer her and people pay to watch her perform in a little booth. By the use of colours and quirky setting it automatically gives this song a happy and lively feel to it. Like most of Bareilles' videos it has a fast pace to it and uses a variety of shots, mainly a lot of low and high angle shots to show Bareilles compared to the customers, especially at the end when she falls in love with the shop owner and they have a connection moment. I can apply Mulvey's theory of the Male Gaze to this video since Bareilles is literally stared at by loads of different people, mostly the owner of the shop, and although Bareilles is quite quirky and individual she is still considered an object of desire. Although I don't believe this is much like my music video I still like Bareilles' ideas towards breaking free of stigmas and going out and doing things for yourself, which is an idea I really want to push forward in my video.

Pre-Production: Props

Since my music video is half and half; narration and performance I have decided to not use many props since I want the audience to connect more with the main character in her performance section but with the occasional narration clip to carry along the storyline. I will probably need to use a wide range of school or learning type equipment in the narration scenes since it's predominantly set in school.

Here is a list of all the props I will be using:

(AT SCHOOL)

1. Balls of paper (to be thrown at the girl)

2. Paper Aeroplane (also thrown at girl)

3. Series of stationary 

4. Photo of the boyfriend (to be ripped up)

5. Tables/chairs/books etc. (items to set the scene)

(GRAVEYARD)

1. Ripped photo of the boyfriend

2. Flowers

(PERFORMANCE SECTION)

1. Ripped photo

(DEATH SCENE)

1. Bath

2. Ripped photo

This is just a brief list with the main props I need, I will probably have others to help set each of the scene  but the few that I have listed are the most contributing to the scene.