Coursework: Pre-production planning

1) Music video treatment

You may already have a finished music video treatment from your summer project and/or preliminary exercise - definitely use or develop that if it works with your project. However, you may need to update your treatment or even change it completely now you have finished your preliminary exercise.

Scene 1:In room getting ready 

•getting message (text bubble)

•crown 

•rips note

Scene 2:in bed

•covers eyes

•lollipop pop 

•puts headphones 

Scene 3:Walking in London

•bopping to music 

•stops looks down 

Scene 4:multiple jumping 

•funny faces 

•kisses camera

Scene 5:camera spins

•singing with mic

•clock 

•L O V E

Scene 6:running with camera 

•falls and puts heart plaster 

Scene 7:sings ‘i’m talking’

•bored/yawing 

Scene 8:messy room 

•singing at camera then falls into bed

Scene 9:Scremas into pillow 

•daydreams 

2) Mise-en-scene planning

Plan everything that will appear in front of the camera in your music video - and this is vital when it comes to music video and music genre. 

Costume

What will your artist wear? 

What other costumes will be required?

 What is the costume supposed to communicate to the audience? 

How does this link to genre or constructing representations?

My artist will wear a bright stereotypically girly clothes like bright reds and pink to highlight femininity, she will also wear pyjamas as it’s more casual. She’s gotten over her breakup and is reinventing herself as she doesn’t need any man.This reinforces stereotypes on women being given by love but also subverts it as it shows that even after heartbreak a women can coke out on the other end stronger.

Lighting

How will you light the different scenes in your music video? Day or night? Interior or exterior? If outside, can you use streetlights, shadows, reflected sunlight or other creative techniques to achieve the lighting style you want? If inside, experiment with creative lighting techniques using windows, blinds, artificial lights, phone flashes, ring lights and more. 

At the beginning of my music video it will be dark using interior lighting but as she gets more comfortable through the mv the lighting will be brighter this will highlighted through external light more day time light. I would like to use artifical lights for it to look more realistic as her life is no longer dull but bright.

Actors/performers

The first thing you need to plan is your cast - who will be in your production? The key casting is obviously your artist but you may have other characters too. Try and cast people who are reasonably similar to the character or performer they are playing (both in age and personality). Next, plan their placement and movement in key scenes - how will the audience get to know them? How do you plan to position the audience to connect with your artist?

In my production i will only have one cast ‘Cherie’. During the start she’ll be more tired and agitated as she juts got her heartbroken but as it progresses you can see her body language change and more into a happier and more bright being. This will connect with audiences as it is a experienced many go through and will find personal identity and sympathises and feel happy for the character.

Make-up

Plan any make-up you require - this can be very important for music video.

My makeup for the mv will be very visible and using lots of pinks to further highlight femininity.

Props

What props will you require? Remember, you can't use anything that might resemble a weapon in a public or school location (this is VERY important). Well-planned props can help to communicate genre and narrative quickly - vital in a music video where you can't use dialogue.

For props i hope to use a crown to show how she’s regained her confidence and voice and also a piece of paper which will be ripped up as she’s leaving that behind in the past.

Setting

This should already be largely planned using your music video treatment. However, now is the time to specify exact locations. For external locations, try and take pictures of settings or use Google Maps and Google Earth. Spending quality time planning your locations can make a huge difference to the professionalism of your production. AQA also seem to prefer external rather than school-based locations - particularly for a brief like this.

For the location i will have it firstly at home as after a heartbreak you wnat to feel comfortable and there’s no place like home. Then a very bright road in london to highlight her stepping out finally accepting it then for a fun and friendly environment a karaoke section where she can sing her heart out reminiscing and happy she’s leaving it in the past.

3) Shot list

The final aspect of your pre-production planning is to write a comprehensive shot list for every single possible shot you plan to film for your music video. For three minutes of music video, that is going to be a LOT of shots - quite possibly more than 200.Remember, a shot list is a full list of all the shots in your video with information for each of them (shot type, action/movement etc.) Creative shot choices aside, it’s easy to forget that a shot list is a strategic document. Creating a shot list is essentially like creating a shooting gameplan for the day.Your shot list needs to contain EVERY shot you plan to film for your whole music video AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing. These additional shots are often close-ups, cutaways, alternative angles or similar. Cutaways are important as music videos generally have fast-paced editing so you'll need a LOT of shots.

4) Shooting schedule

 

Shooting over the weekends in London 

Shooting at home when it’s still light out 

And karaoke when available