Contingency Plan

What is essential for our project is that we have a Contingency Plan. Due to the fact we will be working over many months, a lot of things could go wrong. Therefore, we have picked out the three main problems we may come across and have decided what we are going to do to solve these problems when it comes to it.

 

1). What if we have problems with our actresses?

Many issues can arise with our actresses. Our main actress, Alice, will be needed often for filming and photographing. Possible problems that may occur are:

- She may be ill during times we want to film 

- She may not be able to make it to some of our filming as she is busy with her own work 

- She may decide she does not want to film for us anymore

- She may feel uncomfortable in front of the camera

Some of these issues, I do not believe are applicable. Alice has been a model for people previously and appears extremely keen to act for us. I do not believe that she will back out of the project. HOWEVER, to control this, during our first filming we will ensure that she feels comfortable and let her know which scenes she will be in. If she is not happy with this, we can find another actress. Me, Jess and Lauren would not mind playing the part ourselves. 

We know that at times, Alice will be busy with work. Being a good friend of hers, I will ensure to find times she is free and organize our filming around this. This will allow her to get her work done when needed. Having a regular day for filming will also allow her to organize her work around our filming. 

We want to film every Wednesday afternoon possible. Me, Jess, Lauren and Alice are free during this time as we all have school free's. Filming during school time will mean that Alice can still get her usual way home. This will not be an issue. 

 

2). What if our lighting is not good enough?

Due to us planning to film a lot of scenes outside, we fear that our lighting may not be good at times. We can never predict the weather. Due to us doing a lot of filming in winter, snow, rain and winds are very likely. This makes our filming sometimes different.

Things we could do to try and control this:

- For each time we film, we could decide which scene to film based on the weather. If it is a snowy day, we will concentrate on filming the Indoor scenes. 

- If the lighting is different each time we film outside, this will be hard to handle. However, we can do our best to fix this during the editing process. 

Indoors, we will try to use the same type of lighting each time. Again, a lot of the lighting will be from natural light (through windows etc), therefore, some of the above things could apply. We could also try to control blinds, curtains, and inner lighting. 

3). What if we really do not like our product after filming?

 We have discussed many ideas as a group and have decided on our final idea. However, it is always possible that we begin to dislike our idea. If this were to happen, we would need to have a group discussion.

Things we could do to if we do not like our product:

- We could re-think our story board and if we have time, re film our video

- If we do not have time, we could think of ways to use the videos we have in order to create a different story

- We may have no choice but to use the videos, we would have to ensure editing is sound

We will need to try and change ideas quickly in order to give us time to do create new story boards.

 

Initial Locations

School Location
We decided to use the outdoor classroom at our school to film this scene as it means that Alice can storm out the doors onto an outdoor location where she can storm down the road. We are also filming within the classroom as well.






  

 



House Location












Lane Scene Location
For the Lane scene, we wanted somewhere that was near to school but also perfect for our video. Luckily, we found this lane which passes a church in Wilmington. Our group decided that the lane shown below was perfect for our video. Being long in length, meant we would be able to film a lot of Alice. It also will give us opportunities to try shots such as Follow Shots due to us being able to walk a long way down. Since being such a long lane, we had a variety of different places on the lane in which we could film meaning our group had many options to decide which part of the lane was best.

 

 

These scenes may change if we think they do not fit the story properly 

Schedule

Our Schedule :

Research and Planning stages:

September and October will be our main planning and research months

September:

-        initial discussion with group

-        Deciding on our resources

-         Research and specific research into music videos

-        Research into sound/decide our song choice

-        Creation of our first story board/time line

October:

-        Deciding on our resources

-        Contingency Plans

-        Create a group discussion (Maybe a popplet)

November:

-        Filming takes place

-        Every Wednesday afternoon to film

-        Try to film every Thursday morning (providing Alice is free)

December:

-        Filming continues

-        Editing begins taking process

January:

-        Editing should be fully underway

-        Research into ancillary task begins

-        Any re-filming

February

-        First draft of edited video should be done

-        Photographs taken for our ancillary tasks

-        Any re-filming

March

-        Editing should be done for video (finished)

-        Ancillary task being edited

-        Extra photos taken if needed

-        Start of Evaluation

April

-        All should be finished.

-        Evaluation stages should be completed 

Research Into Lighting

Lighting is a very important aspect of our filming and we need to concentrate on this and make sure we use the correct type of lighting when we make our music video. We will use a range of different lighting to ensure that we highlight the exact things we want, as well as flattering each character and location.

Types of Lighting we will use


Base Illumination
To make sure that the video camera is able to pick up images properly and to make it clear and visible we will use base illumination. this will capture images that are comprehensible and make sure the grain isn't too bad. It will make the picture brighter, however not too bright that it shows a different effect. It is important that we get the right colour as our video is fairly dark and depressing, therefore we do not want to make the scenes extremely bright. We will use this lighting in the bedroom scene and the living room scene with the mother.

Mimic EnvironmentWe will also focus on the position of the lighting, which will bring a great effect to our videos. We will want shadows to fall to the ground ans lighting to mostly be above. We want the general positioning of the lighting to seem releastic by having lights come from a place that they would naturally come from, for exmaple, the ceiling. If using the lighting in one of our outdoor scenes such as the lane scene we would position it highly to act as the sun, however as the weather for our video is wet and darkw e will not need to. For our indoor scenes such as in the kitchen living room,a nd bedroom we will use lighting and place it up high to get the best effect.

Separate From BackgroundTo distinguish our actors and actresses from the background we will use a different technique of lighting. One way we can do this is to make the foreground and background distinct from each other. Backlight pointed up from the ground towards the camera will outline the foreground objects with a subtle glow that will help separate it from the background.



Examples of Typical Lighting

These pictures will show the typical type of lighting I will use for my video. There will be two lights instead of three, and a back drop is available however we will not need this as we are suing natural background in all of our scenes. I predict that we may have trouble when setting up lighting to fit it into all of the locations we are using, however we will be able to work around this to produce the best quality ideo possible.

 

 

 

Detail into Camera Shots

There are a range of different shots we will use to emphasise the different parts for our video, and to show different authority and figures throughout our video. This will help us to present characters in different ways, revealing their power, as well as their weaknesses. We will also use these different shots to create the best possible video, as well as varying how we will film different scenes.

Worm eye shot

This shot will be used throughout our video in such scenes when she is in the classroom, and having interaction with her teacher, as well as using it when she is having an argument with her mother in the kitchen. This shot will be effective as it will show how Alice is intimidated when having interactions with both these characters, as well as showing who is the authority figure in the scene.

Over the shoulder shot

We plan to use an over shoulder shot for again many different scenes throughout the video. This shot is useful and portrays conversations well, as we are able to see the reactions of characters when a particular thing is said. This shot will be used again in the scene with her mother when she is having an argument, as well as in the scene with her teacher. The over the shoulder shot will also be used for the lane scene, when she is slowly walking down the road.

Birds Eye Shot

This shot will be used for the lane scene. We will use this to show alice reading a text from her friend, and we will be able to show the text by reading it over her shoulder. This will give a natural and personal feel to the video, as we are using personal space to film a shot, which will hopefully be successful. This shot will be set up by alice standing still reading the text, whilst one of us will stand of short stool leaning from above her shoulder filming it to allow a downwards shot.

These shots will be extremely useful and successful in many ways, to portray our video and different scenes. As well as these shots we will also use follow shots, from behind her when walking into her house as well as using this shot when following the mother up the stairs. A pan shot will also be used in our video when filming the first and last scene when we show alice passed out on the floor with bottles around her. Additionally we will also be using ellipsis of time, which will be part of editing, to speed up certain scenes that we want a more fast paced feel for.

Details to Timeline - Camera Angles and Shots

To make it clear and precise of when we need to do each shot I decided to not only do a time line of shots but also scribe how long each shot and scene will be, and roughly the lyrics that will be in place when each shot or angle is being used. This will be extremely useful for filming and editing and will act as a guideline to direct us throughout the process.

1st (opening) scene - 0.00 - 0.17 seconds
Lyrics: "Made a wrong turn, once or twice, Dug my way out, blood and fire, Bad decisions, that's alright, Welcome to my silly life, Mistreated..."
- Once the word "mistreated" has ended is when the song starts to go into a heavier beat, and this is where the first scene will end, lasting for 17 seconds. This scene also includes box two on my time line.

2nd scene - 0.18 - 0.39 seconds
Lyrics: "misplaced, misunderstood, Miss, no way it's all good, it didn't slow me down, Mistaken, always second guessing, underestimated, look, I'm still around"
- After these lyrics is when the chorus begins so therefore we stop there as the film will start to get more fast paced as the chorus begins. This scene includes box 3, 4, 5, and 6 of my time line, and finishes as she begins to walk out of the classroom.

3rd scene - 0.40 - 1.13 seconds
Lyrics: "Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel, like you're less than, less than perfect. Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel, like you're nothing, you are perfect to me"
- These lyrics will relate to the scene where she storms out of the classroom and walks fastly down the pavement outside school. This will fit in well as the scene is fast paced and so is the music at that point. This scene includes box 7 and 8.

4th scene - 1.14 - 1.23 seconds
Lyrics: "You're so mean when you talk, about yourself, you are wrong, change the voices in your head, make them like you instead"
- This scene will be the start of the lane scene, where she is walking down slowly, thinking about certain things, feeling glum and upset, and walking aimlessly. It also fits in well with the scene as this part of the song is very downbeat and slow, which links in well with the scene.

5th scene - 1.24 - 1.44 seconds
Lyrics: "So complicated, look how big you'll make it, filled with so much hatred, such a tired game."
- This scene will be her thinking back on memories with her friends, and this scene will be in black and white to portray that it is a memory.

6th scene - 1.45 - 1.54 seconds
"It's enough, I've done all I can think of, Chased down all my demons, see you do the same"
- This scene will be her reading the text from her friend, then angrily walking down the rest of the lane whilst throwing her jacket down to show how angry she is.

7th scene - 1.55 - 2.17 seconds
Lyrics: "Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel, like you're less than, less than perfect. Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel, like you're nothing, you are perfect to me"
- This scene will be when she is having an argument with her mother in the kitchen, and they are shouting at each other, once they have the argument the mother will walk out of the kitchen leaving her in there.

Here, we have cut a verse out of the music video as we do not want it in, as it is not in time and keeping with our video, does nto suit our video, and we would not know what scene to relate this part of the song with. Therefore we are going straigh to a repeat of the chorus again, which will create far more continuity and fit better as a the backing track music to our video. We have cut out approximately 30 seconds.

8th scene - 2.18 - 3.01 seconds
Lyrics: "Ooh, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, please, don't you ever, ever feel, like you're less than, less than perfect, pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel, like you're nothing, you are perfect to me. You are perfect to me, you're perfect, you're perfect to me"
- This scene will start from once the mother has left the room, Alice will then in a rush search through the cupboards of her kitchen to find alcholo and drug packets. Once she find these she will then run upstairs to her room where she will pace around the room frantically, take the pills and drink the alcohol, whilst crying and looking upset. She will then lay on the floor and slowly fall asleep.

9th scene - 3.02 - 3.29 seconds
Lyrics: "Pretty, pretty please of you ever ever feel, like you're less than, less than perfect. Pretty, pretty please, if you ever ever feel, Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me"
- This is the last scene of the video, and it will show a shot of Alice passed out on the floor. The scene will then change to a shot of alice's mum calling her from the bottom of the stairs, and her standing there with no suprise. She will then walk up the stairs slowly and go to open Alice's bedroom door as she see's Alice passed out on the floor, and that will be the end of the music video and where it finishes.

Timeline with Camera Angles and Shots

We decided to make a vague timeline of what is exactly will be going on in each scene, with thoughts about what camera shot and angle we will use at each point. We thought about the different shots and angles to help us visualize the layout of the video, and how it will be directed. It will also largely help us to keep a track of time to sync with the song, and make it easier for us to decide what will go where in accordance to the words in the song. This timeline also helps us to direct our actors to do exactly what we have in mind, in terms of where to go, what to do, and what they are trying to portray throughout the scenes. We will be able to refer to this timeline when filming our video, which will guide and remind of us of what we will need to do at each point. This will be extremely useful for all of us and keep us much more organised.

Final Storyboard

We decided to do a final storyboard where we will note our exact ideas of each scene, focusing on camera angles, shots, what particular objects we will focus on in each scene and how each scene will link into the next. We did not change much from the first storyboard however we made it slightly more detailed to make it clearer. The pictures are not that detailed however they portray what is happening which is all that is needed to explain ideas and actions that will happen.

Final Storyboard

1st Scene - A pan shot across alice's bedroom showing empty alcohol bottles and drug packets laid across the floor, showing the room in a mess. The camera will then pan across an image of alice passed out on the floor, portraying that she is unconcious from the drugs and alcohol, with messed up hair and her make up run down her face.

2nd Scene - The image will then fade into white to an ellipsis of time, where will begin at the start of the story explaining how alice ended up like this. The scene will start with a wide shot of her in a classroom, focusing on the teacher handing out homework to all of the students. The camera will then turn to alice as the teacher is giving her back her homework, and as she puts it on her desk the camera will do a close up shot of her reaction and expression. The camera will then turn to an up shot of the teacher as she starts to tell alice off. We will then use a shot reverse shot to show alice and the teacher arguing.

3rd Scene - The camera will then show alice storming out of the classroom and angrily walking down the path and the camera will follow her doing this. There will be an image of school in the background, and this scene will be fairly fast paced to portray anger.

4th Scene - The camera will then cut to an image of her walking down the lane, as it follows her with a mid shot. There will be close up shots of her walking along the lane, along with mid and long shots.

5th Scene - The camera will then focus on her reading a text from her phone, and we will use an extreme close up of the phone, as well as an up shot of alice to show her reaction from the text.

6th Scene - This scene will fade into black and white as we will be showing memories, so therefore this needs to differentiate from the other scenes that we show. This scene will show alice sitting with her friends, as they all share jokes together and talk, revealing that they are having fun together and showing their friendship.

7th Scene - The video will then cut back to a scene of her running down the lane again, looking extremely angry and upset. It will also show her arriving at her house and stepping through the front door. This will all be fast paced as we want to portray anger and frustration.

8th Scene - Alice will then walk into the living room, where she meets her mum who has been waiting there for a while. They start to argue and we will use shots such as a 360 degrees shot, and shot reverse shot to show the argument.

9th Scene - This scene will show Alice going into her kitchen whilst rushing to find alcohol and drug packets. She will search through cupboards and we will use close up shots to show her earching for them. Once she has fond them she then starts running up the stairs to her room.

10th Scene - This scene will show alice in her room, drinking the alcohol and taking the drugs, whilst crying and looking extremely upset. Her make up will be a lot messier as well as her hair and clothes scruffy. This scene will also be fast paced to again reveal how mad, and angry she really is.

11th Scene - This last scene will be a repeat of the opening scene as there will be pan shots across the floor of everything that has gone on. The camera will then focus on the door as a foot will peer through and that is where the video will end.

 

This storyboard will be extremely useful and make it much easier when filming as we will have something specific to follow by, which means we will not lose track of what we need to do at each scene.

Using Popplet

We used popplet to brainstorm and note our ideas when planning for our video. At first when using popplet we found it difficult and confusing, and wanted to use other programmes to showcase our thoughts. However when we realised that the site merged our work together we actually found it extremely useful and began to understand how to use it. Popplet not only was useful to look at everything we needed to include, but it was also a presentable and interesting way to show it, making it extremely easy to keep all of our ideas in one place. It also meant that we could almost talk to each other over Popplet, making it easier to collaborate our ideas for the best outcome.

This was our main page where pictures of certain sections were put on, and these helped us to create a visual idea of what we wanted. We included pictures of the specific actresses that we will be using, just to make it clear what our characters will look like. We used some clothing which will be similar to what the characters will wear in the video. We also included a few photos of equipment that we will need for filming, and lastly included a link of the ogrinal music video to the song.

This spider diagram was to think of ideas of the characters clothing for the video, and the dress sense they will have. We all inco-operated our own ideas as is shown in the photo above.



We then made a spider diagram for location spots where we will be filming. We only have four different locations which makes filming a lot easier as we do not have to travel around a lot. It will also be easier as we are fimiliar to all the locations we're using throughout the video, meaning we can find the pro's and cons of each place and find where exactly are the best spots to film.

We then thought about the technical elements to filming and discussed the camera angles and shots we will use. Although we will use many the ones brainstormed here are the main ones we use to give the best effect to the video.

We then looked at our schedule and noted down when we were next filming and reasons that we could not film on certain days. This spider diagram was more for our own personal use to keep us organised and up to date on the times that we will be filming our video.

We lastly expanded on the characters and actresses that we will be using and exactly who they are.

Mise en Scene - Props

These are some of the props that we will use for our music video. We realised that there are actually minimal props to use in this video as we do not want to comlpicate things by having to inco-operate a large anmount of props. The pill packets and empty bottles to the video as they will portray the ending of the story when we reveal that the main character has overdosed on drugs. The phone is also needed for a part of the story, as she will receive a text message and the phone will be clearly shown on camera. The bag is needed to make her outfit more realistic, and fit in with the 'school feel' that we will be creating. All these props are extremely easy to get as we already own a school bag and phone, and we can locate the other two props easily from either home or a shop.

Photo Research - Mothers Clothing and Make Up

The mother character in the video will be wearing casual clothes in her scene, most probably in pyjamas or nightwear. She will be wearing casual and comfortable clothes to give us the idea that she has been in the house for a long time, and that it is also late and therefore she should be in bed or going to bed soon. She will be wearing warm clothes as this will give the idea that she feels safe inside the house, and is using clothing to protect her from something. Her attire may be a little scruffy and worn down, as we want to imply that she has been wearing this for a while and it is late at night. Although the character of the mother will not be very welcoming, we want her clothes to look inviting and timid, which is why we will use a pink tone of pyjamas and dressing gown. By using these colours it also gives off a 'mum' feel and we can easily relate to her, and know who she is. The mothers character will be wearing minimal make up, as we want her to look tired and annoyed. She will wear pale foundation and not much eye make up, preferably just some mascara. To complete her look we actually want her to wear a short, mousey blonde wig. We have one in mind which would be acceptable to use, however we will have to make sure it looks real and believable otherwise it could give off a slightly 'tacky' look. We want her to wear this wig as it will make her look older, ageing her, as the actress we are using to play the mother is only 17.

Photo Research - Teachers Clothing and Make Up

 

The teacher in our video will also be dressed in smart attire. She will have to wear a blazer or dark cardigan to give a smart and powerful exterior. She will also have to wear dark and plain clothing to show her significance in the school. Her shoes will be black and do not have to be heels like in the collage, however they will have to be smart and appropriate like these. The character will wear either a smart dress or tailored trousers and top, whichever she feels more comfortable in. The school badge will be used to show authority as well as showing what role she has within school. To our advantage, the actress we will be using for our music video is infact our media teacher, therefore we don't have to bring in clothes for her to change into. We just told her to normal school attire, as long as it was smart. Her make up will be minimal, with just normal eye and face make up. Her hair will be smart, either tied up or neatly down.

Photo Research - Alice's clothing and make up

 

We decided to dress alice in school attire as we felt this fitted in with the theme of school. Although this means her outfit will be fairly plain, we still want to cooprate our own twist onto it to ensure that we get alice's character portrayed through what she is wearing. We will dress her in a black blazer to let the audience recognise that she is at school and dressed smartly. We will also dress her in a white blouse to agains signify that she is at school. She will be wearing a short, black body con skirt with with this outfit, which slightly reveals a different side to her as not all of her outfit is acceptable. She will also be holding a dark brown, large school bag which will hold books in, to again remind us that she is at school. The majority of her outfit will be dark to signify her dark and troubled character, however we don't want to be over the top and create an 'emo' look as this is not what we are going for.

 

 

 

We are also really focusing on Alice's make up as this is what we want to stand out most about her. She will have fairly dark eye make up on, as shown in these pictures above. We want her to have black/dark eyeshadow which takes over most of the eyelid, and then eye liner underneath to accentuate her eyes. We also want her to have fairly pale foundation on, to contrast to the dark petruding eyes. Her hair will be lsightly back combed and wavy however not too messy, as this will give off the wrong look. By having dark eye make up, it reveals that the main character will have an edge to her, and will allow her to stand out from the crowd as she is slightly 'different'.