Props & Costume

Props.
After studying the two videos for this track, (KOL and Pixie Lott) we have combined the two and thought of which aspects to use for our production.
The desired props for the "city scenes" include:
A guitar - inadequatley an acoustic as this denoted the instrument on the audio track.
Also an umberella may be sufficiant to fill the "cute/indie" image for the female featured. Aslo it could fit with the northern city life mise en scene.
Furthermore, photos of the "couple" may be used for dramatic effect, maybe for the female to scatter on the floor.
Other props are yet to be discussed and finalised for use in the production.
The desired props for the "studio" scenes include:
A guitar (same reasoning as above)
A Microphone, this to show the recording activity of the track.
Other props for this scene are yet to be discussed and finalised for use in the production.
The desired props for the "pool hall/pub" scenes include:
A pool table
Alcoholic drink glasses, this to cannote the northern drinking habits and to create atmosphere and show young adults socialising.
Extras - for atmospheric effect and realism.
Other props ae yet to be discussed and finalised for use in the production.

Costume.

Also after studying the two official videos, we also started to speak about costume.
It was apparent that in the videos to successfully give off an "indie" feel the artists were in very casual but smart clothing. Especially in the KOL video they are in smart/casual clothes such as shirts with the sleeves rolled up and dark garments such as leather jackets or dark denim to give a more sophisticated "grungey" look and appeal. This, being the look that is desired for the male featured in the production (Ryan).
This look will be finished with the appropriate accessories that are yet to be discussed.
Furthermore, the costume ideas for the female featured in the production, (Amy) we have discussed a look that screams indie chick. Aswell as still fitting in with the "grungey" look; so that the couple look suited to eachother. Using items such as short leather boots and short/pretty dresses gives a youthful look but by teaming it with dark/grungey leathers it creates juxtaposition and creates a mutually fashionable pair of young adults.
This look will be finished with the appropriate accessories that are yet to be discussed.

The costumes mentioned above will be used in similar way to make statements for both the "city" and "pool hall/pub" scenes. However for the "studio" scene; a much more casual look has been planned. From looking at the official footage from the Pixie Lott video for this track she sports an extremely casual look wearing dark colours and limited accessories. This has inspired the intended looks for both Amy and Ryan.
Ryan will wear casual clothing, close to what he would normally choose to wear himself on a day to day basis: jeans, t-shirt with hardly any accessories.
Amy will also wear what she would normally choose to wear daily. Be it a dress or jeans and a pretty top. Due to the inspired video, her accessories will be toned down and limited for the "studio" scene.
Other small changes such as make-up is still to be discussed between the group and finalised for use in the production.

Change of Plans

We have had a setback to our filming schedule. On the proposed day of filming (14/10/11), one member of the group who is vital can not attend due to prior commitments. We have decided to film during out media lesson on 17/10/11.

- Add new shot list without Ryan
- Add new location
- Add new costume

Camera Equipment

As a group we have decided to use our own camera equipment to create our music video. This includes a Canon EOS 1100D with several lens attachments. We have agreed to this as we believe the ability of this camera is above that of the cameras we are expected to use within the college. With the addition with the lenses, we can create specific effects such as shallow depth of field which is apparent in both Kings of Leon videos and Pixie Lott videos.

 

Canon EOS 1100D

Canon 50mm Lens

 

Canon 55-250mm Lens 

 

Test video of Canon EOS 1100D with 50mm lens attachment.

First Day of Shooting

We have decided to start shooting on Friday 14th October. We have created a small but detailed shot list and what we expect to achieve in the time that we have set ourselves. We are hoping to meet up at 18:30 in the city center as we hope to have a night time setting. Our proposed locations within the city center are Starbucks Coffee Shop, Piccadilly Gardens and on the Tram. We have prepared ourselves against the possible complications we may occur when filming and have below proposed a list of complications and what we will do to avoid and carry on from them.

Proposed Shot List:

 Starbucks

• Amy looking out of the window looking lonely and depressed;
  - Mid shot to set the scene of her specifically sat in the corner of the shop, away from everyone else and portraying the view that she is lonely.
  - Close up to show her blank, yet perturbed expression. (Use of 50mm lens to create a steady and shallow depth of focus)
• Point of View shot (Amy's POV) of Ryan walking into the shop. We will film this shot twice, once where he walks in and acknowledges her and sits beside her and another where she acknowledges him however he does not acknowledge her at all. This shows her fantasy but it is easily replaced with the unfavourable reality.
  - Mid/Long shot again to set the scene and surroundings.
  - Close up of Ryan with eyes looking down, the audience wonders if he genuinely does not see Amy or if he is purposely trying not to look over. Pained expression, we wonder if he misses her or not.
• Master Shot of the whole store to establish where we are, no particular focus as the coffee shop as a whole holds little importance.
• Mid shot of 
• Possible extreme close up of irrelevant subjects to fill up film to use in an emergency of not having enough footage

Piccadilly Gardens

• Walking through the fountains or beside. Long shot to establish the scene, mid shot to cut and close up to view emotions of the couple
• Walking over the bridge

Tram

•   A similar shot to that in Starbucks, Amy looking out of the window longingly and looking upset. Bot a Mid shot and close up (Use of 50mm lens to create a steady and shallow depth of focus). We will try and use a shot of someone walking past to 'wipe the screen'. We will add this in editing between the mid shot and the close up to create a natural transition.
• We are hoping for an empty tram to again connotate her loneliness and therefore we will use a wide shot, however if it is not possible (due to a full tram) we will remove the use of this shot and/or try and film it on another day.
• Over the shoulder close up of Amy texting. Cut to a close up of her phone and texting the words 'I miss you....' to Ryan. Possibly an extreme closeup of her thumb hovering over the send button.

Precautions:

• If Starbucks refuse filming within the store: If we're not permitted to film within the store we will try Costa Coffee and Cafe Nero which are opposite Starbucks. If we too are denied permission to film in these other coffee shops, we will film in Maria's conservatory. This will alter out shot list, however if this occurs we will post a separate one.
• If it is raining; If the weather (predicted to be sunny) changes to rain, this will only set back our filming in Piccadilly Gardens however we will still be able to conclude with our Tram and Starbucks footage. This may even create a better effect as the bad weather will connotate loneliness and upset a lot more.

Costume:

• Floral shorts and black top. The floral shots tie in well with Pixie Lotts style which is very floaty and girly. We decided on a plain black top as we did not to draw too much attention to her outfit as opposed to the scene. There will also be very vibrant colours and lights within the coffee shop scenes and this top will enable Amy to stand out amongst them. For Ryan, the costume will be conventional teenage male dress i.e jumper, jeans and trainers.

Location settings

As a group we decided to go out looking for locations on which we could use to set the rest of our music video. As the theme of the video was about the main character Amy, missing somebody, we knew we had to find locations which would pursue the feelings Amy felt towards the male. We went around several coffee shops, such as Cafe Nero and Starbucks. We went inside each of the shops and had a look around, but we wanted window shots in the video to set the scene, but neither of these coffee shops offered a window seating area suitable. We then went into Costa Coffee where we found our ideal location, as the seating was suitable for the shot we desired. We were then walking around town as a group and thought that a shot of Amy and the male character walking round town would represent their close relationship which we aimed to indicate in the video. The bright lights and the winter atmosphere would all help to correspond with our cosy shots of the couple. We decided on shots around the fountains in the centre of town would look cute, where there is a lighted bridge through the centre. This would create a peaceful and romantic walk which we could use as a romantic couple shot. After spending the day around town we decided that the three settings would all be perfect to help set the scene for our music video. Travelling back home on the met, we all thought a shot on the met would be a unique shot, with Amy looking out the window on the met with a fast pace background behind her. Our next lesson back in college as a group, we looked back through our analysis of our music videos we looked at. In Pixie Lott's 'Use Somebody' video, the entire video is herself in the studio, which then made me think my brother is in a band with Amy and my brother has a studio at my house. I told my group and we all decided it would be a great idea if you could use the studio, with Amy and Ryan together performing. This would indicate an even closer relationship between them both and also correspond to Pixie Lott's video which is the song of our choice. As a group we went to my brother's studio and took location pictures and we decided the studio would be a great place to set some shots in our video. In my house, we have a 50's style entertainment room which the girls thought would be an exciting setting to use. We decided on also using the entertainment room to shoot some shots, as again this would show Amy and Ryan spending more time together.  As a group we are all excited to start filming, as we all agreed on all of the locations and are optimistic to start filming our music video.

Initial Storyboard for 'Use Somebody' by Pixie Lott

Initial Shot List for 'Use Somebody' by Pixie Lott

1. Opening shot of Amy sat in cafe, not lip synched un till the second shot.

2. Shot of Amy outside the cafe, lip synched and the busy atmosphere in the background.

3. Pan shot of the town around, showing the bright lights around the main character.

4. Shot of Amy dancing with her guitar through the centre of town.

5. Close up of Amy's guitar as she's playing.

6. Chorus - Jump cut to house shot ofAmy playing pool with a male character.

7. Close up's of the two characters laughing.

8. Wide shots of the room and peopleenjoying the place.

9. Medium close up of both characters and Amy lip synching a couple of main lines to the male.

10. Jump cut back to town, wide shot showing Amy singing down the centre streets.

11. Amy runs over to a stranger, and dances around them playing her guitar.

12. Shot back Amy and male character, showing them still in the pub having a drink.

13. Shot of random people in pub speaking with Amy and male character blurred in the background.

14. Shot showing game of pool ended.

15. Jump cut back to town with Amy saton a bench, playing guitar and lip synched.

16. Pan shot of bright lights around the city.

17. Jump cut back to Amy and the male character, totally different atmosphere with this shot being in a studio.

18. Studio shot of Amy singing down amic and male character playing guitar by her side.

19. Medium close up of both characters smiling, playing their music together.

20. Blurred shot of Amy's face fading out.

21. Jump cut back to town which shows Amy strumming the last cord of the song.

22. Back shot of Amy walking away, with the guitar on her back.

23. Pan shot up into the sky, showing the lights as it fadesaway.

Analysis Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire

I decided to look at another Kings ofLeon video, and went for the video that got them as famous as they are today. Ilooked at another one of their videos to see how they vary in shots and typesof action that are included. I wanted to see if the same style was used in moreof their videos, if they included a wider audience or just themselves.

At the start of the video we see some very strange andrandom objects, we can see a chicken and leaves blowing around. We also seeother people who are not part of the band, this is the first Kings of Leonvideo where we see actors in the video, and not just videos of the band. Thiscreates more of a performance video which contrasts to their other work whichall seems to be in the narrative genre. The pace of the video slowly builds up,which creates tension. It also creates uncertainty and intrigues the viewer asthere are many random shots and confused close ups of actors eyes and warylooks. It seems like one of the band members is in pain on the bed, and then thevideo jumps to the band playing in an open space. This links to all their othervideos which shows the band performing. We constantly jump cuts from the bandmember in pain on the bed, to the band performing. This again creates moretension and confusion for the viewer as we have no reason to understand why heis going through pain, but then we see him singing fine. The video is very maledominant, which could have been done purposely to show close ups and band shotsof the band. 'Sex on fire' is the song that really got Kings of Leon famous asit was their first release song, so using close ups and band shots is used tomake the audience recognize their faces.you in your life.

Analysis of Kings of Leon - Use Somebody

The video 'use somebody' by kings of leon is another videoelse we took inspiration from, this is also the original version of the song,which has been covered by various artists. Pixie Lott is an artist which has covered the song too, which is a version we also looked at. As a group, weanalyzed both videos and decided we would take parts of each video and createour own. We noticed Kings of Leon's version is at a quicker pace, and edited in this way. Where as, Pixie Lott's version doesn't have a video. The video forPixie Lott's version is simply her in a recording studio, which gives theeffect that she is singing it live but it has been recorded before hand andthen lip synched for the video. The Kings of Leon also has shots of themrecording the song and performing live. The first shots of the video is ofKings of Leon themselves, which the video is mainly centered around, and includesa lot of night shots of a Los Angeles city. The last shot of the video is aclose up of just the lead singer, showing the idea of the song that youshouldn't use somebody or you'll be left on your own. As well as lots of shotsof the band, there is a lot of the fans which explains the meaning of the song which is about only needing the people around you that need you.

Pixie Lott - All About Tonight (Video Analysis)

After deciding against our original ideas to use Rizzle Kicks we decided as a whole that it'd be more effective and efficient if we used a female singer in which one of the four female members if our group could play the part of within our music video. We all decided to choose the song 'Use Somebody', originally performed by Kings of Leon, but covered by British female pop artist Pixie Lott. The original is quite simply of Pixie singing in a studio, from this we believe there was not much to analyse within the video and therefore we have decided to analyse another music video by Pixie Lott. We have chosen 'All About Tonight' which is a contrast to 'Use Somebody' as it is upbeat and is paired with a very performance orientated music video,

You could argue that the category of the music video is a mixture between both performance and narrative. You can instantly tell it's heavily performance based by the use of dance performances, however it has elements of narrative as the lyrics are referring to her having a good night out. She backs this up by showing her walking through the streets with her friends, presumably on the way a venue.

According to Craig Davis' categories of music videos and the evidence from above, we believe this video belongs under the Illustration category. 

Illustration -Either a straightforward performance video or a simple narrative video (or mixture of the two) that illustrates the meaning of the lyrics and visualizes the music in a straightforward way. It could be called music video 'denotation'.

Pixie Lott - 'Use Somebody' ( Kings Of Leon Acoustic Cover)

This is our chosen video, we decided on the Pixie Lott because we are all girls and so is our audience. We also preferred it to the King's of Leon version as it has the more 'pop' feel which we preffered. The genre of the King's of leon version is much more indie rock, although we liked this genre we felt we could do more with the lott version. 'Acoustic Pop' is the genre of the Lott version of this song, a very popular genre picked by many artists including Scouting for girls and Avril Lavigne, many artists have gone down this route as people seem to enjoy it and it is extremely popular with many.

Who is Pixie Lott?

Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991) is an English singer-songwriter, dancer and actress. She has many influences including Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.In 2006, at the age of 15, she sang for L. A. Reid after he heard a few of her demos.He then signed her to the Island Def Jam Music Group while in the midst of writing and recording tracks for Turn It Up. She has supported many artists in her career including The Saturdays. The song we chosen Pixie's cover of 'Use Somebody' is a part of her Turn it up louder album from 2009, many of the other songs on the album are part of the same 'acoustic pop' genre, the singer originally from Bromley has had many hit singles and albums and won many awards including 3 brit awards. Her cover of 'Use Somebody' is just one of many covers by Lott, she has also covered songs by Stevie Wonder and Ceel Low Green, as well as supporting the likes of Rhianna of her Last Girl on Earth tour.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Production Treatment: Tanesha, Jessica, Maria and Amy

Music Video: 'Use Somebody' by Pixie Lott

Duration: 3:12

Audience: Our target audience will be both female and male teenagers between 13-25. The reason we chose this specific target audience is due to Pixie Lott being a young (formerly) teenage artist who produces songs that many young girls can relate to (heartbreak and having fun in songs such as 'Broken Arrow' and 'Boys and Girls'). We also decided to target boys as Pixie Lott has a large following of males due to her attractiveness and like ability. Also the original song which she covers is by the all male band Kings of Leon, they also have the similar followings to Pixie Lott.


We do not believe that the video is likely to appeal to an older target group because usually that's when most couples are married or in the process of getting married and therefore they don't have to face the same situations as the situation featured in the song. This however does not limit who would be interested in the music video, however we believe that the majority of viewers would be of our intended audience age.

Resume: The narrative of the video will revolve around a girl who has previously broken up with her boyfriend. During the video we will try and involve contrasting scenes of both a positive and negative nature e.g. Scenes with the couple together and scenes where she is alone. During the positive scenes however we will try and portray these as 'flashbacks' as opposed to present day. Overall the audience will be viewing a short rendition of the positive times of what used to be her relationship and also see her current state of loneliness. We decided on this specific narrative due to the lyrics containing "I could use somebody" on several occasions.

Suggested Elements: Costumes used within the production will be similar to the clothing that Pixie Lott herself wears. This includes floaty dress/skirts with floral patterns and nude, pastel or neutral colours. Pixie Lott often has soft waves in her hair also to create a pure and natural look. Key locations include a Coffee Shop, Piccadilly Gardens, A park (Platt Fields) and several street locations throughout Manchester city center. The performance will mainly insist of lip-syncing and several acted scenes as opposed to a singing/dance performance or artistic video as we believe that they would not fit well with the music genre and song itself.

Recording Days: We are hoping to spend more days on editing than on filming as this will enable us to have spare time left over if we are in need of more shots or if errors occur. We are planning to focus on the Digipack after the production deadline. We will be updating the blog in our own time throughout the production process however a large focus will be made post-production in the two week period between each deadline. We believe this will enable us enough time to complete each section of our advanced portfolio to a high standard.

Changes made

We decided to change the track from the Rizzle Kicks’ “Miss Cigarette” to do a cover of Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody”. This was for several reasons; some of which being that we couldn’t get enough people to co-operate to be in the footage as what we had planned for the type of production we had planned for that particular. Also the band, which I am in, The TomToms, has already recorded a demo version of “Use Somebody”. All member of the group are Kings of Leon fans and by analyzing the official Use Somebody video we discussed how we could create a production with a similar feel.
Shots such as panning/ariel shots of LA city; we could achieve this look by using one on Manchester’s high buildings to create the effect of an city ariel shot. We would produce this at the night time to emphasize volume of the city. Also the bright city lights will refer to the original KOL video – creating the same atmosphere as the original video.
We have created a shot list to show the initial ideas we have for our production and believe it will look effective. We have decided not to ‘illustrate’ the lyrics but to ‘amplify’ them. To show I direct link to the lyrics and meaning of the song without displaying a straight-forward narrative to the song and its lyrics. Just as the official video, we thought we could create this by including a number of random shots such as the female vocalist in a pool bar with the male character; this creating a general, socializing image of the couple, laughing and joking whilst playing pool. This initially could include close ups of the female vocalist lip-syncing a few random lines of the song which would then link back into the city scenes of there will be various shots walking through the city, playing on guitar and a café scenario. There will also be studio shots that will be featured in black and white editing to show The TomToms recording. The black and white editing is to display reference from the Pixie Lott version of Use Somebody which is the version we will be covering.

Rizzle Kicks Video Anaylsis

Our chosen song to create a music video on is Rizzle Kicks - Miss Cigarette.


Initial Notes.
We looked at Rizzle Kick's for 'Miss Cigarette' and took ideas from this, we liked the opening of them being outside sat on the bench and felt our video should begin outside with who ever is playing Miss Cigarette walking down the street. The 50's theme we felt would suit our video, and we would use 50's style clothing, hair etc to support this. The song 'Miss Cigarette' has a lot of random shots which don't correspond or relate to this song/video in anyway e.g. them sat in a kitchen/diner. As well as someone being sat on a bench, we was also going to have someone dragging a microphone down the road, this represents the random theme which runs throughout the video. Another shot we was going to include was spelling out Miss Cigarette using letters written on cardboard with each letter being in a different colour and a different font, the video that inspired us to do this was Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues we felt this would work in our video as it's different and unlike anything you see in videos today.

We decided to analysis another Rizzle Kicks video to get a grasp of their style, which we all believe is quite individual. The genre they fall under is hip hop however we believe that they do not conform to contemporary hip hop conventions such as the males wearing brand clothing and expensive jewelry and being accompanied by a scantily dressed female. We believe their style and sound is quite unique and takes elements from old 1980’s and 90’s style of hip-hop. Toby Lockerbie, who also directed Rizzle Kick’s other single Miss Cigarette, as well as several other songs by the duo, directed the video.

As mentioned before, we don’t believe that neither the video nor the duo adhere to contemporary hip hop conventions. However they do use some elements from 1980’s hip hop culture such as the old boom box. The setting is also an opposite to hip hop conventions; they are situated in a British seaside town and walk around as opposed to usually the artists driving around in luxurious cars in extravagant cities such as Miami and Los Angeles in America.

We would place this video in the category of both performance and narrative. We believe this to be the case due to the duo performing the song, with the use of lip-syncing. It’s a narrative also as some elements of the video link to the lyrics such as the use of the trumpet which links in with the chorus line ‘Let’s get down with the trumpets’. This line is possibly a double entendre; meaning to get dance with the music which contains trumpets or to get high which is what they mimic doing in the video. Another form of narrative is a use of a bra being thrown at Rizzle during the line ‘To put your bras in the air’. We put this music video into the category of amplification as mentioned before, it uses both narrative and performance and elements throughout this amplify the lyrics and the meaning behind the song.