Before shooting, I did a little research consisting of watching music videos for songs that I like. The video for the song 'Over' from Honors was by far my most preeminent inspiration, which is easily seen in my work. I adore both the song and the visuals. This first screenshot shows the girl, captured from aside with the city neon illuminating her, which, in my opinion looked gorgeous. Moreover, it feels way more personal to the viewer, something I tried to do in some of my shots. The second screenshot captures something I did for my music video for Lana del Rey's 'Blue Velvet'. In this case, compared to my preliminary work, and for my future music video, the square vintage looking clips inserted in between the 16:9 ones, are shot with the same actresses; it's original content. I plan to do this for the scene with Aletta and Victor. Finally, the use of lighting is a big clue for my upcoming video. I loved the green, sickly looking light on the actress, so I plan to do the same for the scene mentioned above, with my two actors. It gives off the perfect mood of uneasiness. The actual music video for the song I chose, 'Sirens of the Caspian' gave me a few ideas regarding types of shots and editing. The very first thing we see is the artist calmly floating underwater. This inspired the bathtub scene with Francesca, but there will be flowers in the water, for a feminine touch. The second screenshot captures more shots overlapped, creating a spirit-like moving figure. I thought this is a good twist to add to the shots of Francesca dancing, and a chance to broaden my editing skills. The last screencapture is similar to what I'll shoot with Francesca during the same shooting. As opposed to Sevdaliza's video, where she is shot from aside then looks to the camera but doesn't fully turn, my actress will turn fully to the camera, as I get a little further away from her. I think this, again, engages the audience more as she will break the 4th wall and sort of 'looks at the viewers', not just dances to the music. These last screenshots were taken from a music video that doesn't look at all like my upcoming video. I love the song itself, but my ideas look very different to how this video is. On one hand, the whole video is shot in one location, and I'll shoot mine in 5 different ones, and the color editing and lighting is bright and faded, but mine will be darker and moodier. On the other hand, both videos will incorporate dancing, but the one for 'Busy Earnin'' has a whole group of dancers, with a more street style of dance, and Francesca will dance slower and in a more feminine, soft way. Knowing how my video will not look like also helps to have a better mental image of the final product, and aid me in knowing myself and my style better.
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Just as locations, props also pay an important role in delivering the message to the viewer. I chose my items with care, thinking of each one and how they would contribute to the whole atmosphere. Fairy lights Fairy lights were a great prop to these shots, because I thought the color palette and overall look was a little to plain for a conceptual music video, so I had these on handy and wrapped them around her. They gave of a slightly more magical look, flaunted her waist, and represented the way she dances with the natural element of light. Glitter Moreover, glitter was one of my first thoughts when thinking about symbols for the music video. I was already envisioning a girl either with glitter on her face and body, or smudging it on someone else. In this case, it represents her feminine sensuality and hypnotic-like abilities she has over the boy. (picture with victor with glitter) Flowers Flowers are a must when it comes to aligning one's self with nature, which is what Francesca is portraying when in the bathtub. They represent growth, beauty and tenderness, a perfect addition to the bath with milky water. (picture from above) Matches Going with the same theme of reconnecting with the elements of nature, matches represent the fire element, completing the quartet of water, earth (the flowers), and air (her breath). She watched the fire closely, as she illuminates her face, in the efforts to try to understand it and become it. (fire close to her face) Plates
Finally, plates pay a very important role in the symbolism of the music video, and was very happy when my mother offered to buy some second hand ones. They represent how the character feels inside, fragile, broken and incomplete. The slow motion then adds a more dramatic effect and goes well with the melodic part. Moreover, as for my actor's, and my safety, I will try to break one before actually shooting, to see how far away the bits fly away, and how fragile they are, to calibrate the strength with which Aletta will throw them down. Then, I will ask her to throw them farther away from her, and will have rubbing alcohol at me, if there were to any kind of injury, in addition to a garbage bag to pick up the broken bits in order not to step in them. As my music video doesn't have dialogue, and they generally don't have, I had to think about the appropriate characters to mold to the visuals of Sevdaliza's song, only though image rather than conversations and character development. I needed two girls, in order to portray the positive and negative of femininity, and one boy to be the one mesmerised by the girl. To play the positive side of femininity I chose Francesca, who played last year in my film opening too, as the hallucination. She helped me create the look I wanted, as she is a talented dancer and moves graciously, being able to show her femininity. As for her costumes, she will have three: the first one will be a black crop top and black leggings, not having anything distracting from her dancing (i.e. patterns of unique clothes), the second outfit will be a white long dress that she will wear in the bath, showing purity and simplicity, plus I always liked that 'wet clothed' look, as it gives off a vulnerable yet beautiful look. Her last outfit is not yet planned, because of the changing weather (the scene is outside), therefore I will adapt to the climate of the day of the shooting. For my second female character I chose Aletta. Her colored hair will play an important role in the representation of her character, as it's generally seen as quite rebellious to have odd colored hair, especially as a teenager. In addition, I believe she will be able to get in character with ease and express the emotions though body language successfully. Her three costumes will be as follows: a black dress and heels for the neon light scene, showing her as a powerful person, dominating her significant other, some old, dark looking clothes for the scene where she breaks the plates, in order for her attire to match her inner state, and the last outfit is in the same position as Francesca's last, it will depend on the weather. For the male character I chose Victor, as he is Aletta's boyfriend, and they will be more comfortable to play together, and their interaction will be more genuine compared to two strangers. His outfit will consist of a white tshirt (for the glitter that Aletta will put on it to be visible), and a pair of black pants. Finally, I thought I would also introduce myself in the video, as I haven't been both an actor and director at the same time and I want to see how I manage both jobs, and to add a bit of my character to the work.
I will only appear in the last scene with the two girls, so as I mentioned above, I'm yet to find out what's most appropriate to wear. In order to ease my shoot and get a clearer idea on how my video will look like, I needed a script. I wasn't sure how a script for a music video would look like, as it's a very different type of video compared to a film opening or short film. I searched the internet for a template and I found this one, which I then personalised and added a few features to. Firstly, I analysed Sevdaliza's music video for the song, and fragmented it into seconds, after which I added lyrics to those intervals. The next thing that I wrote was the action happening in those intervals and the types of shots I thought would be the best. The last thing that I did was I categorised the song by intro, verse, chorus, pre-chorus and bridge, to again, get a clearer picture of the song's structure. This represents only a possibility how the music video could be, and acts more like a guideline, rather than a fixed rule. |
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