Shoot Preparation

The group has two planned shoots over half term, and in order to prepare for these, Despina, Anisah and I met up outside school to prepare. The meeting was very productive and we managed to get together a solid shoot schedule and draw together the storyboards we had worked on individually. Unfortunately, Joe couldn't make the meeting but we updated him on what happened afterwards.

Shot List

Group Developments

Today we decided that the singer would have four distinctive looks in the video. We've split the video up into sections based on her styling and designated each group member a section. We have to storyboard our sections and do a shot list each - this way we will get it done a lot quicker and it also gives us a chance to direct a scene in the video each.

I've been given the last section in the video. Liv will be wearing the same clothes as in the Ally Pally Lip syncing section of the video, with a leather jacket and skinny jeans. The thought behind this is that she changes clothes throughout the video, changing personality as well as outfits, and in the last section she resumes her natural self, with nothing pretentious about her.

My section of the video will be shot in Trafalgar Square - Lexi will be sitting on the fountain swinging her legs, looking natural and happy. To make the most of the reverse technique, Lexi will flick a coin into the fountain, so when edited it looks as if a coin is flying out of the fountain and into her hand. This scene is supposed to show Lexi having fun and enjoying being in London, she will get up and walk away from the fountain and up some stairs, then I'm going to have her sitting on a ledge looking out over trafalgar square. She'll be appreciating the iconic view and watching people walk by - backwards).

Artist Update

Although Tara and Abi were both good choices for our lead singer, the group re-analyzed the image for our singer and decided that they didn't fit the "edgy" look we had in mind. So we had another brainstorm of actresses and decided upon Olivia D'Lima. Liv fits the part well as she can pla the role of cute. Liv looks like a typical London girl, and with cropped brown hair and a pretty face we think she is the ideal girl to be our artist. We've approached her with the role and Liv seemed very enthusiastic about playing a part in our production and we are confident that with our media skills and her drama skills we can create the artist we are trying to achieve.

As a group we've also decided on a name for the artist. We're going to call her 'Lexi Grace'. We looked at the names of similar artists already in the industry like 'Pixie Lott' and 'Lily Allen' and decided that the name had to be short and easy to remember. We decided that Lexi should be short for Alexander, which will be her real name. This makes it easier for the audience to identify and relate to her if they know that she isn't performing under a stage name.

Location

We've decided that we want our video to be set in London. While we want to feature iconography of London, we are going to try and avoid making it look like a sightseeing tour.

These are some images of the look of London we are trying to achieve;

Traditional red telephone box

Trafalgar Square

Carnaby Street

Soho Square Garden

Neal's Yard

Group Progress

Since been given our final groups, myself and my other three group members have started developing the idea for our music video. Admittedly we had a slow start but in the past week we've really progressed with our idea and it's coming together well. So far, we've come up with a shortlist of possible actresses to play the lead role in our video; we then whittled that down to a possible two whom we now plan to approach with our proposed idea and audition them for the role. The main reason for doing so is to give us a clearer direction with the process ahead - by having actors in mind we are all able to see a clearer picture for the video, making it a lot easier to all think in the same way.

We've also started to come up with some solid ideas for the storyline. By basing our music video around a themed narrative - with the girl carrying out indoor activities outside (getting dressed, eating etc.) - we can come up with some more appropriate ideas for the piece and also have a better understanding of what is realistic and what isn't. So far I feel the group dynamic has been really positive - we all seem to have an optimistic approach to the project and although there have been times where we've wondered if our idea is too unrealistic to achieve, we've managed to get over these doubts and find solutions to the problems that have arisen.

We've already had thoughts as to where we can shoot our video and once we have our actress confirmed we can start to sort out shooting arrangements more solidly. In my opinion targets we need to achieve for the next week are confirming our actress and location for the shoot and then to sort out times and dates that all members of the group can attend.

My Group

The groups for this project have been finalised and I am to be working with Despina, Anisah and Joe. I am very pleased with this as i get on with all of them and we already have some good prospective ideas for this piece of coursework. I've worked with Despina several times before and have found that we work really well as a partnership, helping each other to reach our potential. I haven't worked with Anisah or Joe before but I get on with both of them and think they're both brilliant at media so i'm really excited.

Initial Idea

Another idea that i want to pitch to my group is this song, it is new and crosses the genre of dubstep/dance with grime;
- Heavy by Dizzee Rascal is a remixed song by famous club artists Chase and Status
- The song would appeal to a wide audience, young people that like dance music can enjoy it as well as fans of grime.
- Dizzee Rascal is a mainstream artist so has picked up a different audience in the last couple of years which would also help as a secondary audience
- My idea for a video would be focussing on a young man in a grime-scene club. It would be shot in the first person so the audience would be seeing him dancing through the underground rave and see everyone around him, with visuals of strobe lights and dancing that the target audience can relate to
- The theme would be quite aspirational as people would look at the video and want to be in the club with him, dancing to this song which has a heavy bass and raving like the rest of the people
- It is quite similar to scenes seen in 'Skins' a popular TV show aimed at this sort of market, the same people will be able to relate to this video.
- Compared to my other mainsteam, conventional idea, this one is quite niche. Although i think it will appeal to a large audience, the construction of it is aimed at quite a small target market.

Initial Idea

After looking at a lot of songs that would appeal to a young adult/teenage market, i've chosen to pitch this one to my group;
- Shooting Star by Air Traffic recieved no chart success when released in 2007
- The song is already well known to my target audience as it was used in MTV's reality TV show "Living On The Edge"
- The vocals are sung by a man, which means when making my video, i could use a young, attractive male to front the band - making him aspirational and attractive
- The song has quite a quick pace and the vocals sound natural and very English, i could play on this theme by having a very English theme to the video
- In my head i imagine a video made up of both narrative and the band, this would allow there to be a story to make it memorable and also introduce the band
- The simple idea for the video would make it quite easy to make and also easy to watch