At the moment there are only a few items on our prop list. We wish to keep our video rather simplistic to resemble the genre of indie rock promos. Careful consideration of our list has been put into place to make sure each prop has a symbolic/major purpose within our video. The majority of our props are aesthetically pleasing to the eye which will help the promo to appear clean cut and pleasant to the viewer.
The majority of individuals who choose to listen to music which is classed as an 'indie' genre are roughly aged between 16 to 25. Therefore we decided to cast people who are aged similarly to our target audience.Our chosen song 'Night Time' by 'The XX' discusses the difficulties within a relationship, as a result of this our group thought it would be appropriate to feature a couple within our promo. Casting a male and female would help to make a connection between the visuals and vocals. To make filming quick and efficient we considered casting teenagers who are going to be comfortable in front of the camera and aren't embarrassed to act in public. Therefore we carried out some research and narrowed down our possibilities to those who we think will fit the part perfectly!
Our final decisions:
Our male actor 'Joe' is currently studying Media at College and enjoys making music promos. Joe is willing to help out with our A2 project, and has informed us that he feels comfortable performing also.
Our female actress 'Tallulah' feels perfectly confident performing in front of an audience. She has featured in dramas on TV before, been casted in a variety of musicals, is becoming more recognisable as a model and enjoys singing and dancing in her free time.
Overall my class had positive comments to share about our initial plans presented. The students along with my my Media teacher thought our storyline is artistic and would appeal to our target audience. They thought the use of a projector presenting themes of nature and referencing 'Nighttime' cleverly linked to the song lyrics. Initially we chose to produce a narrative/performance based music promo, however our teacher informed us that the metaphorical uses of objects and colouring would categorise nicely under a 'conceptual/performance' based video. Therefore we have chosen to follow our teacher comments by planning to film a conceptual/performance music promo.
The video consists of Joe answering some simple questions about why he feels he should star in our music video. At the end of the clip, Joe is asked to lip sync to a song of his choice. This enabled us to see whether Joe would appear confident in front of the camera. We unfortunately did not get the chance to audition Tallulah as she has quite a busy schedule, however as I have previously performed alongside Tallulah in musicals I was confident that she would perform brilliantly in our promo!
As you can see, Joe performed confidently within the audition, therefore we have decided to cast him the male vocal role.
When it came to location scouting we wished to film somewhere which was scenic, photogenic and spacious. After carrying out some further research for locations online, we managed to narrow down our decisions. Windsor and Eton especially appealed to both of us as their are major spots which would be perfect to shoot at, for example the bridge from Windsor to Eton, the river, cute side streets, restaurants/cafes, benches etc. As our chosen genre of indie rock linked used references to nature frequently, we thought this would be the perfect destination to film at as for the passing by of the swans, the water and the greenery. This location would create a romantic vibe which links with our theme, as for its pleasant views and warming colours.
Below is a short filming journal we made whilst location scouting:
We have decided to film in two different location, one being Windsor/Eton and the other in school. To compliment the indie genre, we though it may be a unique idea to film some shots in front of a white backdrop which is located in one of our art rooms. Our plan is to shoot the girl and the boy individually and also together, singing and portraying negative body language to symbolise the hurt felt from one another. We have managed get permission to use one of the schools projectors, and with this we are going to create a powerpoint with a variety of different images and short clips displaying aspects of nature, weather and indie patterns. Our purpose of shooting in multiple of different destinations is to add a sense of appeal to our video and to make sure we are considering technological features which ties in nicely with our media based generation. Making the association with technology will appeal to our young target audience as it is familiar to all.
Our first plan:
We initially decided to film in London, as we thought the busy atmosphere would create some lively shots. Also we would have had choice of colour, space and lighting. However after further thought we realised that filming in London would be too much of a risk, because by the time we would have reached our destination we would be limited due to changing of lighting and short amount of time. Reaching London after a day at school would cost quite a bit and would require a serious time schedule to make sure we filmed everything we hoped to. Therefore to make things easy and accessible we've decided that the Windsor/Eton location would be the best suited to our needs.