PRACTICE TEST SHOT - FIRE

Lyric - "YOU'LL DO, ANYTHING, FOR ME."

I used a girl from my class and filmed her in front of the green screen on a fixed tripod. I fanned her with a large sheet of card to make her hair flow. She mimed the lyrics at double speed so I could then slow the video down so that the hair moved in slow-mo bu the lips where still in sync. I then chroma keyed fire into the background and lowered the opacity of the shots so that the "artist" appeared engulfed by the flames. I had to edit each shot to get rid off the green around her hair and make it seem as realistic as possible.

I chose to use fire in the background to represent danger and power the artist is representing. Also because the lyrics of this particular shot produce an imperative which shows the artist is in control. This bridge in the track is a lot slower than the rest of the song and creates a mesmerising tune, it is similar to that of the sound of a snake charmer. People find fire mesmerising and find themselves staring at it for long periods of time because of the unusual way in which the flames move. I incorporate this into the background to pull all of these mesmerising, powerful and dangerous connotations together and produce an intense shot directly with the artist and audience.


Things to improve-

1. Film the artist with back lighting to create a realistic back light from the fire.
2. Initially increase the speed of the song and make the artist mime totally in time with the sped up version, then decrease the speed in conjunction with the video to make the lips sync perfectly.
3. Use a tighter shot i.e a CU or incorporate arm movement, keeping the same shot size, to create a more intense shot.

REHEARSALS

My video provides a lot of dance sections and so rehearsing these was something to start early. I held rehearsals twice every week in order for the girls to learn and to develop the choreography and so that the girls created a bond and felt as comfortable as possible performing in front of each other as this was crucial.

Please watch the video for an insight into our rehearsals.

RECRUITING - STAGE 2

We have large flat screens around college that people advertise meetings/ counselling and general activities coming up in college. I took the opportunity to create a PowerPoint slide and spoke to Alan Woodcock for permission to advertise. He gave me permission and told me to email my slide to the office department which i did and now it is on loop from start to the end of college all day. This is to attract dancer's attention to come and be apart of my music video.

ARTISTS COSTUME 1

This costume is for a particular section of the song. The lyrics are, "My persuasion can build a nation, endless power without love we can devour. You'll do anything for me." The costume intends to make her look wealthy and powerful. The gold symbolises wealth and gives a Roman/Egyptian goddess feel to the look. I will contrast the feature gold jewellery with a simple but elegant black dress. She will also have dramatic black smokey eye make-up and possibly gold glitter lips and long black nails. I may also attach long, thick eyelashes to the bottom of her eyelashes like in the images I have looked at for my costumes. I still need to test this out. The hair will also be tidy, scraped back tightly with hair spray and a more dramatic bun on her head.

Front (almost full body)

Side View

Front View (with arm bracelets)

CU of earrings and crown

MORE COSTUME RESEARCH

I looked at tribal like costumes with vivid colour and print. I also looked at animal printed fabrics to create a cultural feel which relates to my music. I like the animal harem trousers but I don't feel any of these clothes could be used for my video. This is because I want more exposed flesh, leather and military feel. This is what I will next research.

RECRUITING!!!

Today I went into some A2/AS Dance and performing arts lessons. I spoke about what it was that I was doing and tried to get people interested in taking part. This is what i said..

"Hi my name is Harley and i am creating a Music Video for the song Beyonce- Who run the world (girls), for my A2 Media portfolio. I need a few female dancers who are good at hip-hop and street dance with confidence and who can bring attitude to the video. It wont take up much of your time I just need a few rehersals of the choreography and a day or two to film on location. if anyone is interested please leave your name and S number (student number) with your teacher and I will email you a day where we can meet and go through choreography. Thank you."

TARGET AUDIENCE

My target audience is female bias with a ratio of 70/30. The prominent age range being 16-19 belonging to the social class group E. The majority being college students means they are earning very little with the aspiration and patience of earning much more in the future, the audience are intelligent with critical judgement of music, fashion and art. My audience are very fashion orientated, always keeping up to date with new trends and celebrity style. They are always checking their Twitter and Facebook accounts to keep up with artists and new music. My audience spend on average 3 hours per week YouTube-ing current music and download music every week, generally illegally, to keep their play list fresh and up to date. My audience like to dance, party and have fun after a week of studying so having a good time is very important to them.