Our second shoot was all about the narrative, we focused on creating a static scene in an open field to ensure that all the attention was on our narrative performers. We decided to create a clean and light costume design. One in jeans and a plain T-shirt and the other in a floral dress, these basic costumes were still able to highlight the narrative in such a standard setting.

Photos from Shoot – 

What went well –

• The open location captured the narrative extremely well
• The mid-day lighting worked well with the style of shots we took
• The plain but distinctive costumes captured the theme of our genre well

Targets for improvements –

• We could have collected a wider variety of distance shots to help when editing
• We should give ourselves more time for our next shoot, a limited amount of time effected us from taking all the variety of shots needed
• In the second photo you can clearly see a flood light, this was unintentional and makes our shots look unprofessional

For the first shoot we went to the prison lanes where we found a structure covered in graffiti. We thought that this would match our grungy theme following on from our song choice of ‘The Hills’ by the Weeknd. The filming for our performance shoot went well as we were able to collect a variety of shots that correlate with the emotions represented within the song lyrics.

What went well:

• We were able to create a collection of different shots – Long shots, Close up shots and Mid shots that we will be able to put to use when coming to finalise our music video, using both narrative and performance footage.
• With the use of our research, which we carried our prior to the shoot, we were able to chose appropriate outfits that coincide with our chosen genre and song choice.
• Our chosen location definitely aided us to reflect our genre, as a result of the abandoned buildings and graffiti shown within the background of our clips.
• As a group, we all contributed to different aspects of the performance shoot, as a result of all of us contributing, it allows a set of integrated skills to be put forward by all in the group – essentially gaining higher grades due to the contribution levels being substantial.

Targets for next shoot:

• We must use our time affectively and have a plan for when we get on the shoot.
• We must work collaboratively and include everyone’s ideas, this will assist our group when it comes to creating and finalising our music video.
• We must gather a wider variety of high quality shots that connote the theme of our song – we will gather a selection of research tools, study this, and put the ideas forward for our next shoot.
• We didn’t gather as many shots as we could’ve during the time we had for our shoot. The setting up of our equipment took a lot longer than expected to set up, setting us back leaving us with little time to execute a powerful and successful shoot. In order for this to not be an issue in our next shoot, I believe arriving to our location earlier allowing us time to set up and to use shoot time more effectively.

This is my groups risk assessment, signed by Erin, Joe and Myself to ensure that we keep safe whilst out in public shooting our music video.

Below is our production meeting agenda that myself, Erin and Joe have created as a plan for our first shoot. This is a detailed outline of what each of us are providing for the group whether its a tripod, Camera or a costume, we have worked together to put down our ideas in the hopes of a successful shoot. We will use this throughout our shoot so that we have some ideas to fall back on if it goes wrong.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE FULL PDF

Design by Barnaby Taylor The Weeknd Moodboard

From searching the internet for images and news articles that capture the identity of our chosen artist, The Weeknd, we were able to create a rough idea of what he’s like as a person and the way he acts in everyday life. This has helped to create a costume that matched the Mis en Scene of the artist. We chose a simplistic costume with plenty of jewellery which connotes well with the original music video.

By looking for news articles we have been able to clearly understand what our star image is like behind all of the fame. From this we have learnt that he is a bold, unique character who works with charities and helps to support the less fortunate. Although he has suffered his fair share of trauma. In an interview The Weeknd opened up about his past and how he used to rely on drugs to “keep sane”. This is what makes him extraordinarily unique, the fact he has offered to open up about the past and how he has changed his life is inspirational.

Theorist Richard Dyer talks about star image, ‘Paradox of The Star’; conveying such a powerful star image with different components, for instance Dyer mentions how we are all the same and that we live on the same level. For example, we see plenty of famous musicians at the football on the weekend just like many of us, they are regular people, possessing something we do not have which makes them special. These big stars aren’t completely perfect as they may have failed at things, such as their driving test – this failure happens to many others worldwide. However these stars are exceptional at what they do, they sing and dance in a unique and quirky way and that’s what separates the two through visual representation.

This is the final pitch that our group has produced. It presents the themes and emotions that we wish to convey through our music video. This process has been useful when planning where to shoot and how we can display all the Mise En Scene in the video. We have also noted all of our ideas for the casting and our main star.

Positives:

• Strong ideas on the setting and location
• The group has discussed casting and cinematography
• Decided on a strong colour scheme that connotes with our genre
• I have found a lifeguard that can assist us with a certain location
• The ending is good because it creates mystery and tension

Targets:

• I must ask permission and risk access on of our potential locations
• Need to consider and plan our outfits to make them stand out
• I must think of simpler ways to convey emotions in our recordings
• Must consider a location with natural scenery
• Consider the costumes and styling

Ultimately as a group we have been able to agree and identify who will play the narrative and who will perform, how our narrative will be structured with set locations and how we can include all of the inspired themes into the video. With this, we as a group feel confident and prepared to shoot for the music video and include as many ideas as possible.-

In order to create our music video we had to ask permission from The Weeknd to use his song ‘ The Hills’. We messaged him on Instagram to ask authority. 

For this task we set out to decide on each others strengths and weaknesses so that we can analysis and decide what each member of our group would do and how we will spread the workload. For example my strengths are photoshop and cinematography, therefore I will be doing most of the editing whilst my partners Joe and Erin will be performing and filming. This task was useful because we can now set out to plan for each task and decide who will do what.