1. Planning: location
The meaning of location would be
where the music video is set. For
example, what area, inside or outside
etc. The locations I have chosen for Music Video: Automatic
my video are London hot spots, so Artist: Nicki Minaj
central London, London eye, roads Director: Anjali Khatri
including oxford street or Piccadilly
circus. I start my filming in November
Location:
so I'm at an advantage of the
Explanation of why i have chosen this location, how does it reflect or convey a message
Christmas lights already being up. about my artist / song / audience)
This allows me to use the lights from Action:
their to reflect to my artists, as well as What will take place in the shots that I will film, on location
including them in my city scenes to Limitations:
really create that London city effect. How does my location limit what I can do: crew and video content?
Living in the centre of London gives Health and Safety Risks - What health and safety risks my location will pose?
me the advantages of finding these Distance and access:
places to do the fast car scenes, urban How far is the location from my base and how will the artists, equipment and crew travel
areas and big fast cars to go with. there.
However if I lived in the outskirts of Weather:
How could the weather affect my filming? & What back up plans have I in place?
London, where there's more
countryside, fields etc., I would find it
more challenging to create that urban,
hip-hop type of culture through my
video. I will incorporate a lot of bright
colours within my video, using the
locations I have chosen. I think
filming as many locations I can will
help me when it comes to editing as I
would have a lot of footage to choose
from, and can see what scenes fit best
with the lyric context of the song and
for every beat change.
2. Day scenes:
The beginning scene will the main artist meeting up with all her
friends, the location I have chosen for this is Southbank, which
again is in the centre of London. The location I have chosen for
this scene really suites my target audience as a lot of young
adults, teenagers are familiar with this area. These locations are
also filled with walls of beautiful structured graffiti, which is an
iconic connotation of what my sub culture is about. It also
allows the audience to feel the urban culture through these
bright patterns and imagery through the walls. I think a mid-
shot would be perfect to start this scene off, so you can see the
relationships through the individual characters in the music
video, and then followed by a long shot so you can see all the
characters together. I will include close ups of the main artist
throughout the beginning, of her singing to the camera, to get a
real sense of what she is about and what type of character she
is. The few limitations I will face will probably getting
permission to film in these spots if there already being used,
and if skateboarders their will allow us to film them doing their
stuff. It will also be difficult to find the right lighting, as it’s not
out in the open, so preparing the right equipment for
that. Reaching this area would be bus or tube, or for those who
live close walking distance. The weather conditions for this is
important, if the weather is bad, rainy or even gloomy this will
affect the way the graffiti will look and how it will be
represented. Once again they only thing to do is to bring
addition equipment like torches to reflect against the walls so
even if this was to happen it can be dealt with.
3. Night scenes:
First scene: The starting 10-20 seconds of the video, when the beat
comes in and the pace is fast, the location I have chosen to use is a
busy high road or motorway. Reason being the cars would be going
fast in these areas and when I speed the footage up it will create a
good impact. Roads I would do this on would be Oxford Street or
Euston. This is where I will show parts of London, with the fast
moving cars, this will help me link to the pace of the music,
creating a link with the visuals and what your hearing. I will make
this a long shot, in-between a motorway so I can capture the whole
movement. I think the limitations of this would be, the safety of
filming on such busy streets and the scene being disturbed by
walking by pedestrians. The journey going back and forth from
these London locations aren't too complicated, a few train journeys
to the centre of London would be the only challenge, carrying the
equipment on hand, however all the rest of the locations are either
a bus or walking distance. The weather could be a issue, especially
filming in the winter times of London, the rain is really
unpredictable, this could ruin the footage that I’m trying to film, as
it could make the quality of the video look really bad. Another
factor I need to think about is, as I am speeding this scene up, I will
have to be in the location I am for a while, so if the weather
conditions do change I will have to think about alternative ways of
making this scene look professions, for example bringing a large
plastic cover to cover the lens or to find a place with shelter to film
under, which is near the motorway.
4. Twilight scene:
I want to capture a twilight scene for a scene of my
video, this would be a sunset scene, which I would film
on a location spot called harrow on the hill. This place is
on a high point where you can view most of London
from above and you would clearly be able to see a
sunset or even a sunrise. I chose this location because I
want to catch a clear sunrise and sunset, which really
represent a change in day and night, and this is
something I need for my narrative, as the actors go
from day till night through the music video and I feel
this will show a obvious and clean transaction from
both . I would use a still long shot for this so I can really
capture the whole moment as it happens. Limitations
that my occur would be, not getting the timing right at
the exact point to catch the sunset or sunrise and not
being to get far enough to see a lot of London city,
which will course lack of connection with the audience
as they may not recognise the place. The best transport
would have to be car, as this destinations isn’t near the
centre of London, however the actors will not be
necessarily be needed for these scenes so it will only
take a few members of my group to get these scenes
filmed. Weather could be a big problem whilst filming
this scene. For example if its rains it will be difficult to
capture the scene and show the lights. If its rains or it is
foggy the view or the sunrise will not be shown.
5. I want to include snippets of the actors ready, dressed up for a
night out, walking around London roads, on their way for a night
out throughout the video; roads would be located in Piccadilly
Circus, Leicester Square etc. I have chosen these areas as they are
places that my target audience will really relate to, as the viewers
will be familiar to these areas, for a good night out, and also for
people that don’t necessarily go out, but will also know about these
areas as they are so popular. My vision is of the artist walking, and
as they are walking, me and the rest of my group will film their
every move, using as many camera angles and camera movements
as we can, so when it comes to editing we can really use a variety of
shots to convey the story line and see what best suites the beat and
rhythm of the song. However, the main camera shot that would be
ideal would be a close-up as we m are conforming to Andrew
Goodwin's theory which states that there are demands from the
record label, which will have to include the need for lots of close
ups of the artists. The limitations of this will be getting everyone
together at the same time, as the actors we have chosen are
studying as well as we are, and as this process will probably be time
consuming, we will need to careful schedule times that will fit us all
so these scenes can be done. These locations won’t be a challenge to
get to, however travelling with a vast amount of people with all the
equipment may slow time, so taking buses would be ideal for us to
get from one place to the other. As we are filming in the night, the
weather being cold and miserable will once again affect the quality
of the filming and if it gets too windy or rainy, it may be hard for
the actors to concentrate or to be motivated to carry on filming for
a long period of time. A solution to this would be, taking 5-10
minute breaks to warm up and drink loads of water to keep
hydrated and keep that motivation going.
6. For one of the scenes I want to get the actors
getting on the train, so location would be a chosen
train station that’s close to us, such as Baker
street, Euston or Piccadilly, we want to show this
so that you can see more iconic things of London
and see them whist the artist and actors are on
their journey. I think this will help explain the
narrative really well, of them going from one
place to another. The fast moving trains will also
go well with the speed of the song, which once
again will match the music with the visuals, really
following Goodwin's theory. I would choose to
film this in a mid-shot, then zoom out to a long
shot so you can see the full locations so the views
can get a real feel of the atmosphere and be able
to relate to it as well. Limitations of this will be
capturing the main artists and making sure they
stand out from the crowd, as well as our actors
being over crowded by the general public trying to
get onto the train. These areas are again walking
distance, and as we are filming the tube, we can
get on it once we have finished filming this scene,
to get to are next destination, this may be hard to
handle with the equipment and everything else,
however as I am part of a group it will be easier to
share these responsibilities. The weather will
probably not be a issue as we are indoors,
however the safety of all the actors and the people
in my group will have to be monitored really
carefully.