Planning

After conducting my research I realised that avoiding a narrative would fit the song a lot better and would be simpler to create, especially when being offered a studio space.

 

Following on from this idea of simple I thought that a black and white dress code would fit nicely. It could add an element of professionalism, add no connotations and the contrast between the lead singer and backing singers could be emphasised if each one was given a colour each. Black and white are also a classic combination, not restricting our music video to a particular era, as the track itself is from the late 90s. In the already existing music video, and monotone costume theme is also used, further strengthening my idea.

 

Due to receiving the brief during post-exam holidays, any planning that needed to be done before the day of the shoot could not be done in person. Instead we utilised the social mediums Twitter and Facebook to discuss plans.
 

 

After some discussion with Chiska via Twitter, she informed and asked Aaron via Facebook, and it was decided that going for a black and white mixed costume was a more viable option for everyone. I also proposed the idea of shooting some of the takes using some red costume items and then edit this at the post production stage to match with the fire references in the song. This was also possible for everybody and adds some colour to our so far safe costumes. It would add some imagery visually that is already present in the song lyrics without being too literal. We decided on a tie, a pair of shoes and a pair of sunglasses.

 

Due to the lack of narrative, we wanted something else to contrast with the 'singing' shots and to make the video more visually engaging. It was suggested that we incorporate instruments to use as props to fill some of the instrumental gaps in the track. Giltbrook Studios was contacted to see if this was possible and if they housed the instruments we wanted: Keyboard, Drum Kit and Guitar.
 

 

For make-up Chiska and I were debating over either having very bright make-up to contrast the monotone costumes, or a darker smokier look to blend in with the black and white theme. We decided in the end to go with a darker smoky eye and apply a red lip when shooting the red accent takes to fit the fire references.

 

Once we had arrived at Giltbrook, seen the space and introduced to our lighting options we were all given more planning time. I had previously seen the space and therefore keen on using the infinity cove. We all agreed that we would like to keep the setting simple and not over complicate our project via the use of a green screen.

We had a couple of shot types in mind before filming. First we wanted to make sure that we had master shots of the whole song taken as a long shot with both the monochrome and red accent costumes. We wanted to get these done first, so that the camera could be in the same place and to ensure we definately had footage for the whole segment should we run out of time. After this we could then concentrate on creating cut-aways. This included close-ups of each of us and close-ups of the instruments being played. Chiska also suggested we use the black curtains to create a half black and half white frame and with the lead sing on one side with the the backing singers on the other-however we ran out of time to be able to do this. 

We also figured out our lighting options and decided on using the (Sky lights? Space lights? [Drum shaped]) with additions back lighting and (Front? Key lighting?) for the monochrome shots. This provided a bright white light, enhanced and bounced around by the infinity cove. For our 'fire' shots we decided on a red backlighting during our red takes. This was to be achieved using (Side lights? Stage lights?) with a few layers of (red film? Plastic film?) attatched via clips in front.