Make-Up and Costume

As explained in my 'Initial Ideas' post I intend to use two different costumes, one all black and one all white, to represent the conflicting attitudes that the lead character is torn between. I want to keep the costumes as minimal and plain as possible both to keep the focus on the performer and to emphasise the binary opposite ideology as much as possible. Below is an image (minus the hat) of what I imagine the costume will roughly look like, and the same but in black for the other costume.

After looking online I have found a few ways to recreate the look of a stubble beard using make-up and other materials and before shooting I will test these techniques to see how convincing they look. I will also have Phil's hair styled differently for each outfit; for the white I intend to have his hair combed and smart looking whereas in the black costume his hair will be messy and unkempt - further reinforcing the opposite ideologies within the song. (As shown above)

Initial Ideas

My initial plan to is have only one actor - Phil my male lead - and to have him in a conflict within himself as this portrays the values held in the lyrics ('I talk to God as much as I talk to Satan'). Originally I planned to have him in only one costume which was ragged and destroyed though I had not given much serious thought to the costume and other mise-en-scene in my video. I have since had the idea of representing the idea of self-conflict through costume having Phil wearing an all white outfit (good/God) in some shot and all black (bad/Satan) in others; I would also like to have a number of shots using a split-screen technique including Phil in both different outfits. This uses Claude Levi Strauss' idea of Binary Opposites however offers a slight twist as the opposites are within the same character.
If possible in the editing stage I think a good effect, particularly in close-up shot to recolour Phil's eyes, enhancing the blue of them in the white outfit and making them red in the black outfit. One other mise-en-scene aspect I would like to utilize would be to have Phil clean shaven in the white outfit but not so in the black however I have not yet worked out a way of achieving this. I would also like to achieve a shot of Phil looking into some water (as suggested by the lyrics 'I slap the water and watch') and his reflection changing from one, good or bad, to the other - although again I am not sure how I will create this effect.
Below are some images representing some of my ideas for shots:

Split-Screen/Eye Recolouring
This is one possible technique I may use however I would prefer to have shots with only one figure but with two different sides/costumes as seen in the cartoon image. The image of David Bowie highlights his different eye colours; a technique I would like to artificially recreate.

Prop List

My music video is very minimalist in terms of props and subsequently I have not worried too much about compiling my props.

The main (and probably only) prop that my music video will feature is the guitar which my performer - Phil - will be playing. As Phil and I both play guitar and own several acoustics I need to decide which I prefer. (See below.)

The only other prop I may opt to use would be a bible as this will reinforce the religeous meanings and connotations of the lyrics.

Fairclough Mountain - My Guitar 

I think this is the guitar that I am most likely to use as it is mine and therefore Phil does not have to worry about bringing his. Also the body style (jumbo) is one that is used a lot by rock artists and therefore fits into the genre of 'God and Satan'. Another think I like about this guitar is that it is very simplistic is design, such as using using small fretboard markers, which keeps the focus fully on the performer and their performance and not the instrument itself.

Tanglewood Dreadnought - Phil's Guitar

This is very similar to the guitar that Phil owns. This guitar is much more expensive that the one above and thus it has a lot more 'bells and whistles' features. I don't think I will use this guitar as it looks too fancy to suit the song and the rock genre. If Phil says that he would much prefer to play this as he is more used to it then I will reconsider my decision.

Other Guitars/Idea

 

Phil also owns a black-painted fender guitar which gave me the possible idea of having two different guitars - one white and one black - for each costume. As neither me or Phil own a white guitar however this would mean either buying another, which would be expensive. I do however own an old and unused Yamaha guitar in the same shape as Phil's black one. I may therefore re-paint my old guitar white and then use the two for individual costumes - though this may be tricky I think it would enhance the different costumes and the idea of separation.

 

 



Cast & Locations

Cast

As I have chosen to have only one main character in my music video, choosing my casting was quite easy. I may also decide to include a female extra for some shots however I have not decided yet.

Phil Jennings (Male Lead)
Phil has been playing guitar for around 8 years now and has been having singing lessons for around 2 years. It is very helpful that Phil is a musician to add to the verisimilitude when performing in my video. He also fits the genre and age group of the target audience of this genre of music; making him the ideal candidate for my lead performer.

Locations

Saint Mary's Church Beverley

I have chosen to shoot the vast majority of my video outside and inside St Mary's Church in Beverley. I have chosen this loaction as it features very stereotypical church imagery - reflecting the religeous values in the song's lyrics. Also the symmetrical nature of the inside of the building will alow me to produce some good shots using internal framing.

East Park - Holderness Road

I will shoot the outdoor shots, particularly the reflection in the water shots in East Park as it features conventional rural imagery and also as me and Phil both live nearby it will make filming very convenient.

Evaluation of Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Middle of the Bed

As a practice for our advanced portfolio we were set the task of recreating 30 seconds of an existing music video. Whilst this task also helped with our pre-production, planning, editing and post-production skills the main focus was our shot composition and recreating the shots in the original video. For this task our group – myself, Mark, Harriet, Charlotte and Kate – chose the video for Middle of the Bed by Lucy Rose.

Our first job was to assign ourselves clear roles within the group. I was elected director with Mark taking the role of producer, Harriet was camera operator, Kate was editor and Charlotte was the performer in the video. The reasons we chose Charlotte to be our performer was that, as she was in our group, we could be sure that she would be able to film in our designated lesson times. The main reason however was that Charlotte fitted the characteristics for the main character and the style of the music genre. Following deciding upon our roles we had to storyboard the video (from 30 seconds to 1 minute), make a list of our locations and design a shoot schedule. Whilst we did construct a shoot schedule we did not really stick to it as we just filmed which ever shot(s) would be appropriate on that given day. Harriet constructed the storyboard while Mark and I worked out our locations list. As you can see from the shot composition comparison out locations were similar to the original. One shot that we could not recreate safely however was the shot which show Lucy Rose as a passenger in a car, so instead of this we chose to include a shot of Charlotte walking forwards with the camera tracking backwards.

The first problem we encountered was that Charlotte, understandably, was shy when lip syncing. In our first few takes Charlotte began laughing and subsequently the rest of us had to turn around for the still-camera shots. This was not the only issue we had when filming however as there were two shot which required a tracking camera, the walking shot and the bike shot. Because we couldn't use a vehicle to track with Harriet and Mark (who shot the bike scene) had to shoot those scenes by holding the tripod and walking backwards these shots were shakey. Although this did not detriment the overall video too much it would have been much improved had they been smoother. Another issue we encountered within the post-production stage was – as the song is very repetitive in nature – Charlotte often sang the right lyrics however at different stages in the song Lucy Rose sings the lyrics with a different rhythm. We did not realise at the time of filming however when it came to editing this made the lip syncing to the track very difficult, meaning we had to use different shots that didn’t correspond to the original. As my chosen song also features repetitive sections, this will be something I will ensure I take care over when shooting my video.

One minor problem which occurred was in the shot where Charlotte is position high up with trees level with her in the background. From our original locations list we knew of a good place to shoot this however we found that we could go out onto a balcony on the outside of the building, giving us a much more natural look than out of a window and also allowed us to have the effect of Charlotte’s hair blowing in the wind. The first problem we encountered with this shot was that when we were filming some droplets of rain landed on the lens which we did not notice at the time. As seen in the image:

Another problem we had was that in our only take of this section Charlotte laughed at the end. Though at first we decided not to include this part we did not film another scene with the same words being sung and therefore we had to include it. Upon reflection I actually think this provides a good natural effect though it is not in the original and when shooting my own video I will ensure I retain excess footage in case there is something useful and effective.

This task was an excellent way to understand the methods I will need to follow in the creation of my own video and the problems that I can now avoid. Though working individually on my own video will allow me to have sole control I enjoyed working in our group and believe that our combined efforts produced good results.

Shot Composition Comparison

Final Edit of Practice Video

30 Second Practice Music Video - First Draft

Lucy Rose Storyboard

Lucy Rose - Middle of the Bed (Original Video)

Deconstruction & Reconstruction of a Media Text

Group Names: David Robertson, Mark Reeves, Kate Hannah, Harriet Harrison and Charlotte Hartley

Song: Lucy Rose - Middle of the Bed

Roles:  Director: David
            Producer: Mark
            Editor: Kate
            Camera Operator: Harriet
            Cast: Charlotte

Locations: Wyke College

• Pond outside Wilson Building
• Car Park outside Oak
• Window second floor of Ash Building
• Fence and bush and bike shot on Grammar School Road entrance
• Tim's room window
• Car shot, Bricknell Area