Treatment 2

 Concept - One main actor, one person sat thinking about suicide.

Performance & Narrative - The main character is going to be sat under a tree and with the use of a time lapse, we will put emphasis on how long he has been sat there thinking. The suicide will be as a result of ______. Have the character with a newspaper showing the article mentioning the reason for him being in the situation he is i.e. family death, close friend dying, car accident.

Features - The overall look of the video is going to be really bright and airy. With wide-open spaces, this is so the actor who is playing our main character looks and feels lonely. So that she looks like she’s completely alone. Obviously this person isn’t going to be alone, because the performers are going to be behind the tree bark. We haven’t scripted this so that our main character knows this, because we want the character to feel alone.

Costumes - This is where the actor can wear casual things, so that it looks like the character is playing herself. We want the character to look as normal as possible, so that it shows to the audience that this type of narrative (suicide) can happen to anyone. As for the performers, this is also casual depending on the type of person that we have. We need to clarify this, as someone else’s idea is not what someone else thinks is casual. By casual we mean jeans and shirt, maybe a hoodie if it’s cold when we film. Everything here is classed as casual.

Makeup - We are trying to keep the character to look as normal as possible. I know that some of the conventions of rock music are sometimes dark and dingy with the black eyeliner etc. But we are trying to turn away from that, so show that not all music videos in the rock genre are like that. Some look incredibly casual and make-up free.

Props - For the props, we are using things that usually wouldn’t be related to each other. Our character is a girl that is about to commit suicide with a tree on her own. We figured that we would need obviously something to kill herself with, in this case a rope. Then we confirmed our tree and actor and that our actor isn’t that tall. This is where we noted that we needed a box for the character to stand on. Other props include newspapers that we can set on fire, that we can reverse the footage, when the character changes her mind. Other props are acoustic guitar and photos to reminisce. 

Call Times - We are planning on filming during sunset, we don’t really want to reshoot any shots as then they mat be elliptical error, this would cause the video to not run smoothly in they were elliptical jump. By this we mean the sun be higher up in the sky at the end, than at the beginning. We have screen grabbed a chart, and this shows when the sun will begin to fade and we should need lighting. But we are trying to complete all of the shots within the sunset.

Call Sheet

Our Call Sheet in this Prezi will inform you of:

• Production - This is an overall storyline of our music video, describing what the chosen song. 

• Location - This goes into more detail about out location, including recce shots of our chosen tree. 

• Call Times - This is a brief overview of during what times do we wish to shoot. Because we want the sun to be in the background, so that it's like a time lapse. We are going to have plan our shoots to the hour, so that the video runs smoothly and so that the audience cannot see the elliptical edit. 

• Costumes - In this section, we are talking about what we want our cast to wear, which is basically a casual, everyday attire.

• Props - Here we are talking about the things that we will need to shot our music video successfully. This includes things like lighter (main feature of the slow mo), photo's magazines etc. 
• Equipment - This is what we are filming our music video with. I have already done a post on the equipment that we are going to use. So this is a more outlined version. 

• Cast & Crew - this section shows who we are going to have in our music video infront of the camera. This would be the actor who is playing the victim, and then the performers that are going to be lip-syncing the song and another guitarist that is also going to be lip syncing.

How To Create A Sun Flare

This year we have more advanced camera so we will be able to do more advanced techniques, such as shallow, deep and pull focus. Last year, I had a issue with the lack in quality of the final cut last year, but this year we will be able to achieve HD. Because of this, we have taken inspiration from other video of the same standard. Because we are planing on filming when it's sunny and bright, we are looking into how to achieve a decent sun flare. We will be filming this year with a Canon EOS 550D and will hopefully be able to create a better quality and a final cut with more overall techniques than last year. 

http://digital-photography-school.com/5-tips-for-achieving-artistic-lens-flare-how-to

Music Video Analysis - (blessthefall - 40 Days)

Detailed Music Video Analysis

blessthefall – 40 Days

The music video begins with a news report of the lead singer, Beau Bokan and his wife, Lights Bokan, who have been announced dead. Throughout the rest of the music video, Beau turns into a zombie and he is waiting for the day his wife becomes a zombie too. All narrative fits in with the title of the track because there are 40 days in which he waits to be reunited with his wife. For the duration of the music video the characters are dressed up, particularly Beau who is in a zombie costume with the typical zombie style of makeup.

The first shot after the news report is an upward tilt showing two graves in a very dark graveyard with a slow pace of continuity editing. This is a very stereotypical graveyard, something that can be associated with the genre of music; a dark setting with back lighting. The song opens with the lyrics ‘Let’s start at one, and counts the days’ after a transition from the graveyard (where Beau had risen from his grave, which is displayed in a very cliché way) to a city setting at sunrise. Beau is running through the street scene where there is a use of warm colours from the rising sun, to a blue-lit room during the lyrics ‘But I’m lying awake now and I’m holding your picture. It’s so cold without you’. This is an example of where the lyrics don’t exactly match because he is not doing what is said in the lyrics.

During the second there is a montage where Beau is trying to sleep and he is getting aggravated because he is unable to sleep, with him being a zombie. We see him in bed, trying to sleep in lots of different positions, then immediately after he is doing exercise around his apartment trying to make him tired, so he can sleep. By doing this he is also trying to waste time until he can be with his wife again. There is a direct link to the lyrics in this part of the music video when he sings ‘Could this be more. I’ve been up all night riding the subway lines. Now we’re sleeping on your floor.’

The scene still remains the same, in the apartment and Beau is watching the TV and marking off crosses on his calendar as the days go by. Elliptical edits are used throughout this part of the music video because there are lots of days marked off on his calendar. The elliptical edits show a big passing of time as the days go by in seconds, rather than real time.

The next scene shows Beau trying to make himself look better with makeup, before he goes out to try and find a date. The scene changes from the dark and blue-lit rom out into the bright street. This can represent how he has a new outlook on the situation he is in, and instead of trying to wait inside over the 40 days.

Beau goes out and tries to find a date after trying to tidy himself up in his flat. When he goes to each of the doors he is turned down by each of the women because of his image and smell. The last place he goes is a party where we see the rest of his band members. Beau starts singing with the band and we get multiple meet shots to learn who the rest of the band is. The narrative continues throughout this part of the video because the band are performing at the party Beau walked into.

There is a particular shallow focused close up of Rockstar drinks cans during the party, which makes me think that the band were promoting the brand.

Beau runs out of the party to his girlfriend’s grave after he attempts to eat fellow band member, Eric. When he gets to Lights’ grave, her hand bursts through the soil and he pulls her out. The lighting is dark again like the first graveyard scene. 

The music video comes to an end with the classical Looney Tunes style ending from the 1940’s.

Risk Assessment

Hazard	Persons who may be harmed	Property which may be damaged	Risk controls already in place	Risk Assessment LOW, MODERATE, HIGH, EXTREME	Further action required to control risk
Injury from flames when using lighter and burning papers	Actor	Camera equipment during close up	Take care while using the lighter, keeping the actor and camera away from harm	High	Actor should be confident when using the lighter to ensure personal safety
Falling from box	Actor, Filming Crew	Camera Equipment, Tripod	Ensure that the box is on flat ground and stable when actor is climbing on it.	Moderate	Actors and crew should take caution when climbing up on the box and crew should stay well away to avoid possible harm
Tripping on general props	Actor and crew	Props and camera equipment if dropped	Ensure that the areas of filming are free from trip hazards, especially the rope	Moderate	Ensure the actor and crew are wary of the possible trip hazards while on set
Tripping as a result of low lighting outside	Actors and crew	Props and camera equipment if dropped	Ensure that there is some level of lighting so the crew and actors are able to see where they are and what they are doing	Moderate	Ensure the crew and actors are conscious of their space and are able to see what they are doing while filming outside

Animatic

This is our Amematic, the storyboard was used this way to see which shots are going to work well together. Some shots had to be moved as they didn't flow well within the frames. Some storyboard shots also had to be cut, moved and lengthened to make the video run more smoothly.   

It's important to create a storyboard as it's given us more of an idea of what to film, this will make the filming process more organised if we know what shots we are going to be recording on the day. Being more organised on the recording day means that it will take less time to film, ending up with a more efficient recording process. 

Shot Count

Shot Count

1.     Wide shot – To show the time lapse with the tree in the foreground.

2.     Close-up – Of photos

3.     Wide shot – To introduce character to the setting

4.     Cut Zoom In – To show characters face

5.     Cut Zoom In– To show the characters face closer

6.     Cut Zoom In – To Show the characters face even closer, at this point the character should be upset

7.     Extreme close-up – Of the performers guitar

8.     Two shot – This is of both of the performers, these should be singing at this time

9.     Single Medium close-up – of the character with the guitar

10. Close Up – Of the newspaper article with text overlay giving details of the story.

11. Medium shot – of the camera zoom into the screen for a graphic match in next shot

12. Handheld camera – leading to a fade out

13. Two shot – of all performers either side of the tree with character and band members from the side.

14. 360 tracking – Around the tree to show all characters from the front, so will be a medium shot.

15. Long shot – so the audience can see the character and the tree branches in the same show.

16. Two shot – Of the band and tree on 360 track

17.  Single Long shot - Of the character alone

18.  Close-up – of the props to show what the character has

19. Birds-eye – This is to show the character beginning to tie the noose.

20. Extreme Close-up – of the characters face, this is too show the characters facial expression.

21.  Birds Eye High Angle shot – This is to show the character securing the noose tightly.

22. Close-up – Slightly slow than normal speed of a lighter flaring.

23. Close-up – Slower Again and zoom in

24. Close-up – Slow Mo then picks up the newspaper to burn – From 1:55 – 2:06

25.  Two shot  - of the performers and pull focus so that the audience can see both characters without changing the shot.

26.  Close-up – of the burned newspaper and photos

27. Long shot – Of the character tying the rope, with the performers on the other side.

28. Extreme Close-Up – Of the upset character

29. Close-up – of the character with the noose around their neck ready to jump

30. REWIND ALL THE FOOTAGE, slightly faster than normal speed, back to show 18(with the close up of the props)

31. Long shot - Of all the performers leaving, either side of the tree.