Music Video Planning & Preparation - Final Locations List

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This first location is my home, it will be used as 'Liam's house'. We will be using a bedroom as Liam's room where all of the performance will be filmed, I have made several changes to the mise-en-scene in order to make this room more realistic to the viewer. These changes include, swapping the bed covers to a darker, more 'masculine' colour, removing any 'girly' items (i.e. make-up, teddy bears, perfumes) and replacing them with empty beer bottles and an ashtray. We will also be using another bedroom to represent Liam's girlfriend's room, this room will require little changes as it is already painted pink. The only changes that will be made is the purposely placed make-up and clothes on the bedroom floor to connote her messy lifestyle. The front room of my house will also be used to show Liam getting ready and reminiscing about old times.

The second location for filming is the kitchen in Liam's house and is intended to be a room in the same house as the performance shots (Location 1). This location will be used to film parts of Liam's getting ready montage. Due to my kitchen being too small to negotiate acceptable camera movements, I had to chose a separate location to film these shots in but I hope that, with the use of some editing, I can convince the viewer that it is all one house.

This is a graveyard that is local to Liam which made it easier and less time consuming for everyone involved when moving locations. This location is going to be featured in the last part/closing scenes of my music video. I enjoyed filming in this location because, due to the Autumn weather, the leaves had turned a golden orange colour and began to fall off the trees themselves (pictured). I believe these seasonal changes helped in enhancing the visuals of these scenes but also created a cold/wintery atmosphere, something which I wanted to create throughout the video.

This location is going to be used to film the 'drinking montage' between Liam's character and his girlfriend. This location is easily accessible due to the fact that it is a public walkway but is rarely used in the colder months, which made it easy for us to film our shots without disturbance. I am extremely happy that I got to use this location as visually, it is everything I imagined.

The death/running over scene will be filmed in this location. I have picked this location because I think the long, straight road will help in making a great shot when the car is driving away. Due to this being a pubic area it is not uncommon for dog walkers and joggers to cut through this area. To avoid any complications and to ensure no members of the public are caught in shot, I have made the decision to only film at this location early in the morning. 

Music Video Production - Editing Practice (Car Scene)

This is the first edit of the running over scene. I had to be very careful when I edited this as I wanted to make it look as convincing as possible regardless of the fact that I have no budget. Creating this scene involved filming several different shots and editing them together to form a quick paced series of events culminating in me being run over.

What did I do?
I began by filming a panning shot of the car driving from one end of the street to the other at great speed. I then followed that with a long shot of me running onto the road whilst Liam watched looking shocked, after so many seconds I signalled for my friend to again drive down the road at a quick speed but this time stopping about a metre away from me. To make the car look like it was actually going to hit me, I then got my friend to drive at an extremely slow speed towards me until his car tapped me on the legs. This was filmed a a close up of my knees with the cars bonnet seen coming towards them. To make this look convincing I sped up the clip by 100% when editing it which gave the illusion of the car travelling at a much faster speed. I then filmed what started off as a close up of my hand which zoomed out to slowly reveal me lying dead on the road with a grieving Liam kneeling next to me, holding my hand. This was followed by a tracking shot of the white cider bottle rolling along the road. I then filmed a medium close up of Liam screaming 'no' whilst running out of shot which I later slowed down for dramatic effect. I then filmed the same shot again but as a close-up of Liam's face. 

What will I change?
I had originally intended for the white cider to be a recurring motif throughout the video due to the 'white lightning' reference in the song's second verse, and the narrative being about escaping that type of hedonistic lifestyle. Unfortunately nowhere stocks White Lightning so we had to make do with a basic white cider bottle for the tracking shot. I feel that this detracts from the lyrics and is not clear to the viewer and I think I am going to remove it from the final version.
In the close-up of Liam's face I feel that he is not showing enough emotion what so ever. I have decided to re-film this shot but to also film an extreme close up of his eyes widening in shock.
This scene is intended to be a flashback so I am going to add a sepia/grindhouse filter to these shots in order to make the footage look older and more dated.

Music Video Production - Editing Practice (Reverse Smoke)

This is the first edit of the 'smoke reversal' scene. I wanted this to represent Liam's memory regressing to a time in the past as an introduction to the first flashback sequence. I purposefully placed this edit at this specific point to coincide with the lyrics 'something is changing, changing changing'.

What did I do?
Whilst filming Liam performing I got him to slowly let cigarette smoke flow from his mouth whilst I filmed it as a close-up shot. When we were out filming the drinking montage I got him to repeat this whilst I filmed it as a close-up shot. I then edited the first shot so that it was in reverse and placed it before the second shot having a slightly overlapping fade between the two.  

What would I change?
Although I am extremely happy with the overall outcome of this edit, I am considering re-filming the second close-up as I wanted both shots to be identical in their framing and I also believe that it will be mre effective overall.