Acting

We as a group thought of a few people we could use for our product. At first we were going to ask somebody our age who studies drama to be in it to make the story more effective with good acting, but we decided we'd like to use somebody younger to make them seem more innocent and youthful. We thought of a few people who could possibly fit the part, but we chose to use my sister as the main actress as she has had acting lessons in the past and is very good for her age. 

 To make filming a lot more convenient, we used my parents to act as the parents because we knew it would be a struggle finding two adults who weren't actors comfortable enough with each other to play the parts, and we thought that as a family, everybody would be much more comfortable around each other which would ensure better acting. 

Girl's Make-up and Hair

We have decided to keep the girl's makeup to a minimum throughout almost the entire product. This is because we want to represent her as youthful and innocent, rather than older, which is what she'd look like if she wore heavy makeup.

We have also decided to keep the girl's hair simple for the same reason, and only want her hair either down or in a ponytail throughout almost the entire product.

The only times we will see the girl with her hair and makeup any different is in the montage scene, where she applies lipstick and puts her hair up into a bun. This is because in this scene it shows the girl wants to be more mature and sophisticated, and we want to represent this through hair and makeup as it will come across a lot more clearly than other aspects.

Composition

Although we haven't yet planned any particular scenes around this decision, we have chosen as a group to have a quite unbalanced composition when it comes to actors in the shot. This will represent the unbalance in the characters' lives.

I have thought about which scenes we could use an unbalanced composition in and I am going to pitch them to Tom and Arthur to see if they agree with my ideas.

One particular shot we could use an unbalanced composition in is when we see the parents arguing in the kitchen. An unbalanced composition here would help portray how unbalanced they are as people, and help represent how their daughter sees them, too.

Another shot with unbalanced composition could be the second shot of the girl and her imaginary friend having a tea party, after the first shot where the composition could be well organised. This would show how unbalanced the emotion of the scene becomes when the mother makes an entrance.

Space

We've also decided as a group to use space as a way of representing how our main character feels. We have decided to use more space in shots when the girl is feeling free and happy, yet less space when she feels trapped within her own sadness created by her parents.

We have planned camera placement revolving around space for this effect in a lot of the scenes, but the most effective will probably be the tea party scene. When we first see the girl and her imaginary friend in this scene, it will be a long shot, creating lots of space to show she's happy and does not feel at all trapped. She will continue to be happy and have a lot of space in the shot when her mother enters, as she is happy to see her, yet when her mother doesn't react and instead shows an uncaring face towards the girl the space in the shot will get lesser by cutting to a mid-shot or close up of the girl, to show her unhappiness.

Lighting

We as a group have decided to fit the lighting in the product to the girl's emotions. When the lighting is dark or dim, it is when the girl is feeling unhappy. For example, it is going to be a dark hallway in which she crouches when she watches her parents argue. The lighting will get slightly brighter and warmer when she retreats to her room to make a paper bird.

The next shot will be when the girl sees her paper birds transform into real birds in a field, where the scene will be shot in bright daylight. This will represent her happiness and how much better she feels alone and away from the metaphorical darkness in her life.

Set Design

For the house, we have to make sure that nothing can be seen that would completely contradict the messages in our video, such as a lot of happy family photos in the background. Not only would this show that the family are close rather than distant as portrayed in the product, they'd also show me, a character who doesn't even appear in the product, plus we want our lead role to be seen as an only child to make her seem more lonely.

In the bedroom scenes we're going to remove most of the toys in my sister's room, to make it seem like she isn't bought many luxuries by her parents, contributing to the idea of a distant family life. In shot where we can see the wall behind her, we're going to keep up a photo montage that we already have in place in my house. It's a montage that consists of lots of pictures cut from magazines, so it will help emphasise the girl's creativity.

In the girl's parents' room, I'm going to remove homely things from their bedside tables such as a miniature teddy, because the more empty their room is, the more it can represent their empty characters when it comes to emotion.

Lyrics Meaning

We sat together as a group and went through the lyrics of our chosen song. We put our ideas together to come up with this interpretation of the lyrics:

Shadows settle on the place, that you left
Our minds are troubled by the emptiness

- Someone's gone, dead, but it's hard to believe that they're gone.

And if you're still breathing, you're the lucky ones
'Cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs

- Breathing easily, no burden, but barely breathing, or breathing with difficulty, meaning they're burdened and it's hard to do something so simple as breathing.

Setting fire to our insides for fun
Collecting names of the lovers that went wrong
The lovers that went wrong

- Trying to deal with the pain by drinking or getting high, and trying to find comfort with people that you've already had relationships with, trying to reconcile with them.

We are the reckless
We are the wild youth
Chasing visions of our futures
One day we'll reveal the truth
That one will die before he gets there

- Life as the youth, having fun, breaking rules, etc, while trying to be mature, and trying to get there, but obviously someone hasn't made it to adulthood, they've died.

And if you're still bleeding, you're the lucky ones
'Cause most of our feelings, they are dead and they are gone

- Felling pain, bleeding, but because of this person's death, they've gone hard, they've lost their ability to feel things.

We're setting fire to our insides for fun
Collecting pictures from the flood that wrecked our home
It was a flood that wrecked this

- Something big, something that couldn't have been stopped. Our home, our place of rest, It was personal.

And you caused it
And you caused it
And you caused it

- blaming somone, obviously, the person that killed or caused the death of the friend or boyfriend, or blaming the other youths for being so immature, or even herself or her friends for it. Or blaming the person that died, they're fault for making her be like this.

Well I've lost it all, I'm just a silouhette
A lifeless face that you'll soon forget
My eyes ae damp from the words you left
Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest
Ringing in my head, when you broke my chest

- She's no longer who she used to be, just a shell. Just another face lost in the crowd to the person that killed her (boy)friend. When they said something in accordance to the death, it completely shattered her, her chest or heart broken.

And if you're in love, then you are the lucky one
'Cause most of us are bitter over someone

- Self explanatory, if you can love, you're lucky, she can't as she's still distraught over the person she lost.

Setting fire to our insides for fun
To distract our hearts from ever missing them
But I'm forever missing him

- Trying to forget the pain, or at least, putting it off for awhile through drinking or drugs, but she'll never let him go, she'll never forget him, she'll always mis him.


And you caused it
And you caused it
And you caused it


- It's all your fault. You caused this pain, his death, you made this happen.

Risk Assessment

I've written up a risk assessment sheet and got it signed by my teacher.

Roles

As a group, we've established different roles for each of us.

All the planning for filming will be decided as a group, but I'll be doing the majority of the filming at home because my family are the actors and some of the filming is at night time, so it's a lot easier for me to shoot the planned shots rather than waiting for a time outside of college where all of the group and all of the actors are free.

The shot script will be written up by Arthur and Tom after we've decided everything that is needed to be done.

I'll be taking the pictures for the storyboards for the same reason as with the filming, but the boys will help me put it together as an actual storyboard.

We'll edit our product together so we can all contribute creative ideas and make sure our product conforms to something our whole group likes and thinks is best. 

We haven't decided on roles for the magazine advert, digipak or any of the other things that need to be done yet, so we'll update roles at a later date.

Props

I made the list of props we are going to use into an Xtranormal presentation, along with descriptions on why we're going to use them.
A2 Media
by: chezziepopz

Setting

Settings in Order of Appearance

Hallway

The girl crouches in the hallway as she watches her parents argue. We chose this part of the house to film her watching as it's quite dark, which represents the mood, and also seems quite secretive, which is what she's being as she watches her parents.

Kitchen

We chose the kitchen for the argument scene because in most houses the kitchen is a room that is very family orientated, as opposed to a more private room like a bedroom. Their argument taking place in a family orientated rooms shows corruption within the family and also shows their aggression, as they're not trying to hide anything by arguing in private.

Girl's Bedroom

The girl's bedroom is the first shot where we are going to see our main character looking happy, which shows that she can only be happy when she's shut herself away from things such as her parents' arguing, which is why we chose the bedroom as the setting for all of the house scenes where she actually looks happy. 

Field

The field is the first scene where we see the girl's imagination come to life, as this is where the paper birds transform into real ones. We decided to do this in a field because it has a vast amount of space, portraying the freedom she feels (also represented by the birds) when she's by herself, and it also represents her vast imagination.

Parents' Bedroom

We first see the parents' bedroom when the girl runs to her parents for comfort. They're arguing when she runs in, and the fact they're arguing in here too represent the fact they're really argumentative. We also chose this setting as it made it more obvious the girl was running to her parents for comfort before they send her away, creating emotion.

Road

We chose the road outside of the house to make it more obvious she is running away from home when we see the tracking shot of the girl running. We also chose this location because the street lights make it more obvious that it's raining, which is a symbol of the girl's current emotions. 

Woods

We also chose the woods to reflect the girl's emotions, when she gets lost in the woods it represents how lost the girl is in her own life. They're dark, too, which represent the darker side to her life. 

Costume

There are three main characters in my product, and two minor characters. The lead role is a young a girl with a vivid imagination, and her argumentative parents are also viewed at points. Minor characters involve a toy monkey and a doll who are real people in the imagination of the young girl. I'm going to research some costumes that will make my characters really fit to the conventions I want them to portray.

Girl Lead

I need my main role to have four different outfits, pajamas for night time and four outfits for four different days, to portray a length of time in the girl's life. The night time shots are quite a negative point in my girl's life, so she'll be wearing a black top to imply a negativity. I also want her in pink pajama bottoms to show a femininity and also a vulnerability, as pink is often linked to young girls. I also want the bottoms to be stripy to represent a creativity, which my character is with her imagination. For outside shots my character will be wearing slippers with teddies on, as this will also portray a vulnerability through childishness.

The next two outfits are two large shirts worn with black leggings. The black leggings portray a negative side to the girl's life yet again, and the large shirts suggest that they are hand-me-downs. This implies that her parents just give her old clothes and don't care enough to buy her clothes that fit. One shirt is blue which suggests loyalty in the girl's character and the other is red, which portrays danger.

One of the dresses the girl wears has a black under layer covered by pink and black patterned chiffon. The black again portrays the negativity in her life, whilst the pink again suggests femininity along with the dress. The pattern implies that the girl's life is chaotic and haphazard, and definitely not normal. It also shows her creative side. Black dolly shoes are worn with these to add to the negative theme.

The girl's last dress is white and floral. White stereotypically represents innocence, whilst the flowers show naturalness and femininity in her character.

The doll wears denim jeans, a pink top, pink shoes and pink ribbons in her hair. These are worn to make the actress look as much like the doll as possible to help the audience to understand her character and that she's a figment of the girl's imagination. The connotation of her blue jeans is loyalty, which is a trait in the doll. The pink again reflects femininity and helps link the girl and doll together character wise as they both wear pink in their outfits.

The mother has three outfits. The first two are black leggings accompanied by red tops. The connotations of these colours are negativity and danger, reflecting the mother's character.

The last outfit is a dressing gown, and is worn simply to show that the events in this part of the video are occurring at night time. The homeliness of the dressing gowns worn by the girl's parents are contradicted by their constant arguing, which highlights the juxtaposition between sadness and happiness in the music video.

Apart from the dressing gown, the father is only seen in a black top and later a black leather jacket. Not only does it repeat the negative theme but it brings out the fact the father is a dark character and helps the audience familiarise him as a possibly evil figure.

Our last character is only seen briefly, and he's a monster coming out of the girl's wardrobe. We don't want the actor to be seen as human like so when we see him he'll be completely black and his face will be covered. We only see him starting to come out of the wardrobe before the girl runs away so we'll only see an arm, hand and head, so we've chosen these clothes for the actor to wear. 

We've chosen the colour black because it represents evil, which makes the monster seem more intimidating.

Shot Script

Tom has typed up our decided shot script into a neat table:

Shot	Shot type	Shot description	Duration
1	Mid shot, slow zoom into a close up.	Girl kneeling down peeking through the door.	7 seconds
2	Close up	Right hand side of girl showing face.	6 seconds
3	Mid shot, slight pan from right to left, whole shot in slow motion.	Mother and father arguing in kitchen, bottle of wine used as a prop.	8 seconds
4	Close up	Returns to close up of the girl and she hangs her head.	5 seconds
5	Mid shot	Returns to mid shot of mother and father showing the father gaining the upper hand.	11 seconds
6	Mid shot	Girl stands up and leaves the door with a disappointed expression.	9 seconds
7	Close up	Girl is sat on edge of bed looking at something n her hands	2 seconds
8	Over the shoulder close up,	Girl has made a paper bird and is holding it in her hands.	5 seconds
9	Close up	Frontal view of the girl as she lifts the bird up to her face and plays with the bird.	3 seconds
10	Mid shot Pan from right to left around girl	Girl is stood in a field playing with the bird in the same manor as the previous shot then propels it in to the air.	4 seconds
11	Long shot	The paper bird turns into many birds flying in the sky.	13 seconds
12	Close up	Girl is sat on edge of bed blowing bubbles.	3 seconds
13	Close up	A bubble floats across the camera.	2 seconds
14	Close up	Girl grins at bubble.	3 seconds
15	Close up	Girl is brushing the hair of a doll	4 seconds
16	Close up	Girl is now brushing her own hair in the mirror	5 seconds
17	Close up	Girl then is applying lipstick in the mirror	5 seconds
18	Close up	View of back of girls head while she is putting her hair up	7 seconds
19	Over the shoulder close up	Girl is drawing birds.	3 seconds
20	Mid shot	Tea being poured into a mug from a tea pot	2 seconds
21	Mid shot	Two girls sat on the bed having a cup of tea and chatting, heads both turn towards the door	3 seconds
22	Mid shot low angle	Mother enters through the door	3 seconds
23	Mid shot	Camera cuts beck to position of previous shot as the mother walks past the camera reveals a doll in place of where the second girl was sat.	3 seconds
24	Close up P.O.V shot from girls position	Mother hands the girl a plate with two pieces of bread and crisps on and has a totally dismissive expression on her face. Mother then leaves the room.	8 seconds
25	Mid shot	Girls expression is very disappointed	4 seconds
26	Mid Shot, pan from right to left	Girl sat behind painting stand	6 seconds
27	Mid shot over the shoulder	Girl shown painting	4 seconds
28	Extreme close up	Girl smiling	2 seconds
29	Mid shot	Girl sat on bed holding knees to her chest with a frightened expression	5 seconds
30	Mid shot	Door slowly opening and monster creeping into the room	5 seconds
31	Mid shot	Girl gets up terrified and runs out of shot	2 seconds
32	Mid shot tracking shot	Girl running to parents room and enters, she sees them both awake and arguing again. They both gesture for her to get out	14 seconds
33	Mid shot	Girl has a look of total disappointment and sadness on her face and then runs out the door	8 seconds
32	Long shot	Girl running towards camera with car lights behind and this silhouettes her legs. All of the shot in slow motion	12 seconds
33	Mid shot	Girl leans into a tree expressing her fear and loneliness.	5 seconds
34	Mid shot	Girl turns to face camera and falls to her knees still leaning up against the tree	2 seconds
35	Close up	Focus on the doll she has dropped on the ground	3 seconds
36	Mid shot	Girl has her head in her hands and a hand enters shot from the right placing it on her shoulder.	4 seconds
37	Mid shot	Father rushing and putting his coat on in the bedroom	3 seconds
38	Mid shot	Girl behind held by the hand and led by her friend through the forest	8 seconds
39	Close up	Mother dialing 999 on the house telephone	2 seconds
40	Mid shot	Girl walking towards camera on the road holding the little doll by the hand and eventually walks out of shot	17 seconds

Storyboard

We had some really bad technical difficulties when it came to exporting the storyboard from the laptop it was created on, so we had to resort to taking photos of it and uploading these instead. They're still eligible.

Shot Use

We as a group have decided to use a range of different shots to represent different messages portrayed in the video.
We have discussed using a lot of close ups when our main character is around her imaginary friend to represent their close relationship.
Long shots are going to mostly be used when we see the parents, to represent how distant they are from our lead role.
Handheld shots are going to be used in some parts of the video to represent the instability in the girl's life, whereas in other parts a tripod will be used to ensure steady shots. We mainly want to use these as it will give a more professional feel to the video and make the messages represent seem more serious.
Mid and close shots will mostly be used when seeing the girl, as it will help the audience feel literally closer and more connected to her, and feel more emotion towards her the more the story progresses.
We're going to use a low angle shot from a point of view short when we see the monster, to show that the girl feels less powerful than it and shows how intimidating it is for her.
No establishing shots will be used as they are usually used to show where the characters in a piece of media belong. We don't want a sense of belonging for the girl in this video, to create more emotion.

Changes in light of feedback

I've decided to change some of my ideas in light of our feedback to make our product more effective.

Here are the summed up results of our questionnaire:

Do you like the overall idea for our video?

Yes – 8

No – 1

The majority of people to take the questionnaire said they liked the overall idea, so I don't need to consider making changes here.

Do you think the screenplay will match the song well?

Yes – 8

No – 0

Other – Depends on editing

The same results come from this question. As long as I'm sure to edit successfully, the majority of people think the screenplay will match the song well, so I don't need to change it.

What part do you think will be most effective?

Nobody who answered our questionnaire left this question blank or said that none of it would be effective. There are a good range of some of our main aspects here that I wanted to turn out as very effective, so this back up from our audience gives me more confidence in our ideas and indicates that they have potential to be effective. 

What part do you think will be least effective?

Six people thought nothing would be ineffective which is great. One person thought the part where the monster emerges from the cupboard would be ineffective as they didn't know if it would be symbolic enough. We're not going to change this as it is used for symbolic reasons. The person who thought the characters weren't an effective choice can have their views overruled, as they said it was down to the fact the acting may be hard to do. We're not marked on acting so this isn't a good enough reason for us to change our video. One person thought the birds may be ineffective as it would have to take very good editing to pull it off. I have faith in myself and the others to be able to edit this part well, so we're not going to let this affect our decision.

What do you think could be improved?

Seven people didn't suggest that we need to improve anything, which is really good. One person suggested that we make our ideas more obvious, so we'll try and make the main aspects of our story more obvious. For example, we'll use a range of shots and editing to make it obvious that the girl's doll is her imaginary friend. Another person added that we could make our characters more strange to represent her strange view on life. We like this idea and we've discussed making changes in light of it, but we've decided to not change them because we think they all add together to create an emotional feel rather than a strange one. 

Do you like the ideas for the costumes? Comments?

Everybody but one person said they liked the ideas for the costumes, commenting things like "they seem cool" and "they fit colour connotations well". One person suggested that we make the costumes more symbolic. We feel as if the costumes we have chosen already symbolise everything we want to portray in the video, so we're going to stick with what we have. 

Do you think the setting is appropriate? Comments?

Everybody who filled in our questionnaire said they liked our setting ideas, so we don't have to consider changes here. 

Do you have any other suggestions?

Three people said they didn't have any other suggestions. 
One person advised we check the weather forecast to make sure our weather has good continuity, which we will do. 
Another person told us to make sure we think everything through symbolically first. We have already done this and will continue to.
One person told us to make sure we put our message across more obviously. As I've already said, we're going to use a range of shots and editing to make sure all the messages are put across to the audience in the best way they can be.
Another person told us to have fun filming. We will!

We will, of course, "edit carefully" to make sure our video is as effective as possible, which is what another person advised.

Audience Feedback

We typed up a questionnaire and asked 9 people from friends and family to fill it in after we'd explained my ideas to them. These are the results we got that I have typed up.

Do you like the overall idea for my video?

Yes.

Do you think the screenplay will match the song well?

Yes, it shows emotion, something the song seems to be about.

What part do you think will be most effective?

The birds.

What part do you think will be least effective?

Nothing.

What do you think could be improved?

Nothing, as long as it can be pulled off.

Do you like the ideas for the costumes? Comments?

They fit criteria well

Do you think the setting is appropriate? Comments?

Yes.

Do you have any other suggestions?

No.

____________________________________________________________

Do you like the overall idea for my video?

Yes.

Do you think the screenplay will match the song well?

Yes.

What part do you think will be most effective?

The bit with the doll.

What part do you think will be least effective?

None.

What do you think could be improved?

None.

Do you like the ideas for the costumes? Comments?

Yeah they go with colour connotations.

Do you think the setting is appropriate? Comments?

Yes the contrast between England and exotic birds will be good.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Nope

____________________________________________________________

Do you like the overall idea for my video?

It sounds good.

Do you think the screenplay will match the song well?

Yeah, probably.

What part do you think will be most effective?

The end part seems pretty vital. The bit with the girl running away.

What part do you think will be least effective?

Nothing.

What do you think could be improved?

Nothing.

Do you like the ideas for the costumes? Comments?

They seem cool.

Do you think the setting is appropriate? Comments?

Yes because you’ve included dark elements like the woods... emotion.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Edit carefully.

____________________________________________________________

Do you like the overall idea for my video?

Not really, it sounds too chaotic.

Do you think the screenplay will match the song well?

It really depends on how well you edit it.

What part do you think will be most effective?

The birds if you can pull them off.

What part do you think will be least effective?

The characters? I don’t know how well the acting will come across.

What do you think could be improved?

Try and make your ideas more obvious 

Do you like the ideas for the costumes? Comments?

Yes.

Do you think the setting is appropriate? Comments?

Yeah I don’t see downsides.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Try and put across your message more obviously.

____________________________________________________________

Do you like the overall idea for my video?

Yes it sounds good!

Do you think the screenplay will match the song well?

Yes.

What part do you think will be most effective?

It all sounds very effective.

What part do you think will be least effective?

Nothing.

What do you think could be improved?

Nothing.

Do you like the ideas for the costumes? Comments?

Yes.

Do you think the setting is appropriate? Comments?

I’m not sure, it could be risky when filming but on a nice day then yes.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Check the weather forecast!

____________________________________________________________

Do you like the overall idea for my video?

Yeah!

Do you think the screenplay will match the song well?

I think so. The message shown sounds good.

What part do you think will be most effective?

The imaginary friend being the doll!

What part do you think will be least effective?

Maybe the birds? It will have to take good editing.

What do you think could be improved?

Nothing.

Do you like the ideas for the costumes? Comments?

You could make them more symbolic?

Do you think the setting is appropriate? Comments?

Yes it shows nature, something inevitable for everyone.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Have fun filming!

____________________________________________________________

Do you like the overall idea for my video?

It sounds interesting, I’d like to see the turn out.

Do you think the screenplay will match the song well?

Probably yes!

What part do you think will be most effective?

Where the lead runs through the woods, I like the messages here.

What part do you think will be least effective?

The monster in the closet doesn’t seem very symbolic but I still would like to see it.

What do you think could be improved?

You could maybe make the characters seem more strange to represent her strange view on life

Do you like the ideas for the costumes? Comments?

Yeah they go well with the characters

Do you think the setting is appropriate? Comments?

It’s okay, it’s nothing amazing.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Make sure you think everything through symbolically first.

____________________________________________________________

Do you like the overall idea for my video?

Yeah.

Do you think the screenplay will match the song well?

Yes.

What part do you think will be most effective?

The monster.

What part do you think will be least effective?

Nothing.

What do you think could be improved?

Nothing.

Do you like the ideas for the costumes? Comments?

Yeah!

Do you think the setting is appropriate? Comments?

Yeah.

Do you have any other suggestions?

No

____________________________________________________________

Do you like the overall idea for my video?

Yes I do.

Do you think the screenplay will match the song well?

I think so if done well, it seems to match the story.

What part do you think will be most effective?

Birds

What part do you think will be least effective?

Nothing

What do you think could be improved?

Nothing

Do you like the ideas for the costumes? Comments?

Yes

Do you think the setting is appropriate? Comments?

I like it.

Do you have any other suggestions?

No I don't.