Mise-en-scene Mood Board:

Below are various shots of the mood board that I created, detailing all of the key mise-en-scene aspects that I have in mind.

Setting and Location: I have a variety of locations for my filming, including a park, a forest and a graveyard in Broxbourne. Though the majority of the video is shot outside, the opening scenes are set in my house in a bedroom, where Beth wakes up in the morning. Though on the mood board I make clear that I only plan on using natural light, I may try and experiment with artificial lighting to see if it gievs the shot a better quality. However, this may not work as I want a morning lighting effect, and that mixed with artificial light may not set the right mood.

Lighting and Colour: As mentioned before, I plan to use majorly natural lighting in order to fit the mood of the indie genre. I plan to use a day that isn't too sunny because the general mood of the video is sombre, but I may want some shots with the sun coming through the branches to capture a nice shot.

Costumes and Props: There is a photograph of Beth below on this particular section of my mood board where she is wearing a coat and is outside with wavy hair. This is the general I want for her character as Ellie Goulding, with minimal makeup but enough to create the crying effect with mascara running down her face. I will use my car at the beginning of the video for when the engine won't start and Beth begins to get distressed. A poppy is a symbol of war imagery and Beth will place one on the grave which is when the audience realise that she has been so distressed due to her partner dying.

Camera Shots and Angles: Beth is supposed to be Ellie Goulding and the typical shots in a music video with a well known individual artist include a variety of close-ups so that the audience can identify the artist and her certain style. There is also a large amount of action shots of Beth running in the video so I will use a mixture of tripod held camera work and handicam to capture the distressing effect and really involve the audience in how the artist is feeling.

Style of my Music Video:

I have considered using some performance in my music video but I don't think that it fits the mood that I am trying to portray. Performance is a typical convention of a music video, and even though Ellie Goulding is slightly involved in the mainstream pop genre as an indie artist, I feel that this video fits her style as it is a bit different from other artists in the genre. The video is telling a story so it is quite important that the narrative aspect of it is strong and explanitory.

 

Ed Sheeran- The A Team

 

Above is an example of a completely narrative based music video in which the singer himself only appears in for a few seconds as a member of the public. This video and my music video will be similar in the way that there is no performance factors in them, but my video will be different in the way that Beth will be playing the part of Ellie Goulding, but she will just be acting out a narrative storyline.

Test Shooting Day:

In order to test out the lighting of scene 1 where Beth wakes up in the morning, I organised a test shoot date to check all the equipment and start to get an idea of the practical side, not just on paper. It went very well but I have decided not to use artificial lighting as it created shadows and did not look natural enough. I tested the use of complete natural light and this turned out to look much more effective. I attempted to make the artificial light work as it would be a good thing to use for the internal shots, but there were always shadows and though the curtains were shut, some blue light was in the room, and mixed with the yellow light didn't look as effective.

Below are some shots of me setting up the equipment; the light and the tripod.

My Cast:

My cast consits of one young girl who is supposed to be Ellie Goulding herself. I will be using my friend Beth Miller who is 17 years old. Ellie is 26 years old but looks fairly young for her age. Beth will therefore be playing older than her age, but this shouldn't be a problem as it is relativley realistic. Bearing in mind that Ellie Goulding's target audience are mostly teenage to young adult females, using Beth will appeal to them as they are more likely to be attracted to watching somebody their roughly of their own age and may even possibly relate to her.

This is Beth

The Storyline of my Music Video:

The plot is quite hard hitting and the audience do not actually know what is happening until the very end of the video. The idea is that my actress (Beth Miller) wakes up and realises that the person who is usually with her is no longer there. We begin to see her become distressed when she tries to get in her car and drive off but it will not turn not. It then cuts to her looking out over a river on a bridge, and hopefully this is the right time for the chorus to kick in and she begins to run. She runs through the forest and there are lots of different angles and shots of her, including her feet running past and handicam. This gives the video a more realistic effect and makes the audience believe that they are there with her. It therefore encourages interaction. The video will then fade to her in a park after she has calmed down a bit. This will be an ellipses. She then begins to walk towards a set of swings. When she is sitting on them swinging lightly, it makes it clearer to viewers that she is definitely missing someone, but they do not yet know why. The final scene is a low angle shot of Beth talking to the camera, but it is a point of view shot so we know that the camera is in the place of something. She crouches down to eye level and the camera cuts to her hand putting a poppy on a grave stone. This shows that the whole time she has been mourning over a lost relative or boyfriend perhaps in the war. To add effect, I will make sure I use a wide variety of shots angles and transitions, and add in some black and white shots where necessary. I will also make full use of the continuity filming that I have learnt to ensure that my music video is of high quality and runs smoothly.

I decided to take out the part with her friend at the end as it may be more effective to end on the grave. I have not includedit in my storyboard however depending on the timing of the song and how it turns out, I may film more later on.

 

STORYBOARD:

Below is the completed storyboard for my music video. I have tried to be as precise as possible and include all of the shots from each scene.

My Blood Lyrics:

                                                                      

That feeling that doesn't go away just did
And I walked a thousand miles to prove it
And I'm caught in the crossfire of my own thoughts
The color of my blood is all I see on the rocks
As you sail from me

Alarms will ring for eternity
The waves will break every chain on me
My bones will bleach
My flesh will flee
So help my lifeless frame to breathe

And God knows I'm not dying but I breathe now
And God knows it's the only way to heal now
With all the blood I lost with you
It drowns the love I thought I knew

The lost dreams are buried in my sleep for him
And this was the ecstacy of a love forgotten
And I'm thrown in the gunfire of empty bullets
And my blood is all I see
As you steal my soul from me

Alarms will ring for eternity
The waves will break every chain on me

And God knows I'm not dying but I breathe now
And God knows it's the only way to heal now
With all the blood I lost with you
It drowns the love I thought I knew

And God knows I'm not dying but I breathe now
And God knows it's the only way to heal now
With all the blood I lost with you
It drowns the love I thought I knew

And God knows I'm not dying but I breathe now
And God knows it's the only way to heal now
With all the blood I lost with you
It drowns the love I thought I knew

Treatment Sheet:

Proposed Title/Song: Ellie Goulding, My Blood.

Synopsis of song lyrics: The song can be interpreted in different ways, but it seems to have some form of a romantic element in it, but is also quite sad. It could also be interpreted as uplifting which works well for my video because it goes from being very sad with Beth crying in distress, to being hopeful at the end with the comfort of her best friend who helps her get over it.

Proposed storyline and characters: The storyline is detailed and strong, with a plot for the audience to unravel as they go along. The plan is to use flashbacks and aspects such as empty seats and Beth looking at pictures to hint to viewers that she is missing somebody. This is substantiated as she becomes hysterical and runs off crying, in an obvious grieving process. She has some time to reflect and then the story will be finally explained when she arrives at a graveyard and puts a poppy on a grave, indicating that it is somebody she loves who has died in war, most probably a boyfriend. However there will be no definite indication of who it is or what exactly happened, because the video will not be long enough to explain this, and it seems to be more effective using ellipsis's to skip time and follow Beth to see how she moves on, with the help of her best friend, the other character played by Natalie Jenkins.

Setting: My music video is set in modern times in the small town of Broxbourne, North London. The locations are common, including a house, a car, streets, a forest, a park and a garden, showing that Beth is a normal girl in a normal everyday situation, but has been deeply effected by the death of a loved one.

Length: There will be no introductory or ending narrative, as anything acted or said without music will ruin the plot and unravel it too quickly. Therefore the song will last approximatley 3:44 minutes.

Format: Digital and edited on Final Cut ProX.

Style-
Genre, mood etc: The genre is indie folk but boardering into mainstream catergory as Ellie Goulding appeals to mostly female teenagers who are also interested in pop music. The mood, unlike most other videos in a mainstream genre, will be relativley hard hitting and emotional. However, introducting Natalie at the end as a comforting friend gives a type of message to the audience of how important friendship is, so in effect, the mood lightens up as we see Beth and Natalie laughing and having fun, which is a direct contrast to Beth's emotions in the first part of the song.

Camerawork/type shots: There is a huge range of shots to be included in my music video, including long shots of Beth to show her appearence, and closeups of her when she is crying or laughing to really emphasise her feelings and the contrast between the two. This will make the audience feel part of the scene as they see her emotions up close. On my storyboard, there is one very high angled shot which I will film from sitting on a tree branch. This is when Beth has just been running through the forest and falls into a tree and viewers see that she is crying hysterically. She will slump to the ground and the high angled shot puts extra emphasis on how defeated she feels. The majority of shots will be steadycam, filmed on a tripod, but to stress how much distress Beth is in, I plan some shots to be filmed using handicam, as she is running through the forest, with again makes viewers feel included in the experience, giving it a sense of interactivity.

Length of shots/editing: There will hopefully be a mix of straight cuts and cross dissolves, and a lot of these dissolves will give the element of time passing, so the story can move on effectively. The takes will be very quick when Beth is running, and as she begins to run I will time it so that the chorus kicks in which will give a good effect and make the music match up with the visuals. In some of the slower parts of the song when Beth has time to reflect there will be longer takes as she walks, instead of runs.

Movement and action: As mentioned before Beth will be seen running in the video, but walking slowly and reflecting a lot afterwards, until she finally acts normally while sharing some laughs with her friend, to show the degrees of her grieving process.

Visual qualities: The video will be shot in colour and I plan to edit the first and middle sections where Beth is obviously in distress to make the colour duller, in order to depict her emotions. Any flashbacks or scenes from the past will be edited to be either black and white or sepia to make it obvious that it was in the past. The end section of the video will be in normal colour to symbolise Beth getting over it and becoming happier. Beth will have a variety of outfits, as the video is set to take place over a week or so, so time is passing. Her clothing will be slightly indie but still normal enough so it isn't too out there. Natalie will be in everyday casual clothing. Props are vital to my video, especially the poppy that Beth will place on the grave, as viewers will immediatley think of war imagery. Beth may open a letter and look at a photograph of her boyfriend in his military uniform which adds to the effect of the war imagery and the indication that Beth is missing somebody, before the audience come to find out that they have passed away.

Handling of narrative: The narrative is fairly linear but will include some montage editing towards the end to show all of the fun things that Beth and Natalie are doing. The audience will be are unsure as to what has happened to the person Beth is missing until the grave is shown, which will keep them interested. A repeatability factor is involved through a potential positive ending, which will appeal to the target audience.

Target Audience: The target audience are female teenagers and young adults, aged about 15-25. Ellie Goulding has the style to appeal to young girls but some of her songs are a bit less mainstream and more sombre than what this audience are used to, with My Blood being a prime example. My music video idea seems to be more complex and much more narrative based than other videos in the pop genre, so the target audience are those who like to follow along to a story line that is more hard hitting than others.  

Technical aspects/Equipment: The equipment in shooting my music video will involve a panasonic camera, a tripod and some artifical lights. I will attempt to use this type of lighting for the first scene with Beth where she wakes up, but the lights may create too much of a shadow and made it look like night time, so I may have to stick with natural lighting. I will however use the lights for the closeup of Beth crying to add a more serious effect.

Production methods: I will act as a director, to ensure that the finished product is what I imagined. Lighting is main focus, as most of the shots take place outside so I have to work with whatever the weather is like.The main aspect that I will focus on in producing the music video is the body language and facial expressions of the characters, as they are key to portraying the correct emotions to fit the storyline.

Locations/Studio: As said before, the majority of locations are outside in the local area and in recognisable places. I will simply use a plain white wall for closeups of Beth crying, as it gives a nice shadow effect from the artificial lighting.

People: Beth Miller as main character and Natalie Jenkins as best friend. There are no other actors in the music video but potentially a photograph of a boy in militarty uniform to act as Beth's late boyfriend.

Time: Over a couple of weekends due to it being dark outside on school nights, where I am unable to shoot. It may be the case that I shoot the video then decide to go back and film more to add in, depending on the audience feedback that I will recieve from my drafts.

Budget: There is no cost involved in shooting my music video.

Rationale: The video will show a different side to Ellie Goulding as Beth is playing her in it, meaning that she is acting out a hard hitting story line in her own music video. It has the repeatability factor to her teenage/young adult audience as the positive aspect at the end will leave it on a good note and stresses the importance of friendship, which is applicable to the lives of every viewer. It shows that even though such a terrible thing can happen to somebody, which effects them deeply, they are never alone and will somehow get over it with the help and comfort of their friends. The underlying message is positive, even if it is portrayed in a negative way at first.