Pre-Production - Permission Request Second Attempt

It has now been two weeks since I have sent off my permission request regarding the use of the song; "Dream Catch Me" by Newton Faulkner, for my music video.

I am now going to send off a second email in a further attempt to contact Sony Music Entertainment for permission to use my intended song.

The email I have written can be seen below:

The email is exactly the same as the previous one, as it has all the crucial information on it, the only difference is that I have said in the email how this is the second one I have sent. I would also like to mention that I have now sent this email and will update my blog if and when I obtain a reply regarding my request.

That's all for now everyone, until next time :)

Pre-Production - Shooting Schedule

Below you will see the shooting schedule I have drawn up for the filming of my music video. A copy of this will be given to my actress; Georgine Caddy, so that she knows as well as I when and where we are filming.

I would like to note two things. First, between the interior kitchen (day) filming and interior bathroom (day) filming there is a break for lunch, which is why there is a decent sized gap, also between the interior hallway (night) filming and interior study (night) filming there is a break for dinner, which is again why there is a decent sized gap. Second, on the shooting schedule below I have used Adobe Photoshop to cover up my home address under the "Location" column on each sheet. This is simply to preserve my personal information, on the actual shooting schedule it is completely visible so that my actress knows where the filming location is.

To make the images below appear smaller on the screen, simply click them.

I hope you all enjoyed this post :)

Until next time :D

Pre-Production - Beat Sheet

Below you will see a Beat Sheet I created for my song; "Dream Catch Me" by Newton Faulkner.

A Beat Sheet is basicly a sheet that notes down key points within a song, as you can see.

Also below you can see a 'YouTube' music video of my song, so that you can follow the song whilst looking at my Beat Sheet.



I hope you all enjoy this post and I hope it helps anyone who isn't sure what a Beat Sheet is :)

See you all next time :)

Pre-Production - The Meeting

As part of Pre-Production, a meeting was held with myself and Miss Alexandra Simon-Lewis, to agree upon shooting dates for the music video.

Unfortunately, there has been a problem with using Miss Simon-Lewis as my actress. The reason why I cannot use her is due to sudden circumstances within her personal life, and I will say no more about this.

Luckily one of my other originally considered actresses - Miss Georgina Caddy, has kindly offered to replace her. At first I would not allow it, since I thought I would be taking time away from her, causing her to work to a tighter time-frame for shooting her music video, although luckily she has told me she will not be able to begin shooting until around the 29th of December due to her actress being out of the country. With this in mind I made the decision to use Miss Caddy for my music video, since the reason I had not used her in the first place was mainly due to her having a music video to shoot as well.

I held a second meeting with Miss Caddy, and the dated for shooting were agreed upon:

• The evening/night filming would take place at 3:00 pm on Friday the 14th of December.
• The day filming would take place at 9:00 am on Saturday the 15th of December.

Myself and Miss Caddy also agreed that if any additional shooting should need to take place we will do so at 12:30 pm on Monday the 17th of December, and also if there is still filming required after that, we would hold another meeting to decide on further dates.

I will of course post on my blog if any further dates were required for shooting, in order to keep everyone up to date on what is going on.

Finally, during the meeting Myself and Miss Caddy agreed upon the costume she was going to wear, as well as the amount of makeup, still of course going for the look mentioned on my moodboard - "clothing that would be considered normal, everyday clothes with perhaps a hint of "indie" style thrown in".

That's all for now everyone, so until next time :)

Pre-Production - Shooting Script

My shooting script lists the locations I will be using as well as the days I will be shooting in each location.

____________________

DAY 1

• INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - DAY    (NUMBER OF SHOTS: 20)
• INTERIOR.     THE HALLWAY - DAY (NUMBER OF SHOTS: 2)
• INTERIOR.     THE KITCHEN - DAY (NUMBER OF SHOTS: 4)
• INTERIOR.     THE BATHROOM - DAY (NUMBER OF SHOTS: 4)
• INTERIOR.     THE EXTENSION - DAY (NUMBER OF SHOTS: 5)
• INTERIOR.     THE LOUNGE - DAY (NUMBER OF SHOTS: 2)

TOTAL NUMBER OF SHOTS: 37

DAY 2

• EXTERIOR.     THE GARDEN - EVENING (NUMBER OF SHOTS: 1)
• INTERIOR.     THE LOUNGE - NIGHT (NUMBER OF SHOTS: 4)
• INTERIOR.     THE HALLWAY - NIGHT (NUMBER OF SHOTS: 6)
• INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - NIGHT (NUMBER OF SHOTS: 5)

TOTAL NUMBER OF SHOTS: 16

____________________

So as you can see, I plan to do all my filming across a two day period. The animation however will be done over a longer period of time. This is because the drawing and uploading of my drawings can take quite a large amount of time, since so many drawings are required to create a smooth looking animation.

I am unsure as to how long the animation process will take, however I will begin drawing after, or if I have the time, before, my filming is complete.

I would like to note that the number of shots displayed above (both total and per location) are of course only concerning the filming. This is because the animation process, as mentioned, will take place after (and possibly before) filming, and this shooting scripts concerns the actual shooting of the music video i.e. using of camera.

I hope you all enjoyed my shooting script :)

See you all on my next post :D

Pre-Production - My Script

My script explains the linear narrative to my music video.

______________________________

"Dream Catch Me" Music Video

by

James Carolan

last revised December 7th 2012

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - DAY

A long shot reveals a girl sitting, facing away from the camera, preoccupied. We see her drawing on some paper and see what she is drawing. She finishes her drawing, only to hear her phone ring and have a new message. Upon picking up the phone and reading the message the girl seems distressed through her facial expression. The girl drops her phone onto the desk and rushes out of the room.

INTERIOR.     THE HALLWAY - DAY

A medium long shot reveals the girl walking down the stairs at a mild pace, with a sad expression on her face.

INTERIOR.     THE KITCHEN - DAY

A medium long shot shows the girl hurrying to the bathroom, nearly in tears. She closes the door behind her quickly.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - DAY

A shot of the girls phone is seen, while slowly zooming in on the message. The message reads; "Georgina, I'm really sorry but it's not working out. I'm breaking up with you. Sorry to do it like this. Please don't call or text me again", which is followed by a shot of her drawing, slowly zooming in on the characters.

INTERIOR.     THE BATHROOM - DAY

A long shot shows the girl, sitting on the closed lid toilet, crying. The shot zooms in on her slowly to emphasize her sadness and distress.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - DAY

The shot cuts back to the study, showing that characters she has drawn, giving them emphasis.

INTERIOR.     THE BATHROOM - DAY

A medium shot shows the girl wiping her tears with tissues. She drops them onto the floor and her facial expression shows she is in deep thought.

INTERIOR.     THE HALLWAY - DAY

A shot reveals the study, with its door open, where the girl's drawing were.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - DAY

A shot reveals the desk, then in a medium shot, the female character the girl had drawn, which now comes to life, showing a sad emotion and one of wonder at why the girl was so sad. The animated girl looks over at the phone on the desk, and runs along the paper to get a better look at what is on the phone. The animated boy follows the animated girl soon after, and the animated girl reads the message on the phone, understanding why the girl is so upset. The animated girl looks back at the animated boy with sadness and he understands even though the animated girl has said nothing, by the sad expression he gives.

INTERIOR.     THE KITCHEN - DAY

The bathroom door opens, and a close up of the girl's feet, tilting to see her face, shows she is holding a box of tissues and is about to leave the bathroom.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - DAY

A medium long shot shows the drawings, both sitting, looking depressed by the news the girl has received.

INTERIOR.     THE KITCHEN - DAY

A mid close up of the girl shows the back of her head, as she rests her head on her hand, where her arm is resting on her elbow, which is on the table. In front of her is the box of tissues she carried out of the bathroom.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - DAY

A mid close up of the animated girl shows her still looking depressed, but at that moment, a reafction shot, as her facial expression changes to that of inspiration as she gets an idea. The animated girl looks at the pencil then smiles, at that moment the animated boy notices her readying herself to jump, and as she does she latches onto the pencil lying on the desk, dragging it closer. The animated girl successfully pulls the pencil close enough to hold and the animated boy and girl both share a smile. The the pencil goed from lying flat on the desk to upright, moving around, seemingly being used to draw, although we cannot see what is actually being drawn.

INTERIOR.     THE EXTENSION - DAY

A medium shot reveals the girl sitting on a chair with her arms wrapped around her legs. She gets up and walks forward, looks over at a picture, showing her and a boy; the same boy who broke up with her. She looks saddened, and walks up the stairs.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - DAY

A shot shows the pencil rolling away from the paper. The animated boy and animated girl look at a stack of bricks.

INTERIOR.     THE LOUNGE - DAY

A long shot reveals the girl watching the television in the dark, and a close up shows she is still depressed.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - DAY

A long shot sows the animated boy and animated girl working together. They pass bricks, the animated boy lays down cement with a trowel, the animated girl slams a pole into bricks to hold up bricks at another height, and the animated boy waters buds that almost instantly grow into flowers.

EXTERIOR.     THE GARDEN - EVENING

An establishing shot shows the sun going down and that now the events that will follow are taking place at night.

INTERIOR.     THE LOUNGE - NIGHT

A long shot shows the girl sitting on th floor, in the dark, with her arms wrapped round her legs, and the log burner next to her alight. She checks her watch then proceeds to get up and walk towards the door out of the lounge.

INTERIOR.     THE HALLWAY - NIGHT

A long shot shows the girl closing the lounge door.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - NIGHT

A medium shot/reaction shot reveals the animated boy and animated girl look at each other, as they have heard the girl shut the lounge door.

INTERIOR.     THE HALLWAY - NIGHT

A medium long shot shows the back of the girl as she ascends the stairs.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - NIGHT

A medium long shot shows the animated boy calling over the animated girl, using a hand gesture.

INTERIOR.     THE HALLWAY - NIGHT

A medium shot reveals the girl reaching the top of the stairs.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - NIGHT

A medium shot shows the animated boy and animated girl looking at each other and then holding hands and looking outwards, just as they did when the girl originally drew them.

INTERIOR.     THE HALLWAY - NIGHT

A medium shot shows the girl looking at the doorknob to the study. She grabs hold of it and turns it.

INTERIOR.     THE STUDY - NIGHT

A long shot shows the study door opening and the girl walk in. She sits at her desk, and we see by her facial expression she has noticed something. She picks up her original drawing and we see a smile on her face for the first time since the beginning of the video. We see the original drawing, which has now changed, and had on it the animated boy and animated girl smiling, holding hands, next to many flowers and a supportive message made of drawn brick, saying; "WE LOVE YOU". Then, the music video ends by slowly fading to black.

______________________________

I hope you all enjoy my script for my music video :)

It can really help to picture my music video if it is read it whilst looking at my storyboards :)

I based my script off of the same script format used on the "Ghostbusters II" script, which you can see below. I would also like to express I do not own, nor do I claim to own anything associated with "Ghostbusters II". Also I am not using the script commericially in any way and the only reason I posted a page from it here is for educational purposes. I am simply saying this in case there are any copyright issues to do with putting a page of the script here.

Anyway everybody, that's all for now :)

Until next time :D

Pre-Production - Outlining + Discussing my ideas (Moodboard)

Instead of simply putting up a post containing my ideas for the outline of my music video, and then discussing them. I thought it would be a better demonstration of my ideas with a moodboard :)

Below you will see my moodboard that I put together showing and explaining my ideas to do with my music video, please note my moodboard also discusses all the locations and props I will need/be using.

Although you can see my moodboard, even with my HD camera, some of the text is not legible. So for the benefit of those viewing this post I have taken the time to type everything that is on my moodboard, in the sections the text applies to.

In the center is simply the lyrics for the song I have chosen ("Dream Catch Me")

Every time I close my eyes... it's you
And I know now who I am
Yeah yeah yeah
And I know now

There's a place I go when I'm alone
Do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be
But it is us I see
And I cannot believe I'm falling

That's where I'm going, where are you going
Hold it close, won't let this go
Dream catch me yeah
Dream catch me when I fall
Or else I won't come back at all

You do so much
But you don't know... it's true
And I know now who I am
Yeah yeah yeah
And I know now

There's a place I go when I'm alone
Do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be
But it is us I see
And I cannot believe I'm falling

That's where I'm going, where are you going
Hold it close, won't let this go
Dream catch me yeah
Dream catch me when I fall
Or else I won't come back at all

See you as a mountain
a fountain of God
See you as a descant soul
in the setting sun
you as a sound just as silent as none

I'm yours

There's a place I go when I'm alone
Do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be
But it is us I see
And I cannot believe I'm falling

There's a place I go when I'm alone
Do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be
But it is us I see
And I cannot believe I'm falling

That's where I'm going, where are you going
Hold it close, won't let this go
Dream catch me, yeah
Dream catch me when I fall
Or else I won't come back at all

In the "Actress" section"

(below the word "actress")
I have considered a number of people I know to play the role of the main character within my music video. I have also made a decision on whom I will be using on the basis of various reasons.


(next to the top left picture)
Georgina Caddy
While Georgina was willing to do the music video there were some difficulties. These included distance between us, as well as the fact she is also doing Media A2, so I did not want to take away her valuable time that she could have spent filming her music video.


(next to the picture slightly to the left)

Isabella Hannah
Isabella, when asked was also willing to take part in my music video. However distance was an issue as well as her choice of A2. Isabella has an incredibly workload with Art, History and English Literature and I will not risk her losing marks in any subject.


(next to the top right picture)

Alexandra Simon-Lewis

Alexandra is the person I have chosen for the role in my music video for a number of reasons. She was willing to take part, does not have exams in January and is not far away so travel is not a problem since I can drive to collect her for the shooting of my music video.


In the "Location" section

(to the right of the word "Location")

The following pictures relate to my likely shooting locations.

(to the right of the picture of an outside of my house)
My home; the easiest place to shoot and it works perfectly for all my ideas i.e. the amount of animation I will include (since I can then work on it anytime because I am constantly in the shooting location).

(to the left of the picture of a desk)
My study; where the music will begin and where all the will take place.

(below the images of my lounge and log burner)
My lounge; this location is only a maybe, although I am really considering using my log burner for a shot that looks both thoughtful and natural (due to the light emanating from it).

below the image of my bathroom)
My bathroom; a location I will use simply because it works well in terms of the story my music video tells.

In the "Inspiration" section

(below the word "Inspiration")
The idea for including animation in my music video began whilst looking at the music video for "Take On Me" by "A-Ha".

(to the right of the still from the "Take On Me" music video)
I have always liked animation and in the past have dabbled in various forms of it. Using animation in my music video will be hard due to time restrictions but it is something I am determined to complete.

(to the left of the 'Newgrounds' logo)
The site I gained my inspiration to do simple characters is 'Newgrounds'.

(the the right of the still from an animation)
'Newgrounds' hosts mainly animators, amongst them is "BarfQuestion", who often draws heartwarming stop-motion animation using very simple drawings; this is where I found the inspiration to use simple cute drawings instead of elaborate ones (such as the ones in the "Take On Me" music video).


(to the right of the 'YouTube' and 'Vimeo' logos)
Websites other than 'Newgrounds' that have given me inspiration include the popular video sharing websites; 'YouTube' and 'Vimeo', since they both contain many music videos, animations and independent films with some really incredible stories behind them.

In the "Story" section

(to the right of the word "Story")

The idea behind the story is a typical boy-girl relationship. The boy breaks up with the girl via text (making us side with the poor, hurt girl). The girl is hurt and in her absence her drawings come to life to console her over her recent, painful break-up. I wanted to give the story in the music video a heartwarming feel, which is why I felt simple, cute animation could achieve this. If I hadn't used animation I would've used a young boy actor to pose as a sibling who makes their sister feel better in some way, although I don't have access to a young male actor.


In the "Mise-en-scene" section

(to the right of the word "Mise-en-scene")
I have talked about location that I will be shooting in separately to this, as in the kind of places that will be seen within the frames of my shots. So here I will be talking about the props involved within the music video, as well as the kind of clothing the star (a girl) of my music video will be wearing. Also the type of lighting I will be using within my music video.


(to the left of the images of clothing and above the images of makeup)

In terms of costume, I wanted to go for clothing that would be considered normal, everyday clothes with perhaps a hint of "indie" style thrown in. This meant choosing slothing that wasn't high end or glamorous, dark or depressing, or far too formal. I chose clothing such as jeans, baseball boots, a beanie, a jumper/check shirt, a few accessories such as bracelets and if I choose not to use shoes, perhaps some colourful socks. Because I wanted the main character within the music video to appear quite ordinary, I would probably use no/very little makeup, although if I do use some it won't stand out, it will be along the lines of powders and foundations to just give my actress a clear look to their skin i.e. their face.


(to the left of the images of props)

In terms of props my music video actually will not contain an incredibly vast amount. The props will include the phone the girl in the music video uses, the pencil that creates some of the animations that come to life, the piece of paper the animations are on (since the star interacts with it), and finally tissues that the girl will use since she will be crying. It is unlikely, though not impossible, that I will need to use any props other than these.

(between the images of lighting)
In terms of lighting I will be trying to achieve a very natural style of lighting to my music video. I will therefore be aiming for high-key lighting. I am seriously considering shooting during both day and night, and if that is the case I will use open curtains to allow for natural sunlight in the day. At night however I will use room lights to make the lighting natural (i.e. of a normal house at night,  this may have to be achieved though through three-point-lighting which will allow the star, and environment they are in to be seen more clearly.

(below the image of fire)
During shooting at night I want to use my log burner to create a warm, orange lighting effect on the sad main character of the story, since I think it will work quite well.

In the "Animation" section

(below the word "Animation")

These are all simply ideas I may use, as I want animation to play a large part in my music video.)

(to the left of the image of a stickman)
"Pivot" - a basic animation program which is free to download. If I do use this, instead of directly inserting the animation I will record the animation in progress on my monitor to simulate it happening in real time.

(to the right of the yellow stick note)
The idea behind the yellow sticky notes is that they will come to life. The words would separate and the letters would move  to form a supportive message for the main character in the music video.

I may/probably will not use this idea for 2 reasons, 1, it is going to be incredibly time consuming (even more so than regular animation). 2, it will be incredibly troublesome to actually animate since keeping track of which letters have moved where would be very hard to do.

(to the right of the simple drawing of the boy and girl)
This is my favourite idea, a simple hand drawn animation that I would incorporate into the music video through multiple pictures taken on a high definition camera.

(below the image of a stickman)
Originally I has considered spending much more time drawing more detailed characters, although nearly immediately I reconsidered as I knew I would have to produce many drawings in a limited time frame, so instead of the kind of detail seen in animation such as they type used in the music video "Take On Me" by "A-Ha", I decided to go with a more cute and sweet style through the simple drawings, such as my favourite example (seen on the right).   <---the direction here referred to the hand drawn image of the boy and girl.

__________

This concludes my post on outlining and discussing my ideas for my music video. Please remember this post also covers outlining and discussing my ideas on the story and discusses the location and props I will need/be using, which are tasks for the pre-production of my music video.

So, until next time everyone :D

Pre-Production - Risk Assessment Sheet

The images below show the risks associated with my filming, as well as the severity of the risk and the likelihood of it happening, which when multiplied give a risk assessment out of 100, as it explains on the sheets.

From this you can see that there aren't an incredible amount of risks associated with shooting within and outside my house and that the most risky hazards are the stairs, the log burner and the three-point-lighting. But as you can see above, with every hazard, I will do everything possible to reduce the likelihood of the hazard affecting anyone during filming 

Anyway everyone, that raps it up for this post :)

Until next time :)

Pre-Production - My Storyboard

I have now drawn up a complete storyboard to do with my music video, which can be seen below.

I have also provided a full list of shots relating to each frame. The reason behind why I put the list of shots on here instead of on the storyboard is I was worried about the amount of space under each frame and also that my handwriting may not be legible due to the scanner.

I want to make note of a few things though. First, the shots I have named for each frame are those that I see are most appropriate, for example on sheet 3 the middle left and middle center frame are said to be establishing shot simply because they show you the music video is bringing the viewer back to another location (even though it is within the house). Second, some of the shots I have listed are actually edits and movements, simply because in some frames the star is not present and these edits and movements are happening within the frame, so I thought it worth mentioning them. Third, I have used terms for shots, such as close up and long shot, for the animated characters as well as the star within the music video, simply because it allows me to tell what kind of shot is happening in the frame and the drawings do resemble basic anatomy so I can actually list the shots being used on them. Finally, I want to make sure that it is known that technically every shot used on the animation characters is a bird's eye view shot, since I will be taking pictures of my drawing from directly above, I chose to mention this here as, if I listed it to the frames people may get confused and think it is a bird's eye view shot because the drawing is drawn in that way and it isn't the actual camera placement.

TL (top left): long shot
TC (top centre): mid close up
TR (top right): point of view shot/action match (edit)
ML (middle left): mid close up
MC (middle centre): mid close up
MR (middle right): point of view shot/eyeline match (edit)/action match (edit)
BL (bottom left): mid close up
BC (bottom centre): mid close up/reaction shot
BR (bottom right): action match (edit)

TL: action match (edit)
TC: medium long shot
TR: medium long shot
ML: action match (edit)
MC: zoom in (movement)
MR: long shot/zoom in (movement)
BL: long shot/zoom in (movement)
BC: medium shot
BR: medium shot/pan right (movement)

TL: medium shot
TC: action match (edit)
TR: mid close up
ML: establishing shot
MC: establishing shot
MR: medium shot
BL: medium shot
BC: point of view shot/eyeline match (edit)
BR: long shot

TL: long shot

TC: point of view shot

TR: medium shot/reaction shot
ML: close up/tilt up (edit)
MC: medium long shot
MR: mid close up
BL: mid close up
BC: eyeline match (edit)
BR: mid close up/reaction shot

TL: long shot

TC: action match (edit)
TR: action match (edit)
ML: action match (edit)
MC: medium shot
MR:medium long shot
BL: eyeline match (edit)
BC: mid close up/reaction shot
BR: medium shot

TL: establishing shot
TC: medium long shot/action match (edit)
TR: long shot
ML: close up
MC: long shot
MR: long shot
BL: long shot
BC: long shot
BR: establishing shot

TL: long shot
TC: medium shot
TR: medium long shot
ML: long shot
MC: long shot
MR: action match (edit)
BL: medium shot/reaction shot
BC: medium long shot
BR: medium long shot

TL: medium shot
TC: medium shot
TR: medium shot
ML: action match (edit)
MC: long shot
MR: mid close up
BL: mid close up
BC: mid close up
BR: point of view shot


These of course outline all the shots that will take place within my music video as well as for how long the shot will be and during which specific part of the song. By following this from start to finish, filming then editing my music video together should run smoothly (definitely more smoothly than if I hadn't planned for how long each shot last and through which specific part of the song at least).

That concludes this post guys and girls :)

See you all next time! :D

Pre-Production - Treatment Sheet

Below you will see the Treatment Sheet I have drawn up for my music video :)

Here's a little information on what Treatment Sheets are ;

In order to decide which video to make, music companies will ask for treatment sheets from several different directors. Once they are all submitted, the company along with the artist will decide which idea like the best.

----------------------------------------

Proposed Song: "Dream Catch Me" - Newton Faulkner

Synopsis of Song Lyrics: The lyrics talk about a man obsessing about a girl aswell as a place that the man goes to when he's alone, where he can be dream and be anything he wants aswell as do anything he wants. The lyrics also talk about how the man idolises the women and has completely given himself to her, and finally it talks about how if his dreams don't "catch" him when he "falls" asleep, then he will never wake up again.

Propsed Storyline and Characters: The idea behind the story is a typical boy-girl relationship. The boy breaks up with the girl via text (making us side with the poor, hurt girl). The girl is hurt and in her absence her drawings come to life to console her over her recent, painful break-up. The animation will most likely be simple and sweet to give the music video the strongest heartwarming feel possible. There will be some link between the lyrics and the music video. The link will be that the place my actress goes to will be the room she draws in, within the video. The part which says "it is us I see" relates to the fact the actess has drawn what are supposed to be her and her (ex) boyfriend. And finally, the part which says the words "dream catch me when I fall, or else I won't come back at all" relates to how the drawings make her feel better when she's sad, as it seems otherwise she may remain heartbroken.

Setting: The music video I will produce will be set in modern daywithin a home for the entire video. The home is to be seen by the audience as the home of the character involved in my music video.

Length: There will be a short introductory narrative at the beginning of the song (by which I mean prior to the beginning of the song) but no narrative after the song has finished, as the music video will end as the music ends, therefore the video will last around four and a half minutes.

Format: The format will be Digital, and it will be edited on Final Cut Pro X.

STYLE

Genre, Mood, Etc: The genre is Acoustic music and the video will aim to make audiences feel sorry for the loving girl, as her boyfriend broke up with her in a very cold and distant way, but then intrigued by what it is her drawings are doing now they've come to life. It ends with a very heartwarming feeling, as the audience discovers that what the drawings were doing was working to make the girl feel better. The actress playing the girl in the video will really push the audience to feel sorry for her, as she will appear very distraught by the break up, using crying and props such as tissues, etc.

Camerawork/Type of Shots: I will use a variety of shots including medium shots, long shots, establishing shots, point-of-view shots, close-ups, and more.

Length of Shots/Editing: The video's majority of takes will be long as the mood of the music fits in well with long takes, also because it allows the narrative to flow well and allows the audience to grasp how the girl within the video is feeling. There will be a small section of short takes within the opening narrative of the video, as this is when the girl will recieve the new she has been broken up with, and as a result will storm off distraught.

Movement and Action: The movements and actions of the girl within the music video will be quicker at first (when she recieves the news about the break up - as she will be distraught), but after the introductory narrative the movements and actions will become slower and limited (as instead of distraught, she will give off more of a depressed mood, and also because it fits in well with the music). In terms of the animations, their movements will also be slow and limited for a good deal of the music video, as they will also be depressed by the news the girl recieved, but after the animations formulate the plan to cheer the girl up, their movements and actions will become more lively.

Visual Qualities: The video will be shot in colour the entire time although the drawings will be completely black pencil on paper - meaning there will be no colour in the drawings that appear in the music video and no colour in the animation segments. Natural lighting and the lack thereof, will be used to show the passage of time within the music video, as there will be scenes earlier in the day using natural lighting and scenes in the evening using artificial lighting.

Handling of Narrative: The narrative can be seen as quite simple, in terms of the typical boy breaks up with girl style stroy, but the theme of the drawings coming to life in order to make her feel better may seem more complex. It will still work out fine though, as the audience is meant to wonder what the drawings are doing right until the end of the video, where they realise what the drawings' intentions were. The ending is where the heartwarming feeling comes in.

Target Audience: The target audience for this music video will be both males and females who enjoy acoustic music between the ages of (but not limited to) 13 to 21. The music video may also appeal to those who enjoy uplifting, heartwarming stories, aswell as those who enjoy animation within music videos, and just animation in general.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS

Production Methods: I, James Carolan, will act as director, producer, editor and animator for the production of the music video, and as such my roles will include coming up with a storyboard, drawing and then animating my drawings, arranging lighting within the music video, editing the takes from filming and assembling the video, funding any costs needed for the music video, and more. My actress will play the part of the girl within the music video, who will just be tasked with following my directions when filming the music video.

Equipment: The equipment I will need will be a camera (for the filming), a tripod (to hold the camera steady during filming) and possibly a form of three-point-lighting (so that I can make sure the actress can be seen and get any desired lighting effects).

Locations: The locations will be most likely all be interior (and all interior will be around my home which is meant to play the part of my actress' home in the video) with the possibility of one or two exterior shots to show the time of the day it is within the video (showing the passage of time).

RESOURCES

People: The only person within my music video will be my actress, who plays the girl dumped by her boyfriend in the story.

Time: A small amount of rehearsal time will be required initially plus time for the shooting of both day and evening scenes (so most likely; two days will be required for filming).

Budget: The budget will be low as the outift of the actress will be her casual clothes and the props within the video will be very simple.

Rationale: This music video will give a completely new angle on Newton Faulkner's song "Dream Catch Me", possibly appealing the audiences outside of his usual fanbase, as even though the music will be the same, the video's heartwarming narrative and unique design will entice audiences in and hopefully keep them coming back for, not only this music video, but other Newton Faulkner music videos.

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I hope you all enjoyed my Treatment Sheet for my music video :)

See you all next time :D

Pre-Production - Music Video Pitch Presentation

I presented a PowerPoint presentation to my A2 class recently. The topic of the presentation was a pitch for what my music video was about. The task was to cover:

• My idea for my music video.
• The codes and conventions of the type of music videos associated with the genre of my chosen song.
• How my music video is similar to/contrasts the codes and conventions of the type of music videos associated with the genre of my chosen song.
• My target audience.
• How I will reach my target audience.
• The media institution that may be interested in distributing my music video.
• Technical difficulties that may arise during the creation of my music video.
• How I will overcome any technical difficulties I may experience during the creation of my music video.

The PowerPoint presentation can be seen below, as I uploaded it to http://www.slideshare.net/ (a presentation, document and video sharing website) and have embedded it in my blog.

Music Video Pitch Presentation from mrmediacoursework


I hope you all enjoyed my music video pitch presentation :)

Until next time :)

Pre-Production - Permission Request

As I will be using a copyrighted song for my music video I am required to ask for permission from the record label (in this case Sony Music Entertainment) to use their song.

I have called Sony Music Entertainment on their UK contact number and obtained the email address I need in order to make my request.

Below you can see a screen shot of the draft of the email I sent asking permission to use the song 'Dream Catch Me' by Newton Faulkner (I have kept a draft of the email I sent as I want to record all interaction between myself and the people who I'm requesting permission from, as proof I have in fact contacted them)

I am still awaiting a reply and will update this post as soon as I get one :)

See you all later :)

Pre-Production - Song Choice

I have now chosen the song I will use for my music video.

I will use "Dream Catch Me" by Newton Faulkner, since it ties well in with my current ideas about what I will include in my music video, which will be shown in a later post.

The lyrics for "Dream Catch Me" can be seen below.

Every time I close my eyes... it's you
And I know now who I am
Yeah yeah yeah
And I know now

There's a place I go when I'm alone
Do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be
But it is us I see
And I cannot believe I'm falling

That's where I'm going, where are you going
Hold it close, won't let this go
Dream catch me yeah
Dream catch me when I fall
Or else I won't come back at all

You do so much
But you don't know... it's true
And I know now who I am
Yeah yeah yeah
And I know now

There's a place I go when I'm alone
Do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be
But it is us I see
And I cannot believe I'm falling

That's where I'm going, where are you going
Hold it close, won't let this go
Dream catch me yeah
Dream catch me when I fall
Or else I won't come back at all

See you as a mountain
a fountain of God
See you as a descant soul
in the setting sun
you as a sound just as silent as none
I'm yours

There's a place I go when I'm alone
Do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be
But it is us I see
And I cannot believe I'm falling

There's a place I go when I'm alone
Do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be
But it is us I see
And I cannot believe I'm falling

That's where I'm going, where are you going
Hold it close, won't let this go
Dream catch me, yeah
Dream catch me when I fall
Or else I won't come back at all

I also managed to find the official music video for "Dream Catch Me", which can below.

Anyways that's it for this post! :D

See you all next time :D