Filming Session One (12th October)

Location: Suffolk Lodge

Sequence: Pre-Song Material, First Verse and Chorus

Today was the first filming session for our music video. During planning we decided that the narrative of our video would follow a girl singing about her boyfriend and her unhappiness within the relationship to link to the lyrics of the song. Initially we planned to portray two versions of the girl- an innocent and vulnerable side and the alter ego where she is much stronger, aiming to exact revenge on her boyfriend. However before we started filming we realised this perhaps would not be clear enough to the audience in the final video. So I suggested we display the narrative of the girl starting the song in her 'normal' innocent, vulnerable and naive state and as the video and song progresses she decides to 'toughen' herself up and become stronger, prompting a change in image and attitude (this would be shown through Sophie's costume and performance, as well as the locations she is in). When discussing the innocent and vulnerable side, I suggested we needed to film in a large, old looking house with a big garden as it would symbolise a sheltered girl with a luxuryious lifestyle and link to the lyrics 'Money is power and I have everything' in the song. Andrew suggested our friend Louise's house and this is where we filmed in the session today.

Arrival and Location Shots When we arrived it was clear to see that the house was the perfect location for what I had described. At first we had a tour around the house and gardens, at this stage we took pictures and discussed where to film which sections. I suggested filming shots of the gardens to introduce the setting to the audience in the pre-song material, revealing where the character in the song lives to deepen her story. Louise had a white bench in her garage area (seen in the pictures above) and Andrew thought that this was a great area to film the first verse of the track. We also founf the wooden fences and gates in the garden gave the image of a cage which could be filmed in and against to symbolise how the girl in the song is trapped, but still maintains the vulnerable life she has through the pretty garden's in the background. The first shots were filmed by Me and Sophie, these were establishing shots of the front view of the house and some of the flowers and trees that were at the front. We tried to include a variety of shot types and angles, including a long still shot, a long pan shot and a close up of the name of the house above the front door 'Suffolk Lodge' which could be used to further give realism and credibility to the setting and story of the girl in the song. Andrew and Josh then filmed the shots of the gardens to include in the pre-song material described earlier whilst Me and Sophie rehearsed the argument scene between the girl and her boyfriend which would introduce the narrative behind the song in the video. Again Josh and Andrew filmed using a variety of shots, such as long and close up and still and pan. Including pre-song material in a music video creates a cinematic feel and enhances the story and depth of the song which we though was an important idea to experiment with an include. After all some of the most critically acclaimed videos such as those by Lady GaGa (Paparazzi and Telephone) include pre-song material because of the cinematic feel they create.

Arguement Sequence After sufficient rehearsal to make the scene as believable as possible we filmed the arguement sequence between the girl and her boyfriend (played by Me and Sophie). We chose to act in our video as well because we all have acting experience from GSCE and A Level Drama as well as school productions. Therefore we can give believable performances and be in charge of what we are doing ourselves, avoiding the need of instructing others what to do which could waste valuable time. I am particularly proud of this shot as in the planning stage I suggested that we film the arguement from the outside, with the camera placed at the window and the audience see the two in the window argueing inside. This creates the impression of the audience being outside looking in and includes an exciting and original shot within our video. Although some in the group was unsure we could pull it off it was very successful. Me and Sophie stood in the window, Josh outside with the camera (which I had to place on a table to create the right height needed to film the shot) and Andrew stood with the front door open ready to shout when to start filming. I believe this is a prime example of how well we work as a group and highlights the great teamwork during this project. As with our Thriller opening last year we filmed this shot several times so we could pick and choose the best bits during post-production.

Bench Sequence After this we started filming the first verse of the music video starting with the lyrics “go down”. We chose the bench setting described earlier for this sequence as it effectively created the vulnerable image we hoped for with the gardens and cage like fence in the background. Sophie sung the lyrics aloud so it would look as realistic as possible and avoid miming errors when the track is placed over the shot in the final video. Sophie chose to wear a white vest top with a flower like pattern, light blue jeans and to be bearfooted in this sequences as it again creates and enhances the normal, innocent and vulnerable girl. Josh filmed this sequence whilst Me and Andrew instruced him on the different shot types and angles to film the sequence from. These included a long shot from the front, a high angle shot which symbolises her vulnerability, a mid shot from the left side and a close up from the front. We intend to cut between these shot types so the audience see the sequence from a variety of perspectives and it makes the sequence much more interesting. Multiple shots are needed to mimic the style of a music video as they never stay on one shot to long they often cut between several shots in each verse. The close up is particularly effective in this sequence as it allows the audience to see the girl's emotions and her unhappiness which was acted brilliantly by Sophie hear, who put a lot of effort into the singing and acting today.

Cage Dance Sequence The final shots we filmed in this first session were the first shots of the girl in her stonger form. For this 'version' of the girl we knew that their had to be more of a performance aspect to the character and shots, this would effectively mimic how all female artists portray themselves in music videos. To create voyeurism Sophie chose a black tank top with a red corset over the top with black leggings and heels. This brillantly creates a tough and sexy image that female artists often achieve in actual videos and is again another aspect of our video that I am particularly proud of. The shots consisted of Sophie singing the first chorus and the section before the chorus. We filmed this sequence in a gateway to the house at the back garden where the wooden fences joined to create what looked like a cage. This gave the impression of being trapped and a cage containing a her new found wild side ready to burst out. This part of the song is quite upbeat so Sophie did a lot of movement based dancing such angry gestures, leg movements and kicks to the music, head movement and hair flicks, allo of which we captured through a long shot. We also filmed the section through a mid-shot so you could still see the movement of the girl but also her facial expressions which are angry and stressed which contrast to the earlier emotions of innocent and upset. Credit must be given to Sophie in this sequence as she felt uncomfortable acting in this way as she felt it was not her however she persevered for the team and on the footage you cannot notice her nerves at all. Overall, a great first filming session where each of the group played an important and equal role in the creation of our video. Although Sophie is acting in the video she still has experience with the camera as she filmed some of the establishing shots of the house with me and often suggested shots and set up the camera for someone else to then film her.