Monday 15 November 2010

The Pitch

With our initial research and ideas compiled, the class was requested to present their ideas to each other in the form of a Pitch. Whilst some people used Prezi and others cut their ideas into a video, Beth and me put together a Powerpoint slideshow in order to present our ideas.


Pitch Notes
Genre and Taxonomy
We wanted our video initially to have all of these above attributes - it was certainly going to be folk, matching the genre of the song we'd chosen and, as including rural scenery is a large feature in folk music videos, the choice to also make our video relatively scenic is an easy one. We want it to tell a story, so it will have a strong narrative structure, but we didn't want to follow a redundant path. Following the idea of binary opposition suggested by Levi-Strauss, we wanted to contrast themes of light and dark, life and death, and, attempting to get away from redundancy, had initially thought our video to be disjunctive due to its rejection of the lyrics. (However, since then, as our ideas have developed, it's clear to see now that our music video will instead amplify the meaning of the video, as it too talks of death and has dark themes, despite the cheery nature of the song).
This is David
David Gibb, the artist of the song we're going to be using - "This Young Boy" - is a clear example of his own target market, who are likely to be students between the ages of 16 - 21, with indie/vintage fashion tastes and likely to shop both at independent vintage shops as well as places such as Urban Outfitters and Cow. The target audience is likely to be in the C1 - A range of the demographics, and, psychographically speaking, are likely to be hedonists and aspirers. As lovers of folk music, they would probably have a greater appreciation of the outdoors, as well as enjoying music festivals, drinking and perhaps smoking.
Inspiration and Influences
In this, we referred to our initial music video research and displayed the music videos for Mumford and Sons' "Winter Winds" first, and we stated what appealed to us and what we could carry across into our own video, as well as what we disliked.
We particularly liked the mise-en-scene in this video. The costumes were perfect, and easily displayed the vintage/indie style we'd picked up on for our target audience. The settings fitted the conventions of a music video well too, with many scenic locations - country roads, cornfields etc. It also showed us that the weather and brightness didn't have to be an issue - this video seemed shot beneath a very dark sky which we'd be likely to face when we shoot our own video, it being winter at the moment. Time was taken over particularly picturesque shots, such as the carrying of a chair and guitar through the field. However, there were aspects we decided we definitely didn't like. There was much use of fade-to-black transitions. Both me and Beth felt that this ruined the effect of the video and didn't fit. We also agreed that the video felt too cheesy - whilst it was clear to see the band were having fun, in some shots, the close up shots of their smiling faces as they ran up the road with wind and bunting trailing behind felt far too over the top and cheesy.
The music video for Bon Iver's "The Wolves" was also well liked. It fitted well with the idea of scenic locations, and had a majority of its shots dedicated wholly to attributes of the scene - trees, paths, the sun through the trees etc. We liked how despite the low amount of narrative structure and variation, it still held our attention, and some of the shot types, such as a spinning extreme-low-angle shot looking up through the trees at the sky were highly effective. It also showed, again, that shooting in winter doesn't have to be a problem - snow appears to work well on camera. However, we did feel that the scenic shots were a bit much, and more time could have been devoted to the artist or at least in developing a more followable plot line.
Stornoway's "I Saw You Blink" was also very much enjoyed - it once again had the mise-en-scene we liked, and we appreciated how comedy was made mostly subtle - it did, however, sometimes come out as too cheesy, especially near the end of the video where they pretended to play instruments made out of other objects, which also showed particularly bad lip-syncing. The focus techniques in the video were very nice - we liked how they, for example, focussed on a branch in the foreground whilst action happened in the background of the shot. The narrative threads also wove together well.
The Wickerman
As already explained in my research, the 70's version of "The Wickerman" was the perfect example of how a bright folk song can be twisted to fit darker themes, and proves that our own attempts to do the same can be brought off successfully if done right.
Existing Video
To ensure that we were aware that a video is already in existence for our song choice, we showed the approach that another had taken to the song in the creation of the video. Whilst we want ours to be very much narratively driven, the existing video is driven much more by the progression of the visuals, the changing of outfit/body paint designs for example, and appears interestingly abstract in approach.
The Moodboard
As already explained here in my blog, Beth and me put together a moodboard in Photoshop to highlight aspects of our video - the contrasts between light and dark, the woodland - and possibly other - settings, as well as ideas for props, other mise-en-scene etc.
The Concept
Beth and me found that when other people did their pitches, they explained very little about the content of their video, and so we instead clearly presented our ideas. We know we want a clearly narrative structure, and want to contrast life and light with death and the dark. The central character has moved from life to a darker world, perhaps in between life and death, in a woods, where he's confronted with hanged people that he cuts down, the action apparently bringing these hanged people back to life. We want the video to build to the end, where he faces a dead version of himself which he also cuts down, ending the video. It's the concept that this boy's "idea" has saved the lives of others and his own.
Location Scouting and Dummy Shots
Missing from the internet version of the slideshow, I had embedded video clips of the location scouting and trial shots. In our experimentation, we found particular shots we liked (mimicking the rotating skywards shot as seen in Bon Iver - The Wolves, low angle shots of feet, extreme high angle shots of walking feet, landscape pans etc.) and displayed them to give the class a better idea of the locations and shot types we would be using.
I will try to edit together these clips in Premier so that they can be seen online.
Techniques
We've chosen particular techniques that would really make an impact on the effectiveness of the video. Splitscreen will play and important part at the end, when the character is confronted with himself.
To highlight the differences between the light and dark scenes, we would use colour filters to add a brightness and colour saturation to the "life/past" shots (as no doubt when we film, it will be dark and overcast, being winter), and also muting colour in the "present/death" shots to connote a greater feeling of lifelessness.
Asking Permission
We contacted David both through his Myspace page and by email, and managed to get a reply. As long as we show him our final video, we're welcome to use the track.
Health and Safety
The nature of our video presents a lot of health and safety issues. Filmed mostly in the woods, we will have to be aware of trip hazards and, as we may be using ladders and climbing low branches, we will have to be very aware of the stability of the tree, as well as obvious falling hazards. Due to it being filmed in winter, we'll also have to make sure that all of us are dressed warmly and don't remain outside for longer than is necessary.
Obviously, our big health and safety issue is how we will achieve the hanged people. We had initially thought about full-body shots, throwing around ideas of dummies, but this seems both too complicated and impractical, and have ruled out these sorts of shots for it. We also briefly considered harnesses, but this again is too complicated. Seeking advice, it will probably be best to shoot head and shoulder shots whilst the person is standing on a chair, and feet shots with the person hanging from a low branch.
We've also considered how the rope will be made - the neck loop and the main rope WILL NOT BE ATTACHED. Rather, the long rope will be tucked into the back of the person's clothing. This eliminates all choking/lethal hazards here.

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