Costume and Makeup

For our music video, we used a range of outfits to represent different time frames. In our last production, one of the biggest faults was that we used one outfit for the whole video, making it look less effective or professional. Therefore, we learnt from this mistake for our new video.

Regarding the outfits, we chose to have a random selection of tops that were quite casual and teen-like. This way, they would relate to our target audience as it is the norm to wear a jumper and jeans for teenagers.

Linking to my research, in Troye Sivan's 'Wild' music video, the costumes worn were simple; consisting of plain t-shirts and jeans.



Outfits:

For the majority of her outfits, we chose simple clothes of jeans and a jumper. This is mainly due to the importance of linking to our target audience who's age range is 16 - 24. Typically, teenagers wear more casual outfits than smart, so they would easily be able to relate to our chosen outfits.


We selected a range of colours to connote different emotions that are portrayed throughout the video. The dark colour of the black and burgundy jumpers reflects her stages of isolation and rejection when trying to produce her song.
However, the bright yellow coat and pastel top emphasises that amongst this darkness, she still has hope and determination, which is shown at the end of the video when her song is accepted by a record company. 

Juxtaposing with these simple casual outfits, we wanted the main protagonist to wear completely different clothing when singing her song. This is because the significance of her performing her song needs to be emphasised to show that, despite all her rejection, she managed to get to this stage herself. Therefore, the outfit she wears needs to make her stand out, instead of blend in by wearing casual everyday clothes.

We chose a sparkly top as it is dramatically different, but also shows her stepping out of her comfort zone. As well as this, for this shot we were using studio lighting, so we thought the sparkle would reflect from the light, resulting in an effective shot.

Overall, the juxtaposition of this outfit compared to her comfortable casual clothes was effective. Along with the dramatic lighting change, the top reflects how she has come a long way with her song, and she can finally show her confidence through her journey. It gives a break from the harsh reality, and emphasises that despite all her rejection, she still made it. 

Costume and Make Up Research

As the storyline of our music video is based on how she writes a song and tries to get it produced, we decided to make elements similar to the band. Looking at their style of clothing, they lean between casual and hipster style, which is convenient as that is similar to what our target audience would wear.

Ideas:

For the main protagonists clothing, we decided to have the styles be casual and hipster, but also trendy as this generation is typical for keeping in style trends. These are typical hipster outfits, and fits with the season as we are filming during winter. Denim jackets, leggings and jeans are relatable to our target audience as they are 'in' and are commonly worn.

Casting Research

For our music video, we only have one character shown, therefore, as they are the main protagonist, they need to be confident in front of the camera. Relating to the song, we needed them to be female as the lead singer of the band is, and it would make more sense. In terms of the individual, it was important that this person would be enthusiastic visibly on camera, and who could lip sync well enough to be believable.
Therefore, we chose Rhiannon Millard to be our actress, as she is an A level drama and media student, therefore understands the key elements we need to make our music video effective, as well as being comfortable performing in front of a camera. It also helped that she is familiar with our genre and chosen song, so learning lyrics will not be an issue, and will be more realistic with enthusiasm.

Props Research

As it is a narrative video, we decided that we did not need to include many props. Linking to my research, in Lana Del Rey's 'Born to Die' music video, minimal props are included as the camera only focused on her. Therefore, we are only using props that would contribute importance to our music video.


Phone and Earphones


Having a phone and listening to music is widely known to be a significant part of a teenager's life. According to scientific research, music has a huge influence on teenagers; it motivates and inspires them, as well as helping them to calm down and relax. Therefore, as our target audience is of the age group 16-24, we incorporated this into our video, as they can relate to it.



Dog Lead and Ball








One part of the music video depicts her walking her dog, therefore, for obvious reasons, we would include a dog lead and ball for it to chase to make it more believable for the viewer.










Acoustic Guitar

As she is writing her own song, an acoustic guitar is a typical instrument to play along to get the right tune and beat. We included her playing an instrument to emphasise the fact that she is an aspiring singer, and to make it more realistic to our audience.




Notebook and Pen

A way to show the audience that the girl is the one writing the song, we needed to show her writing her thoughts as she played the guitar. This emphasises the message, as well as being understandable to the viewer.






Laptop

Nowadays, communication is through technology, so when the protagonist is attempting to release her song, emails are the way to do this. In addition, laptops are familiar with our target audience age group, so they are able to understand better. 




Costa Drink

To further emphasise that she is in a coffee shop, she is shown drinking a costa drink. As well as linking to the context, it also relates to the audience, as Costa, like many coffee shops, are typical places for teens to hang out.








Microphone

When she is shown performing the song, we wanted to make it obvious that she is singing her own song, therefore, the microphone gives an element of performance to it.

Location Research

For our promotional music video, we have chosen four locations for it to be set in. We did not want too many settings as it would become too disjointed, and the story would not flow as well. In the music videos I have analysed in the Alternative genre, minimal amount of locations have been used, such as in Troye Sivan's 'Wild' video, it was set in a number of locations outside, such as a beach and a forest, but as they are all outside, they made sense together. Therefore, for our video, we are using locations where people can normally go to be alone.


Location 1 - Bedroom

The main location in our promotional music video is the girl's bedroom. As the main storyline is of her writing and developing a song on her own, the most likely place this would happen would be her room. We also decided this would relate to our target audience of teenagers well as their room is a place to spend time alone.








Furthermore, this is beneficial from our point of view as filmmakers, as we can easily use one of our own bedrooms to film, meaning we would not be at any expense.

Location 2 - Park

Another location we are going to use is a park, as she is shown to be walking her dog, so a conventional place to go would be the park. We've chosen a nearby meadow as it is near Chloe's house, so we would be quite close to be able to walk the dog from her house to there.








Location 3 - Coffee Shop

When initially researching locations, we were going to use Creams to film, as it has a retro look which fits with the genre of our song. The band Fickle Friends also tends to use quite brightly lit locations for their music video, so this would fit our song as well.

However, due to a limited budget, we decided against it, especially as our other locations are local to us and at no expense.

Therefore, we decided to use Costa, as it is local to us, so travelling would not be an expense. It will be used when she is sat in a coffee shop, where she checks her emails.Relating to our target audience, coffee shops are very well known in our age group and are typical places to meet up.

Location 4 - Drama Studio

In comparison to this, our last location is in the drama studio, where she will be 'singing' this song she has written. We chose this area to film, as it has a dark background and studio lighting to achieve the professional look and effect we want. It also contradicts with the usual other locations, emphasising its significance.

It is also beneficial that we have a drama studio at school as we do not have to pay to rent it out or have to ask for permission to film.












Initially, the part of the music video when she was performing her song was meant to be shot in the drama studio, however, it was never free to use. We knew this may be a problem, so we made sure to have back up locations. We then tried the hall, as the stage has a black curtain and stage lighting, similar to the drama studio. However, this was also being used so we were unable to use it. Finally, we thought of the art block, as they have a black backdrop.


Location 4 - Art Studio



The black backdrop provided the plain background we needed. We then used lights from the drama studio and set them up around the backdrop. To make the performance element believable, we borrowed a microphone and stand from the music department.






Overall, it was convenient that we had multiple places to film this part of our music video in school incase we had issues with one. It was also helpful that the equipment we needed was accessible. Despite the location change, I think the shots we needed were still achieved and we overcame this issue quickly.

Shot List

Shot Number	Shot Type	Shot Description
1	Establishing shot	The main protagonist is sat on her bed, on her phone and puts in earphones
2	Mid shot	Closer shot of her putting in earphones
3	Close up	Shot focusing on her phone while she types ‘Vanilla’ into Soundcloud
4	Mid shot	Mid shot of her looking at herself in the mirror
5	Pan	She walks away from camera, sits down on bed, removes earphones and sighing
6	Close up	Shot from inside the wardrobe, she then goes through her clothes to pick out a jumper
7	180 degree shot	She then puts on the jumper and sorts out her hair
8	Long shot	It then cuts from her bedroom to outside in a park with her dog, where she takes of the dog’s lead
9	Tracking shot	Camera tracks behind the girl walking along with her dog
10	Mid shot	It then cuts back to her in her bedroom, sat on her bed playing the guitar
11	Mid shot	Still sat on her bed, she writes in her notebook, showing she is adjusting the chords
12	Pan	Cuts back to her in the park where she throws a ball for her dog – camera follows path of ball
13	Mid shot	She is sat crouched on the floor stroking her dog, smiling and laughing
14	Mid shot	In her bedroom, she throws pen down onto notebook in frustration
15	Mid shot	Her stroking her dog still laughing, juxtaposing with last shot
16	Mid shot	Different timeframe – sat on her bed putting laptop into bag
17	Static shot	She then walks over to her door with her bag, looks back at room and smiles
18	Mid shot	Her sat in different location, playing guitar & singing
19	Mid shot	Sat in coffee shop, takes off jacket and takes laptop out of bag
20	Mid shot	Cuts to her sat at home writing lyrics in notebook
21	Long shot	Sat at coffee shop, typing on laptop
22	Pan shot	Cuts back to her playing guitar – close up of guitar strings
23	High angle shot	Sat on bed, writing lyrics for song
24	Close up	Focuses on what she is writing in notebook
25	Long shot	She plays guitar & singing, is visibly relaxed
26	Mid shot	She checks emails on laptop in coffee shop – gets declined, sits back and sighs unhappily
27	Mid shot	Cuts to sitting back happily when playing guitar
28	Extreme close up	Focuses on email she was sent showing rejection
29	Close up	Visible that she is upset by this
30	Pan	Cuts back to her in her room, writing lyrics happily
31	Mid shot	In coffee shop, sighs, closes laptop and puts it in beg
32	Static shot	She walks out of the coffee shop
33	Static shot	Different location, in the centre is a microphone on stand- she walks into frame
34	Close up	Stands by microphone looking around
35	Mid shot	She starts to sing when lyrics start playing, showing she is performing
36	Pan shot	Still performing
37	Close up	Singing passionately to the song she wrote
38	Extreme close up	Cuts to different location – email pops up on laptop screen
39	Mid shot	She sits down and opens it
40	Extreme close up	Focuses on email that says she has been accepted by record company
41	Close up	She is reading it- facial expression of joy when she realises
42	Mid shot	She looks at herself in the mirror, happily this time
43	Mid shot	Sat on bed, and puts earphones in
44	Close up	Focuses on phone as she types in ‘Vanilla’ into Soundcloud
45	Mid shot	She then lays back in bed, excitedly listening and sighs happily