Death scenes in other text and whether or not it should be in mine.

In this day and age controversial music videos are made all the time. There has been some debate in my class about the footage in my music video and whether it was appropriate, so I did some research;

 Hozier's take me to church where the controversial topic is homophobia and violence towards them, where at the end a homosexual man is threatened with a  knife, dragged across the floor and beaten senseless at the very end, however it is not close up but very obviously implied.

Alt-J's Breezeblocks was a massive inspiration for my music video, (the whole death in the bath thing and the fact it is reversed.) The very opening clip is a woman in a bath dead surrounded by bloody water. Later on we see she was murdered by a man (husband?) however we only see her death from a distance, and the camera pans round a door frame before we see any violence. But once again it is massively implied rather than shown.

However, in Tove lo's - Stay high, the abuse of drugs and alcohol is very obviously shown. That  being said, watching someone taking drugs and drinking may be easier to watch than something violent, however it is much easier to be glorified. In this music video I did not feel the need or feel like I should take drugs, however it could do for others and maybe for people of a younger age as they might not understand the context behind the music video, and it might actually look like a lot of fun to them. 

In Lady Gaga's music video - Til it happens to you - There are scenes of very graphic content of students being raped at college campuses, which can be very disturbing. However the music video starts with a warning about the content, and at the end there is a number people can call for help and a website to spread awareness.

So when it comes to my music video, if I decide to keep the disturbing footage in the clip I could add in a warning at the begging of the video and a help line at the end so people understand that the music video was not intended to be glorified in any way. I could also suggest a suitable age restriction at the begging so people of a younger age don't watch it and end up being disturbed by the footage.

Or I could remove the disturbing footage and replace it with footage that suggests her death instead of actually showing it.

I will probably have this warning at the beginning  of my music video so people know that it is for a mature audience only, and anyone of a young age shouldn't be watching it as the wouldn't understand The reasoning behind it. 

Audience feed back on death scene.

Yesterday in class I showed Miss the death scene in my music video. She asked me how people might react to this part of the audience, I responded with quite shocked. She said that the footage was quite risky, as it might suggest that it is okay to self harm, which is definitely not the message I wanted to get across. Telling me not to delete any of it but to justify why I used it and get some feedback from my target audience and their opinions on the topic - so I did exactly that. I filmed their response and here is what they said;

2nd cuts

Beginning 2nd cut:

Ending 2nd cut:

Here I gained audience feedback and changed the things they like and disliked to make it more appealing for my target audience.

Day of filming - Jessie's death/ church scene

The day of filming with I think went pretty well. In the church the lighting was really nice and atmospheric so I actually experimented a lot with filming and used several shots I did'nt really plan whilst editing. These ones for example;

And then later on in the day I filmed Jessie's death scene, but first we had to prepare. Here is a photo of me doing Jessie's make up for filming-

For the mirror shot I actually used the practice shot we did as the lighting was a lot better, as it was just natural light from the window. Here are the shots I used;

Overall I feel the day went pretty well. Here is the first cut of the church scene with Jessie; 

Before and after shots - Jessie

Before - 

After (the end of music video) - 

- Simple dress

- Smart pumps

- Brushed/ neat hair 

- Simple makeup 

Shows innocence, purity, happiness

After (beginning music video) -

- Dark clothing 

- Ragged
- Messy hair
- Dark/ running make up
Shows sadness, depression, loss

Risk assessment (Un finished)

                                            
Damage equipment    moderately               Make sure it is handled with care



This risk assessment is very important for the safety for my actors and myself. By addressing the dangers I will know how to prevent them so no one ends up getting hurt.  

audience feedback

Today in class I showed my target audience the opening clip of my video, and gathered some good feedback. It seemed that they all really enjoyed it. They liked the fast pace editing of the song and how the effects of the backwards parts came across. The only thing they said to maybe improve it was to shorten some shots and to maybe add in some transitions.

Picture of my audience reacting to my music video opening.

Opening scene filming

The other day I filmed the opening sequence of my video and I felt it went quite well. here are some photos of the day;

Us making our way to the church, tripod on my back and story board in my hand.

Me filming a close up of  Daisy's face

Me more shots in the church

Me using equipment

Me waiting for Daisy to come through the door for the shot.

More photos of me filming Daisy

The weather was very different than expected, the for cast said that it would be raining which I thought would be good as its supposed to be quite a sad scene, but in fact the lighting came out really well on the sunny day.

Here is what my first cut looks like:

Bathroom scene - list

Friday 15th January

10:00 - 12:00

Bathroom scene.

Location: - bathroom Props: - scissors - fake blood Actors needed: - Jessie Equipment: - camera - tripod Miss en scene: - low key lighting - dark clothing's - depressed facial expressions - smudged makeup

Weather

Weather forecast for the day I plan to film my opening sequence;







































The weather looks actually good for what I intend to film as the scene is supposed to be sad, so the weather will be quite fitting.

Opening scene - List

Monday 11th January 2015
12:00 - 14:00 Opening shots. Location: - church - grave yard (theme of death) Props: - photo of Jessie Actors needed: - Daisy Equipment: - camera - tripod Costume: - dark clothes (mourning)

Copy right email (draft)

Dear Island Records, I am an A2 media student and I am writing to request permission to use your song "Carry me" by Bombay Bicycle Club, to which I believe you own the rights, for a project in my course. I am hoping to use this song for my Alevel coursework where I have to create a music video and make a digipak and album poster. The song will be used for educational purposes only, and I will not be using the track as my own. OCR is the examination board which requires us to do this. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Ella

Timeline

This time line will be helpful when it comes to post production so I know what clips to put at what point in the song.