(Post 4) Our practice task - Planning

Potential settings

Happisburgh Lighthouse

 

Little Plumstead Hospital Norfolk

Shotesham Ford

Sisland Wood

Potential cast & characters

Performer: For the role of the performer we chose Eve's dad Michael. This works in many ways; he has had pervious experiences on screen and also suits the physical appearance of the actual singer of the song, Patrick Watson. Him being an actor is very convenient because we know him personally which makes it easier for him to be in front of the camera and for us to share our ideas and bring them to life. He is also a possible transport option who could drive us to the different locations.

The three siblings: The main characters of the music video are going to be three children who are playing with different toys and enjoy their time together at various locations. These children are going to be played by three siblings ages 3, 6 and 8 who are Eve's family friends. They will be playing their characters in the Sisland Wood and Shotesham Ford as it is the closest to our homes and it would be very inconvenient to drive that many people to the other two locations. For the Lighthouse and the Hospital we will potentially be using Eve's brother Herbie, as it is more convenient to use him when driving to locations which are further away. 

The Mum: The last character will be the mum of the three children who will occur in some of the scenes together with the children but who will most likely not be a main character. Her character focuses on looking after the children, showing a contrast between the children playing on their own and behaving differently when they are with their mother. She will be played by Jess's mother who has not had much acting experience before which could be a challenge when being at the location trying to create a comfortable atmosphere between the actors.

Our plot is inspired by a short video clip from the film 'The Tree Of Life', directed by Terrence Malick, which does not follow a direct story but rather shows a range of different locations which leave the story up for interpretation. Cinematography and music work together to dramatise the scene which we are trying to achieve as well in our music video.

Potential costumes and props to be used  

Our props are simple things such as DIY toys, sticks and other things that kids would build themselves to play with as a way of demonstrating the freedom and creativity you have as a child. We are going to build a string telephone for the children to play with and to link to the question we were given at the beginning of the planning phase ('How long is a piece of string?). This reinforces the atmosphere we are trying to achieve and in today's film sets the simple prop becomes as important a design element as costumes and lighting.

We are trying not to spend too much money on the production of our music video and the choice of probs are cheap and in some cases even free. This could become much more difficult for the costumes. We want to create a dreamy, aesthetic and almost delusional video clip but we do not want to set the video in a different era but rather leave the time period questionable. Simple and plain clothes which are not too colourful would be the clothes of choice and preferably something that we or the cast already own.

Potential split between 'performance' and 'story' 

For the performance, we will be having a man playing the piano. We are not going to use any lip syncing as this would not work with our plot and would seem a bit out of space. Instead, we will be using the opportunity of the many pauses between the singing which are filled with soft piano tunes. These piano chords will be easy to learn and to replicate which will make the performance look believable. We are focusing on the plot and the story behind the song rather than putting the performance in the foreground which means that the performer will only be shown a couple of times. We are going to film the scenes in a way that will work with the ups and downs of the song and make it seem even more dramatic. The performance will take place at a location which is not shown with any of the other cast. This unconsciously demonstrates the split between performance and story. 

However, we are going to create a link between the two, making the audience curious and give the story a small plot twist. At the very end of the video when the music is about to fade out, the performer is going to be shown from behind playing the last chords of the song and the mother of the three children is going to appear, laying her hand on his shoulder. None of their faces will be shown and the only way the audience will be able to identify the appearing character as the mother is by her costume.

Minimum of 8 panel storyboard of the current idea