IDEAS FOR PERFORMANCE SCENES - LOCATIONS

As the performance element is the main structure of most music videos’ we have discussed and considered locations which may be possibilities for the performance element of our piece. Below is a list of our location options and the reasons for why we might use them.

Gemma`s local graveyard at Wickenby Church as we believe it will convey the notion of loss and death, the death of a relationship if we film in the graveyard. Also, it is just down the road from Gemma`s house so will be convenient when filming.

We are planning to do the majority of the filming for the puppet scene in the Drama Studio at school as the wall in there offers a blank canvas and our boyfriend figure (Tom) will be able to use the wall to heighten his position physically but also in a metaphorical sense as well. This is because he will be higher than our artist/girlfriend figure (Kate) peering over her suggesting to the audience a sense of control and security. This location may also give us the opportunity to use a range of stage lighting to create focus on our actors.

The Gifted & Talented Centre Gardens on the school premises as there are plenty of areas within the garden to film. Such as, sat in the tree and posed on industrial looking, metal stairs to give a punk, rebellious Avril feel to the piece. Also, we feel this location will give us the opportunity to film around surrounding archaic arch ways of the building to add detail to the shot and to give a nice appearance to the piece visually. We also think that standing at the top of the stairs and shooting the ground below will give us the perfect opportunity to film high shots.

We may also film in the Mic Room next to our media classroom as we believe this will give the video a musical, professional appearance and many artists include shots of them in the recording room in their music videos to give their piece a creative, enthusiastic feel to it. An example of this can be seen in the video below Pieces of Me by Ashlee Simpson.

Another location in which we might film is the Main School Hall. The reason for this is because in there we have access to a large Piano and a big blank white wall offering us a clean, simple canvas for our shots. Ensuring that the focus is on the lighting and the artist and not the surroundings. We believe this will be a good location to film as it will mimic the conventions of Avril Lavigne`s music video for this song. In her video the audience see her play a Piano as the camera uses various shots, pans and tracking to show this. Subtle lighting surrounding her. We plan to conform to the conventions of her video by doing similar shots.

For the lighting we are planning to make the room as dark as possible and then have a small light such as a lamp or even a torch to highlight the artist playing the Piano but also to establish a bleak, sad atmosphere. Below is Avril Lavigne`s video for her song “My Happy Ending”. At 0:12 you will see the start of the Piano scene to Avril`s video which I have tried to explain above.





We are planning to use the sixth form common room within school to film some of the scenes in which Tom`s "dumb friends" (lyric from the song) need to be involved and where Tom will whisper to Kate and then his friends but then push Kate to the floor where she will then lay and carry on to sing after being pushed. We plan to film these scenes within the sofa area of the common room but also the kitchen area to give our piece a sense of intimacy between the couple due to the sofas etc but also a feeling of intrusion and communal space in which everyone aka Tom`s "dumb friends" are "allowed" to intrude in the  couple`s relationship because both spaces are designed for everyone.







To film the beginning and end shots of our music video. We plan to have a photograph of our couple Kate and Tom with a vase of roses or just a bunch/a single rose laid next to/on top of the photo. A hand will then push the vase or roses off the table they are placed on and then we plan to use a pan shot to show feet running up the stairs, the end shot will then be of the photo torn to give connotations of the couple having split like the photo and the it is hoped the pan towards the stairs will emphasise a feeling of emotion and running upstairs to escape reality like many teenagers do.

Through these shots we hope our audience will be able to recognise that the person being portrayed as upset is Kate, our girlfriend/artist figure which will hopefully communicate to our audience that she is the main character. artist.

We plan to film these shots at my house (AppleTree House, Bleasby Moor) as my hallway is a reasonable sized space in which moving the camera around if we need to in order to get different angles will not be difficult. Also, we believe it will be an instantly recognisable location for our audience, a location in which private matters take place and emotions are released, such as arguments. To set this mood we plan to use subtle, low lighting.