In order to plan my music video, I watched many dance music videos and analysed their structures, representations of artists and uses of codes and conventions as well as many other elements. This lead me to collating a few inspirational music videos to reference in my planning to evidence how real media is influencing my decisions for my own production.
Research & Inspirations
In my research, I had many inspirational music videos (predominantly in the dance genre by single female artists), from where I drew some of my ideas to incorporate into my artist's music video. Two of my most important influences are analysed below.
Anne-Marie's '2002' inspired me as it is based in a school setting, as the artist is reminiscing back to her childhood and school years, including 2002. The intertextuality was therefore easily incorporated into its main concept/narrative, with the music video paying homage to the Britney Spears' music video for 'Baby One More Time,' which was released in 1998 itself. These references were demonstrated through the mise-en-scene of the music video, particularly through its use of costume and colours in its different set-ups and locations, in addition to instances where particular shots were re-make directly from the original media. This video was also significant in how I wanted my music video structured, with new set-ups (locations and lighting schemes) introduced in different sections of the song, to keep the audience interested throughout.
Dua Lipa's 'New Rules' inspired me through its representation of supportive females, with a complete lack of any male characters reinforcing the strong messages of 'girl power' empowering the artist's young fan base. Dua's relationship with her fans was also significant for me as I want my artist's fans to see her as a role model, with my artist being a relatable figure to her fans due to the closeness of age and therefore experience, with both groups facing similar struggles. This sense of guidance is similar to that in a 'big sister' friendship and the other people around Dua in this music video allows her fans to associate themselves with the supportive, diverse girl group.
Planning & Pre-Production
During pre-production, I created various planning documents and visual aids in order to ensure I knew what outcomes I wanted on my shoot days and to ensure my actors and other crew members were prepared for my shoot. For example, I would give my actors a copy of the costume mood board for their scene to allow them to understand what clothes to bring on the day. My pre-production documents are included below, with a short outline of why I created each one.
Storyboards= I created a storyboard on post-it notes for each of my six set-ups. These were my ideas for shots, with the post-it format allowing me to easily remove or add extra shots into each set-up. I was also conscious of including a variety of shot distances, angles and camera movement into each set-up and demonstrated this through my drawings and annotations of each shot. Due to the ease of drawing, I easily draw in other elements I was planning to incorporate in the edit, such as overlayed text or split screens.
Storyboard 1. Heathers
Storyboard 2. Mean Girls
Storyboards 3. Girl Gang & 4. Dance Squad
Storyboards 5. Exterior & 6. FRNKE
Reference Shots= While creating my storyboard, I realised many of my shots were inspired by existing media products. I gathered these stills and took them onto my shoots to show my fellow cast and crew members to communicate my ideas easier and clearer through the visual format.
My references are from a range of sources, from inspirational music videos to the films that I am referencing intertextually as well as a shot from my test/practise shoot that I wanted to re-shoot.
Costume Mood Boards= I created separate mood boards for different set-ups, ending up with three in total. I gave these to my actors to allow them to understand the fashion style of their set-up. After this, I had a conversation with each actor about what clothes they could bring to the shoot that were similar in style to the images I put on the mood board.
1. Heathers= key elements of colour (red, yellow, green) with preppy fashion sense and the iconic red scrunchie in the half-up half-down hairstyle. [All images are from the 1989 film]
2. Mean Girls= key elements of colour again, this time pink, with lots of feminine clothing types such as mini skirts, cardigans, t-shirts. Also worth noting that all three girls have their hair down. [All images from the 2004 film]
3. Girl Gang= more flexible costume guideline with a variety of trendy clothes found from online shopping websites such as Missguided, PrettyLittleThing and Topshop. Due to the set-up portraying the individuality of each girl through clothing, I had a discussion with each girl about what clothes they personally felt most confident, stylish or comfortable in, allowing their personal sense of style to be demonstrated.
Cast Lists= I prepared a large document for the two big shoot days, that had more than one shoot and many cast members. I added headshots of each actor into the table with details of their costumes and crucial details such as timings and locations (that were repeated from the shoot schedule).
I created this mainly for my own use and to ensure I had discussed costumes and timings with each actor before the shoot.
Shoot Schedule & Shot List= After creating my storyboard and reference shot documents, I wrote out my ideas for shots in my shot list that I could easily use on shoots to tick-off shots as I competed them. My shoot schedule (in a table at the top of each page) includes timings for arrival and estimated shooting times, the cast and crew involved, the location(s) of each shoot and any props needed. The specific shots planned were below the table in a shot list, with the technical details including distance, angle or movement as well as actions to be completed by the actor(s).
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