Planning - Costume

My outfit

I will need to be wearing something casual and pretty for the role of the artist. We want the outfit to be comfortable, quite similar to the one that Gabrielle has on in the video for Please Don't Say You Love Me.

Due to the fact that we are filming at a much colder time than they did, we have decided to wear something warmer than what Gabrielle is wearing in this video. However we still want the outfit to be of a similar style, very natural and pretty. A celebrity that has given us a lot of inspiration for finding the right outfit has been Zooey Deschanel. A few of the outfits are as follows:

I am going to wear the same outfit in all of the shots to show that after I have been to the cafe, I go for some alone time at the park/field. This will show that it was on the same day and make the whole thing seem more realistic. It will be as though I am walking through the video narrating it and telling a story.


Planning - Props and equipment

The props that we will need:

• Fairy lights for the gazebo scene
• Guitar for the field shoot
• Picture of the couple
• Flower
• Outfits for all of the actors

The equpiment that we will need:

• Camera (Canon 60D)
• Tripod
• Crane
• Steadicam

Research - The Director

Joshua Sanger is a Freelance Film Director who directs short films, music promo's, acousitc sessions and documentaries. http://www.joshuasanger.co.uk/

Short films:

• Line of Fire (2012)
• One Day in Nowehere Town (2011)
• Paper Tosser (2010)

Music promo's:

• Gabrielle Aplin - Please Don't Say You Love Me (2012)
• Gabrielle Aplin - Home (2011)
• Young Kato - Breakout (2012)

Acoustic sessions:

• Tinashe - Amazing
• Frank Hamilton - Thinking Back
• Bastille - Flaws

Documentaries:

• Luke Concannon: Free To Live  (2011)
• Bangladesh  (2010)

Joshua's work is not very well-known however he is an extremely talented director. We loved the thought of using some ideas from the video that he directed for 'Please Don't Say You Love Me'. We thought that some of the shots he used were amazing such as the close ups of Gabrielle with the scenery and landscape in the background. We want to re-create some similar shots in our music video but alter them slightly to make them our own. For example:

In this close up of Gabrielle we can see the background is faded and she is in focus, however we are still drawn to the pretty surroundings as it makes the shots look more bright and interesting.

 

And in this close up we can see the sun rising in the background, which gives a really beautiful effect. We would love to re create this look and have the sun either rising or setting in the background to create a glow in the shots.

 

Research - The making of Please Don't Say You Love Me

A 'The Making of' is something that we would like to create to show how we set things up and how everything went behind the scenes. This video has helped us a lot and given us useful information about how to go about setting up the music video and what things will be needed to do so. Although our music video is going to be completely different to this one, it has given us ideas and tips about creating our own.

Research - Please Don't Say You Love Me (Official Video)

Planning - Locations

• Capstone Country Park (for the field scenes and the pond scene)

 

 

 

We think that Capstone Country Park would be a great place to film when I am singing about my story. We think this because it has a great landscape that we can capture in the shots and also it's very calm and pretty, which we think will look great in our music video. The story involves my character needing a little 'alone time' to think things through with my partner, and so this location links in with that as it's quiet and a good place to think.

• Greenace School's cafeteria (for the opening scene where my character breaks up with her boyfriend)

We believe that we can make the cafeteria look like a Costa Coffee, using props and also things in the cafeteria. We are going to incorporate as much mise-en-scene as we can to ensure that it looks realistic. We decided that using the cafeteria would be a lot easier than having to go out and ask permission to film in a cafe. This way we could get everything done quickly after school and we had the location confirmed.

• Greenace School's sports hall (for the school prom/gazebo scene)

This location is a great one for what we want to achieve in this shoot. It is supposed to look like a prom scene and so a sports hall is a great place to film as that is the sort of place in which school proms usually take place. Also, the sports hall is huuuugggeee, and so a great place for us to set up a gazebo. We feel that this is a really good location choice and we hope it will work out when we come to shoot everything.

Planning - Shot list/Script

Intro in coffee shop:
Holly says 'I'm sorry' and sit's staring at coffee cup (over the shoulder shot)
The guy that she's with gets up and leaves (wide angle)
Side shot of Holly (focus changes onto a happy couple in the background).
Holly looks over and smiles sadly and sings first verse.

 

Verse 1 - coffee shop shoot
Summer comes and winter fades, (Holly - close up)

Here we are just the same,

We don't need pressure, we don't need change,

Let's not give the game away. (Holly looks over again)

(Cuts to girl and boy) There used to be an empty space,

A photograph without a face, (girl smiles at boy)

But with your presence with your grace, (boy takes girls hand)

Everything falls into place. (Focus goes to Holly as she leaves)

 

Chorus - Capstone shoot (field)

Please don't say you love me, (sitting on fence, mid shot)

'cause I might not say it back, (mid close up of Holly)

Doesn't mean my heart stopped skipping when you look at me like that. (Look straight into camera)

There’s no need to worry when you see just where we're at. (Close up of guitar)

Just please don't say you love me (mid close up)

'cause I might not say it back. (Close up of Holly’s face looking straight at camera)

(Jump down off the fence)

(Shot of Holly's feet landing on floor)

(Shot of Holly's hand as she leans guitar against fence

 

Verse 2 - Capstone shoot (by pond)

Heavy words (Holly walks past couple) are hard to take (camera pans to couple and they become the focus)

Under pressure precious things will break, (mid shot of another boy smiling at girl)

How we feel is hard to fake, (she looks back to boyfriend as he looks round to the boy)

So let’s not give the game away. (turns back round to girl looking angry and walks away)

Instrumental (mid shot of boy and girl arguing)

Boy walks away and is left looking upset on her own.

 

Chorus - Capstone shoot (field)

Please don't say you love me, (Holly walking through field, hands feeling the corn)

'cause I might not say it back, (close up of Holly’s face)

Doesn't mean my heart stopped skipping when you look at me like that. (Look up at sky and look sad)

There’s no need to worry when you see just where we're at. (See boy’s silhouette walking towards her from the distance)

Just please don't say you love me (Holly’s face is confused but happy)

'cause I might not say it back. (A flower falls out of Holly’s hand and onto the floor)

 

Bridge - School hall Prom shoot

Fools rush in. (Boy and Girl walk in - girl still angry, boy wanting to make it up to her)

I've been the fool before, (cuts to Holly under the gazebo, fairy lights off)

This time I'm gonna slow down,

'cause I think this could be more,

The thing I'm looking for. (Holly looks over to see them come in the room)

 

Chorus

Please don't say you love me, (boys hands uncover girls eyes)

'cause I might not say it back, (shot of gazebo as the lights come on)

Doesn't mean my heart stopped skipping when you look at me like that. (Cuts to Girl smiling and Boy and walking towards her)

There’s no need to worry when you see just where we're at. (Boy and Girl embrace/dance)

Just please don't say you love me, (Boy & and girl kiss)

'cause I might not say it back. (Boy & and girl leave)

Please don't say you love me, (Holly see's them leave and reaches into her pocket and looks up - crane)

'cause I might not say it back, (Picture drops) (close up of picture)

Back to Field Shoot

Doesn't mean my heart stopped skipping when you look at me like that. (Holly starts to walk into the distance towards the boy)

Back to Gazebo Shoot

There’s no need to worry when you see just where we're at. (High angle of Holly and picture)

Just please don't say you love me, (Holly drops to floor)

'cause I might not say it back. (Holly looks at picture then smiles)

Last Line - Back to Field shoot

Just please don't say you love me cause I might not say it back (crane shot - Holly takes boys hand and walks away - out of focus as they leave) FADE TO BLACK.

Planning - The story behind our video idea

The idea of the story is that a girl falls out of love with her boyfriend and discusses how she needs a break over a cup of coffee. As he leaves she sees a couple sitting opposite and instantly she is reminded of her relationship at the beginning stage. She leaves the cafe, however memories and flashbacks of times together replay over in her mind. Over a period of time she keeps seeing this couple constantly reminding her of what she had, she sees this as a sign and decides to follow them wondering if it could change her mind and make her fall in love again. She see's them at the park having a nice time and it saddens her as she remembers past times with her partner. However, the twist is that the couple find themselves arguing when another girl smiles at the boyfriend. They have a slight disagreement and the girl in the couple walks off. Then the boy tries to make it up to her with a surprise at their prom. He arranges for them to have a slow dance under a gazebo completely covered in fairy lights as a romantic gesture. The girl loves it and they make up...

The moral of our story is that all relationships have their ups and downs and instead of bailing out, you have to work at things and give it a chance. So in the end of the video, the main character meets up with her boyfriend and they sort things out!

Planning - Roles (who's who)

Once we knew what song we wanted to use, we sat down as a group and decided on who was going to play what role in the planning, production and editing processes.

Director – Amy

Amy will be in charge of pretty much everything - from planning to production. She will assign people jobs and take control of discussions. We decided that Amy would be the best person for this role as it is what she wants to do in her future so this would be a good task for her to take on. Also, she is very eloquent and good when it comes to taking charge.

Producer – Holly

I will be in charge of getting jobs done that the director has asked for. This includes things such as writing up timetables, gathering props for production, keeping all the paperwork safe and organised, and so on. I feel that this is a good job for me as I am a very organised person and like everything to be tabulated. I think that I will do well as the producer and will get everything done that I am assigned.

Editors – Amy, Holly and Jakob

We will all be taking part in the editing of the music video once everything has been filmed. We are all very excited about this process as it could be argued that the editing of a music video is what makes it or breaks it. We feel that all working together on this part will help us to voice opinions and ideas and take on the best ones. This means that everyone is getting a say in how the final product is going to end up. This is important when making everyone feel included in the group and bringing everyone together.

Camera Operator – Amy

 

At first I was going to be the camera operator, but we decided that amy had more skills anad so she should be camera operator. Amy knows what she is doing when it comes to cameras more than myself and Jakob. She believes she can perfect the shots that we invisage and we trust her. As she is director too, it makes sense that she operates the camera as she knows exactly what she wants from the shots. Jakob and I are happy to have Amy take on these two roles as we feel that she is the best suited person for them.

Actors – Holly, Jakob, Natasha and Charlie

At first Amy was going to be the main actress however when we decided that she would be best suited as camera operator, we decided that I would would be taking on the very important role of the artist in our music video. I decided that I would do this as we needed a girl to be the main character as the singer of the song we have chosen is Gabrielle Aplin. Amy couldn't be the actress as she is the camera operator and so I agreed that I would be the actress.

Charlie will be taking on the role of the boyfriend in the couple that are being explored throughout the music video. The couple will consist of Charlie and Natasha. Natasha is a friend of mine, who does drama and performing arts so we thought that she would be perfect for the role. When we asked her she seemed very enthusiastic about it which made us positive that it would work.

Last but not least is Jakob. He will be playing the part of my character's boyfriend whom I break up with, but throughout the video I realise that I am still in love with him. He doesn't make a large appearance, however he is a key role as we have to show me breaking up with him in the cafe at the beginning on the video, and see us getting back together at the end. Jakob has also agreed to be in charge of lighting when he isn't being filmed, which is very important as the lighting has to be perfect for the shot to look right.

Research - The artist

 

 

Gabrielle Ann Aplin is an English singer-songwriter from Bath, Somerset. Aplin first became recognised on Youtube over 3 years ago when she covered a song by the American rock band Paramore, called 'My Heart'.

Some of the songs that she has released since are as follows:

• Please Don't Say You Love Me
• Home
• Panic Cord
• More Than Friends
• The Power of Love (cover)

We decided on Gabrielle as our artist because we thought she wasn't very well known so it would be something new for people to listen to. Also we all loved the song as soon as we heard it and thought it would be great to create a video for it.

Planning - Why we chose our particluar song

Our group made a list of possible song choices for our music video. We went through and highlighted the songs that we would most want to do and nailed it down to just three. Those three were:

• Please Don't Say You Love Me - Gabrielle Aplin
• Valentine - Kina Grannis
• The State of Me - Megan Tonjes

These three music videos were the ones that we looked at in deatil and from doing so, we knew that the song we liked the most and wanted to use was Please Don't Say You Love Me.

All of the artists were female because we knew from the start that Amy would be the character playing the singer.

The reason that we chose these three songs was because we knew that we wanted a song from the 'Acoustic genre'. This is because we wanted the music video to be easy going and fun to film. We didn't want anything to heavy or complex as that's not the type of music that we thought our audience would want to hear.

So the reason that we chose 'Please Don't Say You Love Me' out of the three songs was because we felt that we could make a music video that really related to the lyrics of this particular song. We thought as a group that we could produce something excellent with this song.

Research - Lyrics

Please Don't Say You Love Me - Gabrielle Aplin

Verse 1
Summer comes and Winter fades,
Here we are just the same,
We dont need pressure, we dont need change,
Let's not give the game away.
I used to be an empty space,
A photograph without a face,
But with your presence with your grace,
Everything falls into place.

Chorus

Please don't say you love me,
'cause I might not say it back,
Doesn't mean my heart stopped skipping when you look at me like that.
Theres no need to worry when you see just where we're at.
Just please dn't say you love me
'cause I might nt say it back.

Verse 2

Heavy words are hard to take,
Under pressre things will break,
How we feel is hard to fake,
So lets not give the game away.
Chorus
Please don't say you love me,
'cause I might not say it back,
Doesn't mean my heart stopped skipping when you look at me like that.
Theres no need to worry when you see just where we're at.
Just please dn't say you love me
'cause I might nt say it back.

Fools rush in.
I've been fooled before,
This time im gonna slow down,
'cause I think this could be more,
The thing im looking for.

Chorus
Please don't say you love me,
'cause I might not say it back,
Doesn't mean my heart stopped skipping when you look at me like that.
Theres no need to worry when you see just where we're at.
Just please dn't say you love me,
'cause I might nt say it back.

Planning - Target audience

Looking around at videos has made us see that the type of genre we have gone for has a very specific audience. Most of the songs are based on relationships and romance and so the main audience for this type of music is women. The general age group that we think will listen to the song we have chosen is teenagers and early adults, because this is the kind of age that women are involved with their 'first loves' and deal with relationships that might not work out so well. So our target auience is women from the ages of 13-30. We feel that this age group is a a suitable one for the song choice and type of video that we are going to create. Anyone younger we feel would not be interested and anyone older would be above the 'first love', 'new romance' stage and thinking more about their future.

Planning - Our final idea

The idea we have for this would be to create a promotional music video using the song 'Please Don't Say You Love Me' by Gabrielle Aplin. As soon as we looked at different videos for our genre we knew that this song stood out to all of us. We all thought that this song was a good choice as it's not very well known and neither is the artist, and so it would be something different for people to listen to and watch.

We plan to create a digipak and a poster advertising the music video. We feel that with adequate amounts of research we can product something really good.

Research - Different music video ideas

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/music-videos/articles/247/title/what-makes-great-music-video suggests that:

1. It must be unique
2. It must tell a story. It can be a bizarre story that doesn't make much sense until the end, but one must feel satisfied at the conclusion
3. The artist or director must not feel confined to matching the visuals of the video perfectly with the lyrics
4. Makes a lasting impression and/or is memorable
5. One must realize that a great music video does not mean a great song with a mediocre video, but a fabulous music video can have a mediocre song.

We have started to look at music videos that fit with the genre that we have chosen. The music videos that we have looked at are:

• Gabrielle Aplin - Please Don't Say You Love Me

Amy suggested Gabrielle Aplin as an artist that fits in with the genre that we want to use. This music video is a really good one that caught our eye as soon as we watched it. It follows a really enticing story line that is something that many people can relate to. This is one of the many reasons that we love this music video. Aswell as really loving the music video, we love the song as well. A couple of us have heard of Gabrielle Aplin before, but I personally had never heard of this song. As soon as I heard the song I knew I wanted to use it, but it is the first one that we have looked at and so we need to watch a few more before we make any decisions. We all agree that this song is going to be a strong contender.

• Kina Grannis - Valentine

We found this music video by looking at similar ones to Please Don't Say You Love Me. This music video was really good to watch. We all liked the idea that it's so simple and easy to understand. You don't have to think while watching it, it all just makes sense. There is only one location and so something like this would be very easy to film, however they used very outstanding effects to create such a meaningful video with the pictures and everything, which we wouldn't be able to realistically re-create. Although we wouldn't want to copy the video, we think that if there was only going to be one location then something interesting would have to happen within it and we don't know how we would do this successfully. This means that we still think that Please Don't Say You Love Me is a better video idea for us.

• Megan Tonjes - State of Me

 

 

Research - Genres of music

A music genre is a conventional category that identifies pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. We got this information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_genre.

Popular music genres:

• Country/Folk e.g. Noah and the Whale 
• Hip Hop e.g.
• R&B e.g. Jay-Z
• Alternative/Indie e.g. The Arctic Monkeys
• Rock e.g.
• Pop e.g. Britney Spears
• Punk
• Classical
• Acoustic e.g. Gabrielle Aplin
• Musical
• Art
• Modern
• Jazz
• Blues e.g. The Blues Brothers
• Electro e.g. 3oh!3
• Funk
• Dance
• House
• Dub step
• Rap e.g.
• Metal

Genres of music can also be combined to make a mixture of styles, e.g. Pop-Rock and Indie-Rock. The genre that we have chosen to look at is folk-acoustic. This is because all member of our group enjoy this style of muic and so we thought it would be a good one to choose.

Research - Codes and Conventions

The codes and conventions of a music video

Codes

• An example of a code would be the equipment used in the making of the music video. The equipment will be useful when making the product look professional. For instance using a steadicam or a track for the camera will steady the shot and make it look more expert.
• Symbolic codes such as what the person is feeling and how we see that. Body language and facial expression are key when making a music video because the person needs to tell the story through their face as their is usually no narrative in a music video (except the soundtrack). The main character doesn't have the chance to explain how they are feeling and so the look on their face and the way that they present themselves is important when getting the message through to the audience.

We are going to use both of these codes to ensure that our product looks professional and is easily recognisable as a music video.

Conventions

Conventions are the way things are done within the video. They describe the genre of the music; however they vary depending on the genre of the music.

• The artist is shown performing. This is not always the case, however the most common way of making a music video is to show some bits of the artist singing the song. We are definitely going to use this convention in our music video.
• The lyrics of the song influence what is happening is the video. This is important in order for the whole thing to make sense. Some music videos have no real reason behind what is going on, however we all agreed as a group that we wanted ours to make sense. So we are going to use this convention to make is easy for the audience to understand the storyline and empathise with our main character.
• The pace of the editing fits the pace of the music. We all feel that this is really important because it will make the music video flow and make it far easier to watch.
• The codes of dress reflect the mood of the song. We are going to somewhat use this convention, however it might not be necessary depending on our song choice. We will want the storyline within the music video to look as realistic as possible.

We got all of our information on codes and conventions from:

• http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_codes_and_conventions_music_videos)

What we wish to create...

For our A2 Media Studies project we are interested in creating a music video. We want to do this as we think it will be fun and exciting to make and it's different from anything we've done before. We feel that this will challenge us a lot more than year 12 as there is a lot more thought, planning and research that needs to go into a music video as opposed to a short film sequence. A music video has certain characteristics and conventions that we will need to look at in detail to ensure that we get the best product possible at the end. We are all extremely excited to get started!