Style Sheets

In order to demonstrate the ideas for the final productions creatively, style sheets were created.

Video Style Sheet

Digipak Style Sheet

Pitch

Pre-Production Planning

This post outlines the planning that was undertaken before the filming of footage.

Mind Map
One of the group members produced a mindmap of ideas for the shooting of our video, including the mise-en-scene (location, costume, casting, props etc.).

This mind-map coupled with a shot list meant we were well prepared for when we had to go to shoot.

Shot List

1. Montage of establishing shots- Long shots of woods, trees, sky, and other natural images 
2. Montage of shots - close up shots of animal masks 
3. Big close up of boy’s face. His eyes open. Zooms to close up as he begins to look around 
4. Extreme long shot of boy stood alone in open space - emphasising isolation - looking confused 
5. Medium shot of the boy looking around - stood in front of woods 
6. Low angle, long shot of boy looking down towards the floor 
7. Medium long shot of the boy’s POV. He sees photographs on the floor 
8. Close up of the boy looking down then up. The audience understand that he looks and sees the photos 
9. Long shot of the boy picking up the photographs 
10. Over the shoulder medium close up of the boy looking at the photo 
11. Close up of the boy holding the cut out photograph. We are able to see the woods through the cut out figure 
12. Long shot of the boy looking and walking towards the photographs 
13. Over the shoulder medium shot of the boy picking up another photo, he follows the trail into the woods 
14. Close up of the boy in the woods, trees behind him representing prison bars - suggesting he is trapped 
15. High angle shot of the boy stood looking around – he senses that something is there 
16. Medium close up of the boy, lots of scenery in the shot. Masked people step out from behind the trees 
17. Medium close up from the side- boy turning his head. Nothing is there 
18. Close up of the boy’s face looking nervous, he knows that something is there 
19. Low angle long shot of the masked people, looking powerful and sinister 
20. Close up of the pig face 
21. Medium long shot of the boy walking around - turns to see animal people coming after him 
22. Long shot of an animal masked person chasing the boy 
23. Close up of the boy looking down at photograph, looks over his shoulder to see people 
24. Medium close up, POV shot of the boy holding up the photograph towards masked people, they begin to run 
25. Medium shot of the boy running towards the camera, animals running behind him 
26. Tracking long shot of the animals running; chasing the boy (he isn’t visible in this shot) 
27. Close up of the boy’s shoes running towards the camera 
28. Low angle shot of the animal man jumping over the camera, (Post-pro – slow motion and fades to black) 
29. Medium long shot of side of the boy, waking up in the forest. He sits up 
30. Long shot of the boy in the woods, looking scared and standing up 
31. Extreme close up of his eyes, he blinks rapidly - looks worried 
32. Long shot of the boy walking further into the woods, animal masked people enter the shot- chasing him 
33. Low angle long shot of all of the characters running towards the camera, foot blacks out the shot 
34. Medium shot of the boy looking over his shoulder, animal masked people behind 
35. Close up of the boy, his eyes look up to the sky 
36. Long POV shot of flares/lights in the sky 
37. Medium shot of the boy walking toward the lights- he has given up 
38. POV shot of the flares/lights in the sky tilts down to show animal men with backs towards him 
39. Medium close up of the boy recognising the people are good - he wants to join them 
40. Close up of the boy’s face, he begins to walk towards the masked people 
41. High angle shot of the boy walking towards them 
42. Close up of the boy, looking slightly nervous
43. POV medium shot of the masked people holding a mask for the boy - mask comes towards camera (face) and fades to black 
44. Boy’s POV shot of the sky - tilts as he sits up
45. Side long shot of the boy sitting up, looking around again 
46. Medium close up of the boy looking confused 
47. Medium shot of cans and bottles of alcohol surrounding him 
48. Close up shot of the boy looking to the left 
49. Panning medium shot of the mask on the floor 
50. Extreme close up of the boy’s eyes - blinking nervously and shutting - fading to black 

Storyboard

Location

Knavesmire Wood

We looked at another woodland, Brayton Barf in Selby, but after using Google Maps to check its location and transport for everybody to get there, we decided the Knavesmire Wood, near to college, was more practical as we could all easily get there and our actors would not need to take too much time from college to feature in our video.

Above are some images I took using my iPhone to show the group the location before we went to film.

Equipment

The following list of equipment was put together to ensure no members of the team forgot anything, as this could be detrimental and ruin a whole day of filming.

• Canon 600D Camera 
• Tripod
• SD Memory Card
• Masks
• Black clothing
• Shot list
• Storyboard
• Cutout photographs for Digipak
• iPhone

Organising the Team

In order to avoid wasted time on the filming days, we assigned roles in advance. We decided that Abby would be solely responsible for filming as this meant she was able to monitor how we were doing regarding fulfilling the shot list and she was able to monitor how much footage we had or still needed. It also meant we would have consistent lighting in the shots. Myself, Bailey and Anabel all featured in the video as this was more practical than trying to acquire a lot of college students to either forego lessons or lie-ins dependent on their timetables. Anabel was entrusted with finding two more members of the cast for the filming days.

Props

Disregarding the cutout photographs which we created ourselves, the only prop we had to source were the masks. The inspiration behind the particular masks we used came from not only videos such as 'Toulouse' and 'Animals', but also horror films such as 'The Strangers' and 'You're Next'.

We used websites such as eBay and Amazon to source the masks, weighing up prices, delivery times, mask quality and quantity. Eventually, we sourced one mask from a friend of Bailey's and bought the rest, similar to those below, from eBay.

Shooting Schedule

Having completed the pre-production planning, a shooting schedule was produced by the group in order to bring all this information into format for the filming day.

Requesting Permission

Before using the song I requested permission from the artist using Twitter. This covers any legal issues regarding copyright and distribution that may arise. I did not receive a reply from Sub Focus but the request ensures I am working legally.

The lack of a reply on Twitter prompted me to ensure I was clear to use the song for my video. I therefore used the contact section of Sub Focus' website to request the song permission, explaining what it would be used for.

Qualitative Research Results

Here are the videos of the interviews we recorded with a member of our potential target audience:

Quantative Research: SurveyMonkey.com Survey Results

This is a PowerPoint Presentation uploaded to SlideShare demonstrating the results from our SurveyMonkey survey, circulated by ourselves to potential audience members.

Question 1: What is your age?

An almost absolute majority of those surveyed said they were aged 16-24, which suggests I should be aiming our video and ancillary texts at this age group. In hindsight, I probably should have included another age category for 0-15 year olds, but the majority of people I surveyed were not in this age category.

Question 2: What is your gender?

There was only a very minimal swing in this question with 31 females answering and 29 males answering. Therefore I know I should be aiming our product at both sexes, with equal consideration for both sexes.

Question 3: Please select your ethnic background…

This question saw once again an almost absolute majority say they were White British, which is perhaps indicative of York’s lack of ethnic diversity. It does however help me form an idea of the audience the product will be targeting.

Question 4: Are you currently employed?

Almost 60% of those asked said they were part time employed, more than likely because they are currently in education, which also explains why around 35% of those asked were unemployed. Around 10% were full time employees.

Question 5: Select 3 of the following music genres that you prefer…

The most popular answer here was in fact Indie but when you consider that Dubstep, House, Electro and Drum and Bass can all be classified as dance genres and that Sub Focus has produced songs in all of these sub genres, it seems the choice of artist is more than suitable.

Question 6: How many music videos do you watch in a week?

Varied answers were given here but still the majority watched over 3 music videos a week.

Question 7: How important do you feel it is for a music video to incorporate a narrative? (1 being least important, 10 being very important)

Once again the answers were relatively spread but there is a general curve that suggests more people found narrative more important.

Question 8: What would intrigue you the most on an album cover?

Almost 60% of those who answered suggested that album artwork would intrigue them the most on an album cover. Artist name also proved important.

Question 9: What are your favourite aspects of music videos?

The top answer for this question was ‘telling a narrative’, with over 50% of the repliers saying this was their favourite aspect of a music video.

Question 10: How do you watch/listen to music videos?

Over 80% of the answers said that the audience watched their music videos for free online, presumably on sites such as YouTube.

Qualitative Audience Research Preparation

For our qualitative research, we will ask our potential target audience questions in an interview format, filmed on a Digital SLR Camera. Here are the questions:

1.   What do you do in your free time? (E.g. on a weekend)

2.   What do you spend your money on in your free time?

3.   If you were given £50, what would you spend your money on?

4.   How do you obtain your music? (be specific)

5.   a) What’s your favourite music video?

      b) Can you explain why?

6.   a) What attracts you to music videos?

      b) Can you explain why?

7.   Do you feel a narrative in any music video is important?

8.   What are your thoughts on the genre of dance music?

9.   If you were to make a music video for a dance music genre, can you give me three things you’d include?

10. Do you think a digi-pack (album artwork) imagery should relate to the music video?