Further Research & Planning - Locations Analysis & Ideas

As well as the audience being communicated different feelings and themes through the appearance of the characters, the mood of the scene can also be communicated through the use of the characters surroundings. In order to explore and understand various connotations of different locations I have performed an analysis into a few locations used in existing music videos and how they make the audience perceive the mood. Again, to ensure the research I gather is as accurate as possible, I selected music videos that are similar to my own, they therefore had the same or similar music genre (indie/acoustic) and also featured a female character whether that was either the singer or an actress.

Scenes from Ellie Goulding - The Writer

In the music video 'The Writer' by Ellie Goulding, the director has decided to use a number of out-door spaces and natural surroundings in order to create a scene that allows the audience to see the singer in a certain way. For example in the first featured scene (top of three images) the camera is following Ellie walking through a field, throughout this scene the tempo of the song is generally quite slow and the lyrics at this particular point in the song are quite sad which can be reflected in the dull colours of the sky. The use of dull colours, a plain and simplistic location and the pale appearance of the singer emphasises the pain of the singer that has already been presented in the lyrics. As the song goes on and the tempo picks up a bit, the locations change. Although they remain outside they are now more interesting and the weather has changed making the scenes appear much more beautiful. For example in the second featured scene (middle of three images) the singer is seen walking around the top of a lighthouse with bright blue sky behind her automatically making her appear much more happy and care-free. Similarly, in the last featured scene (bottom of the three images) the singer is seen lying in long grass with the sunset on her face. Again, this appears much more beautiful and makes the audience automatically think of her as care-free, at peace and much happier than she did at the beginning. Throughout the video clip the director has used a range of different locations and used days with different weather so that the atmosphere reflects the type of lyrics and the tempo of the song therefore communicating the feelings of the singer to the audience clearly.

Scenes from Keane - Some Where Only We Know

Similarly, in the Keane music video for the song 'Some Where Only We Know', the director has decided to use a range of different outside spaces but are each completely different from the locations used in the Ellie Goulding video 'The Writer'. Although the locations selected by the director are also very natural and open, in this case a forest, the way they are presented and the time of day they are filmed automatically make the connotation of each location completely different. Throughout the music video 'Some Where Only We Know' the band are featured in a forest location with there being lots of trees there is not much light let into the area anyways but with the music video being filmed at night, it automatically makes the video appear much more sinister. Especially in one particular scene that focuses up on a full moon with wispy clouds and thick branches, the clip looks like something off a horror film. Throughout the video, there is a frequent use of scenes that feature a number of dark spaces in the background which again, allows the audience to question what is in the background, making it appear much more scary and mysterious. Later on in the video, there is a scene that features a dark lake which again it very mysterious and sinsiter, this scene, as well as many others throughout the music video feature a number of conventions that are typical of horror films. Typical connotations of those conventions are generally quite negative, making the audience feel scared of the sinister scenes that have been before.

Summary/Conventions

• The location of a scene can change the way an audience interpret the feelings and themes of a certain clip
• The weather in the clip also goes towards the interpretation of a particular scene
• Outside spaces can have completely different connotations for example, dark forests can be quite sinister whereas brighter locations such as beach scenes generally represent a brighter and happier atmosphere.

Our music video location

After researching locations of existing, professional music videos we decided on our own location for our music video. We liked the idea of using open, natural, outside spaces because the space can be manipulated to connote very different themes. We decided to visit a particular space so that we could plan specific scenes. Due to the fact we want to project quite a sinister and cold atmosphere at the beginning of the video clip then for it to change to the complete opposite and for the location to make the scene then appear much happier, brighter and natural we have decided to use various differnt areas within one location. By doing this we can go to more sinister areas within the location for the beginning of the video and then to lighter, nicer areas of the park for the second half of the video. This will allow the atmosphere to change dramatically without the location changing as such.

We thought this scene could be used at the very start of our video. The very first scene we wanted to create is the spinning scene. This scene would be ideally set here because it has a good background, incorperates the nature side of the video and also has a lot of open path space that would make the spinning easy/safe.

Since the park is very built up with trees, we thought this would be particularly good for when we are filming the sinister scenes, the dark trees automatically connote a sinister atmosphere so this would be perfect for this scenes.

Whilst exploring the area, we decided that this specific space would be ideal for the end of our video when the model runs past the camera in slow motion. The open path means there is plenty of space and also means the model can run around the corner so the blur effect we use makes the model appear as though she has disappeared.

Throughout the video we plan on adding in a number of different 'nature' scenes. We thought that we could film a 'pan' effect with the camera so that we are filming the sinister tree line which would go very well in our video because it takes in the nature side as well as the sinister theme.

Above are some photographs we took of possible locations for various scenes in our music video. Depending on the time of day, the weather and the effects we put on the clip we can change the atmosphere that is projected to audiences. After exploring the location we have decided we will definitely use it for our music video.

Alternative location - Beach location

This scene could also be used for the nature side of the video. A scene of the waves in slow motion or possibly of the whole beach sped up. Similarly, the model could be seen standing in the shallow of the sea, looking out over the horizon.

This photograph shows the largest part of the beach which I see as a bit of a blank canvas. The wide stretch of the beach could allow us to film a variety of scenes and manipulate and edit them in order to create the effects we want.

Although we were quite set on using the park/forest location for the music video, we thought we would explore other possible locations so that we were sure we were getting the best location and so our video was the best we could create.

Alternative location - Corn fields

This photograph shows tracks made in a corn field, in one scene we wanted to create, we wanted to have the model walking through the fields, running her hand along the top of the corn. Similarly, we could also film the model running through the corn fields or lying in the corn fields.

It would also be good to take a shot of the model standing in the corn fields from far away. Making the model appear lost which connotes the naive and vunerable characteristics of the model. Having a scene similar to this also allows us to take in the nature side of the video that we want to project and bring into the video.

The video could include scenes like this with the branch blowing in the breeze which would bring in the nature aspect of the video. This could symbolise the change between the negative and the positive atmosphere in the video.

Above are some photographs taken in a corn field. Although the location seems a little plain and not a typical location for a music video, but it provides lots of space and different ideas for the music video scenes whilst also heavily bringing in the nature aspect of the video that we wanted to create. The location also provides us with the potential to make the scene sinister or not which is important for our music video.

Conclusion

Despite the fact we thought it was important to explore alternative locations to make sure our video was going to successfully connote the different atmospheres and emotions running through the song, once we had analysed the different locations, we decided that the location we had originally picked (the park/forect location) was the most suitable for out music video. It allowed us to easily project the nature side of the music video whilst also allowing our audience to detect the emotions and actions of the model easily. From this, we will build our video around the location and create a more specific plan using location photographs.