Locations

I initially had five different location ideas - however, I had not seen any of them in person and I wanted to physically go to all the locations I had thought of before finally deciding where I would like to film my music video. After going location hunting, I eventually found all of the locations that I would like to film my music video at. Out of the five initial locations I had originally looked at, I have decided to use three of them and have also found specific areas I would like to go. When I went to these different locations I decided to take some pictures of the area - however, the images were taken on my iPhone - meaning the quality is not that good. Nonetheless, you are still able to see the location clearly and see everything in the image. Below, I have written a paragraph about each location I am going to film at and have also included some of the images I took on the day I went to visit that certain location. Also, I have described why I am wanting to film at these locations and why I chose to film at them.

Location 1 - Brick Wall In The Loft At My House

The first location that will appear in my music video is a brick wall. When looking for the right location to film at there were a range of different brick wall locations I could possibly film at, but I decided I would like my actor to be sat in front of the brick wall that is located in the loft of my house. I have decided to film at this specific brick wall because there is quite a dark and cold feeling in this location which I feel represents the song and also helps in presenting how the artist feels alone and locked away because she does not know what to do about her relationship. Also, this brick wall is quite dull and broken down which can again help in representing this. An advantage to this location is that it is only based 10 minutes away from my college which means my actor would easily be able to gain access whenever I need her to be available and it can be used even when the weather is bad as we will be located inside. Originally I decided to use a brick wall as my location because it is quite dark and gloomy which again represents this genre, but also it helps in presenting how the artist feels. Everything that will be filmed at this location will include the actor sitting in front of the brick wall while playing guitar and singing while either directly addressing the audience or looking away into the distance. I decided to take some images of the brick wall that I will be filming my actor in front of to present what it looked like and how it conforms to the genre of music I am doing.

Here are my images: 

In these images you are able to see that the brick wall is again quite dull and gloomy looking which is perfect for the mood of my music video. You may also notice that there are a range of different objects in the way - a lot of these objects were originally placed in front of the brick wall until I moved them - however, when it comes to filming in this location I will remove all of these objects away from the camera's view so they do not ruin the mise-en-scene or the concept of the music video. On top of that, I have shown some images of the light in the room - this is the only light source - meaning if I do not have that light switched on then the location will be pitch black - however, I can always cover up the light in some way to get the lighting I want and could get portable lights which I can place in the location I would like them to be. In addition, there are a few dangers when filming in this location as seen in the images - there are a range of wood blocks in the loft and also me and my actor would have to climb the ladder to get to this location - however, I will later make a health and safety grid stating what will be done when it comes to filming in this location and how we will be cautious when it comes to these dangers.

When in this location and taking images I noticed that the images where not as dark as I would like them to be and this had a lot to do with lighting, but I also remembered that when I begin to edit in post-production I will be able to edit the scenes and make them seem darker than they actually are. As I knew I was going to have the cuts darker I decided to take some of these images and edit them on Premiere Pro CC where I was able to make them darker in the way I would like them to be in my music video. Again, these images were taken on my iPhone, so the quality is not that good which also means the colour may not look that good - however, you are able to see how there is a big change in the colour and how it also makes the picture make interesting and appealing to look at - also conforming to the stereotypical conventions of this genre.

Here is a video of the images I edited on Premiere Pro CC:

Location 2 - Humber Bridge Country Park

The second location the audience will see is the woods that is located at the Humber Bridge Country Park. I originally chose to film in the woods because it helps represent the idea of the artist being lost and metaphorically being trapped by her boyfriend as she is unsure on whether it is time to leave the relationship or not because what she is getting out of the relationship is not enough. Again, there were an array of different wood locations I could film at, but this location stood out to me more than all of the other wood locations I have been to as this was mainly because of its size and how hidden the whole of the woods looked. This is very useful for my music video because the artist will be running throughout the whole of the video and if I was only in a small area than my artist wouldn't be able to run to many places and the audience would begin to notice that the artist is running in circles if they see the same scenes every time, so this location was perfect for me especially knowing the fact that it is only 15 minutes from my house so it is easily accessible and at anytime. Following on from that, as these cuts will be filmed outside I will have to keep my eye on the weather to ensure that I will be able to film on a certain day as I will not be able to film when the weather is rainy - however, having dull weather will come as an advantage to me because this is how I want my video video to appear to appeal to the target audience as it will help in portraying the artists emotions. In addition, because of this locations size, it means that when filming we will not easily run into someone else as there are so many different areas to go in the woods - this will also look go on any wide or long shots that I will do as the audience will be able to see that the actor is isolated and has no way out. Again, while I was at this location I decided to take some images so I would remember what the location was like and also to compare to other woods locations I considered filming at.

Here are the images I had taken:

Similar to the previous location I have mentioned, I would like there to be dark and gloomy lighting at this location and in these images you can see that the lighting is darker than what other images will often look like on a sunny day - which was beneficial for me. When I took these image the weather was perfect for me to film as it was quite dull, but there was enough light for me to film in, but also there was no rain. Furthermore, I will also again want to edit the scenes that will be filmed in this location as I will want the dark and gloomy effect and as I know how to do that after practicing on the brick wall images I am confident that I will get the scenes to look the way I want them to. Moreover, the majority of the woods in this location is enclosed which is exactly what I want to help present to the audience how the artist is trapped and alone, but at the end of the video I will want the actor to be free and in the open area - this will be presented in the locations that the images at the end of the slide show display as there is a lot of free space which represents the actors freedom and their decision to leave the relationship. The audience will also see the artist smiling and running away into the distance which will present how the artist is now happy and free in her life.

Location 3 - Green Room (Wyke Sixth Form College)

The last location I have decided to film at is the green room which is situated at my college - my initial idea was to film on a black or white background and I felt as if this was the perfect location to film this at as I had access to all the different lighting which will allow me to create a visual mood which also corresponds with the song. I wanted to film in front of a black/white background because I wanted to be in a simple setting where there would be nothing but the artist to allow the audience to see the artists emotions and understand how they are feeling - this means the audience will mainly be concentrating on the artist, whereas in the other scenes, the audience will be able to see things in the background which may be distracting and take the audiences eye of off the main attraction, which is the actor. This location is easily accessible which is an advantage as it in located inside my college in the media department - meaning I will be able to film any time of the day while I am at college when me, my actor and the green room are all free. The majority of shots that will be used in this room will be close ups, but there will also occasionally be some other shots that will be used to make the scene more interesting. Again, I have taken some images of the location to present what I will be working with when it comes to filming.

Here are the images I have taken of the green room:

In these images you can clearly identify the different lights I will be able to work with when I am filming. When taking these images I did try to change the lighting a bit to suit my needs - however, I was in a bit of a rush and was unable to to get the lighting perfect and in the way I would want it to be - also, the quality is not that good as the images were taken on my phone. Nonetheless, when it comes to filming in this location I know I will have a lot more time and can spend longer trying to figure out the correct lighting especially when I will have my actor there and in the position I want her to be placed in. When I was taking these images I asked one of my friends to stand in front of the white board and from this I was able to see what the lighting was like and how it reflected off of him. By going into this room and trying out the different lights I was able to get a better idea of what I will want the lighting to be like when I am filming, but it also allowed me to see what equipment I will have available to me at the time I will be filming. The main concept of filming in this location is to allow the audience to understand how the artist is feeling as there will be dark lighting to connote her sadness, but also it is a stereotypical convention of Pop Punk. Again, as I said previously, a range of close ups will be used - allowing the audience to see the emotion in the artists face and understand how she is feeling which creates more feeling and emotion for the audience.

Previous Initial Location Ideas

The two other locations I initially thought I could possibly film at is an alley way and a beach. I decided not to film at these locations because I did not want to film in an alleyway as I felt as if it isn't very conventional of Pop Punk as is more of a location that will be seen in a Rap music video. On top of that, I did not like the idea of the beach as I feel that it would not fit in with any of the other location scenes I will use in my music video and it seemed just out of the way compared to everything else. I did not take any images of any alleyways as I knew quite early on that this location would probably not be good for my music video - however, I did get some images of a beach. The beach I went to was in Hornsea which is only about 40 minutes away from my house - meaning if I did decide to film at this location I would have to plan ahead and look at the weather to ensure I would be able to film there instead of wasting 40 minutes to get to the location and finding out it would not be good to film there on that day. These images just present what areas of the beach I could have possibly filmed on if I decided to film there.

Here are the images I took on the beach at Hornsea: