Our Main Characters

After analysing various pop music videos, we found that with most of them the main characters were good looking girls with a sexy love interest. This is mainly because young girls will aspire to look and act like them but also boys will be attracted to them. This is also the case with the main boy/love interest because boys will want to look like them while girls will fancy them as well.
For our main singer we chose Louisa Giardina. She is a very pretty girl with previous modelling experience therefore we knew that she wouldn't be shy in front of the camera and is very photogenic.
For our main boy character/ love interest we have chosen Eugene McIntyre. He is a very good looking boy who we knew would take the acting serious.We have also chosen these two people as they are quite good friends and therefore we hope their friendship and chemistry will come through on camera.

Filming Schedule

When thinking about filming, my partner and I decided it would be best to try and get most of the scenes and filming done in one day and therefore when looking back at the footage we would know what other scenes we need to reshoot and if there was any other scenes we need to add. We had a stroke of luck when there was an inset day where our main characters also had the day off. Therefore we decided to get up early and use the day to our full advantage. We thought it would be best to shoot the fottage in the sequence it would be put in the video.
Tuesday 3rd November
10:30 - bedroom scene. This is when the girl wakes up next to the boy from the night before and is all a bit shocked about where she is. We shoot the same bit a couple of times but from different angles, for example, close up, medium and establishing shot. This is so the audience is interested and wants to keep watching so they find out what she is going to do next. We then filmed our actress getting out of bed and putting on her tights and dress that she had worn the night before. To add some humor, all her clothes, shoes and bag were thrown around the floor so she had to step over obstacles to get to her clothes. She then sneaks out without waking up the boy.
12:00 - road scene. This is when the girl has just sneaked out of the house. She leans her head against the door as a sign of relief that she is out. Again, we wanted to do this is show some humor but to also tell the story. When she is walking down the road she then stops because her phone is ringing. Again, we shoot this scene from many different angles just to make it more interesting. Also we thought about editing we wanted to flick back to shots of the boy who has woke up to find her gone, therefore we filmed him calling her to put in it simultaneously to show the audience it is happening at the same time.
1:00 - boy in car scene. This happens just after she answers her phone and tells the boy in the bed she has left his house. This is when the shot flicks back to the boy looking at his phone and calling her. After she puts the phone down, a boy in a car pulls up beside her and offers her a lift. She smiles and accept and they drive away. This will be filmed from different angles from example inside the car so the audience get a point of view shot.
2:30 - getting ready scene. This is where the girl has got home and she is on Facebook with boys popping up asking her if she wants to go out that night. We have used media intertextuality to relate the to audience. Also it gives the story a twist as the audience don't know who the boy in bed is or who she is going to go out with that night. It then makes the audience question who are all these other boys. It then turns to her in front of the mirror getting dressed, trying to decide what dress to wear and applying make up. There will also be a bit of miming here as we want the audience to know that our main actress is the main singer.
4:00 - break time!
5:00 - dressed bedroom scene. This is when the girl is dressed in the outfit she has chosen and she is dancing round her room. This is a sort of showcase of the artist, where as most of the video has been focused on plot, this scene is more about promoting the artist. She poses on the bed, sings/mimes and dances. These shots will all be put together to make it look quick and interesting.
6:00 - finished for the day!

Audience Feedback

I have put a few questions on my blog to find out what my target audience think of my ideas and whether they appeal. When I put a poll out to find out what genre of music my target audience like, i got a few results, however, pop/chart hits came out on top which then backed up my own view on what genre I should choose. Also when trying to find out who my target audience thought is the most popular female artist at this time, I put a poll on my blog with whom I thought were the most popular female artists. It came out that Pixie Lott and Lady GaGa were the two most popular artists, again backing my view that Lady GaGa would be the best artist to base my music video upon.

Detailed Storyboard

Here is a reviewed version of my first storyboard which is now more clear and detailed...


This will be the first establishing shot of the boy and girl lying in bed together. The boy is lying on his front while the girl is on her back. She begins to wake up.

Birds eye view shot of girl sitting up while boy is still alseep on his front.

Close up of girl biting her lip and looking around. Also looks back to the sleeping boy.

She is then out of the house and there is a long shot of her leaning against the door and then walking down the road.

She then comes closer to the camera and we see she is in the clothes she wore the night before and carrying her shoes and bag.

She stops because she phone is ringing. Close up of her fumbling around to get the phone and then close up of her on the phone to boy.

It then switches to a media shot of the boy woken up in bed to find she is gone. He rings her but she puts the phone down on him.

After she has put the phone down on him, a long shot of another boy in a car pulls up beside her and close up of her getting into the car.

There is then a long shot of her walking back into her own house.

Next is a medium shot of the girl on her laptop.

Then there is a close up on the girl talking to different boys on Facebook.

A boy then asks her "lets go see the killers" which go with the lyrics of the song.

Next scene is over the shoulder shot of her getting ready and applying make up in the mirror.

Medium shot of girl trying to decide what dress to wear. Audience is unknown about where she is getting dressed for.

There is then a break in the music and she poses to the different 'Oh's' in the song. Different variety of shots.

She then reclines in a char to one of the 'Oh's'. Medium shot.

Next is close up's of her miming 'Boys, Boys, Boys.' The chorus after the last verse.

Boy and girl from beginging are now seen medium and close up shots in the car. 'Boys in cars'

He then buys her a drink in the pub and carries it to the table/ 'Buy us drinks in bars'

Medium shot of girl playing and flicking hair infront of the boy. 'Hairspray and denim'

The next 6 choruses 'Boys boys boys' flashing close up of different boys.

The rest of 'boys in cars' are shots of the boy and girl messing around in the car. Medium and close up.

The rest of 'drinks in bars' are shots of different drinks appearing along the bar in time with the beat.

Girl playing with her hair and flicking it for the rest of 'hairspray and denim'

Second from last 'boys, boys, boys' are shots of first boy we saw at the beginging standing against his car from all different angles.

Final 'boys, boys' boys' is the girl and boy getting closer and eventually kissing. Quite a long/medium shot.

And the final shot is a close up of the girl laughing to herself.

Initial Idea for Own Music Video

When my partner and I were given the task of finding a song to do a music video to, we were faced with many problems! For one, we had to decided on a genre, artist and possible setting and prop ideas. After brainstorming a few genres such as hip-hop, house,pop and rock, we decided to choose the pop/chart hits genre. Then we had to decide on a band/ artist of the pop genre and after coming up with a few artsist such as Beyonce, Rhianna, Lady GaGa and The Saturdays, we decided to go with Lady GaGa as she is a popular, unique female artist who is bringing out new songs at this point in time. When we thought about what song we could do the video to, we decided on a song that was not out with a music video therefore it would be easier for us to come up with our own ideas instead of being swayed by the original music video. When it came to thinking of setting and location, we thought that just simple places, such as a bedroom and roads would be most effective as well as convienient. This idea has come from other Lady GaGa videos, as well as the different shots we thought about. We wanted quick, short, snappy shots to keep the audience interested as well as keeping the story line flowing. We also wanted our main 'singer' to mime quite a bit as this is what Lady GaGa does in her videos.
In terms of storyline, we have thought to have the main singer waking up in bed next to a boy, of whom the audience do not yet know. Next we will see her looking hastily around as if she can't remember how she got there. The audience will then see her walking out of his house and then the twist is that another boy picks him up in his car. We will then use media intertextualities such a Facebook and texting to appeal to the audience. We will use this when boys are asking hyer the lyrics such as 'Lets go see The Killers.' This will then go in time with the music. Next will be the scene where she is choosing outfits and applying make up and the audience are still left in suspense about who she is going to meet. After this scene will be the showcase in the bedroom where there will be many shots of the main singer posing, miming and dancing. This is very 'Lady GaGa' esque'. Finally there will be shot of many different boys to show the audience all the different options she has. The twist at the end is that the main singer eventually ends up with the very first boy we see. She is flirting with him in the car and in the pub and this will bring some happiness and shock to our audience.

Defining my target audience

When defining my target audience, there were many things I had to consider. First was the genre of music I was going to base my video on. There were a few choices such as hip-hop, R'n'B, rock and pop. Each of these genres would have a different target audience. I chose the genre pop as I feel as though it would widen my target audience range as the ages can go from 4 - 94! Moreover, I had to also consider the artist and song I was going to chose as this could also affect my target audience. For example, if I chose a boyband, then my video would be more aimed at young girls, however, if I chose a solo female artists, young girls could relate to the artist but also teenage boys would be interested. It is for these reasons why I have decided to choose a popular female artist. When considering the plot, characters and editing aspects of the video, I also had to keep my target audience in mind. With the plot I decided I needed to keep it interesting to keep the audience intrigued, therefore I wanted a clear story in the video. With the characters, I wanted a good looking girl for my main 'singer' to keep the boys interested, as well at the main boy in the video. Furthermore, my target audience will also fall into the categories of geographical and economical status. For example, this video will be very aimed at UK, Western Europe and Australia as they are all very similar. Also the USA as it is a very music orientated country and would love a pop music video to relate to. Moreover, with the social economic groups, I feel our video would be aimed at all social status from group A who are considered to be the lawyers and mangers of society all the way down through B,C,D who are the teachers, nurses, service, builders(white and blue collared), laborers, and finally E, the unemployed and of course students!

Initial Storyboard

Here is just a brief idea of what the plot for our music video could be...

This would be the first establishing shot of our main actress in bed with a boy. The boy is asleep and the girl has just woken up. We could shoot it from birds eye view, long shot and close up.

This would let the audience understand the setting and overall the theme of the video.

The next scene would be the girl coming out of the boys house after she has got dressed, still with no shoes on, carrying her bag. There would be a long shot of her walking towards the camera. To go along with the plot, she would stop and answer her phone.

Next would be the chorus where we would film our main actress miming the chorus, quite close up.

The next verse we would shoot the main actress on Facebook to use media intertexuality to interest the readers. This would be quite a medium shot.

Next would be an over the should shot of the girl in front of the mirror putting on make up and choosing what outfit to wear. There could also be some miming here.

This would be the last verse where the girl would be showcasing herself by posing, dancing and miming. These would be a variation of shots, such as long, medium and close up.

One of the last chorus' would be the boy and girl seen at the begining of the video in a car messing around. Medium shot. To go with the lyrics 'Boys in cars.'

There is a long shot of the boy buying the girl a drink to go with the lyrics 'Buy us drinks in bars.'

The final scenes would be the girl and boy together, with her flicking her hair to go with the lyrics 'Hairspray and denim'. Again this would be a long shot.

Theories of Narrative: Claude Levi Strauss

Levi-Strauss derived structuralism from a school of linguistics whose focus was not on the meaning of the word, but the patterns that the words form. Levi-Strauss's contribution gave us a theory of how the human mind works. Man passes from a natural to a cultural state as he uses language, learns to cook, etc... Structuralism considers that in the passage from natural to cultural, man obeys laws he does not invent it's a mechanism of the human brain. Levi-Strauss views man not as a privileged inhabitant of the universe, but as a passing species which will leave only a few faint traces of its passage when it becomes extinct.

Levi-Strauss also came up with the theory of binary opposites which is: " a pair of opposiites, thought by the Structuralists to powerfully form and organize human thought and culture. Some are common sense, such as raw vs cooked; however, many such oppositions imply or are used in such a way that privileges one of the terms of the opposition, creating a hierarchy. This can be seen in English with white and black, where black is used as a sign of darkness, danger, evil, etc., and white as purity, goodness, and so on. Another example of a contested binary opposition is rational vs emotional, in which the rational term is usually privileged and associated with men, while emotional is inferior and associated with women. The list goes on. Deconstruction sometimes involves identifying the oppositions working in a text and then demonstrating how the text itself undermines the hierarchy implied or asserted by the opposition"