Make up

For the character who played the dead woman I was trying to make her look as pale as possible, I tried two things. Firstly I tried the most palest foundation, however this did not show up on camera when I did the test shots. Secondly I mixed talcum powder and water together, this did not work very well, the powder kept flaking of and also it did not look realistic as the skin tone on her neck was an extreme contrast.

Cosumes and Props (Images taken from google)

This is not the exact nighty that the character wore in my video, however it is very similar. When planning what characters would wear I thought it would be a good idea to make the character who is dead wear a nighty, I think that it helps to reflect that the body is lifeless, the nighty was very lose and therefore allows it to blow in the wind which I feel gives a very haunting effect.

 These are not the exact pajama bottoms that were in my music video, however they are very similar. I wanted the character who was wearing the nighty to only wear that, however it was a very cold day and therefore we had to make allowances, this meant that the pajamas bottoms were used, reflecting on this I do not feel that the costume change damaged the representation of the character.

This is similar to the coat that the character wore in my video, I thought that the purple would add mystery to the video, also because it was quite a dark purple it didn't make her stand out. 

I used a diary in my video where one of the characters wrote the lyrics. My Grandfather owned a diary very similar to these in the pictures, it was perfect because the pages looked very old and tainted, I feel that this added to the theme.

In one scene I used red lipstick to write on the mirror, I chose red because as it reflects the theme of death and also it was clearly visible on the mirror.

Character review

 These are the two characters that I used throughout my video. They are both my sisters which was very helpful for me as I knew what their schedules were, so I knew when they were available.

The first image is of my Annie, she was a drama student at school and is very talented in performing arts, So when I envisioned the character I knew that Annie would be perfect for it. Both Annie and I had a discussion about the character I shared my ideas with her that the character was going to be a woman who had died but had come back to haunt her murderer, I described the character to Annie as being very scary, mysterious, dark and lifeless, Annie was able to interpret these ideas and act them out as she thought accordingly. 



The second image is of my sister Charlotte, she is currently doing a
masters at university and at times can be difficult to get hold of, however she had come back for Christmas and agreed to take part in the filming. Unlike Annie Charlotte has not had any acting experience, but Annie was able to guide Charlotte through it. Charlotte was a very good actress throughout the film as she was able to interpret what I wanted her to do, she also had some very good ideas as to what she wanted her character to be like.

Location shots (Images taken from Google)

Here are some location shots at Mapledurham church. As the theme in my video was death I thought that it was important to include scenes with the church and also in the graveyard. The location was very good to use as it fitted in with my theme, there was good use of space and also it was very assessable. When looking at the grave yard I noticed that there were different types of graves and also some were at different time periods, I thought that this could be something that I could entwine in my video. 

When planning where I would film my video, I did some exploring around the area and found that there were a lot of country roads, in my story boarding I had already envisioned filming through country roads and paths and these were perfect for the video. 

This is another angle of the church, I did not capture an image of the gates that enable access  to the church, but if I had taken this photograph from a further away I would have been able to, however as soon as I saw these gates I knew I wanted to use them as they were very rusty and captured the theme of my video.

 The image below is of the inside of the church, when choosing my location for my video I thought that I might incur some problems with filming in certain places, however once I had decided that this location was the right one I asked permission from the Priest a week before hand, I told him what day, what time I would be coming and roughly how long it would take. When I went to visit the church for the first time I noticed how dark the lighting was, even when it was daylight, this planning was very beneficial to me as I was then able to find extra lighting equipment.

Filming schedule

Saturday
3.30p.m- After organizing props and equipment was ready to leave the house

3.45p.m- Arrived at the location, light going very quickly so decided to do church scenes

4.15p.m- Finished church scenes

4.15p.m- The lighting was going down quickly, however the skyline was very good and had lots of purples and oranges so I decided to film a scene where there was an abandoned structure, I hope that I have achieved a lot of panning shots and have included the effects of the sky.

4.45p.m- Decided to finish filming as the lighting had gone too dark, have to postpone until tomorrow.

Sunday
10.00a.m- Left the house ready to begin filming again

10.20a.m- Set up camera and began filming the graveyard scene as the lighting was perfect- however was very windy.

11.00a.m- Filming of the country lanes- I did not think these lanes would have many cars coming through however it was quite busy and became quite problematic as I wanted to video my characters walking in the center of the road. I did eventually achieve this it was just a matter of being aware of cars coming from a distance.

11.45a.m- Characters running through fields scene- do not think that I will include these as I was holding the camera and the wind was strong, the videoing is very shaky and does not look professional.

12.00a.m- Went back to the house and decided to do indoor scenes i.e. writing on the mirror and diary.

Weather Forecast

This is the weather forecast for this weeks weather, I am hoping to film my video on the Saturday and the Sunday because it says it wont rain. I work on Saturdays and finish at 3pm so will have to be very quick to make a head start on my video before the light goes in.

Getting ready to film and filming

Here is a picture of me getting my characters ready, as I was trying to portray that she was dead, I was trying to make her as a pale as possible. I was glad that I tested this makeup out, as it did not work, there was a dramatic difference in her other skin tone.

This is me filming in the church, I did face some difficulties here as the lighting was so dark, however, there was a setting on the camera which enabled the camera to capture the film. 

In many of my scenes I am filming in a grave yard. In many of Ben Howard's videos and also in Birdies there were shots of characters walking by, I wanted to recreate this in my own video. I

This is a further shot filming in the grave yard. 

Storyboard

Plan for storyline

Basis idea that there are two characters throughout the whole video. One of the characters is dead and the other is a woman who murdered her but feels very regretful about it. The story will portray how the dead woman haunts the woman on a daily basis, but also reflects how the murderer feels awful about what she did.  The video will neither show or indicate how the women was murdered.

Birdy brainstorm

Birdy target audience

Birdy Help The People analysis

The beginning of this video is so effective, the video has been slowed down when they are videoing on the bridge, this already sets the mood as it is very calm yet shows the vulnerability of the people on the road. The video then jump cuts to Birdy on the bus, this is a close up and captures her lip syncing, this is shows that her video will also contain performance based aspects. The use of lip syncing throughout the video emphasise Birdy's opinion that the people need help. The video captures characters that fit into the narrative this helps the audience to follow along, the video slowly cuts to these stories. This is especially effective in the chorus as it shows a a variety of different people, all from different backgrounds and situations, but the use of the characters adds to the meaning of the song, that all these people need help.
Throughout the video there are scenes where reflection is mirrors have been used, this is very effective as it captures the vulnerability of the characters from a different aspect, perhaps this shows how other people in the world see them. The busy town that has been used in the video helps to emphasise the vulnerability of the characters, they are small characters living in a towering and powerful world. The simplicity of this video adds to the meaning of the song, everyday people have been captured so it portrays the majority of citizens which allows the audience to follow along at ease. Like Shelter Birdy's costume is very simple and can be related back to her age, the costume ties in to the relaxed and calm theme, helping to emphasise the idea of normal every day life. The video has been converted into black and white, this almost implies danger and and sadness, this then links back to the lyrics of the song that there may be danger coming and to help the people.

Birdy Shelter analysis

At the beginning of the video it captures a close up of Birdie's hand, this enables you to see the reflection of the branches, already this creates a very haunting and dark mood. The video then moves onto a mid shot of Birdy walking through the woods, here you are able to see the clothing that she is wearing, her dark clothing also adds to the haunting effect as she contrast with her natural surroundings make her stand out. As the video is conceptual based and includes lip syncing the simple clothing reflects the age of Birdy, which draws the audience into the song. Throughout the video mid shots have been used to capture the lip syncing, this is very effective as it allows the audience to still see Birdy's expressions but also her surroundings, this enables the haunting effect to be carried out. Early on in the song a mid shot is used to capture Birdy looking round anxiously, this was also very effective as it represented that she is very vulnerable, this is then further emphasised through her clothing as she contrasts with her surroundings. As the video is also performance based it has scenes where she is playing the piano this caught through a close up, the piano music is synced to the track, by using this performance it enables the audience to be included in the haunting theme as the piano is kept in the same house where Birdy is filming. Throughout the video the natural lighting is used to create a theme in scenes, for example, when Birdy is playing the piano the sunlight streams into the window making the image over exposed, again this shows how vulnerable she is. 

Throughout the video Birdy is portrayed to be very vulnerable, her surroundings help to emphasise this, for example, when she is in the woods and the tall trees tower over her. Another example of this would be the long shots of Birdy by walking in the beach, it shows nature to be over powering whilst she innocently walks around in her dark clothing. The general pace of the editing is quite slow and runs very smoothly, this is so it can keep in time with the song, however whenever the song gets to the chorus the editing will become much faster and flick to previous shots, i.e. the piano, or running through the woods. Throughout the video there have been some out of focus shots, i.e. when Birdy is staring at her hands, this again shows her vulnerability, the natural lighting that streamed in this shot was also very effective as it emphasised the chilling and haunting theme.