Filming - Day one

This post is about our first day of filming, which took place on 29/12. On this day of filming we were taking footage of the shots of the singer singing, which were originally designed to be straight on shots in very bland settings, ideally with shallow focus. On the day, we realised that using the 50mm f/1.8 lens we could achieve a very shallow focus, with good telephoto footage, and use the focus to create interesting effects.

We discovered that focusing the lens at a shallow depth of field in front of lights or LED's, the lights showed up as circles in the picture, which looked great and we decided was an aspect that we would want to include in our production. We set up the filming set in my cellar, having the D5000 on a tripod at about eye level on one side of the room, with the subject, the singer (me) half way down the room with christmas lights arranged and stuck to the wall on the far side. Due to the random colour arrangement of the lights and also the colour of the wall, we decided the footage would look better if we filmed it in chromo-tone. This allows for a contrasting set of shots tone-wise, as well as cancelling out the garish colours which were in shot before.

The pictures below shows our set up of the filming. We had to make full use of the space provided to A) get telephoto footage of the subject as to make it look more professional, as well as B) getting enough space between the subject and the lights in ratio to the space between the subject and camera, as to make the focus shallow enough to make the christmas lights appear as circles on camera. We also needed to arrange lighting properly; we had one overhead light and this provided enough light in shot to make it appear bright enough to come out properly on screen. It also provided enough base-light as to not make the shot appear too high contrast, and bringing out enough of the subjects face which the directional light did not. The directional light we used to put enough lighting on the singer's face, as this is the focus of these shots and to not light it properly would have a negative impact on the composure of the image.


The picture below is a screenshot of the footage we took. We decided to have the subject on the left hand side of the frame, as the negative space served for composition as well as allowing a place for the out of focus lights to take up in the frame.


Overall, the day was a success, as we recorded quality footage and we became more familiar with the camera we are using as well as the lenses, and so we are better prepared for future days of filming.

Storyboard

For our storyboard we have attempted to create the most accurate plan of what our production will turn out like. We have done this to create visually what the product will turn out like, as a document to refer to when filming the video.

In creating the storyboard, I decided to arrange the shotlist so that each shot gives an accurate description of the framing, lens used as well as camera movement, and the song lyrics which are sung during the shot, as to inform the vocalist what to sing as well as to make editing easier. As it is a rock video we are filming, we realise a general convention is to have many fast paced shots, and so our storyboard is approximately 110 shots long, but might change either way during the editing stages.

The picture below was taken after the filming of these scenes, and we had crossed them out to show that they had been filmed, a necessary process when doing so many different shots.

Textual Analysis Summary

Through our research and analysis of other, similar media texts we have been able to identify some common themes and factors which we have identified as being prevalent throughout the 'emocore' genre.

The first, and probably most obvious feature is the expression of deep, previously with held emotion which seems to explode from both the band, with deep, heartfelt lyrics, which are at times screamed for emphasis and the narrative characters, who often find themselves oppressed or isolated from those around them. These characters seem to have, prior to the video, bottled up all emotion, in some cases taking it out on themselves, such as in the video for 'Numb' where evidence of self harm is shown briefly, before an outburst of emotion during the climax of the song, for example in the video for 'Rooftops' where the characters all scream to the point where it smashes objects around them.

This build up of emotion is further shown in the introversive nature of the narrative characters, who are often portrayed as being alone, or being unable to communicate with others around them. This is a way in which these videos heavily relate to their target audience of emotionally unstable teenagers, by mimicking the more generic aspects of their behaviour, meaning that they can all relate to it on some level.

Stylistically the videos are often very dark, often with low key lighting, to reflect the low mood the song is portraying. The band playing are also often dressed very plainly in dark colours, with the singer wearing something brighter or different to make them stand out from the rest of the band and help build up an image that the record label can use to sell the music to an audience, as building up an image of a band or artist is an important part of this process. This idea is best shown in the 'Rooftops' video by Lostprophets.

These videos also seem to use a lot of handheld and shots that involve some kind of movement, be it panning or craning shots. These shots seem to make the video flow along with the tempo of the music, this idea is further shown by the cutting used in these videos, with there being a lot more, faster cuts made during the chorus' and climaxes of the songs.

Even settings are used as an aid in the portrayal of the emotional message or as a way of reaching out to a target audience. This is best shown in the videos for 'Numb' and 'Streetcar' which are both set inside schools, which instantly stands out to a teenage audience as they find themselves in a similar environment for at least five days a week. Furthermore the video for 'Numb' uses this to further push across it's message of isolation and social rejection by having shots of the world around the main narrative character moving in fast motion, while she remains at normal speed, separating her indefinitely from the rest of the crowd within her school. The video for 'Streetcar', although not showing a typical school environment as it is mostly desolate with only a few characters present (which can still link to feeling isolated) does still link the school environment with negative emotions as it has shots of aggression between a female and male character, which, it can be assumed is to do with the male character betraying the female. These videos also shatter any preconceived, idealistic view of a school being a friendly and pleasant environment that all pupils will be able to learn well and be happy in, which may be an ironic look at the general public view of schools and the education system.

British vs American Music

It has been seen in recent years, that while American music has sold very well both in America and over here, British music has failed to make much of an impact on the American scene. This differs much from the 1960's, when british music such as The Beatles heavily influenced the American music scene and arguably started off today's musical culture. It is easy to see this shift by looking at the top selling singles charts for both nations, Britain appears to have a mix of both home grown and American talent where as the American charts are more or less dominated by American artists. This is the case even more so in the modern rock charts, with the very Americanised rendition of popular rock dominating the charts. It would be unfair to argue that the quality of music is better across the atlantic although the catchy riffs and deep, expressive lyrics of the 'emocore' genre originated over there. The has been evidence however, of british bands such as Funeral For A Friend and Lostprophets taking on these characteristics and thus expanding the genre to include original British artists using the 'emocore' characteristics to reach out to an otherwise American dominated area of music and audience.

It has been argued that the reason British music is no longer as popular over the atlantic is due to the capitolist nature of the American media at the moment, with members of the American public having learnt from the media to fear or reject anything foreign and only accept things they believe to be wholly American. On the contrary some British bands have been able to be somewhat successful in America in recent years, one of which being Lostprophets, who on one of their most recent records "Liberation Transmission", borrow heavily from the 'emocore' genre, and have successfully broadcasted their music over to the ever growing 'emocore' audience in America, where the genre began.

British bands do also often deal with issues in their lyrics that are very British, such as our politics or society, which is the main argument given as to why Britpop never really took of in America. 'Emocore', however draws solely on emotion and experiences generalisable to people in any developed country, such as loneliness and heartbreak, which may be why bands such as Lostprophets have found some success with American audiences.

Location Scouting

As we draw to a close with our pre production research, we are in the process of gathering all the information we have found and putting it towards our planning.

One factor we identified as a crucial aspect of how our production would turn out is the locations we used for filming. We have realised through this that in order to acquire quality shots at stylistic locations we need to do recce's (location scouting) of possible locations, assessing their lighting, accessibility, room for camera movement and style.

We plan first to go around our school, assessing possible locations around it. The reason why would prefer to shoot in school is because then actors would be easier to organise, and gear (amps, drum kit) would be easier to move to the shooting location.

As we assess each of the locations, we plan to film them and produce short clips on their pros and cons. The different band shot locations we need to find are:

• The protagonist's room: This is the room in which the main character is thinking and reflecting, and later on in the video thrashing around and throwing around paper and other things. We envisage this room as fairly plain, with stacks of work to do all over the room, and the room not being too stylistic as to represent a boring, average looking room which only represents work and everything the teenager should be. This will probably be either mine or Will's room, for the sake of practicality.
• The band shots location: This is the place where most of the video will take place, and as such this needs to be a really stylistic, spacious and well lit place. Naturally, with zero-budget and strict limitations as to where we're allowed to go, the room will not be perfect, nevertheless we're striving to find the closest to it possible. We are in the process of finding a room which we can make completely dark aside from strong lights on the band, as to create an emo-style feel to it, as well as having the band well lit enough for good quality footage. In these shots especially we identified lighting as a crucial subject in terms of the overall quality of the band shots, and so this is something we feel the need to focus on. We want to get as much portable lighting in as possible, as to create interesting effects with shadows, putting them behind the band for optical flare, amongst other things. We do not have many locations in mind for these shots, but as a compromise to a stylistic room we are thinking more along the lines of some kind of hall that we can light ourselves.

Edit- 20/01: We recognised lighting as a potential problem in filming in a large hall, as we would be providing domestic lighting which would not be sufficient in creating enough light in a room of that size. We thought as an alternative that we could use the sports hall of our school, and have all the lights on. This option would provide most (if not all) of the lighting we would need to film sufficiently. This option would also allow for shots to include the markings on the floor, as well as basketball hoops in the background, as to really enhance the 'high school' theme which significantly contributes specifically to American 'Emo-core.'

Another option is to light just the middle row of lights. This would allow for more stage-like footage, possibly giving a rundown edge to the 'high school' theme, also being more thematic. We could also bring our own light to provide either flare in the background or to illuminate the band more.

• The narrative shot locations: These locations, like the protagonist's room, we envisage as representing everything society expects the youth to be (within the ideas of this song/video), specifically dull, boring, average etc. For these locations we are going to use public streets, footpaths and suchlike locations. We want these to look grey, but also be well lit and colourful enough for good looking footage. If possible we want to avoid having civilians in these shots, as to emphasise the fact that the protagonist is imagining these happenings, and they are fragments of his imagination. The shots where the protagonist is running to where the band shots are will also be of this nature, in contrast to the main character who is in a state of utter distress and running through the various surroundings in desperation.

In a further post, we will put together a video with the locations we have scouted out, analysing them for their pros and cons in terms of style and practicality.

Further Narrative Ideas

Building on ideas mentioned in the previous post about our narrative, we have decided on a basic structure and image for our narrative which is to be intermingled with the band shots we are in the process of storyboarding.

The narrative will be based around a single male character, probably played by myself for convenience of not having to organise more actors and trying to explain the message and style of the video. Some shots will be of this character alone on a bed, looking somewhat distraught and surrounded by work documents which he will scatter and rip up near the climax. Throughout the video we will have a series of close ups of his face where he may be saying the lyrics followed by cuts to the other narrative scene, to make it appear as if they are all in his head. This is the centre point for our narrative and it will be how we display his breakdown, as he is alone and everything surrounding him is getting to him.

For the shots in his mind we have decided to have him singing and sometimes screaming the lyrics (to further convey emotion) to a woman who either was his lover or he has found himself infatuated with while she remains completely oblivious to his presence, as a metaphor for her ignoring his feelings for her.

At one point we intend to have her face him, and then walk straight through him and on to her current lover. We will achieve this by using the after effects editing program on Sim's computer. As the narrative climaxes shots will be cut more frequently to increase the pace until we move to our final shots of the main male character running to the location of the band shots only to find the place empty.

Textual Analysis - Numb (Linkin Park)

I have chosen to research this song and video as they are the embodiment of the sub-culture that is the main target audience for the 'emocore' genre. This song seemingly calls out to those who are sick and tired of being told to conform to societal norms, either by their parents or peers. This is a very 'emo' message to convey, as the target audience of emotionally troubled teens feel that they can relate to it in that they feel those around them try to force them into normality, not allowing them to express their emotional side. This song allows for the conveyance of those emotions in a very powerful manner, with the singer verging on screaming the lyrics in the chorus, which is a popular feature of heavier 'emocore' music. This idea is very much reflected in the lyrics with talk of expectations and 'pressure', also with the singer wanting to be 'more like me and less like you'. The lyrical style is very personal; reading almost as if it is a letter to a parent or peer who the sender is trying to break away from.

Right from the very beginning of the video the main character in the narrative is depicted as being very isolated and alone, with the opening shots being of her alone in what appears to be a very empty city, as if she is the only one there, or she is alone in her own world. This issue is shown throughout the video both at home and at her school or college. She seems to use her art and creativity as an escape from this loneliness and as a way of letting out her stored up anger and other emotion, as is common for people belonging to the target audience of 'emocore' music. This song is easy for members of it's target audience to relate to through this character, as many of them feel as though they are in the same situation. The editing is used to further enforce the idea of isolation, and of being on a different wavelength to everyone else around you when all of the action around her is sped up and sometimes blurred or taken out of focus, while she is left at normal speed, perhaps hinting at a feeling of her current situation getting her nowhere, while everyone around her lives out their normal and care free lives, not noticing her daily struggle. The final chorus sees this characters anger and repressed emotion come to a head as she lashes out at her own creative outlet for her emotion, throwing paint over her own artwork. At the very end she is shown running toward where the band have been playing, only to find them gone and for her to be left alone again to continue in her isolated existence.

The mise en scene for this video varies, with the narrative appearing to be a very normal school or college, with the main narrative character not being dressed hugely differently from other students, perhaps just taking slightly less care over her appearance. I believe this gives the video a certain generalisability, with the school's location not mattering, allowing for audience members to further relate to the video, as it could be something they see happening in their own school. The band shots take place in a what appear to be an empty church, which may be metaphorical in a sense, linking to the lack of faith in everything the narrative character feels, or may be a reference to parents of children like the narrative character, showing, along with other parts of the video, they are to blame too.

The camera work in this video includes a lot of movement, with many pan, crane and dolly shots, especially in band shots or shots that focus solely on the main narrative character. This may be to help convey the emotion with which the music is being played. It also shows the emotion of the main narrative character, with one crane shot moving down and briefly showing the cuts on her arm where she has self harmed, which is an act that is heavily associated with the 'emo' subculture and 'emocore' music. The band shots are clear, giving the audience a clear image of the artist performing, so they can remember them, allowing for a persona to be built up alongside the music that the record company they are signed to can exploit to sell tickets to live shows etc. and make more money. Musically, the editing is similar to other music videos I have seen in that during the melodic verses, shots are often longer, where as in the choruses the editing is sped up, with shorter shots. Although, sometimes in this video instead of speed editing up, the use of speeding up everything except for the main narrative character is used to create a more dramatic effect to accompany the heavier chorus parts.

Things we may take from this video are the showing of the feeling of isolation in our main narrative character and possibly the ending where the main narrative character runs into the location of the band shots to find the place abandoned. We will also use a dolly to create panning shots like the ones usd in this video whee possible.