Mise en Scene plans

The song we have chosen is Ladykiller by The Saturdays, a typical pop song that's very upbeat and the lyrics are extremely catchy. In this post, we are going to talk about how we plan to use Mise en Scene to portray the Pop Genre.

The first scene is set and located in someones dining room. For this, the lighting will be dim and low-key. We will have lit candles around the outside of the table and off-camera which will give a feeling of formality. This will go with the slow, classical music that will be playing during the introduction of the music video. The boys will be dressed in shirts to continue with the formal theme and the girls will be dressed in dressy casual wear and bright colours to link to the pop genre. The girls will also have their hair curled which goes with the party and pop theme and their make-up will be subtle and we will also be using wine bottles and wine glasses in this scene to continue with the formal theme.

 

In the second scene, set in the bathroom, the pop music will begin playing. Here, we plan to use the torch in order to make the shots bright and vibrant. In this, the girls will be in the same costume but will be putting on heels later on. This links to the pop genre of the song because heels are said to be party wear. In the shots of the girls in the bathroom they will be applying more make-up, a key prop in this scene, such as bright red lipstick because pop relates with bright colours.

The third scene will be of the girls standing in front of a plain wall lip-syncing to the song. Pop is usually associated with big, bright coloured lights so we are planning on turning off the lights in the room and only using the torch as a source of lighting. With this, we will be using the golden cover on the bounce board to create shadows of the girls and give them a golden glow on their faces. They will have a costume change when it comes to this and they will be dressed in party wear like dresses or skirts. They will have bold and bright coloured make up on which will go with the pop genre.

For the fourth scene we will be filming in different parts of Cambridge. We plan to film in parts that are well-lit by street lamps and shop lights although in some cases we may need to use the torch to increase the brightness. The girls will be in the costume that they are going to be wearing in the first scene along with heels and their big, bold make up. Again, linking with the whole pop/party Genre.

Story Board

A key aspect of the planning of our music video is storyboarding. Although our drawings for each shot aren't very detailed, we understand what is going on in each of them. It is important we finish the storyboards before we film so that we have an idea of what footage we need to get, what order we should take it in, etc. If we were to get to our chosen locations and begin filming without a storyboard we would not know where to start. We would either have to improvise and therefore possibly end up missing out a lot of footage or plan on the spot which would waste a lot of time. 

From both our storyboard and shot list it is obvious that one key point of Goodwin's Analysis that we are focusing on is selling our artists. This is obvious due to the many close-ups we plan to get of the girls or the many shots that will focus on them rather than the boys that are chasing them. 

The movement in a lot of our shots will be of the girls and boys running which links the lyrics with the visuals as part of the lyrics are 'ladykiller oh run, run, run.' These shots will be placed in between footage of the girls lip-syncing. By going back and forth from footage of the narrative side and the performance aspect will help to keep the audience interested for the duration of the music video.

Shot list (typed up)

Shot Number	Shot Framing	Action	Info
1	Medium Tilt Shot	Shot from table corner of the two girls	Pete’s house, wine, dresses
2	Medium Tilt Shot	Shot from table corner of the two boys	Pete’s house, Suits, wine
3	Medium Tilt Shot	Shot from table corner of the two girls
4	Extreme Close Up	Typing text message to other girl	iPhone
5	Medium Close Up Cut in	Girl looking at text message on Iphone	iPhone
6	Medium Tilt Shot	Shot from table corner of the two girls
7	Medium Tilt Shot	Shot from table corner of the two boys
8	Tracking Shot Medium Close Up	Girls get up and walk away
9	Medium Shot	Girls walking through doorway
10	Reverse Shot from previous High Angle	Walking down hallway and opening door	Door
11	Reverse Shot Medium Shot	Entering Bathroom (Girls)
12	Medium Close Up	Mirror Shot of Girls	Mirror
13	Pov shot	Girls picking up Makeup	Lipstick makeup
14	Close up	Girls applying makeup	Makeup
15	High angle close up	Girls putting heels on	Shoes
16	Medium close up	Getting ready to climb out window
17	Medium shot (high angle)	Climbing out window
18	Extreme close up	Olly looking confused/impatient
19	Extreme close up	Peter looking confused and looking at watch	Watch
20	Close up	Watch ticking by	Watch
21	Medium shot	Boys opening door and pointing at girls as they run away
22	Long shot (fade)	Girls running away
23	Medium shot	Peter falling over
24	Over the shoulder	Boys spot the girls in town
25	Medium Zoom Out	Boys running down the Road
26	Over the Shoulder	Girls running down the road with boys close behind
27	Tracking Shot	Running across mill road bridge
28	Tracking Shot	Running across parkers piece
29	Medium Shot	Brianna singing against white wall
30	Medium Shot	Siobhan singing against white wall
31	Tracking Shot	Boys crash into each other
32	Medium Shot	Peter/Olly hit head against a pole	Pole
33	Medium Shot	Olly falling into a bush	Bush
34	Medium Close Up	Olly getting angry
35	Wide Angle Shot	Boys chasing in background
36	Extreme Close Up (Tracking Shot)	Feet running	Shoes
37	Close up	Feet running right
38	Wide angle	Boys running
39	High angle	Girls running down, boys following
40	Wide angle	Girls singing in town
41	Cliose up	Individual girl singing
42	Close up	Individual girl singing
43	Close up	Both girls singing

A vast majority of the shots we are planning on getting are where the girls are going to be the focus of the shot such as the close-up of the girls applying make-up. Even in those shots which the boys will be in too, the girls will be the focus of those shots. For example, we are planning on placing on tripod in the road and filming a wide-angle shot of the girls running towards the camera being chased by the males. By choosing to film running towards the camera helps the audience to focus on the girls as they will be in the shot first whereas if we filmed a wide-angle of them running away, the boys would be the last in the shot but would be the focus as they will be in the foreground. We are planning to put the focus of our music video on our two stars in order to link to a point from Goodwin's analysis, selling the artist.

Choosing the music for our introduction

We have planned on having a short introduction before Ladykiller track begins playing. This is to give our audience an insight on the narrative which will be carried throughout the duration of our music video.

Classic music is stereotypically thought to be for the older generation and has connotations of being 'dull.' So to give the audience the impression of the 'boredom' the girls were experiencing at the dinner party, we had thought about about creating a short soundtrack on GarageBand with classic instruments such as a piano or harp. As we wish to portray the girls as young, rebellious, care-free and energetic, something that would definitely not be shown through the use of classic music.

There were some sounds in GarageBand that we contemplated using but that we chose to look for existing classical soundtracks. One that came to mind was Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and John Coltrane. If we choose to use this, we could use the beginning of this track when it is just the piano alone.

We also researched into similar tracks and found Everytime We Say Goodbye by Chet Baker. We particularly liked the music after 1.10 when the trumpet is introduced to the song. This track would be good to use during the introduction as it's slow paced. It will give the impression to the audience that the girls are experiencing boredom at this dinner party and want to escape and go out.

We looked into songs with harps used as harps are linked with classical music. By using a track that incorporates a harp playing will give the audience the idea of a calm and delicate atmosphere at the dinner party, one that does not interest the girls and as a result, they want to get away. Here is one that particularly stood out to us.

We have chosen to use Kind of Blue because it gives an vague insight of the star persona that we wish to convey, that the girls are rebellious and care free. We feel that the harp track was too delicate. We also feel it goes better with the footage we had taken for the introduction.