Newest Footage.

Animatic.

Website Homepage analysis - A-ha

The website is very stylised and a lot of thought has obviously been put into the colouring. The main blog itself uses a black background with white and light blue writing to make it easy for the audience to read.

The header uses an image of the band, a common feature in these websites which stands out due to the strong green colours and all the attention is draw to the lead singer who looks happy, making the audience associate him with happiness.

It is also noticeable that the picture is from an on stage performance rather than any of their videos of photo-shoots. This could be them trying to say that the actual music is more important to them then what fame has got them. This will appeal to people with similar values. Another thing that may appeal to this kind of audience is the designated “Fan area” which would make them feel more included and the page more personal.

They have various links over the page that take them further into the world of the band, such as the newsletter and Twitter, both are which are free for the audience to get included with which would lead them to explore the site more are get more interested with the band. Also by making the newsletter free they inform the fans of the tours and single releases which is where the fans will spend their money.

Another thing they have that a lot of websites do is a music player so that the audience can listen to the songs they are about to purchase to further promote them.

I created a layout plan based on this homepage:

Websites research

I looked around and collected images from the homepages of my previously researched artists. I will be exploring the mise en scene and language of these later on.


Screenplay.

Throughout the video the song is the audio. The video keeps cutting back to the GIRL in the throne room on her own as she sings some of the lyrics.

INT. LIVING ROOM. DAY.

The scene opens with the GIRL sitting in a living room (with neutral colouring if possible) on her own. She is drawing black and white pictures of scenes that will happen later in the video. Many of the pictures are of her. One of the shots should be from a high angle and scan over the pictures as she’s drawing them.

She looks frustrated and drops the pencil before pushing the table away and leaning back. She shows that she’s deep in thought.

The BOY walks into the living room. The GIRL watches him intently; she tenses as he comes to sit next to her on the sofa. He tries to put his arm around her and kiss her on the cheek but she moves away both times before getting up and storming off.

He watches her go but doesn’t follow.

The camera scans back over the pictures and zooms into one of the girl sitting in a throne. It zooms until the screen is filled and the animation begins.

INT. THRONE ROOM. NIGHT.

Animation.

The GIRL is sat on the throne looking sad, barely moving. This scene happens very fast. The room and the GIRL are show before it cuts back to the table with the drawings.

The photos are scanned again before zooming in on one showing a hand holding a flower.

EXT. GARDEN. DAY.

Animation.

The hand holding the flower is revealed to be the GIRL’s. The BOY is shown with her and they both look happy and committed to each other.

The camera zooms out to the table again.

INT. BEDROOM. DAY.

The GIRL runs into the bedroom after leaving the living room. She collapses on the bed and begins crying.

The room should look like it belongs in a fairy tale, extravagant with a four poster bed if there’s a room like this available.

EXT. GARDEN. DAY.

Animation.

The BOY is back in the garden only this time he’s not with the GIRL he’s with the WITCH. She should be dressed in dark clothing and be looking at him more possessively than the girl did. The BOY looks nervous and tries to repeat some of the actions/behaviours he had with the girl but the WITCH react badly and looks annoyed. She pulls him in to kiss her.

INT. BEDROOM. DAY.

The BOY has eventually followed the girl and is knocking on the door of the room. Asking her to come out. The GIRL lies on the bed and pretends she can’t hear him. The Boy looks frustrated and disappointed.

The GIRL continues to cry when the BOY’s phone goes off at the other side of the room. She gets up and goes to look at it.

The screen reads “CALLING: LINDA.” She looks furious and obviously recognises the name. She looks at the door where the boy is still stood unbeknown.

EXT. GARDEN. DAY.

The GIRL is revealed to be watching the BOY and the WITCH together. She walks up to them and slaps him in the face before saying something to the WITCH that offends her. She walks away while the BOY watches her sadly and the WITCH glares at the both of them.

The camera pans down the girl to show her getting the flower out of her pocket. It cuts to a similar shot showing the girl with the phone in her hand instead.

INT. BEDROOM & LIVING ROOM. DAY.

The girl storms out the door and confronts the boy. He steps back out of shock and she marches past him into the living room. He follows her and they begin arguing.

She shows him the phone, telling him what she saw and he reacts defensively. She moves around the table and the pictures are blown onto the floor.

The camera zooms onto the pictures and shows the couple fighting in the throne room like they are in real life.

INT. THRONE ROOM. DAY.

Animation.

The couple are stood in front of the throne fighting when the WITCH storms in. She reaches her hand out and walks towards the GIRL looking threatening. The GIRL backs away from her and ends up falling into the throne at an odd angle. She adjusts herself and sinks back into it. The BOY tries to stop the WITCH getting to her but she simply pushes him out the way.

INT. LIVING ROOM. DAY.

The couple continue to fight. The GIRL says something that seems to hit home with the boy and he pushes past her and leaves. She watches him for a second.

INT. THRONE ROOM. DAY.

Animation.

The GIRL starts to freeze; some effect with the colouring will represent this. The BOY watches horrified but doesn’t move to help her out of fear. The WITCH looks smug and walks out, pushing past the boy while doing so. He immediately runs up to the GIRL and tries to get her to react to him but she doesn’t. He backs away looking distraught.

INT. LIVING ROOM. DAY.

The GIRL looks around the living room before walking up to the table and throwing the rest of the pictures off.

INT. THRONE ROOM. DAY.

Animation.

The BOY watches the GIRL as she slowly looks at him, blaming him. He takes some steps back before walking out of the room leaving her on her own as in the first animation scene. The camera zooms out of the picture from the beginning and back into the living room.

INT. LIVING ROOM. DAY.

She sits down on the sofa, as in the beginning and puts her head in her hands. The scene fades to black.

Digipaks and plans

I researched what the digipaks for the videos I've analysed looked like and created three plans from them. When I shoot my photos for mine I will be able to use these to make sure my digipak fits the conventions.
Plan 1:

Digipaks used in:

Plan 2:

Digipaks used in:

Plan 3:

Digipaks used in:

Location 2: Bedroom.

This bedroom follows a similar to the living room and the girl's costume. It again shows the innocence; also white has connotations of cold which backs up the lyrics "So cold".
The bed is a four poster which are often shown in fairy tales and are referred to as "princess beds". I have a similar window to the living room which is shows in Christmas videos are movies. They are often shown with snow on the ledges which unfortunately I couldn't do as this would have helped with backing up the cold imagery.

Related imagery:
A four poster bed in  a fairytale related setting. Similar to the outside scenes of my video.

A movie poster which uses panel windows to hold snow and show cold.

Location 1: The Living room.

This is my first location, the living room, where most of the non-animation action takes place. I chose somewhere with lots of references and connotations of fairy tales and innocence. When I saw this room it was perfect.

Firstly the sofas are white and so are the walls which match my costume for the main girl in colour and meaning Secondly the sofa goes around the room so I had a choice of which view I wanted behind the girl. I chose the open window with the panels as it allowed more natural light to come in behind her and give her a sort of glow. Also the tree pattern is visible.

Details:
Some of the details in the living room match up to the ideas of fairy tales. One of these things is the pattern on the curtains which not only contain flowers, which I am planning to use in my video to show the couple when they're happy, but scenes from romantic stories with cherubs. These ccurtains will be visible when the girl's dreams are being destroyed so they will make the contrast between stories and real life harsher.

The tree pattern is relevant because when the boy and girl are outside in the animation they're surrounded by trees so it makes the fact that the animation comes from her imagination believable if there are details from it scattered around her home.

Costume 2: Witch.

The witch is dressed in very dark clothing to show how she is the antagonist and has a dark personality. Since that much colour won't be transferable to the animation and this is the only place the witch appears I decided to dress her with the shapes of the clothes rather than the colours. I chose the coat because of the hood as witches in old fairy tales are often shown with cloaks and hoods covering their heads.

The wolf on the front of the dress represents the woman's powers and is the first suggestion that there's a mystical quality about her.

These shoes are big and show power to show the witch isn't delicate or frail. They're dark to match the meaning of the rest of the outfit.

Alternitive dress:

I was going to use this dress but decided against it in favour for the darker one so I could show the difference between the two characters the girl plays with greater definition and contrast. Also the dress I found has blue which matches the coat I chose more.

Costumes 1: The Singer.

This is the costume for the main character. The singer girl. She is the protagonist and one of the two characters that the girl is going to be playing out. (The other being the antagonist, the witch.)
I decided to dress her in neutral colours to connotate her innocence. She is wearing clothes that could fit in in both a modern fairy tale and everyday life which are the two situations that the girl is in.
By choosing a dress with a distinctive pattern on the front also makes her more identifiable throughout the video.

I chose this coat as it looks extravagant and expensive which suits what the women of the hip hop soul genre usually wear in their videos. They wear expensive clothes in an effort to make the audience want to be more like them so they'll buy the song.

Other singers from this genre in similar coats:

Makeup:

I chose to give her very simplistic makeup to carry on the theme of innocence and purity I asked her to use little eye makeup apart from mascara as I'm planning to give the witch dark eye makeup and I want as much difference between the two as possible.

First videos

These are some of the videos I recorded for the main performance scene where the girl is singing the lyrics. This will be animated in the final edits. This will be the scene where she's sitting in the throne room after being cursed singing about what happpened.

New Questionnaire for Market Research

This is an example of the questionnaire I will be sending out to get a more detailed look at what my audience are wanting to see.

Person and Personality –

1. What gender are you?	M	F		2. What age group are you?	Under  12
					12 - 14
					15 - 18
					18 - 21
					Over 21

3. Which of these applies to you?  2 choices maximum

I WANT SECURITY. I am a very domestic person. I tend to conform to trends and like popular things. I would rather spend my money on something practical than something that’s needlessly expensive.
I WANT STATUS. I love looking good. Looks are far more important than other things when it comes to first impressions. I want to be famous when I’m older and nothing will stop me.
I WANT CONTROL. I will work hard to get what I want in life. No one ever got anything good by rushing. A person needs to be organised and efficient if they want to get anywhere.
I WANT CONSISTENCY. I don’t like the way the world has changed, I prefer all the past traditions and values.  I love my family very much.
I WANT DISCOVERY. I am energetic and individual. I like finding out new things and going new places. I don’t like to wait for things and love trying out new brands.
I WANT ESCAPE. I am disorganised because I often daydream. I am a sporty person but don’t enjoy subjects like maths or English. I tend to eat a lot of junk food and drink alcohol.
I WANT INFORMATION. I don’t like buying expensive brands because they cost too much but I know them when I see them. I have/plan to attend university or something similar. I want to grow as a person and get what I want through achievement.

Video and Genre -

My chosen genre is the hybrid “Hip Hop Soul.” Some artists from this genre are:

·         Mary J. Blige

·         Beyoncé

·         Rihanna

·         Mariah Carey

·         And P!nk

4. Based on this information what is your initial impression of the genre?

                             

5. Would you buy a song from this genre?

Y

N

My Chosen Song. "So Cold" by Ben Cocks

Please listen to my chosen song from this genre.

6. What’s your first impression of the song?

  

7. Would you buy it for £0.60?                            

Y

N

8. What kind of colours/pictures does it make you think of?

Animated Videos -

Here are some animated videos:

A-Ha - Take On Me,  

L'éphémère - Alexandre Désilets,

(if you know more that’s great).

9. What’s your opinion on animated videos?

10. What type of style do you prefer? (if possible leave an example)

Other Videos –

11. Which of the shots below do you think looks the best? (tick)

12. Why?

13. Which out of these shots do you think looks the best?

14. Why?

End. (Thank you :D )