Storyboard

Due to a number of complications in the preparation for filming our music video (such as the unavailability of actors etc.), our group has had more time to develop a much more detailed storyboard. Hopefully this will work in our favour in the long run, as this should in theory save us time when we actually get round to filming, in that we should know exactly what shots we want and how we want to shoot them.

We have spent a number of lessons drafting ideas in various formats, such as large brainstorms and sketches of ideas:

This is the final storyboard that we have come up with:

PITCH:

We have decided to go for a music video consisting primarily of narrative. After changing our song choice, we also changed our attitude to which we approached the songs - we didn't feel that entirely obeying the generic conventions and creating a stereotypical video would have been very effective. With this in mind, we tried to put a different spin on the typical theme of love and relationships which is so common throughout this genre.

We decided to approach the theme in a humorous light, as opposed to the conventional serious, deep and meaningful approach often associated with this kind of genre.

The main premise for our video is about a relationship gone wrong. It centres around a couple who are clearly unhappy with their relationship. As the artist is a female, the narrative focuses mainly on the females point of view in the relationship, thereby creating some form of cohesion between the lyrics and the visuals. We aim to make the majority of the video in some way illustrative of the lyrics, however these types of visuals can become boring very quickly, so it is not an approach we will use religiously throughout the whole video.

Our video will start with shots of the couple in the morning, both clearly unhappy with their relationship. It then follows them through a trip to the park - a place which it is implied holds a number of happy memories for them. Throughout the video, the female actor will have flashbacks to a happier time in the relationship - for example, spinning around in the park and playing on the swings. We aim to make these quite over-the-top and stereotypical, in order to create a humorous effect, whilst also playing on the conventional themes of youth and innocence in this genre. We hope to create a clear divide between the present day and the flashbacks,which is something we will convey through body language and facial expressions, as well as the use of framing, lighting and costume:

In the modern day, we will use framing to illustrate the divide between the two, keeping them as close to the opposite edges of the frame as possible, thereby implying a separation between them emotionally as well as physically. In the happier flashbacks, the characters will be closer together in the frame, portraying the closeness in the relationship. The frame will be much fuller, and there will be less gaping empty space.

Lighting in the happy flashbacks will be softer, and perhaps a little more romantic. We aim to utilise natural light as much as possible, playing on the stereotypical theme of a love for nature associated with the folk genre, whilst also using the common connotations of happiness and brightness associated with strong natural sunlight. The scenes from the modern day will be comparatively darker, thereby suggesting the darkness in the relationship.

We will need a minimum of two sets of costumes, playing on colour connotations to portray the mood - i.e. darker colours such as blacks and greys for the unhappy modern day, and brighter colours such as reds, oranges and yellows for the happier flashbacks. We will also use costume as another means to portray the genre, as we will decide outfits that would be easily recognisable as belonging to a particular fashion.

The video ends in the modern day, with the couple coming back together having been separated throughout the video, suggesting a reconciliation between them. This is also illustrative of the song's closing lines, "But I know even in darkness, we're more than friends" - we are translating 'darkness' to represent the unhappiness in their relationship, thereby suggesting that they are coming together again with the line 'more than friends'.