Mise-en-scene and Storyboards

In this blog I will be looking at how mise-en-scene will be used in our music video.

Setting/Location
We have decided to set our music video in Brighton. We have some locations for example along the beach and in some streets in brighton. We have decided to set our music video in Brighton, because it is a city and because our video is about drug taking, it is often known to be taken more in cities than in rural areas and cities are also associated with young people.
This location will appeal to the target audience because our target audience is young people and young people will be more appealed to a modern, city setting, than a rural setting, as rural settings can come across as boring and not really associated with young people, than cities are. Also young people will find that having some of the video filmed on the beach and the pier, it will make the video interesting, as they will find the beach and the pier appealing as I feel these locations are linked with young people.
We will also have some of the music video shot in a TV room, which will just have a white background, with the 'singer' singing into a microphone. We will also have some objects for example playing cards, soft toys etc which will be either dropped over her or will just placed around her and we will also be using coloured lights which will be shone around the room, which will also make it fun and will fit in with the video. From having these shots it will show the singer performing and it will also cut from the other shots in Brighton so that it makes the video more fun and interesting. I decided to take some photographs of some of the locations where we will be setting our music video. The first image above shows Brighton Pier. The second image on the left shows The Lanes in Brighton which will also be a location in our music video.





Costume and make up
The music video will be set in the present day, meaning that the characters in the video will be wearing modern clothing. We will make 'Lily Allen' wear modern clothes, but they are going to be quite scruffy, to show that she looks rough, which shows that she is on drugs and to show that it isn't glamorous.
The make up will be neutral and also quite 'worn' off and smudged to show that she may have been up all night and also to show that she is on drugs, so that she will not take too much care into her appearance.
In Lily Allen's other music video she is often seen as being dressed smartly and in some cases quite girly, but we will be having normal clothes, but they will also be 'different' and will also be quite scruffy and messy looking as she will be on drugs and will not be looking good and by also doing this we will be showing drugs in a negative way, as we will be showing the character as being scruffy and un-tidy and this will also contrast with her other videos.
As we will be filming in Brighton there will be other members of the public, so that we will have other people in the music video wearing modern, everyday clothing, but we will also have our character wearing quite bright clothes so that she contrasts and stands out from the background and other characters.

Use of colour
The colours which will be used will vary. Firstly we want to use bright lights from the pier to show a sense of how she is feeling (drugged) and to make it fun and exciting. We will also use some darker shots, so that it symbolises that drugs are dark and dangerous. Also in the TV room we will be using a white room so that it is simple and it will also make the coloured lighting which will be using show up more and it will make it look more effective.
Unlike other Lily Allen videos, which often use bright colours (for example the video Alfie which uses a very bright colour scheme, which makes the video fun and happy) we will be using in some shots low key lighting and just normal 'daylight' colours (not over the top bright colours) as we want to contrast with Lily Allen's other videos, but we also want to show the mood of the person and because the song is about drugs, it is a serious matter and we wouldn't want to make it fun, by using a bright colour scheme like in the video Alfie. Also by using dark colours in the video we will be showing the audience that drugs are bad, as dark colours are often associated with bad things, whereas bright colours are associated with happy things.
However in the studio room we will be using a simple white background, with bright colours so that it contrasts with the video e..g we will be using coloured lighting, different props etc. This will also make the video fun and it will just contrast with the video as it will not have anything to do with the narrative of the song, it will just be fun for the audience.

Props
The props which will be using will be firstly a cigarette as people are often smoking it can also be associated with 'drug taking'. We will also be using a can of beer, as this can also be associated with drug taking.
We will also take advantage of the other props which may be located around Brighton, as this will show that it is set in an urban setting and may also tell the audience where we are setting the video.
In the TV room part of the video we will be using a selection of diffferent props. Some ideas which we have come up with are for example playing cards, soft toys, confetti etc. we have come up with these ideas as they will make the video fun for the audience, as we plan to have the props being dropped around the performer which will make the video fun and also unusual. By having this part in the video, we will be breaking away from the more serious part of the video (the parts when she is walking around Brighton) and as Lily Allen's videos are quite fun we will be appealing to her target audience, as the video will be fun and interesting to watch and as the song is quite long, it will add something else to watch for the audience which will make it fun and more interesting.

Storyboards

Below are our storyboards, which show the narrative and shots which will be using for our music video.

Above is our first storyboard and it shows the opening six shots of our music video. In the beginning of our music video we want to use some etablishing shots, so that it shows the audience the location. The first shots are on the pier to show the location and then we will have shots of the person (actor) to introduce the artist. The first few shots will be blurry and fast paced so that it is in time with the music and it also shows a 'crazy' and 'hectic' feel to the music video, as we want it to show the person's 'lively' mood as we want to show that she is on drugs. The shots will be of her running around the pier making the background fuzzy and we will also have her spinning round also making the background blurry, so it creates a fast and hectic pace and feel to the video.

Above shows our second storyboard. This is still the first verse of our music video so we will be still using shots of the pier and the character. We will be using a cigarette in this part of the video as it will keep in theme with the video and the character. Also we will be using some close up shots so that we are really able to show her attitude to the audience.

This is our third storyboard sheet. This shows the person on the pier and it shows her buying some doughnuts from the pier. We will be using moslty close up shots to show her face and the doughnut man's face, so we can allow the audience to see their expressions which shows what mood they are in. We will also be using close up shots to view the way in which the doughnuts are made to make it interesting and different.

Above is our fourth storyboard. This part of the song is the chorus, so we are going to cut into a different location where we will have the person performing in a studio room. By doing this we will be making the video interesting as we will be cutting to different shots and we will also be in keeping with the genre of pop, as the artists often mime in other pop music videos. We will be using a diffferent variety of camera movements and shots throughout the chorus. We will have the performer looking very different from how she was looking in Brighton as the person in Brighton is ment to look and messy, as it will show she is on drugs, whereas the performer is just performing the song to the camera.

Above shows our fifth storyboard. This is the beginning of the second verse in the song, so we will be cutting back to the person in Brighton. We will have changed the location to The Lanes in Brighton, so that it makes it seem that she has walked from the pier to the lanes, while the perfomance was taking place during the chorus. We will have a shot of her throwing her empty doughnut bag away which will also show her attiude and it will also show that she doesn't care, as this is the type of character we want to potray.