Filming: Day 1

Location: School Hall

Most rock and metal genre music video show the band performing so we decided to add this element to ours. Before we even started filming a problem occurred; we had to clear the stage and set up new equipment but with 3 of us it would take a while. Luckily we found friends who would help us.

Costumes: We wanted our clothing to resemble the characters we will be playing later on. So Yaz wore her cats eye contacts; Paul his top hat and me a blue top and a tutu.

We started by filming storyboard number 3, a close-up of Yasmin's eyes and then zoomed out the her face singing; Paul controlled the camera for this as i was sitting on the drums in case i could be seen. Then i filmed Paul for shot number 4; we choose a mid-shot so the bass could be seen. Then Yaz filmed me on drums, we decided to do too different angles to see which looked better, a close-mid shot pan and a long-mid shot shot. We then recored all of us on stage using a tripod we decided to do a long- shot, i then recored Yaz and Paul as a mis-close up lip- syncing the same part of the song they just were. In the editing process we can fit the too together so it cuts between close-ups and long shots to show variety.

Throughout filming we played to song so we could get the timing of the lip-syncing and movements.

Costumes and make-up

Paul-

We have recently made a top hat; as we realised this will be cheaper and the hat would be just the way we want it. It is made from black paper and card and is laminated to add strength. I will later add red ribbon to make it look fancy. Me and Yaz both did Paul's make-up we used white cream face paint, and a selection of coloured eyeliners and glitter. For

evil mad hatter we used red and black eyeliner.

Me- i was able to borrow an Alice costume. My make-up was different shades of blue and was done by Yaz.

Yaz-

To make a cat a suit we bought all in one pajamas and black fur. First we cut the fur into the right shape for a "belly patch" which most cats have. We also added jagged edges as most cats don't have perfect fur. At this point we came across a problem with attaching the fur, the zip of the suit is at the front and if we sewed the fur on Yasmin couldn't wear the costume. We decided to pin the one side and Velcro the other. Finishing touches were a tail safety pinned to the back and ears.

The left side of her face is make-up ideas for the "grudge" style character, this look was achieved with black eyeliner; black eyeshadow and mascara, Then i dripped water on her eye to make it run. The right side and the mouth is the cheshire cat look. The make-up used was eyeliner, liquid eyeliner and pink eyeshadow. The mouth was white cream face paint; a black face paint stick and eyeliner.

Here's a video of us doing a make-up trail:

Lip Synching

As you can see by this video lip synching can effective if done well and enthusiastically. We would like to make our video lip synching look like this song was ours. Yaz will me miming Amy Lee's part and Paul will be doing the male parts and this will help this. The video above is very comically but we would like ours to be as serious as possible but with the same level of enthusiasm.

Storyboard additions.

We wanted to add purpose to our video to why i would fall asleep on a bench whilst waiting for my friends to go to band practice. So we came up with this idea.

My Character( the drummer and alice" has bad hay fever so before going to meet her band the next day, goes to ASDA and buys Piriton tablets and a block of cheese.After taken a tablet we will zoom on the box where it says that a side effect is drowsiness; i will then start eating the cheese. The purpose of this is because you aren't meant to eat tablets on an empty stomach and it is proven that eating cheese before going to sleep leads to crazy and strange dreams. This shot will be placed between shots 5 & 6

"When it came to dream type, it seemed that Stilton caused the most crazy dreams, with 75 per cent of men and 85 per cent of women eating Stilton experiencing odd and vivid dreams.

Examples of these mad dreams included a vegetarian crocodile upset because it could not eat children, and soldiers fighting each other with kittens rather than guns."

This quote is from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-362101/Sweet-dreams-cheese.html#ixzz154HLKI00

We also wanted to add a new character, the caterpillar; we would like him to be a little less serious then in alice in wonderland. We are not sure what he will be doing yet as we would like to still have that freedom but this shot will be placed between shots 7 & 8.

Storyboard

Our storyboard i quite basic and we want to keep it open to allow us the use our imaginations throughout.

1) Shot one will be before the music starts, and will show our characters setting up the camera to record their practice session. This will be an extreme close-up of someone turning the camer on. The movements will be purposely shaky to show they are amateurs and as the character positions the camera properly.

2) This will be a black screen using i-movie and we will add text, we have tried out a few to see which style best fits the tone of our music video, i like the fonts: Organic Main and Pixie Dust. The music will kick in at this point, until the the lyrics start and then itwill move to the next scene.

3) This will be another extreme close-up of Yasmin's eyes; who is acting as the lead singer. This also fits with the lyrics as the first line of the song is "How can you see into my eyes..." It will start on her eyes and zoom-out to her face miming the words.

4) This scene will have a variety of shots and camera angles; from close ups of the bass and mid shots. We hope to add a good transition in the editing process to make it run through smoothly to number 5.

5) Me drumming we would like to make this a fast pan to show what i'm wearing to hint that i'm Alice.

6) A birds eye-view to show me drifting off. This will make it look more interesting and will fit better with me waking up as alice in "Wonderland". There will be a extreme close-up of my eyes opening at the chorus of the song.

7) This will be a long shot and the location will more then likely be west park. When i look around i will sneeze on the flowers and they will die this is kind of a parody of the flowers in the disney cartoon version. The camera angles will change throughout.

8) In this scene my character meets the cheshire cat; we choose to meet the cat first because this is the order in the film. Again this will be a variety of shots.

9) This will use a variety of close ups and mid shots. I meet the Mad hatter. We need to look further into these two scenes to make them more interesting and to get the timing right.

10) There will be a close up of Yaz's face turning into a creepy creature, and the camera will cut to Paul who has already transformed into an evil mad hatter. They start to chase me. Throughout this scene there will close ups of all our faces hopefully while we are running; this will be a challenge but we are willing to give it our best effort.

11) When it looks like i'm about to be caught; i get woken up just in time by Yaz and Paul who i was waiting for.

Permission

We have emailed the record label asking permission the use the song:

If we get a reply that says we can't use the Evanscence-"Bring me to Life" we will change the song.

funding

We have asked our aim higher representative for funding for our coursework. We have sent him a letter but also have emailed him with the letter also attached. Below is the letter we have sent to our aim higher representative :

Dear Mr. Gibson,

Currently we are planning our Media Coursework, the main task of which is a music promo video, and have a problem with making sure it looks professional in terms of funding for props and costumes etc. As you are the Head of the Sixth Form and Aim Higher we were wondering if we could have funding for this work as we need props and costumes and travel in order to achieve the highest grade possible with our concept. As we have had to apply for copyright permissions from the record company, they may need a copy of our final work and we would like to do the song justice, as well as trying to do justice to our true talents!

This is important as our future career choices depends a lot on our success in Media Studies and it would help with our current university applications.

We have estimated the costs to be around £100 but we understand we may not get this and would appreciate as much contribution as possible. If you would like to discuss this further please contact us. Thank you.

Yours Sincerely

Yasmin Khan, Zoe Lloyd and Paul McNamee

Foxley Campus

We are awaiting a response from our representative to achieve our funding.

Characters

Me- I'm the drummer in the band and Alice. I am the main character because drummer don't get much input in most music videos they are only really seen on drums, so we wanted to challenge this. This is my drawing of our ideas for the costumes:

Make up- Alice has quite natural make-up; so to start with i will too; but towards the end my make-up will be heavier and more gothic like i am "turning" too.

Yaz-

Make up- We will use tutorials for inspiration but our end result will hopefully be our own creation.

Grudge style character

We want this character to transform from the cheshire cat when the dream turns into a nightmare.

Paul-

We would like Paul to look as much like the mad hatter as possible; but we would like to still make it our version.

Lyrics and ideas

How can you see into my eyes like open doors

leading you down into my core
where I’ve become so numb without a soul

my spirit sleeping somewhere cold

until you find it there and lead it back home

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside
(Save me)
call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up)
bid my blood to run
(I can’t wake up)
before I come undone
(Save me)
save me from the nothing I’ve become

now that I know what I’m without
you can't just leave me
breathe into me and make me real
bring me to life

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside
(Save me)
call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up)
bid my blood to run
(I can’t wake up)
before I come undone
(Save me)
save me from the nothing I’ve become

Bring me to life
(I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside)
Bring me to life

frozen inside without your touch without your love darling only you are the life among the dead

(all this time I can't believe I couldn't see
kept in the dark but you were there in front of me)
I’ve been sleeping a thousand years it seems
got to open my eyes to everything
(without a thought without a voice without a soul)
don't let me die here
(there must be something more)
bring me to life

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside
(Save me)
call my name and save me from the dark
(Wake me up)
bid my blood to run
(I can’t wake up)
before I come undone
(Save me)
save me from the nothing I’ve become

(Bring me to life)
I’ve been living a lie, there’s nothing inside
(Bring me to life)

These are the lyrics to Evanescence Bring Me To Life; our chosen song. Reading through them will help my group time movements and make actions/filming fit with the lyrics. For example; the first line will be a extreme close up of Yasmin's eyes and will slowly zoom out on the her lip-syncing, acting as the singer to our band. Paul will lip-sync the male parts of the song also. We will practice and research further into lip-syncing techniques. The male parts of the song are in brackets.

Music Video

As part of my group; me, Yasmin and Paul, we decided to make a music video. Our idea was to show a dream world and we thought of alice in wonderland and decided to try and make a gothic version of it where in the end the dream becomes a nightmare. We also wanted to show us as a band playing the song and we wanted to hint at our characters in the dream. e.g. Paul is the Mad Hatter so in the band scene he'll be wearing a top hat. At first we weren't sure what song to choose but we chose the artist Evanescence. We researched a few of their songs.

We liked this video because its like a dream. also the whole sound of the song will fit with the gothic idea.

This is one of my favourite Evanescence songs so i thought it would be a good one to use. i also like how she seems happy to everyone else but when she's at home she is miserable and seems angry at herself for lying to everyone.

"Going Under" is another great song; again it shows the gothic style. Through out the video the crowds faces change so they look like "monsters" this is a bit of inspiration of how where going to make it a nightmare.

Overall we choose "Bring Me To Life" as this is the most well know song and fits best with our idea. Before we use this we will have to get permission from the artist.

We also looked at "Alice (Underground)" by Avril Lavigne as this was the official video for the latest Alice in wonderland film.

It will give us an idea of what our location might look like if we want to recreate "Wonderland" in our own version.

Tool was another influence to us as we like the strange and weird videos and the music. These videos are darker then the Evanescence ones so they may be useful for the nightmare idea.

In this video we liked the animation and we may use this style animation in our music video.