Casting

Since I decided what song I was doing I've had one person in mind to play 'Summer Thor' (my main character). I have now officially asked Stacey Hartley if she will play my character and she has agreed. Stacey is the only person that I can envisage being able to create the movements I want, act and mime without feeling self conscious.  Now I have my main character cast I need to arrange clothes that will suit and fit her. 

Camera Shots

I am currently looking at videos that create a similar feel to that I am trying to create in my own video and taking note of camera shots, transitions and camera work. I will then annotate the shots and say why I feel they will work or add meaning to my music video. 

Costume and Make Up

This is the plan for costumes and make up for the video, I am hoping to have £10 as my budget when it comes to buying extra things I don't already have, for instance; flowers, jewelry. Part 1 and 2 represent the costume changes as the video goes on. 

Part 1

Costume Wish List

Light beige chiffon dress/long top (possibly have material attatched)

Pearl earrings

Pearl bracelet

Costume ring

Bare feet

Head band

Ankle chain

Make up

Light foundation

Brown eye make up

Soft mascara

Pink blusher

Pale pink or brown lipstick

Nude nail varnish

Part 2

Costume Wish List

Lace or black dress with black net attached

Black/red earrings

Black/red bracelet

Beaded necklace

Make up

Smokey eyes

Big dark false eyelashes (on bottom lashes as well)

Red lipstick (smudged gradually)

Red/ black nail varnish

Deep pink blusher

Research on Past Florence and the Machine Videos

I have decided to research some past Florence and the Machine videos as I think it may help me with ideas for camera shots, camera angles, shot composition, character direction/movement and character personality.
I looked at Rabbit Heart, Dog Days and Shake It Out. The points below are things I felt were important and common amongst the videos.
All videos showed;  

• A performance and narrative element
• Special effects
• Emphasis on Florences individual style
• Costume control of all characters
• Controlled set design
• Some abstract scenes
• Suited video tempo to the tempo of the song
• Another world, almost fairy tale world, very flamboyant
• Glamorous

These brief points are helpful not just for my video but also when it comes to brand identity. I will have to think about how I am going to continue my brand identity through my video, to my digi-pack, onto my website and advert. If I look back on these points and my previous post about brand identity I will be able to ensure I have a good idea of how I will keep up my brand identity.

Final Video Guide

These are now my final guides and ideas that I will build on for my video. At the moment they are just bullet points and brief ideas so I can then come up with camera shots to go with them when story boarding my video.

The video will follow a rough story line about a woman who has woken up to realise she is invisible to others; this is played on very briefly in the first verse. It then goes onto irrelevant scenes that may be seen as slightly abstract showing her prancing around, throwing flowers about etc.

In the final part of the song the woman is shown to go crazy and get drunker and drunker until she smashes a room up smashing plates and ornaments.

The video will end with her falling onto the bed in slow motion zooming out from a high angle shot.

The song will show a woman that is in a "dreaming state", she is invisible to people

Scenes will show her in real time miming the lyrics whilst everyone around her is in fast forward.



These are ideas I jotted down to make sure I remember them when story boarding and filming.

Love story, performer in woods flickers back to couple spinning playing.

Letters on the wall

Start off normal outfit then darker crazy

Show her smoking but play it backwards

Show her dancing with a masked man then cut to her dancing alone but in the same position, this will make it look like the man has just disappeared

Close ups on hands and floaty material

Show her spinning in slow motion

Drinking

Rough Story Lines

Below are some story lines that I could very loosely refer to within my music video. I have decided that I am going to merge both stories together and also add a little bit of abstract/randomness to my video with some scene not holding any meaning. I think this will allow the audience to create their own interpretation of them.


I think this song could be about either a death or a break up in a relationship. The girl has woken up to reality and doesn’t want to accept what has happened but realises she has to stop “dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world” the “wrong world” being the dream world of what she wishes was still there, (her boyfriend). The girl may start to fall into a state of depression leading her onto drugs; I would time the drug taking with the lyrics “Snow White's stitching up the circuit board” which would then lead onto Florence screaming and a breakdown in the music and also in the character. She would trash a room, smash things, throw things about and then as the song ends she would fall in slow motion onto the bed with a twisted smile or laughing. This would reflect that she has lost it and now has fallen into not just a state of depression but also the trap of addiction to drugs and this was now her life as she can’t mentally recover from loosing her man.

Another idea for this song may be that the song is literally about a Snow White like girl. The girl is asleep and in some sort of state, almost ghost like whilst everything else is going on around her. I could set social situations up where she is invisible to other people, for example she could be sat in a bar and all of her friends could be sat around drinking and laughing and the character could be sat just singing into the camera. A twist could be added into this by making the character sing in slow motion when filming so when you speed it up to match the lips to the real pace lyrics it looks like the character is at normal speed whereas the people around her are in fast forward. I would still have the breakdown at the end of the track with her smashing a room up.

Second Thought About Song Choice

I started to worry that I didn't have enough inspiration for my chose song (Blinding) so I decided to analyse 'Howl' and compare the ideas and really think about which song would be more successful. Below is the lyrics to 'Howl' with a few ideas I came up with;

Florence and the Machine - Howl

If you could only see the beast you've made of me Turned her into a beast full of passion, desire and lust Performance element with an evil sexy look in her eye
I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free
Screaming in the dark, I howl when we're apart Needing him, howling for him, desperation Shown in a dark room and screaming looking distressed
Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart Could be a metaphor for wanting his heart to be hers Dragging her nails and biting a topless man in a sexual way

My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in Wants to get inside him, she wants to be part of him or constantly on his mind Clawing and caressing a topless man in a frenzied way
You are the moon that breaks the night for which I have to howl Quick shot of the moon
My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in Clawing at the man again but he’s now show with lipstick and scratch marks all over him, he’s trying to get her off.
You are the moon that breaks the night for which I have to

Howl, howl She’s on top of the topless man howling
Howl, howl Performance element again going a bit crazy flinging her arms everywhere

Now there's no holding back, I'm making to attack Desperation again, she’s tried but now she really means it, she’s ready to attack for his love
My blood is singing with your voice, I want to pour it out
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground

Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins Show arms with veins moving upwards
I want to find you, tear out all of your tenderness[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/f/florence_and_the_machine/howl.html ]
And howl, howl
Howl, howl

Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers Look what’s happened to me/us, be careful next time
Starts so soft and sweet and turns them to hunters
Hunters, hunters, hunters
Hunters, hunters, hunters Walking slowly and eerily looking for him in a dark wooded area looking a mess and dragging her feet

The fabric of your flesh, pure as a wedding dress Smearing blood on a white dress
Until I wrap myself inside your arms I cannot rest She will carry on until she’s in his arms walking slowly and getting faster
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound and faster
I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground and faster

And howl then running

Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers
Starts so soft and sweet and turns them to hunters

A man who's pure of heart and says his prayers by night
May still become a wolf when the autumn moon is bright

If you could only see the beast you've made of me
I held it in but now it seems you've set it running free
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallowed ground

I personally think this song is about someone bringing out something in your personality, your animalistic side. Some say this song is about a sexual relationship between man and woman and an animalistic passion being created, a passion that almost stops you acting human because you want them so much. I would create a narrative video of a woman meeting a man and then quickly becoming obsessed. I would show the man trying to slow the relationship down but the woman becoming more and more eager as time goes on. It would end up with the woman coming across as almost insane, chasing and stalking the man. It would show the character unable to accept the fact that her man doesn’t have the same passion, desire and lust for her therefore leading her to carry on chasing him. The story could end with her eventually finding him and unable to control her animalistic behaviour killing him by accident.

Now here are the ideas for Blinding;

Florence and the Machine – Blinding starts from 0:13

Seems that I have been held, in some dreaming state Show the singer laid on a messed up bed zooming out from above
A tourist in the waking world, never quite awake Show her stood in a street with everyone fast forward apart from her miming the lyrics
No kiss, no gentle word could wake me from this slumber

Until I realised that it was you who held me under

Takes me from 0:13 - :59

Felt it in my fists, in my feet, in the hollows of my eyelids show fast clips of body parts said
Shaking through my skull, through my spine and down through my ribs have eyes painted on palms of hands and open them like blinking, possibly glow in the dark paint

No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world Show her dancing in the same position but this time the mans gone

And I could hear the thunder and see the lightning crack
And all around the world was waking, I never could go back Running
'Cause all the walls of dreaming, they were torn wide open
It finally it seemed that the spell was broken Becoming free[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/f/florence_and_the_machine/blinding.html ]And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open eyes drawn on palms of hands
And all my bones began to shake, my eyes flew open close up of eyes opening from different angles

No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone Show her sat in a social situation with everyone talking around her as if she is invisible, they’re on fast forward.
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world

Snow White's stitching up the circuitboard taking shots goes to blurry image
Someone's slipping through the hidden door snorts something
Snow White's stitching up your circuitboard stumbling around camera spins around her

No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone starting to stand up
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love looking at her surroundings
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world looking confused

Snow White's stitching up the circuitboard Snow white is a metaphor for cocaine
Someone's slipping through the hidden door
Snow White's stitching up your circuitboard
Someone's slipping through the hidden door (SCREAM in song) show her scream with the song and starts to trash the room, show plates being smashed and possibly play them backwards briefly then forwards, zoom in on the small pieces hitting the ground. End with her falling on the bed again and fade out, zoom out.

I think this song could be about either a death or a break up in a relationship. The girl has woken up to reality and doesn’t want to accept what has happened but realises she has to stop “dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world” the “wrong world” being the dream world of what she wishes was still there, (her boyfriend). The girl may start to fall into a state of depression leading her onto drugs; I would time the drug taking with the lyrics “Snow White's stitching up the circuitboard” which would then lead onto Florence screaming and a breakdown in the music and also in the character. She would trash a room, smash things, throw things about and then as the song ends she would fall in slow motion onto the bed with a twisted smile or laughing. This would reflect that she has lost it and now has fallen into not just a state of depression but also the trap of addiction to drugs and this was now her life as she can’t mentally recover from loosing her man.

Another idea for this song may be that the song is literally about a Snow White like girl. The girl is asleep and in some sort of state, almost ghost like whilst everything else is going on around her. I could set social situations up where she is invisible to other people, for example she could be sat in a bar and all of her friends could be sat around drinking and laughing and the character could be sat just singing into the camera. A twist could be added into this by making the character sing in slow motion when filming so when you speed it up to match the lips to the real pace lyrics it looks like the character is at normal speed whereas the people around her are in fast forward. I would still have the breakdown at the end of the track with her smashing a room up.

After reading through both ideas for both songs I decided to stick with my original song choice of 'Blinding' as I feel I can do more with it and I wont be stuck to a strict sotry line, I have room to make it abstract and random with a brief story line.