Micro elements planning for 'Crash'

Mise en Scene -

• Locations: we are only using a few locations in our music video. One being a bench; we are using the bench to represent a neutral location where they can be together and where they can be apart. At the beginning of the music video, the girlfriend and the boyfriend meet at a bench; where they sit. This represents that they are in the same position; in love and together. By the end of the music video, they are sat on separate benches, joint in the middle via split screen; this represents that they are still in love and still in the same position; but they can no longer be together.

• Another location we are using is, possibly a wooded area. I think that the bench should be in a wooded area; and then when the girl walks off, she will be surrounded by forestry and the countryside and hopefully, lots and lots of trees! This will subtly show that she has a lot on her mind and a lot to think about. This will also provoke her to have a flashback.

• We are also going to use a house in our music video. This represents privacy and secrecy. When the boyfriend cheats on his girlfriend with another girl, they obviously need to be in a house to be intimate with each other, and to be able to keep their affair a secret from his girlfriend.

I think these are the only main locations we will be using, although as there are many flashbacks in our music video, there may be other scenes that are filmed in various other locations.

In terms of costume; we are going to be having many different costume changes throughout our music video as there are so many different scenes and loads of flashbacks!

• The first/main/present day costume that the boy will be seen in, will be a plain white shirt/t-shirt worn underneath a black or grey coat/hoodie. This will probably be paired with jeans to show that he is young and foolish; hence cheating on his girlfriend. The reason behind his upper body clothing, is that white connotes purity and goodness and coming clean for what he has done is a very pure and good thing to do. Although, it will be hidden, and hardly on show beneath his coat/hoodie which will either be black to connote his "wrong-doings"or grey to connote his sadness. His coat will also represent that he has something to hide.

• The first/main/present day costumes that the girlfriend character will be wearing will be quite fancy, as she will be dressing up to meet her boyfriend as she thinks they are meeting up to sort out the argument they have previously had. It won't be too over the top, it will be very subtle; perhaps something pink to show her affection for the boy. Although it won't be really fancy as we later want to show that she has been with the boy for a long time, is comfortable around him and is herself around him.

• The girl who the boy cheats with, will be dressed in a short skirt; emphasising her sexuality and portraying her negatively to the audience. She will also be dressed in black to show that she is a negative character - she will almost he represented as the 'slut' type of character.

• During the flashbacks, the boyfriend and girlfriend will be dressed in many different outfits, that will start out quite childish to make the characters look younger and to show that they have been together for a while. In order to give off this impression, they will probably be dressed in quite bright colours; highlighting their youth and energy. The girl could also be dressed in a pretty, flowery, girly skirt.

• When the characters begin arguing in their flashbacks, they will be dressed in darker clothing; greys, blues and blacks to represent how unhappy they are.

So far, these will be the costumes, but it may change as we may think of a better idea and representation of our characters. If so, I will update the blog! :)

In our music video, we aren't using too many props; but the few that we do use include mobile phones.

• We are including mobile phones to represent the youth. The young generation today are obsessed with new technology as forms of communicating. In the music video, there is a flashback of them  when they are a few years younger. In this flashback they will be messing around, laughing and playing together. They will then be shown on the phone together in a separate flashback. This will highlight the fact that they are younger in this scene compared to the present day scenes as mobile phones are generally associated with youth.

• Another prop we are using is a love heart necklace. This will be used not only as a prop but also to add depth to our narrative. It will do this by showing that they have been together for a long time as they were together for Christmas; he gives her the necklace for a present. Also, it will show that her cares a lot for her by giving her this necklace and that they have shared special events together.

• The final prop we will be using, is a mirror. At the start, when you see the girl getting ready, you will see her looking at herself in a mirror. This will show that she cares about her appearance and wants to look nice for her boyfriend and wants to make the relationship work and fix their argument.

So far these are all the props we are using, and I think this will be it. Although as there are many flashback scenes, there may be some props included in the flashback scenes that I haven't mentioned; although I don't think there are.

In terms of lighting, I think we are going to mainly just use natural lighting as neither of us have much knowledge on lighting, so we are going to keep it simple to avoid ruining our frames with bad lighting!

Although, we may alter lighting and colours during the editing stage, but I will talk about that next :)

Editing - 

• One editing technique we are going to use will be split screen. At the end they will both be sat on a bench, but separate benches; that are joint in the middle via split screen. This will be used to show that they are in the same position; in love. But they cannot physically be together.

• We are probably going to use loads of different cool effects for the flashback scenes; but we aren't sure what yet, and will have to have a play around on Final Cut Express to decide which one we want!

• We are going to use colour manipulation definitely! But we are yet to decide where we are going to use it yet or not. We will probably use it to brighten up some happy scenes and darken sad scenes. We may use black and white but we don't know where yet. We could either use it in the flashback scenes, in the cheating scenes, or the present day scenes but we don't know which yet! We will decide which we think will be most effective and update the blog later :)

Camera Work - 

• Camera work will include lots of close-ups and extreme close-ups to highlight the emotions the characters feel. The girl will often be (stereotypically) very upset as she has just been cheated on. Although, she will be portrayed as a strong female character by the end of the video as she won't stand for what her boyfriend's done, and she leaves him. There will then be a close-up shot of the boyfriend character to show his emotions; crying (un-stereotypical).

• We will also use many two shots to show the relationships between the characters. The boyfriend and girlfriend will very often been seen in a two shot to show that they are together and in a relationship and very close.

• There will be a shot of the boy and the girl he cheats with in bed together; and the camera will then pan upwards, leaving it to the audiences imagination what goes on between them and then pan into the next shot of present day time where they are back sat on the bench and his girlfriend is very upset. I think this will be a very effective shot as it will make the audience feel involved.