Planning Setting and Iconography - Miss Georgiou

Different types of uses of location and iconography elements are important within a music video to ensure the audience are getting more of an understanding towards the artists character. It is essential to use props in a particular scene to tell a story, these types of elements are effective for narrative storyline of a music video. There are a range of locations and types of iconography me and my group are planning to use for our music video.

A bedroom scene is going to be part of the music video. We have decided to include this as we thought it would be a good way to start the narrative/performance of her waking up. It will represent her as lazy and careless which is the main aim for the music video. This is going to be an essential part of the music video as at the start when we wakes up, she will put down a picture of her boyfriend, which will immediately insinuate towards the audience that their relationship is finished and she is not too fussed about it as she is looking confident, dancing around her room etc. She will be wearing pyjamas, left over makeup from the night before and messy hair, to represent her as an un-neat character. The only limitation is finding a room for this scene. We are thinking to use a group members room as her décor represents what we are trying to pursue for the character, which is black to represent danger and mystery. It is important to have the right type of room decoration and your bedroom is a way to physically express who you are, as it is your living space. Weather will be no problem for this, as all we will need is natural lighting from the window to represent a late morning rise for the unmotivated, party animal character. As a group, we decided to include this within our music video as it is included within our chosen artist's songs, "I'm No Good," which is showing her in a bedroom like scene in her lounge wear/pyjamas. This shows inspiration towards our chosen artist and how we are interpreting particular micro elements she has used which had benefitted her success, within our production. There is not much risk towards this particular scene, as it is indoors in a bedroom with the artist only performing to the camera. There can be a more mild risk of the drink spilling on the electrical equipment, in comparison towards the house party scene. An example of this being used in reference to lyrics will include "want the same thing where we lay, otherwise mines a different way in my bed.." The audience are able to see her singing about her bed whilst being in bed, showing how the lyrics and visuals match (Goodwin's theory) and making the scene seem more intimate as it is showing her bedroom environment.

The house party will be included to represent her reckless behaviour. This is going to be used to show her priorities which are more focused on getting intoxicated than someone else's feelings towards her. During these scenes, there will be lots of hectic things going on to show a lively and manic house party. There will be lots of people very much under the influence all having alcohol, maybe drug use? All will be very close, to represent a wide set of people within one room, loud music and people shouting. There are a few limitations towards this scene, as there are a lot of teenagers going to be involved, it maybe hard to control them so strictly towards how me and my group picture this certain scene to go. Being stereotypical teenagers, they may want to actually get drunk instead of acting out for the purpose of the video. There can be a few health and safety risks, such as drinks spilling over equipment, this will be overcome as there will be no liquid in the cups unless necessary to show alcohol such as vodka being shown in the music video. Weather will not be an issue as it is going to be at night and most likely mainly indoors. We have decided to use this particular scene within our music video to give the audience a taste towards what she does in her free time. The audience are able to witness places she enjoys going to and people she likes to hang around with. This certain location highlights the artists representation, as she is perceived as a 'party animal.' This shows she would rather be under the influence and taking doses of drugs rather than spending time with her loved ones without forgetting all about her silly mistakes in the morning. The particular location of a house party will show her 'live for the moment' attitude, as she is shown to not be worried about her next morning hangover or silly mistakes she will make at the party, such as flirting with lots of boys. The health and safety requirement for this particular scene can be seen as a very dangerous scene. We would have to make sure there is no alcohol on site which can cause actors and extras to become under the influence and then not follow basic instructions. Another risk towards this scene can include liquid damage upon wires and other electrical equipment. This can be highly dangerous as it can result to damage of equipment such as cameras and in extreme cases; electric shocks. To avoid this danger, me and my group will ensure to keep any sort of liquid away from all electrical products before we begin to film. An example of this being used in relation to lyrics includes "there's nothing new to learn.." This shows towards the audience that she has always been the party animal type of character, something the ex boyfriend already knew.

The walk of shame will take part in an outdoors location, preferably on a random, quiet street or alleyway. This is to show her walking home from yet another crazy night out, showing her in last nights clothes, makeup etc. This is used to show her as classless and trashy. But is viewed positively due to her attitude of not caring at all, and laughing it all off, with no regrets as she is having fun. It will show her still drunk, confused of what happened the night before and walking in different directions of the pathway due to her still being intoxicated etc. The limitations towards this is trying to find a very quiet street with little people around, as they could ruin a perfect scene by walking in on it, talking and being immature. This can also be embarrassing for the actress as she is going to be portrayed as the opposite to elegant and classy. This would also ruin the illusion of it being early in the morning and her on her way home hours after she probably should have gone home to bed. The weather can play a big role in this as there could be potential rain, which means we could not use the camera equipment due to the water damage. A way to over come this is to plan a day to shoot this scene and constantly look on weather apps on our phones to see what the weather will be like on that particular day and to see if there are any changes. This particular location is used to show how her actions can leave her in dangerous situations. An alleyway in a sparsely located area can be extremely dangerous for a young girl who are intoxicated and dress very provocatively from the night before. This represents her as being very rebellious as the situations she purposely puts herself in can cause a lot of trouble, as she is portrayed as very vulnerable as she is just trying to get home, which some people can easily take advantage off. The location of a walk of shame scene shows her careless behaviour and poor efforts to look after herself, which is what we are mainly trying to portray throughout the video. Health and safety precautions within this scene will require constantly looking at the weather, as me and my group have planned for cool, mid temperature weather so that audiences are not distracted from watching the storyline and what is actually happening in background scenery. By having a routine of looking at the weather allows us to become more aware towards what kind of climate it is going to be on that particular day and can make us more organised, leading to an effective music video. We are going to do this as English weather is usually unpredictable, and can ruin the dates we have planned to shoot this particular scene, leading to our group being behind schedule. An example of these scene being used when matching to lyrics would involve "everything is slowing down, river of no return.." I thought this would be effective to use with these particular lyrics due to the reference to a natural element of the river, which can be physically shown within the video.

Flashbacks of dates with the ex boyfriend are going to be located in an outdoor area and inside. Showing them walking to their date and sitting indoors whilst chatting, like a cafe. We wanted to choose a rather quiet one and have so far planned to use a coffee cafe in Woodford broadway. During this scene, it will show them on a date and the boy character completely inlove with her, constantly being affectionate, buying her gifts etc. However it will show the artist kind of going with the flow. There will be an argument involved as the boyfriend character sees something that he does not like, such as his girlfriend looking and winking at other men in the cafe and generally not caring about him at all. Some limitations for this scene is finding an accurate boyfriend we are looking for,such as good looking, tall and muscular and would actually want to take part in acting inlove with someone who doesn't want them back. Weather can also play a big part for this scene as it has to show them walking to the destination, holding hands etc. There is also a possibility that we may not be allowed to film in the cafe we are thinking of using, this can be a major step back for us, if we get told we are not allowed on the filming day as we will have to post pone to another day, which may not work for some of our time tables, and will then make us behind schedule. To over come this, we could before hand ask for permission from employees or manager to ensure full security of film during this. This will show organisation and good team work within our group. This particular scene is used to show how her love life use to be, giving the audience a taste of her past life to be able to create more of a bond as they are learning more about her. This is used to show what she use to have, and through it all away due to her reckless behaviour. This particular scene can connote a range of interpretations towards the audience, such as she is only pushing away someone who truly cares and adores for her and she has been heart broken before, causing her to behave very careless because when she does care, she gets heart broken. The same health and safety requirements are taking place with this scene, the same as the walk of shame scene. This is going to be carried out to ensure the weather is not going to be miserable, for example: raining. This can lead to a range of risks, such as the characters slipping over, causing the whole music video to be even more unorganised as we would have to postpone all scenes in order for the characters to have recovery time. An example of this scene being used in relation towards the lyrics is "the only time I hold your hand, is to get the angle right.." The characters can be seen as holding hands which shows a match between lyrics and visuals, linking back towards one of Goodwin's theories.

Performing with band 60's style scenes will take place in the school hall. We are including this within our music video to represent her physical look, of big hair quiff and big eyeliner which is symbolic to the 60's type of trend. This will also be another element of performance rather than just all narrative. Within these scenes will include her performing in the centre of the shot, with background characters playing instruments such as drums and the artist singing the song lyrics into a microphone. Limitations towards this scene is we have to get everything just right to convey a 60's type band, we will need a big spotlight machine, music equipment etc. I think there would be little health and safety risks for this scene and weather would not be a problem as all the filming will be inside. This particular scene has been created to show the performance style upon the music video. This will also show her very attractive, stylish and sophisticated which shows a juxtaposition towards other representations in other scenes. She is going to be portrayed in a different light which is showing her to be sober, well looked after and motivated as she is shown to be promoting some songs in a bar like scene. The audience are able to admire her representation as she is shown to be still wearing particular micro elements of hers, such as winged eyeliner but in an attractive and non scruffy way (such as the bedroom scene.) The audience then want to copy particular trends of hers, to try and look as much like her as possible. This shows a successful artist as audiences wish to look up to her and idolise her. There are a range of health and safety requirements to take into consideration before filming this particular scene. An example of a risk that could potentially take place is the actress falling of the stage due to her big heels. This can lead to extreme results, such as a broken ankle or concussion, resulting to a trip to the hospital. This can be overcome by the artist only wearing the heels when necessary to prevent any damage towards the artist. An example of this being used in relation towards lyrics is "but that don't make your place Sade in my bed, my bed.." 

There are a range of types of iconography we are planning to use for our music video. 

Iconography for the scene of stage performance is going to be very past like. We are trying to recreate a 60s type of band, to show originality rather than keep it modern. The best image I could find whilst researching was the image above of the girl band, this relates towards the way me and my group visualise this scene to go. The character of the artist will be in the centre of the camera shot, whilst background characters will fade into the dark background but still able to see them and what musical instrument they are playing. She will also be singing into a microphone to clearly represent a band type of scene. Types of iconography which is planned to be used is costume, wearing an off shoulder black dress. This dress will be an effective use of representation of the artist as she will be shown as being respectful and innocent which is a juxtaposition towards how she presented in other scenes. This will be shown as her being tasteful with her clothing, such as the dress being mid length, without it being too short. This scene will be very simplistic with not too much props within the scene to show more attention and less distraction towards the artist and her performance.

For the walk of shame scene, we are planning to use very shameful props in which she will hold to represent her in a negative manner on her walk home. This will include a half empty bottle of wine which she is still finishing the day after. She could also have her heels in her other hand and could walk bare foot home, which represents and highlights her careless and reckless behaviour. This then leaves a range of interpretations towards the audiences towards her night before, such as it being very hectic and manic.

The flashback date scenes will include very cute romantic things, such as the boyfriend bringing her flowers, being very caring etc. This then only highlights in its truest form her negligent behaviour that he is doing all this nice things to 'wow' her and she seems like she couldn't care less. Using this type of attitude is also an effective way to show younger audiences that it is ok to be independent and to teach them that they shouldn't centre their life around their male partners. This is effective as most music videos with female artists in usually base their work around their personal experiences with their boyfriends, either positively and negatively and how it affected them as a person. Types of iconography which will be included within this scene are flowers in the boyfriends hand, this will highlight the caring personality of the boy and how he truly cares for her. This will then also highlight in a more effective manner the artists careless attitude towards someone who is genuinely interested in her and not just wanting to take advantage of her.

The party scenes will include lots of stereotypical teenage party props. Lots of empty bottles and red cups everywhere, people will be doing drugs such as cocaine, and this will represent the type of girl she is and what type of parties she goes to, which can be dangerous. Obviously, the prop of cocaine will not actually be genuine but use things like baking powder. The girls will be wearing very little, provocative clothing, which will endure the male characters to pay attention to them, which then leads to things like a couple walking upstairs to the bedroom, which will be scene in the background of  the artist performing. The props which will be included within this particular scene will be effective towards representing the artists and how she enjoys spending her free time in what particular scenario and what she enjoys doing at these places.

The bedroom scene will include simple things to show she's just woken up. Such as hugging the blanket whilst in bed, performing to the camera. This scene will also hold a crucial part of the music video which is the first time the audience realise that she is not interested in the guy she's seeing. This will be shown through as soon as she get ups, will knock over a picture of his face on, to show she is done and finished with him. She will then quickly skip to show her enthusiasm towards the mirror to fix her hair and put on some makeup. She will be very energetic which will contradict the normal breakup between a girlfriend and boyfriend, where the girl is not very energetic, and would probably just want to stay in bed all day feeling sorry for herself. This shows that this character is not like other girls and has an element of difference about her which is healthy and refreshing for the audience to watch.

As you can see, I have provided a variety of examples in relation towards setting and iconography which me and my group have planned to include within our music video. Planning these sort of things is cutical in order to be organised for the music video. This also is benefitical as a group as a whole are able to visualise how we all intent the music video to play out due to the use of pictures and detail within expanding when and why particular things are used.