Storyboards

Storyboards were used to plan the filming of our music video and are vital in the planning process. It gives a clear idea of what will be in every shot, but not just the visuals, as you can see we have clearly stated the sound, editing and actors for example which will be in specific shots of the video. The small boxes above the scene descriptions were used for pictures to draw, to give a mock idea of what the actual scene would look like. Storyboards are vital, as attempting to film without them in place would mean we would just film spontaneously, our shots would be unorganised and messy and overall this would lead to a poor production.

Both our primary and secondary research we conducted was essential in not only finding out who our target audience would be and in general what indie fans want to see in a music video, but also, it is essential to help us plan our storyboards. Our primary research is vox pops and questionnaires, which we conducted ourselves first hand to gather opinions, whilst our secondary research is the research we have shown on our blogs and what we have discovered through mainly looking at the internet and other music videos. Our overall research helped us find many things that fans prefer to see in a music video and the sort of elements and conventions that were most popular. When it came to looking at our production, it helped us see what conventions people prefer to see, how they want the artist to be, what style of video they'd prefer and also the sort of special effects such as lighting included. We gathered that many like to see an indie music video have a strong narrative, usually with hard hitting narratives, which is exactly what we have incorporated in our storyboards, under the narrative description section, describing the purpose of certain shots and what they are meant to get across. Many expected the artist to be a relatable character that they could connect to, which is what we included mainly under iconography in our storyboards, as we put emphasis on facial expressions and also the clothes the artist is wearing, which aren't extravagant or flashy, they are meant to connote emotions, but are clothes that many can afford, making it relatable.

To "storyboard" our music video, we needed to include the shot duration, a mock visual of the shot, cinematography, actors, editing, sound, iconography, lighting, location and narrative description. The cinematography section is used to write down what type of shot the specific frame would be. This can feature specific shots such as a close-up, long shot or a two shot. It tells our group when filming also how to position the camera and the actors and iconography in the shot, what to include and also the style in which it is to be done.

We also included lighting. The lighting used in our production features high key, low key and natural key lighting. This tells us the effects we have to add in after filming to do with lighting, to show that storyboards don't just show what should happen on the days of filming, but also in the editing process too. Whilst low and high key lighting takes editing to incorporate, natural key relies on daylight and the "natural" scene hence the name, or natural darkness from it being night time and as our group will be filming scenes during the day and night time, natural key lighting will be present in both of it's forms.

The location of the scenes is also what we have included in our storyboards, as this is vital information, not only do we need to know where the specific shots will take place, but also this links with planning our filming schedule and is information we need to provide in completing that too. By writing the location on our story board, it tells us when will we need to be in certain places and also where, and helps organise ourselves to know what shots we need to be filming in a given location.

Iconography was also an important factor towards our storyboards. It tells us specifically not only the items and costumes we will need in specific frames, but also the facial expressions that the actors in specfic frames will need to show. Writing down the iconography in our storyboard prepares us for what props we need for going to film and what costumes the actors need to wear, it serves as a helpful reminder, keeps us organised and allows us to know where the iconography specifically appears.

The actors we have used in each shot is included in our storyboard, as it is vital to know who we need, what we need them for and when we need them. It also helps us know where we need them, as for example Tahir acts in the shots which are in his home, but he won't be needed for the liverpool street scenes, so there is no need to take him there, however me, Charlie and Tyler are all involved in the liverpool street scene and will all need to act, which means we all need to be there. This also helps our overall organisation, as it tells us specifically who we need at specific points and no confusion can be caused over bringing the wrong actors, because we have a storyboard in place.

The sound is included in our storyboard to show what the viewers will be hearing in our prodction. There is a very limited variety of sound in our music video, the only two appearences being when the artist speaks to the taxi driver right at the beginning of the video, which is digetic sound, and then shortly after the song plays, which will last the entire duration of the video and is noted in every frame, by referring to this as "song continues".

Although editing will not be done whilst filming our production, it will be a vital aspect of what makes our music video after filming, as we will add in special effects, transitions and other visuals to make our video more appealing and interesting. Although it can be argued that it is not essential to put in our storyboards as it is not used when we are filming, it is very important to include, as writing in the editing section in each frame allows us to know when and where to specifically use editing, what shots it must be included in and the type of editing we are going to use. Doing this avoids spontaneous unorganised editing that may ruin our production if we include it in the wrong places, which is what would likely happen if it wasn't included in our storyboards.

Lastly, the narrative description is a vital part of our storyboards. It tells us specifically what is actually going on not only in the shot, but also the narrative itself and as we gradually film more and more, referring to our storyboards will tell us how far we are into our narrative. It is essential and also very helpful, as without the narrative description in place, the storyboard boxes would not make much sense, and we wouldn't really know why we were filming shots and what their actual purpose was, however, providing a narrative description allows us to know why we are filming a certain shot, what it's purpose is and also what point of our narrative we are at.

Me and my group organised ourselves well when it came to storyboard planning and how we would sort out the responsibility amongst each other of doing this task. I filled in the most boxes and charlie filled in others that were needed, whilst tyler also contributed, but not as much. As choreographer, I came up with most of our shot ideas and what would appear in them, whilst providing additional narrative ideas. We used time in lesson and our free time outside of the lessons to fill in the boxes, also using time at home to do this, as we split 23 storyboard sheets between the three of us with Charlie and Tyler having 8 sheets and me having 7, but by this point most of the written part was done and we just had to draw images in the boxes of what would be a mock of what the given shot would look like. Me and Charlie decided that Tyler would have less of a workload when planning storyboards, as most of his work will come after filming, as he is the main person in charge of editing after production. As I am the choreographer, it makes sense that I fill in the most planning boxes as I would be planning the scenes at what could be in them, with Charlie by my side also passing across suggestions, as well as Tyler at some points.