Looking back on our planning and the shooting of the original video we discussed and came to the conclusion that it would not be a strong enough narrative to survive on it's own as a video that would maintain the audiences attention throughout. Therefore we had a brainstorming session and came up with a completely different angle to shoot the video from.
Inspiration for this video initially sprung from the video for Grace Kelly by Mika. The original idea was to use long lights alongside flashlights and spotlights on a stage to create a quirky and individual video that ran parrallel but not linear to the music and lyrics. But with further discussion we realised we couldn't rely wholely on quirkyness and have no narrative. We did like the idea of having a stage performance in the video though so we maintained that idea although we dropped the idea of dancing with lights. Also, an idea that we were determined to keep from the original planning was the idea of stop motion so we wanted to slot that into the narrative at some point.
Here is the new and improved idea...
The song and the artist
'Sail Away' by Ruth Bewesy
Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/ruthbewsey
Opening scene
Establishing shot is a close up of a set of headphones on a table, this will be taken from high angle, a pair of hands enter the shot and grab the headphones, the camera pans up to follow the headphones as Guy places them on his head, at this point the camera will be a direct close up framing his head.
Camera then pans down Guys body tracing the wire and proceeds in a close up tracking shot following the wire along the floor at a minor tilted angle, this will give the effect that the camera is swallowing the wire. This section will be edited to double speed in order to cover a greater length in a small amount of time than in normal speed.
The wire slowly climbs upwards so that with the camera at the same tilted angle it will slowly ‘look up’, at this point the screen will fade to white giving the impression of a bright white light, this will then fade out to reveal the following scene.
Drama Room Scene
The entire drama scene will be shot using a wide angled single shot.
At the beginning of this scene once the light has faded out the room will be in complete darkness. A spotlight comes on in the centre of the stage where Guy with his headphones still on will be revealed looking puzzled. He then looks up into the spotlight to reflect the lyric ‘I’ve got sunshine on my face’. The following lyric ‘rain aint fallin’ around here’ will be accompanied by a set of small plastic colorful balls falling around Guy from above as a metaphor for the rain.
‘Bird people’ swoop in from left and right to mimic birds alongside the lyric ‘birds are singing the same song’. They then crowd in around Guy and envelop him so he is out of the cameras view, this action occurs during the lyric ‘feeling chilled aint nothing wrong’. Between this and the following lyric the group palpitate until just before the following lyric begins. They then disband to reveal him without his headphones and with a tambourine to ‘and it’s a great, great place I’m in’, the birds then walk a complete circle around him and separate with three exiting stage left and three exiting stage right. Guy then shakes the tambourine to the lyric ‘why don’t you come on over here and’, at this point the camera will zoom in on the tambourine until everything is out of focus.
The camera zooms out from the tambourine to reveal Guy and the 6 other birds in a line holding big white boards, each board containing a word from the chorus, ‘sail’, ‘away’, ‘with’, ‘me’, ‘baby’, ‘sail’, ‘away’. And during the chorus they wave these boards up in the air in a Mexican wave, this imitates a wave which relates to the ‘sail away’ lyrics.
The group then looks up into the spotlight, the camera following their gaze by panning up and zooming into the light.
Elm Hill
During the instrumental and the lyric ‘I’ve got sand between my toes’ a stop motion sequence will occur from birds eye view using the headphones for around 12-14 seconds. The c
amera then pans up and zooms towards the action far in the distance.
At this point during the lyric ‘how I love how this feeling grows’ Guy will be introduced in a suit and tie with a microphone in his hand. He will jump off a ledge in slow motion while the bird people pop their heads in shot at normal speed and not up and down in time with the word ‘grows’. It goes back to normal speed as soon as Guy touches the ground then he walks off the left of the screen.
The camera then pans Guy walking along, from right to left of the screen while the bird people are huddled together in the background playing like children. In the style of a BBC reporter Guy walks across the screen with his microphone and his arm stretched out towards the bird people in the background, he mimes the lyric ‘kids are playing they’re real near’. Then, in the foreground carrying on the reporter gimmick Guy stops in the left third of the screen mouthing ‘nowhere else I’d rather be than here’ Then he exits to the left. During the same lyric in the background all the bird people look up and ‘notice’ the camera, get up and stand together waving at the camera in the style of ‘Hi mum I’m on the telly’.
The camera arcs straight up through the sky drops down and twists until it is facing the opposite direction, as though it has done a 180 degree turn. To reveal guy in a canted wide angle shot with a bird mask on, he will walk toward the camera until his body covers it making it go black and then walk out of it in to the drama studio. To appear as though the camera has transported him back to the studio.
The camera turns back up until it’s a straight angled shot again whilst the birds enter the screen form both sides. They hold up the boards again for the chorus but this, time walk around as though they are announcers in a boxing ring. They flip their cards to reveal the words buh bye on the other sides. The birds close the boards together to create a wall, which they push the Guy through. They continue pushing him all the way up to the camera. Camera fades to white. Then the shot of the wire plays in reverse until it reaches Guy taking off the headphones looking confused and setting them down beside a bird mask.
The use of an enigma! 
There are a range of enigmas in this video including why people are dressed as birds, why this character has been sucked into an alternative world, why he impersonates a reporter in the Elm Hill scene, why he becomes one of the birds in the end. None of this is clear until the end where the enigmas' are somewhat answered when Julian takes off his headphones and sets them down by a bird mask which wasn't there at the beginning of the video and it becomes clear to the audience that he was sucked into an alternative reality, but each individual enigma is never answered properly. But the use of these enigmas force the viewer to watch on in order to try and understand the reason for the questions created.
All shots from 1-6 will be within the instrumental intro.
I got sunshine on my face,
Sail away with me baby,
And it’s a great, great place I’m in,Why don’t you come on over here and…
Sayin buh bye,Location
In the video there will be two main locations, these being a drama room inside the CNS ARC building and Elm Hill's picturesque cobblestone street in Norwich. There will also be a third, minor location in the video being in the courtyard just outside the ARC. The establishing shot and end shot at the beginning and end of the video will be shot in the courtyard just outside the ARC but as these two scenes will be only a few seconds long and all shots within this location will be extreme close ups of the character and action the location will not be able to be established, therefore the location contributes very little to the connotations of the scenes.
The two main locations have a strong contrast in the sense that one (The ARC) is very up to date and contemporary with a good use of technology including a lighting switchboard which is a key coponent to be used in the drama room scene as the aim is to have almost the entire scene shot in one single shot. The use of having the lighting switchboard means that everything can be choreographed from the movement to the lighting, as the lighting is essential in this scene for when the main character looks up into the light as a metaphor for 'sunshine on my face'. Furthermore, the switchboard can be used to control the ambience of the scene as there is a choice of eighteen different coloured lights the light can be adapted to fit the mood of the song or the character or a combination of both. The variance in ambience will also help to maintain the veiwers attention throughout the scene. This contrasts drastically with the Elm Hill location which oozes age and history with its quirky colourful Tudor buildings and uneven cobblestone roads. This location was chosen as its simplicity stereotypically conforms alot more with the folk genre in comparison to the drama studio, as folk is all about the simple things in life, not the materialistic aspects that other genres focus on such as hip hop or pop. Additionally, the dramatic change in location reflects the dramatic change in the main characters state of mind, he is suddenly much more at one with his situation , and the simple surroundings echo his relaxed self.
Cast
shooting schedules etc. It is also much easier to find out when each cast member is free so we can work out shooting times that work well for everyone.The main character will be played by Julian Newton. Before choosing the main character we knew we wanted somebody who could act confidently and could successfully work within the role, so our first place to look was in the A2 Drama groups. We decided to ask Julian as he is a drama student who is a competent actor, he has a large amount of background in drama as he has been an active member of the Norwich Playhouse theatre for a number of years and has been an important role in many of their productions. He is easy to contact as he shares lessons with Freya and is a close friend who she knows is trustworthy. He is flexible when it comes to his acting skills and so can easily adapt to the character.
There are four birds, three of which will be played by A level students and one by a work collegue who is early-mid twenties and therefore won't seem out of place alongside the other students.
The fisrt bird will be played by Ronnie Cornell. Me and Ronnie share exactly the same timetable so it is easy to tell when he is free to shoot, and is also very easy to contact and communicate with. This also means that Ronnie is a Media student who understands the media concepts and the technicalities of making a music video and can use his knowledge to work competently through the shoot and help the others within it.
The 
second bird will be played by Catherine Riley. Like Julian, Catherine is a competent A level drama student, she has great chemistry with Julian which is a bonus. She doesn't get intimidated by the camera, and is the type of personality to take control of a situation if people aren't working proficiently. She has good body movement, grace and poise, and can adapt well to the abstract dance required for the action within the video that the other members of the cast can learn from and follow.
Cameron Button will be playing the third bird. He is an AS student, a work colleague and a good friend that is easy to contact and is extremely patient and understanding, this is a good quality to have during filming as things can get quite tedious and people easily lose focus. He is one to keep 
morale high and work competently throughout the shoot. He is one who is up for a challenge which means he is adaptable to any situation. He is very tall also which helps with technical difficulties such as dropping the plastic balls from a great height to make it look as much like rain as possible.
The final bird will be Kerry, a work colleague who is very l
enient in any situation. She will work well as one of the birds as she has a very big, bubly personality; and isn't afraid to look 'silly' in front of the camera. She knows Cameron and therefore isn't isolated from the group and doesn't have the risk of being the odd one out since she is the only member of the cast that isn't an a-level student.
These people have been chosen to work within our cast as they all reflect typical students of mixed gender, age, shape and size. This way the audience are less likely to feel alienated by the use of characters. There is at least one person hopefully within the cast that the audience can identify with; whether it is who they are, who they want to be or who they don't want to be.
Props
Headphones - These will be used both at the beginning and the end of the video. Guy will place them on his head as the song begins, then their wire will represent Guys imagination as the song is being 'plugged in' to his head, they will show the transition from reality to his subconcious. He will also take the headphones off at the end of the song to show the transition back from his subconcious to reality. They will also be used in a stop motion sequence between the drama room scene and the Elm Hill scene, they help ease the change between the two locations and also give the viewer a chance to interpret the story so far.
Ball pit balls - These will signify rain alongside the lyric 'rain ain't fallin' around here'. They will be used in the drama room scene, they will be released from above Guys head in the centre of the stage. Plastic ball pit balls were chosen as they are a good size to appear clearly on the video but not be so big that they won't relate to rain, they are also very light and won't harm any of the actors if they fall on someones head. The bright colours of the balls will give a much more positive connotation to rain, reflecting the upbeat summery feeling created by the song. This also introduces the audience to the symbolic aspect of the video, which will ease them in before the bird people enter which could confuse the audience if they were the only symbolic feature within the video.
Bird masks - These will be used on 6 people so that they represent the birds that are mentioned in the 
song 'birds are singing the same song'. This lyric is the third lyric in the song so the birds will be introduced right at the beginning but they will continue to be present throughout the song as they add a surreal meaning that makes it clear to the audience that the action in which they are included is all a dream. A seventh bird mask will also be used for Guy towards the end of the song, this will show that he has 'become one of them', this gives a darker twist to the video, his mask will be much more grand than the others, showing his importance and the difference between him and the others.
Microphone - The microphone is an imp
ortant prop in the way that it subtly adds to the news reporter style impersonation that Guy will do during the Elm Hill scene. He will mime the lyrics into the microphone as if he is reporting a story, while his body language is giving the impression that he is describing the action going on behind him to his 'viewers'. Without the microphone and other hints such as the suit, there is the risk that the voyeur may not understand what Guy is doing.
Lyric Boards - These will be used symbolicly much like the play pit balls and the bird people. instead the boards will be held up by 
people in a mexican wave, this will therefore create a metaphor linking to the chorus lyrics 'sail away with me baby', to make it more quirky than simply plain boards the boards will each have a word from the chorus on them and the wave will move in time with the words so each word rises as it is being said in the song.
Tambourine - The tambourine will be used very briefly in the drama room scene. It is used toward the beginning of the scene where the main character reappears from behind the group of birds, and just before the chorus kicks in there is the sound of a tambourine to show the build to the chorus. At this point the main character will shake his tambourine in time with the song, this shows his strong link to the song, and also his transition from reality into the fantasy narrative.
Costumes
All costumes used will be typical everyday clothes as this adds a norm to the surreal video or does it make it even more surreal as the two are combined?
The fact that the birds are wearing everyday clothes also makes it clear that it is students impersonating birds and that they are not trying to actually be birds. The students will wear the same outfits throughout the entire video so that the voyeur can identify each individual bird as a character.
Guy also is introduced wearing everyday clothes as this will immediately communicate his emminence to the viewer, being that he is an everyday, normal teenager established in mundane clothing in mundane surroundings. This also gives the veiwer a chance to relate to the character as the songs main audience demographic is teenagers between age 14 and 19, the point of having a character of similar age and similar temperament that the audience can relate to is that it won't isolate the audience by making them feel irrelevant to or in awe of the charact
er but instead feel empathy and compassion for the character.During the Elm Hill scene, the character will be introduced jumping into the shot in a suit and tie, this adds another level to the video, the suit connotes power, this shows that he suddenly has more control over the situation, it also helps the voyeur to get the notion that he is impersonating a news reporter so as not to confuse the audience, since at this point in the video the character is acting as a news reporter, describing the scene around him. Furthermore, it helps the voyeur to pick him out from the group once he becomes one of the bird people.
Shooting Schedules
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