Research and Planning: Making sugar glass

As a group we wanted to smash glass for our music video, however, we had to consider the safety of this as it would be very unsafe to smash real glass. We solved this problem by deciding to create sugar glass which is used to simulate glass in movies, photographs and plays. It is much less likely to cause injuries than real glass and it breaks easily which is why we decided to use it. We followed the instructions as to how make the sugar glass: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Sugar-Glass

We originally wanted to have the sugar glass shaped as wine glasses, as it was more sophisticated and more appropriate for the video and meaning of the song, as wine is a connotation of romance. Therefore the glass would be broken as one of the meanings of the song is that the love is broken:

However, we could not shape the sugar glass into wine glasses as it was home made, so instead we made a sugar glass slab and then smashed it on the floor. Which looked a bit like this:

Research and Planning: Location

Our chosen locations for our music video was the subway as it gave the 'gritty' feel and matched the mood to the song:

We also decided to use a studio type setting, however it was quite hard to find the right place. So we decided to have the singer singing in front of a blank wall, to create the studio feel to it:

(add a pic of Kitty in front of blue wall)

Research and Planning: Risk assessment, storyboard, shot list, prop list, liability insurance

Risk assessment:

Storyboard:

Shot list:

Prop list:

Liability insurance:

Research and Planning: Mood board and Treatment

Mood board:

Our main ideas was to have the video in black and white as we thought it would look effective and match the mood to the song. Also to have Kitty smoking, smashing glass and burning a rose or a letter because it would link to the meaning and the lyrics of the song. We thought it would look very effective if we included an extreme close-up shot of her eye and a tear falling which creates the mood of the song as well as linking to the meaning of the song.

Treatment:
Our music video consists of a dark theme, involving emotion throughout and a 'gritty' feel to it. Two locations will be used to create the urban, indie and gritty vibe, the locations used will be a subway, a studio based setting and parts in a forest type of setting. We are planning to link some of the lyrics with the visuals shown, for example "black rose, dusty roads and a fire" will be linked to a visual of her lighting a cigarette to connect to the "fire" and "burn" in part of the lyrics. We will try to film as many close-up shots as possible as it creates intimacy between the artist and the audience, We also decided to have our music video in black and white as the black and white theme is a common theme in London Grammar's songs and one of their album covers. Certain ideas for shots such as an extreme close-up shot of her eye with a tear falling down and smashing a glass bottle shows the pain and emotion which will also make it effective.

Research and Planning: Lyric analysis

Research and Planning: Test shots

As a group, whilst discussing our ideas for our music video we decided to film in a studio which we found. We took test shots to create a rough idea of what it would look like and if it would work. We used the lights and used different colours to see the different effects:

However, as a group we found that the studio was not appropriate for our music video as it was more for bands. And it was not ideal for us to film in there as we found that it would not work due to the size, walls and the space:

However, we still used the time to practise our shots against the blank wall and learnt how to change the lighting and see the effects and outcomes of it, either good or bad. 

We then did some test shots in a second location which was the subway and we found that the lighting was good and it created the urban atmosphere to match the mood/tone to the song:

These particular shots stood out to us as a group as the depth of field was effective, they are all different type of camera shots which we would find very useful when it came to actually filming our music video. It created the gritty and urban environment for our music video.

Research and Planning: London Grammar - Nightcall

The style of this particular video and a few others by London Grammar is quite simple, dark and slow. The band is shown in a plain green field, which is quite dark and the soft key lighting centres the band:

The camera movement in this music video is smooth when it moves from one part to the next without any cuts:

Whilst the camera movements is still smooth and no cuts, it goes to a close-up of the band to show them performing:

When the camera moves to show the narrative of the story, it shows people, however they are frozen as they are not moving so it looks like a picture but whilst the camera is still moving:

The lighting is consistent throughout the video whilst also relating to the mood/tone of the video, as it is slow, dark and quite mellow. This is video is interesting as it has no cuts at all, it is filmed continuously. Therefore, as a group we can take these ideas and elements for inspiration of our own video.