Location and Filming

We felt that it was important to film our music video in different locations so as to vary the video. It was also a feature we found was used alot in exisiting music videos, having different locations to represent different aspects of the song. We therefore began thinking about different locations in which we could film the different parts of the music video. We were also very inspired by Rihanna's music video 'We found love' in relation to the storyline and filming locations;

Field

 

Rihanna - 'We found love'

We found a field which was very similar to the one featured in Rihanna's music video;

The field at the back of our college was where we had our photoshoot. We liked these images so much we wanted to feature the field in the actual video and therefore also linking the video to the album cover.
The field represented the happy times in the couples relationship. It was bright, open and picturesque and was a perfect setting for showing the blossoming relationship between the two.

 We had the actors (Sam and Sam) running through the grass, holding hands, laughing and joking to try and create a natural unstaged look and giving the video a homemade feel.
 
For this section used the tripod so as to get a steady, professional film. We also felt this was best as the shots where quite distant and wide and so the tripod made it easier to pan and zoom.

 In this shot we decided to have a handheld camera because we wanted to create the idea that these clips where the couples homemade filming of each other. This technique allowed us to have extreme close ups of Sams face allowing us to capture his emotions and also produced an unsteady, unprofessional filming,creating a relaxed and happy mood.

Sams House


Rihanna - 'We found love'

The storyline to Rihanna's video is centerd around a troubled relationship and the locations vary from open fields and skate parks to the small compact rooms in there flat such as the bathroom and bedroom.

The storyline to our music video was also a troubled relationship and so we needed a different location to film the shots that showed how the relationship had began to deteriate and go wrong. We wanted this location to really contrast the bright, open field in which we filmed previous happier times, so that the audience could distinguish between the two aspects of the realtionship. We therefore decided to film these shots in Sams house, in his bedroom and bathroom as these where smaller, closed rooms in the house (in contrast to an open living room) and are also very personal rooms.

In these shots we had our actor pretend to take drugs, using flour and paracetomals as fake drugs, because this was the cause of the breaking down of the relationship. We then had them pretending to fight and argue which displayed the violent, distressed side to their relationship.



In the drug taking scences we used the handheld camera so that  we werent restricted in our filming and where able to capture shots from all angles. However for the fighting scences we deicded to use the tripod because we wanted the shot to be extremely steady and focused on the couple.

Southport
So as to vary our filming even more we wanted to travel in order to find even more locations to film at. We decided to do this at Southport as there is a number of differnet places from which we could choose;

Beach

We chose the beach as the main fliming location in the video, where our artist 'Darcy Jones' was to be filmed singing. We felt that the beach was a good representation of her feelings and a place where she would be able to let out her emotion. The beach is a large open space in which she can escape to and let out her true feelings about the relationship, however the overcast sky represents the idea that she is still trapped in the relationship, whilst the dull, grey colours of the sky and sea reflect the sadness and emotion.

When it came to filming our artist singing we wanted to maintain a steady, clear focus on her. We therefore set up the camera on the tripod and and fixed it at a height and distance that captured her from the waist upwards, focusing mainly on her face so as to capture the emotion. We asked her to look directly into the camera so as to engage and create a connection with the audience when singing.

Arcades



Rihanna - 'We found love'



We liked this scene in Rihanna's video that showed the couple in an amusement arcade as it showed the carefree, lighthearted and happy feelings of being in love and wanted to created something similar in our own video.



                                     

Continuing with the 'good' and 'bad' times in the relationship we used the arcades to film another good and happy aspect of the relationship. We wanted to use as many different locations as possible so as to vary the video and create a believable storyline.

                                     

The arcade was a perfect place to create the fun, carefree and happy times the couple shared as it was bright, colourful and worked well as a place in which the couple could have gone for dates. We asked the actors to play on the arcade games as if the camera wasn't there and this produced some nautural, unstaged footage.

Again we decided to use the tripod for this filming so as to make our video look professional. We used both close ups and far away shots of the couple having a fun and happy time.

Cafe

Rihanna - 'We found love'

Another location inspiration we got from Rihanna's video was this cafe scence, it again showed the couple happy and in love and provided us with another location we could film in in order to vary our video.

This is the cafe in which we filmed a number of the happy times from the couples relationship. It was bright, open and welcoming and was a perfect place to show the couple interacting with each other. We asked our actors to act as natural as possible when filming them sat at the table, so that the relationship looked genuine and believable.

This open sign features as a shot in our video, lasting only a few seconds, however it really adds to the mise-en-scene of our video.

The filming in the cafe varied from steady, professional shots using the tripod and hand held close up shots-  representing elements of 'home video' footage that the couple took of one another.