Animatic Storyboard

Photographic Storyboard

Test Shots

We conducted some test shots so that we were able to assess what shots we deemed effective and appropriate for our music video. This is while we are in the process of storyboarding so that we can refer to this whilst discussing ideas for the sequence of the shots so to make our video as interesting as possible. 

We felt that the close-ups were particularly effect for our video as well as adhering to Andrew Goodwin's theory of using close-ups of the artist to establish themselves and to create an iconography. 

I also liked the jump shots of the feet which we may experiment with later on in our filming. 

Discussion on Locations

Analysis into 'You you you' Lyrics

Whilst in the process of storyboarding, my group and I looked more closely at the lyrics of the song to analyse the actual meaning in the song. This will then help us with the process of storyboarding because the lyrics may ignite ideas and we will be able to accurately represent the song. 

You You You

The first verse introduces the audience to the content of the song and the lyrics begin with a question. This is important to us because there is a personal feel with this song and so at the places where a question is posed we could have our artist looking directly at the camera - connecting to the audience. From the song lyrics, we also gain a sense that the artist is a strong female figure as she has an attitude, blaming what we assume to be her boyfriend, making a scene, "making me tell other people I don't know you". This emphasises that our demographic is mainly teenage girls with the sense of 'girl power'. A common theme in the song is that the persona is saying that her boyfriend is overly dramatic; she responds with sarcasm saying "like the world will end..." maintaining a playful feel.  

The lyrics in the chorus are quite serious as a girl is clearly annoyed with her boyfriend. Therefore it is the music which dilutes the seriousness by making the chorus very upbeat. The repetition of 'you' is fun and the audience can sense that the song is about after a girl has broken up with her boyfriend and so the song gives a sense of women empowerment, getting over an ex. 

The second verse has a very similar structure to the first. There is the rhetorical question where we feel that the artist should look at the camera. Also we wanted a common shot in music videos of a close-up on the mouth. It would be appropriate here as there is an irony that now she can 'get a word in'. Her attitude is represented particularly in this verse as she is stating her boyfriend's imperfections. Many people in our audience research said that Jessica Drake's song reminded them of Avril Lavigne. This may be because the artist is quite rebellious as she is challenging materialist ideas: "why you gotta buy these things so you can show everybody". One important line in this verse has centred a discussion in our group that is whether we should have a male in the video acting as the ex. Through out most of the video the artist is directly speaking to her ex, however she states that he's "not even there". This means that we don't have to include a male in our video because she can be seen to speak for many girls and therefore speak to the camera. This would increase our target audience because we are not defining the boy that the artist is talking to, making it more inclusive for consumers. At the end of the verse she suggests that she'll "get a move on" so whilst still wanting to keep it playful, we could direct our actress to do a little wave conveying she's moved on. 

This part of the song is different from the verse-chorus structure, which maintains the audience's attention. Again the artist begins with a question also calling him a "diva". We also see a different side of the artist as she expresses "I know you're not that bad". But she gives a warning which we feel she should perform by looking directly at the camera. This is a short deviance from her rebellious attitude and resumes at the end calling him a "dramatic queen", insulting his masculinity - conveying the empowerment to women. 

From looking at these lyrics in more depth, we can gain a sense of the messages in the song- one of the most important being 'girl power'. However it is important to note that the song does not specifically say that the person she is singing about is an ex boyfriend. This leaves it open to interpretation, however as a group we have decided to interpret her singing about a boyfriend. Also this has aided us with looking at stage performance of our actress seeing at what points we need her to look at the camera. 

Initial Storyboard Ideas

Casting: Auditions for Artist

We narrowed our search for our actress down from 8 people. Some of whom did not feel comfortable being in a video and others who had left our college so there were difficulties with time etc. Therefore we now have two possible contenders left and so we conducted auditions. The audition consisted of the actress singing in front of a fixed camera to Jessica Drake's song 'You you you' and they sang a verse and one chorus. As a group, we felt it was important to see what the two girls looked like in front of the camera so we could assess whether we could visualise they playing the part. 
We would like to stress that the videos were one shot takes and we did not conduct any post-production editing on their tapes, apart from adding the music. Therefore the two girls were unsure of the words at times however we simply wanted to get a feel of their presence in front of the camera and if given the part, we are confident they would have time to rehearse and remember their lines. 

First auditioned was Charlie Springthorpe, who is also a member of our group. Whilst conducting our audience research some people said that they thought Charlie would be a good candidate for the role and so we thought she would also be a good contender. Charlie has the looks that the group had in mind, that is long blond hair etc. and our audience research also suggested these features; many people said that they imagined Jessica Drake to have a similar look to Avril Lavigne. Therefore there are similarities between Charlie's look and Avril's which would be helpful in our video, as one will be able to draw associations between appearances, suggesting a similar genre ultimately increasing the target audience's appeal. Additionally her look is similar to that of Jessica Drake's which means that the voice fits with the actress, making the overall performance more authentic and believable. However from the audition tape we felt that she was less confident in her performance which may not appear to be realistic in an upbeat music video. However we must also consider that Charlie is a member of our group and therefore would be able to understand more of the ideas that we can visualise for the music video however there is a question of whether this would affect the group's direction of shots. 

 

Holly George was our second candidate and although not a member of our group, she is a theatre studies student and therefore understands the concept of performing and being directed. In our audience research many people said that Jessica Drake's song reminded them of the singer Ashley Simpson and Holly does have a similar look to this artist. Also in looking like Ashley Simpson, the music is again associated with a more rock/pop genre which is what we want to achieve to increase our target audience. Additionally one of the strongest aspects of Holly's audition was her performance. Her lip syncing was natural and she moved her body to the music more like an artist would in a video. However our group had the concern that Holly does not have a similar look to Jessica Drake and therefore may be unbelievable as the artist. However Ashley Simpson exemplifies a different type of pop/rock singer to the typical blonde and so Holly may show more deviance to the stereotypical American singer. We must also consider that Holly is not a member of our media group thus she does not have an insight into the final piece however there is a question of whether the actress would help being more impartial so we as the directors will instruct her upon how to act. 

Therefore after looking at the two contenders for our promotional package, we will consider who we believe will best reflect the song as the actress, portraying the artist. Although both have good points and bad, we will come to a decision based upon the overall performance of the actresses. 

Casting Decision

Process of finding an Actress

Like a conventional pop/rock song, we are using the artist in the video rather than another character as part of the narrative (such as Ed Sheeran's A-Team video). Ed Sheeran's video is particularly popular in the charts and one of the reasons for this is because of the effective video. This video is so effective because of the strong link to the song and the narrative is predominant. It also pulls on the viewers heart-strings as the controversial song makes audiences think- considered a form of shock advertising. Yet for our song, the lyrics do not reflect a specific narrative, and so we want to create a more upbeat feel that is conventional to more artists such as Katy Perry. 

Therefore we will have the artist as the main focus in our video, however because we are using an unsigned artist from America, we do not have the option of using Jessica Drake. Therefore our video will consist of an actress who will be representing Jessica Drake, as if she is the real artist. As a group we discussed the type of actress we would like for our video and this is expressed in the following mind map. 

From our discussion, we were able to discern specific factors that will influence our choice for our artist. Continually bearing in mind our target audience, we need a female actress around the age of 18 as this is our specific demographic and the artist will be a typical teenager, giving audiences an artist they can relate to and admire. Additionally, as well as having a certain aesthetic for a pop/rock look, we feel that the performance is important. We feel it would be best for our actress to be someone that we know which will enable the actress to feel relaxed around the camera but also so we are able to direct them. 

Our audience research has also been advantageous in helping us see what our target audience think. We used impartial people who listened to the song and gave us feedback on what kind of person they could imagine playing the part.  

Therefore we have thought about people who are possible contenders and we feel it will be best to hold auditions to see what they look like in front of the camera, lip syncing with Jessica Drake's song. 

Audience Research: Artist