Filming - Mise en scene & update

In order to establish our characters as reflecting the 'east london ska' genre we used mise en scene greatly in order to highlight the lifestyle of the characters in our narrative. At the beginning of our music video, when all characters are waking up, we decided that mise en scene should be a key feature to allow the audience to understand and recognise this stereotype.





In this clip (filmed in my brothers bedroom) i have incorporated objects which i feel can represent the 'rebellious' and 'youthful' lifestyle that we wished to create. For example, rebellion is highlighted through the condoms, alcohol and 'sheesha' smoking pipe. I also believe that the 'virginia' roll up cigarettes and 'own brand' cider defines these teenagers as being more laid back or typical 'broke' students who are not too concerned about material things and only have the money for inexpensive cigarettes and alcohol anyway. Messy and cluttered mise en scene has been created in order to highlight the 'rebellious' characters devil-may care attitude. This also fits in with the storyline of the narrative, as the rebellious characters 'bunk' school to have a fun day out and do what they want to do, yet the good character follows rules and does what people want him to do and yet has a very bad day because he isn't pleasing himself, but everybody else. 


In terms of incorporating this into the music video, we have currently sped up this footage in order to fit in with the fast pace of the song and the introduction however when doing this the footage has become noticeably more shaky. We are undecided as to whether to keep this speed or not, as although it allows for less time and more footage at the beginning it may not look as effective. A possible suggestion would be to cut this clip in between others during the introduction but this may also not look as effective. We will try this tomorrow and decide. 


Update


We are re-filming in Camden on Saturday in order to get some better quality shots. I believe we should use the tripod a lot more often and we will need to direct better and be more tough. Originally we did not wish to tell people how to act on camera constantly as we thought this would create a less naturalistic atmosphere e.g. if we told people to laugh and be jolly it would be noticeable in the video that they were uncomfortable or being false. However the right mix of direction and naturalism should work best. Another thing that we definitely need to do is to review all footage that we record immediately after and not let one person take singular responsibility.  


At the moment we are editing and have one minute of rough footage put together which we will gradually add to and improve. We have decided to include lots of jump cuts which fall on the beat of the music and sped up footage which will make the audience aware of the production process. We feel any graphic features or fonts in the music video will not fit into the genre very effectively as although we wish to make it post-modern we still want to create realism.