Blog 10 - Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene for the video shoot

Before deciding as a group on our choices and selection for the mise-en-scene such as costume, make-up and props we decided to carry out some research on our chosen artist via youtube and google images. We did this to see the style of costume that is used for current and previous

music videos and also live performances to gather inspiration and key ideas that would relate to the target audience. For example..

Take A Bow (2008)

After having a look through Rihanna's music video portfolio, I have noticed she has a variety of looks within her videos

depending on the style, tempo and lyrical influence of the songs she releases, for this I have chosen firstly one of her most simplistic video's. The mise-en-scene is this video is simple, in the opening scenes of the video Rihanna is seen in mostly a plain black tee and dark denim jeans. I think this choice of a stripped down mise-en-scene works because of the nature of the song 'Take a Bow' a love-hearted ballad. The use of a stripped down and minimal look gives more influences on the audiences for lyrical purposes other than just the physical, this can also affect the target audience, as a female audience would be more desired here for the simplicity and also the lyrics to the song.

Disturbia (2008)

Following Take A Bow, Rihanna released her next single titled Disturbia from Good Girl Gone Bad Reloaded, this music video was completely different from anything Rihanna had released before. The song disturbia referenced as 'going mad' is heavily emphasised within the music video through the use of setting and mise-en-scene, the setting of an underground layer gives the representation of darkness and secretive, locations throughout the video such as cages, rotating chairs etc give off the illusion of a psychiatric ward. The costume also helps to emphasise the songs title through dark coloured costumes with dark/heavy make-up represent villian like traits, even the use of contact lenses to give an non-human feel to Rihanna help describe the lyrics and give the audience a real fear and terror that their entering a state of disturbia. The body language of both Rihanna and the dancers within the video also help to relate to the lyrical story through the dance routines and facial expressions, the dance routines are very bold and stand out, this gives the video more dramatic influence and keeps the pace up.

After looking around at a selection of Rihanna's music videos, we decided we would like to take a more basic and simple approach when it comes to selecting the mise-en-scene for our music video. This decision was based on the factors that the song we have selected is a slower acoustic balled and we felt a basic and stripped down costume would give the video a better feel as we chose the song for it's beautiful lyric and we wanted that to be reflected in the video and not outshone by dramatic costume.

We decided that the two characters for the music video will dress quite differently, firstly because of their differences in gender and also to make a clearer distinction between the two and emphasis distance between the two characters.

The main female character will wear mostly white or pale type of colours, a top and jeans/leggings, we decided on using this colour scheme as we felt that by using white and pale colours it can represent purity/innocence and vulnerability within the female character.

The main male character we decided to put in black jeans and a stronger coloured t-shirt, we decided on this because we wanted the male character to appear more dominant in the frame so the female's vocals would sound more real and powerful!

In terms of settings for the video we decided to use a variety of setting for the music video, our first setting will be inside a bedroom, we decided on this location after looking at Rihanna's Take A Bow video, we wanted the locations to be realistic and normal everyday situations and we felt home would reflect the lyrics to the song as most people would be spend time indoors when there feeling heartbroken etc. The second location we decided was the balcony of the house, we chose this because we wanted to incorporate a more dreamy feel to the video and the final location selected is a series of shots within a giant field, after researching into Rihanna's Only Girl In The World music video, we really liked the effect and fun feel it brought to the video, we also thought it would give a better effect if we could use a location that had a much natural light as possible.

PREVIOUS MISE-EN-SCENE PLANS

Lovegame (2009)

After looking through released videos, I noticed how in the majority of her music video's Lady GaGa often shows a lot of flesh, most commonly leartards and cat suit type costumes, for example in this screen shot from Lovegame she is wearing a flesh coloured cat suit covered with jewles and patches of colour. This is mostly to represent sexuality in the videos and emphasises her movements and body language to appeal to a target audience of both males and females within her market niche.

Just Dance (2009)

In this video the costumes choices were less revealing and less flesh was on show to the camera. However I suggest this could be due to it being a debut music video and was at a time before Lady GaGa became a 'sexual icon'. The costume is still individual and stands out and gives a sense of sexuality and style without baring everything for the camera and audiences to see. The costume choices for this video also represent and suit the situation of a house party where the video is based in. This shows that when deciding on costume it is vital that we select a costume that suits and is general for the video set souroundings.

Telephone [Feat. Beyonce] (2010)

Telephone is one of Lady GaGa's most recent music videos, in this video she has a verity of outfits all which can be seen as extremely revealing and controversial., however in this dance scene she wears american flag printed shorts, short top and boots, she also has a white start on her cheeck, these represent a patriotic side to Lady GaGa's personality as she is representing her Country. Due to the lack of clothing in the video many of her tattoo art is on display this shows another uniqueness to Lady GaGa other than her fashion choices and musical sound. The make up and styling for this video is also very strong and dominant this helps to respesent her characters power and strength along with the dance routines and costumes.

After looking at a variety of Lady GaGa's music videos and thinking about potiential ideas taken from inspirational costume, scenery, makeup and body movement we have decided in terms of mise-en-scene for our video to use the following...

Costume:

Main Character (Singer) - For the main characters costume we have taken inspiration from the Just Dance music video, as our video will also be set in a nightclub scene we have decided to dress our main character in a variety of costumes for different shots as Lady GaGa does as I believe this adds varience to the music video and will be more appealing to the eye when watching, we have selected a red dress, black heels for the opening sequence the begining of the video and also the ending sequence because red is a visually strong colour and will make the lead character stand out amoungst the extras, we also wanted to go for a costume that would be general 'going out' styled look as it'll seem for natural and real. During the dance sequence of the video we have selected short shorts for the character to be able to dance in and also to show a respectable amount of flesh. A sparkly/sequined top to stand out and also add a sense of glamour and style to the simple shorts and a pair of heels to compliment the colour scheme of the costume. For the solo shots of the main singer we have decided to put her in a formal themed dress to represent elligence, glamour and to also give off feminitity.

Backup Dancers (All Male) - For the dance sequence of the video we have decided that the back-up dancers will be put in plain white vest-tops with a pair of black trousers and white trainers. We want all of the backup dancers to blend up and mould well together and to be very colour natural so that the focus isn't taken away from the main character of the shoot.

Extras

Bar Tender - Black fitted shirt and black trousers as they are commingly worn uniform by bar tenders in nightclubs.

Two Female Friends of Main Character - To wear general going out costumes such as black highwasted skirts with a natural colour vest top with black heels and jewelerry to have presence in the shots but not dominate them.

Setting of the music video -

The music video will be set within a nightclub enviroment as it will give the ability to be able to reflect the songs lyrics and meanings in representing the lust girls have for males in a club setting. The target audience will also appeal and relate to the genre and Lady GaGa's target audience of youths as the nightclub scene is one they will be familiar with.