More of dead Lou...

Regarding my test shots of Louise being "dead", my Media teacher has commented on my post about it and has given me a suggestion:

Chris Earl 21 October 2013 15:09

One of the things to try and do is to minimise her interaction with the environment. In particular, try to stay away from reflective surfaces (or shoot in such a way as we never see her reflection. I would also suggest grading the image in such a way as to make Louise's bits seem a little "washed out", to emphasise the mysterious nature of the character.

From reading this comment, I have decided that in my music video Louise will have minimal contact with the environment around her to, like Sir said, 'emphasise the mysterious nature of the character'. I will also be sure to stay away from reflective surfaces such as windows or puddles. I will also experiment with the colouring of the video to make it seem more low-key, and to make Louise look more washed out and ghost-like.

The things that I made Louise do in the test shots (such as putting money in a vending machine, or walking through a door) will not feature in my music video; I merely did these shots to test out whether the idea of Louise being invisible to the world around her would be effective. In my opinion, I believe it was extremely effective and will definitely have the supernatural element feature in my music video.

Test shots

As part of my final music video, I have decided to keep the idea of having a "supernatural" element and discussed with both my classmates and my teacher how I could incorporate this idea into my video. My classmate suggested that I take a look at Jake Bugg's video for his single "Seen In All", as in the end the protagonist realises that he is dead. I like this idea, as it would add an unexpected twist to my video and would also allow the audience to see why I have chosen to interpret the song in the way that I have. The strings in the beginning of "Requiem for Blue Jeans" are the reason that I have chosen to incorporate a supernatural element to my video as whenever I listen to them I cannot shake this eerie feeling, reminiscent of when you're watching a horror film and you get chills.

After talking in depth about how I am going to replicate the end scene of Jake Bugg's video (meaning how am I going to make my protagonist appear to be a ghost), I have decided to carry out test shots in order to make sure I have everything prepared before the day of shooting. I have scheduled to do these test shots next week with my actress, Louise. I asked my teacher for guidance on how to create the fading effect shown below:

He suggested that I shoot two different clips (or have the camera still rolling) and choose a backdrop which will not change or move. I will then have Louise stand in front of the camera for a few seconds, have her walk off and then record the empty space. I will then blend the clips together and I will hopefully achieve this fading effect. 

So, Louise is dead...

I have definitely decided to have my protagonist, Louise, dead in my music video. Sounds pleasant, I know. However, Louise will not be aware of the fact that she is deceased as she is going to look and seem like a normal, healthy person. I have thought about dressing her in white or maybe even black (two colours which have several connotations of death) and have decided against it. Instead, I am going to have her dressed in jeans and a jumper, something that I believe will not stand out significantly. The audience will also not realise that Louise is dead until towards the end of the video.

I have conducted some test shots this week of Louise bumping into people, talking to people, and even trying to use everyday machines without them realising she is there or if she exists. I have began to edit these clips together:

The video is almost done and will be posted onto my Vimeo account as soon as possible, and I will then test this video with an audience of all ages to see if this effect is worth using.