Risk Assessment

Risk (OUTDOORS)	Problem	Solution
Cars & Traffic when filming outdoors.	Actors could get injured if walking in front of a car or being insensible crossing the road.	Be sensible when crossing the road. Don’t walk in front of cars and if a car is being used in the film make sure the driver knows what he is doing
Other people when filming outdoors.	Actors need to be aware of the general public so they don’t bump into other people or other people are filmed.	Avoid the general public- because some of the video is filmed in a public area make sure other people are aware what is happening.
Darkness outside.	Actors need to be aware of their surroundings so they don’t have a accident.	Make sure filming takes place somewhere reasonably light so actors know where they are and so the film isn’t dark.
Stairs outside.	Actors need to be aware of the stairs outside when filming so they don’t have an accident.	Verify with the actors what they need to do if filming on stairs and make sure the actors are careful.
Masks	Actors need to be aware of the masks they are wearing and if they can see correctly through them.	Make sure the actors can see through the masks so there is prevention from injuries.

This is the risk assessment for my filming, with all the problems and solutions when filming.

Ideas changed.. Again..

i have decided to change the amount of actors in my music video. I did a few minutes of final research and I think it is important how many of the masked people are actually in my video.
To have 5 masked persons- they would all have to be similar build and around the same height, this is because it would look very random and not as effective if they were all different- they wouldn't be represented as scary as what they could be. The masks take away the idea of identity, they would be known as "they, & them" because they don't have a identity. But for this is be most effective they would all have to be the same build and height because they would be wearing the same clothes and the same masks.
However, on the subject of the masked people, if i have 5 people playing the masked people, this would take the focus off the actual narrative and you would be less focused on what is happening and more focused on all the weird people in masks. if i have ONE person wearing a mask, it intensifies everything.  (I have one very horrible pig mask- latex, so it covers the whole face & neck) the attention would be on that one villain and the storyline would be more clear. Having just one villain connotes horror much more better because you dont understand how only one person can accomplish so much, can be in all these different places. If there is 5 there is much more power with a gang of people and you know that there is no hope. But just one masked villain on his own, you wonder if the character can escape, you think where that one person might be, or how they are doing this.

looking at the horror films that have associated this type of narrative, it is normally only one masked villain in the horror films. Such as the movie Halloween, Michael Mires is the masked villain and he is on his own. Below I will some shots of the film. The representation of horror is more effective when it is ONE person. So I am going to use one person.

I have used Halloween as an example because it is a classic horror movie, with has all the codes and contentions for a successful horror. (Knives, masks, darkness, dark clothes, shadowing, nightfall, powerless woman alone)
All these pictures are from shots of both the 1978 version and the 2007 Halloween movie. As you can see the one person makes it so much more scarier because they have all this unnatural power to creep around and be death threatening. The power isn't explained where it comes from it is just there. The audience expect this though, the audience will know that the one masked villain has more power than the character. However the audience dont know who will be the most powerful in the end. Because it is a battle for life, basically. This isn't in my music video. my video will just contain the fear and the chase. because the ending is concluded it was all in the characters head, relating back to the drinking and drugs.

I watched a film the other day called "Smiley"- This is a horror film, and it was all quite scary, the masked villain was on his own throughout the film, killing people through the internet on webcam and appearing behind them with, yet again a knife. The film was okay, I thought it was abit same old, using old ideas creating new ones, it dragged on and some of the actors were rubbish, the whole idea of the internet usage and webcam was clever as in our society today webcam and Skype and internet dating services are very common, however at the end everything went wrong as we discovered there was actually 4 or 5 smiley masked villains. And seeing them all together in the same room completely lost the whole idea of the genre and the whole purpose of the film. (To scare). ESPECIALLY when they took of the masks revealing their true identity. (Which will never be included in my video).
So I will not be using more that one villain at all as it completely changes the concept and the narrative of the video. As then you understand how so much was accomplished and it is not as scary at all.

This is a picture of the masked villain. Now imagine 5 of them in the same room. Not a pinch on how scary it could have been if there was only the one.

Making the Single Cover

This is the design of my front cover for the bassnectar single "Risington" originally created by massive attack. The skull connotes horror; which the song in itself represents. As the music video also represents the horror genre. The Butterfly wings are just a random decoration to make it appear more eyecatching and different. 

What I did first was get two images, one of a skull and one of a butterfly. I then seperated the butterfly wings and put the skull inbetween then. Editing the contrast, levels and brightness so the three main colours were white, black and grey. 

I then erased the black around the skull so that the image was of a skull with wings. Finally it looked like the image below. 

Even though the newly created image in itself was good it still wasn't quite the type of thing I wanted to use. So using the instructions on "How to create a Typographic Portrait" - http://10steps.sg/tutorials/photoshop/make-yourself-an-amazing-typographic-portrait/

I went through a step by step process to create the final design. By creating new layers, selecting similar colours and pasting on the words within that shape I finally made this. I am happy with it however I do not believe it is enough to represent and advertise Bassnectar. As Bassnectars album art is different to this. This is the basic design however so i will still use this idea, only make it different. 

The colour is something I definitely need to use because looking at Bassnectars album art it is very colourful and eye catching. 

As you can see in the picture I can tweak the image to make different colours appear darker and others faded. 

Change of Idea

Due to my filming destination being in a difficult area and the weather being extremely wet making it harder to travel a longer distance I have decided to film locally around where I live. The narrative will stay the same, only it will be in a much more rural area meaning there wont be as many pedestrians around. I think the representation of horror will be defined and represented more within my local area as it is much more scary and there is many more connotions to represent the genre. Such as darkness/ dark trees/ less people around making it more eery.
I will still use the representation of drugs at the beginning however it wont be taking drugs to go out. It will be taking drugs because the character is an addict.
Instead of them getting ready to go out they will be doing it as their evening routine & when a friend texts her to meet up, the walk to meet them will be the most interesting. There will be lots of connotions to the representation of horror.
This will not only benefit me because it will be a lot more accessible to do in a much easier area, i think the connotions of horror will be represented more and the target audience will be more aware of the narrative and what is happening. Only the narrative wont be overly clear as i want to keep the audience in ore of what might happen, what is happening and what has happened.

Why album covers represent the type of music.

This album cover for Otis Redding says alot about his type of music. The red background has connotations of romance in his music. The picture is an iconic image Otis Redding and we know this because it is a picture of a man and the album title anchors the meaning is from one artist who sings. Singing obviously shows that he is a singer so the songs are going to be real live music recording (not over produced). Otis Redding is a soul singer. He has an instantly recognisable voice that the audience can associate with black people. His facial expression shows his music is very expressive and meaningful. This is why the editor included this photo to emphasise the music is REAL. This album cover tells us alot about the music included.

This helps me in my research because I am now aware that my album cover has to somehow link into the genre of music that is being played. The colours, the font, the picture and the design all have to fit into what my audience will expect, aswell as it being eye catching for the audience it needs to link into the music in that album.


However- this isn't always the case as Weezer did a album based on the character from lost- Hurley.
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo explains the reasoning behind the Hurley album:

"We struggled super hard trying to come up with an album title, trying to find some kind of phrase that summed up the whole aesthetic behind the album: 'Heavy Mental,' 'Smaller Than Life." I was coming up with all kinds of stuff, but ultimately, we just went with some random word that doesn't really have anything to do with anything. I just loved this photo of Jorge Garcia -- it just had this amazing vibe. We didn't want to do a fourth self-titled record and we knew people would refer to it as 'the Hurley record' even if left it without that title, so we just called it 'Hurley.' No words are on the cover because all we wanted was his amazing face." --
http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Weezer-Names-Their-New-Album-After-Hurley-From-Lost-26237.html

This shows how some album covers aren't really related at all to the type of music and a album cover doesn't connote anything at all to their type of music or the type of song. Comparing both artists, Otis Redding and Weezer are both mass media producers of music yet the album covers are very opposite in the way they are designed to either be very meaningful with lots of connotations to the genre of music or be very random and have no meaning to the music whatsoever. 

Research of Album Artwork.

Looking at album artwork to gain a better understanding of the style in which my front cover should be expected to look like, I looked at both artists who have albums separate to the song I am actually producing a music video for. I looked at album artwork from Massive Attack and Bassnectar. Both share a unusualness to the Artwork. Although both are quite different. However the remixed song is from Bassnectar, so it would be included in one of his albums- therefore my artwork has to appeal more to the Bassnectar side rather than the massive attack album.

Location

As you can see in some of these shots it will look very creepy when there is so much open space and give mroe of a feeling of being alone and worried. Especially under the influence.

^^ This is an example of somewhere i cannot film. As at night this is closed off. I have to be cautious of where i film as some areas of exeter are closed off at night.

I want people wearing masks dancing on these pillars in exeter. This will look very weird and represent horror more clearer.

I wish to film some of my video in a club.

These steps at night are very creepy as you will see in a print screen. It is where alot of people go to do drugs in real life outside a club and the stairs are very wonky and uneven. This will relate to the audience as they will understand the weirdness of the stairs under the influence of drugs.

These are some of my locations in exeter, this is in the daytime although i am filming in the evening to give a clearer picture of places it will be filmed.

This is a printscreen from a shot i did at the time i will be filming. This is on the stairs and i think it gives off a horror impression strait away. The position of the character and the lighting- very red gives off the impression of danger. However I will need to try to make eveything abit lighter so you are able to see the characters more clearly. The shadowed mask shows it is very unreal but doesnt really look like a mask. I think this shot is excellent and will be using similar ones in my video. 

This is a photograph of another shot which will be done at night- unexpected encounters. This is very eery and represents horror perfectly. The position of the character and the angle of his head. The flash on the camera is unnecessary and the lighting will be darker and more red. 

Genre of my music choice in comparison to the genre of the music video.

Obviously a music video has two different genres- the genre of music and the genre of video. All music videos have a story. Nickelback- Savin' me is an example. The genre of music and the genre of video doesn't necessarily match perfectly. However I believe my music genre choice in comparison to the genre of video is a good match. The song does not have a definite stamped genre. It is a remixed song so have a variety of different genres. However the song in itself connotes a eery and unpleasant vibe. It isn't a happy tune that makes you think of positive things. It's very dark. It makes me think of someone on drugs with huge bulging eyes and alot of weirdness- and because I fit my target audience this is also what the audience would most probably expect the video to be! It's a sinister tune and this matches perfectly with my genre of video. Drugs/Horror. I think the unusual happenings in my video are very imaginable when you listen to the song. I think the audience will get what they expect and more when they watch the video! They will hopefully be intrigued and entertained throughout. Because it is a very dark song some people who listen to it will have a dark mind and will enjoy watching the video. The narrative corresponds with the music  because it is horrific and includes drugs. The message behind it however may not. The audience who are older may enjoy taking drugs and the younger ones may want to do them after listening to the song, but i will not let this happen as the message behind it is extremely truthful as drugs are seen as quite dangerous at times.

Reflecting back on my research.

Reflecting back on all my research I have done, such as looking at different videos that have similar ways in filming to what I'm doing, looking at different films and different influences, watching telly and plenty of horror films to analyse the representation of them and the drug side of different videos, I think this had benefitted me greatly as I now have a better understanding of my genre and what the audience should expect- and what they won't expect! I think this has also given me a clearer view of the types of shots and different effects and editing skills I would like to use. Looking at the video 'Smack my Bi*ch up' has given me a vivid understanding that i cannot glamourise drugs and alcohol in my video because obviously younger years have the possibility of watching it. That is why at the end of my video there will be a twist to shockingly show "what really happened". Overall my research has been very handy so far, there is more to come along the way and I am positive it will all go well!

Any other props?

Researching more of my genre, alot of the villans in horror movies carry weapons. One in particular weapon that I see is a kitchen knife. This is in many different films that represent the genre of horror. Films include Chucky, Scream, The Shining, The Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Saw, & many more. I believe if i include some sort of weapon, obviously with the genre of music video it will represent the genre more, the audience will be shocked and question 'what will happen to the character'- the animal masked people will be carrying one and i will do a 360 degree shot of the animal masked villans walking towards the camera with a knife. This will keep the audience entertained and it will also show more of the representation of horror.

Linking my work to Narrative Theory

Barthes Enigma Code-

"Barthes' Enigma Code is a theory that suggests a text (whether that be television, film, a poster etc) portrays a mystery to draw an audience in, pose questions and, as such, become intrigued in the piece. For instance, a murder mystery will often not reveal the identity of the murderer until the end of the story, which poses the question "Who is the murderer?" " - 
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Barthes'_Enigma_code


This links in to my music video as there is a constant question- What purpose do these masked people have? As we do not find out until the very end it is hallucinations from a drug intake. We do not know if it is real or not until the very end when the narrative begins to make sense. The first half of my video however we recognise what is happening and we understand that the consequences will be bad (I cannot glamourise the usage of drugs in my video because younger years below 16 may have a aberrant reading of this text and reinact the usage of drugs).

http://www.slideshare.net/petefrasers/presentation-nov-4

From looking at Pete's Media Blog and the slideshow to do with preparation and organisation I have learnt that I need to be focusing my blog on 9 key terms used to organise everything. From my research I have shown screenshots and trailers, music videos and different things similar to my ideas (which I have thoughly explained) - this is the basic research which I have gone into much detail for. I need to reflect back on everything I do- for instance I need to reflect back on my research and explain how it has benefitted me and helped me along with my ideas and preparation. My planning is to be reflected on- i need to plan the days in which i will go out and shoot with my people. I need to show a understanding of the equipment i am using and different techniques used to create the certain one person style. (I could use a actor when i needed images looking down to represent their person. I need to do much more on the logistics and set up a timetable and a risk assessment of the dangers shooting. I need to make videos of people explaining their thoughts of my idea- so feedback. I shall quote my idea that i have explained and this will all benefit me and give me a borader understanding of what i need to and how i am going to do it. 

The slideshow i have found has benefitted me a great amount as I now have a clear understanding of all the terms and things i need to discuss an do. Evidently uploading it to blogger and analysing all the work i do. This will also make my blog more organised and understandable. 

Codes & Conventions

This shot will be familia to alot of mine so it will be an example.

The animal masks are a code for horror. Subverting their represented stereotypical look of innocent.
The blackened outfits represent horror also within this genre of film. Although they do not marry the genre of the music, they are well fitted with the genre of the video. They represent mystery and darkness. Camoflaugue obviously because they are hard to spot in the dark. They are extrememly dull and do not show any dark of the skin which connotes something which is hidden and mysterious.
Posture of the actors has to be represented as horror. They will be moving in some scenes but alot of scenes will be stood still. Watching. This is represented in many horror films as it is a very disturbing and unexpected encounter like way of just being.

Representation of posture. Posture is a code and convention for horror films and the unexpected villan we encounter numerous amounts of times. 

As you can see in the film "The strangers" The villan has a very still, watchful posture. A very strong, and unhumanlike posture. We immediately know that the someone is in danger. Also moving aside posture in these shots the lighting is very eery and the suburban area makes it more horrid and disturbing because there is no one around. 

My song is very slow and eery which goes with the genre of video. However both genres of the music and the horror do not completely marry together. The song is very spaced out and extreme- the type of music you would listen to if you were under the influence. This goes partly with my genre being horror as very weird horrible things will be happening once this character in my video is on drugs. However it will be almost repeated encounters of different 'villans' who are wearing masks and have a still, strange posture. Many masks are included in horror genres. For example:

^Masked killers from "The strangers"

^Mike Myers in "Halloween"

^The scream villan in the "Scream" movies

^The jigsaw pig mask from "Saw"

^Jason Voorhees from "Friday the 13th" 

^Leatherface from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" 

^Jigsaw doll mask from "Saw"

These are all masks from various horror films which shows masked villans in movies are a regular occurrence. The masks in these movies aren't very pleasant looking as you can see. They are very horrific and immediately we feel threatened and in danger by them. However the difference with my music video will be that the masks I am using are just normal animal masks for children and the code of the masks will still be there however will be subverted. 

The mask is a code for horror, but the surroundings, the eery music and the posture, lighting (nighttime)  atmosphere has to all collide with the horror basis of the video to show the representation of the genre. The usage of drugs which will be slyly displayed (Or displayed very well) will represent the late teen genre also and give the audience another interesting thing to be reviewing and relating to. 

Codes & Conventions for the atmosphere will obviously have to be dark, dismal, maybe suburban but the usage of drugs at the beginning- (because it is quite a slow pace song there will be little dancing) I should really use a urban area to represent a drog out drug addict who lives in a shambled flat somewhere. As many films that contain drug usage are normally done in a urban area. 

^This film "Trainspotting" is set in Edinburgh in Scotland. This is a city area and the characters in the movie are heroin addicts. The representation of drug usage is through there stereotypical characters- rough looking, foul mouthed who live in a disgusting looking flat in a rough area. There appearance, clothes, makeup, the look on their faces, the darkened eyes and the scruffy hair and clothes tell us that they are drug users even if we haven't witnessed seeing it yet. Obviously you do see it, and this is what the target audience expect- getting what they expect shows it to be a successful movie added with a handful of twists.

Kaboom Trailer

This film trailer gave me inspiration for my video with certain scenes in it. The whole aspect of the film and the genre is simelar to mine & it has influenced my music video. Kaboom is a american sci-fi/ thiller comedy, with a little bit of horror and a tiny bit of drama. Alot of genres in one. It is targeted at young adults/ late teens with alot of sex and alot of twists we don't understand until the ending. There is drug usage in it and the idea of not being sober with lots of weird happenings you don't know if they are real or if Smith (the main character) is hallucinating. The animal masked people in suits i find are very freaky and weird and this is why i want to include them in my video.

The way the video is presented at the beginnning with a introduction to Smith, and about his life at the moment the video is immediatley seen to be a comedy. The music is upbeat and happy and Smith is narrating his story about his life. There is this constant talk about sex and his life as a uni student. The cuts are short and there is lots of close ups of Smiths face. We think it is a typical high-school teen drama. However halfway though the mood and music changes which shows a change in genre. As then Smith recives a letter we get the close up of with reads "you are the chosen one"- this puts forth the idea of a sci-fi kind of genre as well as a comedy. The music changes and we immediately know something weird is happening which relates to his talk of a reoccuring dream Smith is having. There is lots of shots of people in suits wearing animal masks- the shots are very creepy as we see them appear from nowhere and there is the voice of a screaming girl. The shots of the masked people and the unpleasent happenings are put together with a different genre of music and this is when we know that there is alot a bit of horror in the film.

The comedy of the film is repesented firstly by the way Smith and the other people in the shots dress. They are all wearing very colourful and fun clothing. The way in which Smith is talking and other people are talking to him is a sex based which has a comedy feeling to it also. The mood is very happy and fun like univercity. Smith is 19 years old which also creates the target audience to be around that age. The target audience would be people who might perhaps relate to Smith- aswell as being around that age. The mood changes when we being to understand there is a plot to the dream and as more things get filmed at nighttime and weird appearences are seen the genre changes and we know that there is more than comedy in the film.
This links into my ideas because there is more that one genre of film within my film. However i want to keep it limited so i dont complicate myself. The idea of drug useage and weird sightings is mainly my idea which fits into some of the scenes of this film trailer aswell as the genre of film.

These are two shots within the trailer which are especially good because the composition of the shot is incredibly good. like my ideas they are wearing animal masks and suits. The dark clothing connotes something sinister aswell as being unable to see theres faces so a lack of identity and we are unable to see emotion. Both shots are at nighttime with also connotes something sinister. The first screenshot is very good as it is looking down at them which subverts the shot of being dominated. Looking down on the animal masks who are looking up demonstrates their strength and even though the character is high up, is trapped. They posture is very strong and stood still- not human like. The shadows are very good as they give more of a eery feeling to the photograph. The second shot is extremely creepy as we see the masked villan looking through the door. Again it is dark, and the dark clothing and the shadow and lighting behind him gives a very horrorish feeling to the shot, this connotes the genre. The effect the masks have on the representation subverted is extremely well done as the masks show nothing. they are emotionless and silent. They are mysterious and we do not know if they are really real or not. Which is what i want to put forth in my video with the representation of drugs. 

Costume

These are the exact masks i have purchased for my video. In themselves without the actors and costume, these props do not look threatening at all. However combined with actors wearing suits (which is a formal type of clothing not normally worn on a everyday basis) and at night will demonstrate something much more unusual and frightening. These are the main props i am going to be using to demonstrate the characters paranoia from the usage of drugs. Animals like these are all very innocent, we do not see them very often and when we do they give off that "aww" impression. In this video the emotions will be turned as we will see them as a threat. They are only masks- to hide a identity- the identity of these actors roaming around being unwanted encounters of a unsober character. These masks connote threat and hidden mystery. They represent my genre in a subverted way and give the audience a alternate reading. 

This is one of the masks i shall be using in my video in the second half of my video. This pig mask fits into my genre being horror because it isn't a pleasant mask to look at and is quite scary. This mask will hide the identity of a person and put forth the idea of not knowing who or what someone is which is genuinely used in horror related videos. It will represent the horror of the music video and the character wearing it being mysterious with a non-human like form. The mask will fit into the audiences expectations of the video because the mask is very unpleasant. The person wearing the mask will not speak, it will just have the characteristics of a normal person. Except with a mask on. The particular scene in which this mask is used in will be a scene in an area where there will be a street lamp and a man walking down the road. The man is wearing a mask but staring at you (first person perspective). The other masks are different ones used in my video a-swell, only the pig mask is much more bigger and scarier. The woodland animal masks and the farm animal masks will all be used in the second half of my video also. This contradicts the meaning of horror as they are children's masks and they are not associated with horror however with the type of genre and the costume and music they will be represented as being scary. This will also represent horror and drug related horror outcomes such as bad trips and hallucinations as the masks seen by first person perspective will be understood to be the outcome of doing drugs and drinking. This will fit into my target audience because it is very sinister idea of having something which is seen to be so innocent twisted into something which is not very nice at all.

This is the type of uniform the males will be wearing. It will represent the class and formality of the characters. However when they are wearing the suits and formal clothing it is also when they are wearing the masks which will completely change the view of the characters and it will transform it into a very obscure vision. This will link into my genre and the representation will be shown through the suits because they are a very intimidating piece of clothing and are represented to be smart when actually worn without a actual face and somewhat resemblance of a woodland or farm animal are seen as quite frightening.