planned mise-en-scene, storyboard, animatic and brainstorm.

Brainstorming ideas for our video:

We looked at the lyrics of "Swimming" and want to relate the video to them. So our first ideas were for the set and location. We thought that it should be set at the beach as swimming is the main theme of the song. We were thinking of making the video have a 1920's beach theme, like an old black and white film. It would all be set on the beach and the shots would be quite simple. For example walking across the beach, looking out at sea. For the repetitive sections of the song they would be set in colour with brighter more modern clothing. The reasons for these ideas are: we wanted it to have relevance to the lyrics, we wanted a theme/ storyline that the audience can follow and we wanted to relate to Florence's other videos so that the audience can identify the song as hers.

Looking at different beaches we wanted one that would be easily accessable and not too crowded. We think that Eastbourne beach would be ideal for this as we could also use the pier, filming with it in the background or beneath it, which was built in 1870. Setting and filming in winter should ensure the beach is not too busy. There is also another option, Phoebe owns a beach hut at Hastings beach which we could use. Both these beaches are easy for each group member to get to.

on the left there are images (from google images)of the beach in the 1900's, and on the right is Eastbourne beach and pier now.

We have been researching on the Internet what we are going to use for our mise-en-scene. Looking at Florence and the Machine's website we found that it links to our old fashioned theme. On her website she had old, browned and ripped photographs and we want a similar grainy feel when shooting our video. We want to keep to our 1920s theme in our costume and makeup too and we want our actor to be dressed in a "flapper" dress. The hair and makeup will also be in this style. I have created a mood board of photos from Google images to show the style of costume:

The hair will be curled and up maybe with a feather in it. She will wear make-up with a smokey eye and red lipstick. I own a string of pearls that she can wear as from the photos we can see they were popular. We will also have a more modern, colourful, contracting, outfit for the repetitive sections of the song. For example it could be similar to Florence's normal wear or something that our actor owns already. We think that a 1920s theme would suit Florence's style as a contrast to it which would emphasise the modern parts of the video. She also looks like an English rose, I personally think that she would suit this style. I think that the modern senes are needed because these are the parts that will mostly appeal to our young target audience, for example they will like what she wears, or be able to relate to her style, these scenes will also reflect Florence's real style.

Here is a photo of Florence Welch in her own clothes: (google images)

We have chosen two different people who we think will be appropriate for the role of the singer in our video. We want only one person to represent Florence because it keeps it simple and relates to her own music videos. Although we would like her to vaguely represent Florence, we feel that it doesn't matter if they don't look similar. We may cast the girl on the right of this photo as she is willing to play the role, she dances and is a performing arts student. I think that they will both be good to in our music video so I think we will chose whoever is more available.

Mise-en-scene revisited:

One of the main themes throughout the video will be an old 1920s film. To achieve this we will film in black and white and afterwards will superimpose a grainy edit. Our other idea was not to have the whole video in this style but to have the chorus sections to be in colour so that there is a contrast, her costume will also be different, probably more modern and in her own bohemian style. we will brighten these colours while editing, similar to Florence and the Machine's existing videos. We would also like to use another location in the video so we can contrast and separate from the colourful, modern chorus section to the black and white, old fashioned verse section. We have now decided to film the colourful section in the woods similar to Florence's dog days video. there will be paint on the trees. We have found a place in Lewes where we could film this, it is a wooded location next to a large pond.

Brainstorming re-visited:
We have spoken about our video in our group and have decided that we need a clearer storyline. Here are our ideas: It will start with a black and white old fashioned title page with the song title on it "Swimming" it will then go into our first shot which will be of an old looking book also with the same title printed on it. (this woods section will be in black and white, old fashioned) There will be a series of shots to go in time of the music fading in and out then we would like her to mouth the words to the song and she will walk around the woods. She will then find an opening in the trees which leads to the beach. We want it to look as if she had stumbled upon it. So it would go with the lyrics as she sings more about swimming she gets closer and closer to the sea. (tthis section will be coloured and modern) There will then be a series of shots inwhich she gets closer to the sea untill she is finally there. We have had a few different alternative endings for example the book dropping out of her hand at the edge of the waves, or she could jump into the sea and swim off, or she could wake up in the woods again. I have created a mind map displaying our thoughts and ideas so far.

Brainstorming re-visited:

Courtney and I have discussed our video further and done some testing film of our location but we are thinking about making the whole video modern rather than 1920s themed. I think that this way we can still relate it to the lyrics but appeal to our target audience more. We have done some test shots of the wooded location and think it will definitely look better as bright and colourful. Then because the music during the beach scene is louder and faster it would go to the music better if she was in modern clothes and there was a bright and colourful theme throughout. We have filmed our first part of the film and our actress tried on the white, old fashioned dress we found on ebay. But we felt it would not go with our plans anymore, I think that this is definitely a better approach by keeping to the same theme throughout because the target audience will relate to it more and it makes more sense with our chosen artist and song.

here are the dresses we will now use in our video:

The first one we will use for the beach scenes, we want her to have a change of clothes as this section is ambiguous, she is almost a different person here or she may be in a dream if we choose the waking up in the woods ending. It is quite summery which relates to the location as we plan to film on a sunny day. The second is simple but with a burst of colour at the bottom, this could be something that Florence wears herself or that one of her fans wears. I think this dress reflects the genre of the piece.


There will not be many props used in our video as we want to keep it quite simple. At the beginning of the video she holds up a book with the name of the song on it. I have a hard back black plain covered book which I think I could use. In the woods scene we also want there to be some paint or coloured leaves, I will also be organising this.

Here is a photo of the tree I painted:

Here are some music videos that have inspired our ideas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA7ycePZujY Fiest: "1234"

I really like the way this video is filmed, it is done all in one take so the camera is mounted on a crane to give various high angle and low angle shots that flow together. The singer enters on her own and dancers run in from the side. They all wear different colours, the singers costume is glittery so that the audience can identify her out of them all. They perform a routine which goes with the feel-good music. Some bits look slightly improvised which fits in with the alternative music genre. The routine is creative and in one part she is picked up, a high angle shot is used and it is made to look as though she is walking round. This imaginative choreography will appeal to her creative audience. At one point the dancers all skip around her, they all Cheer and you can hear this over the track. This shows that they are having fun and will make the audience want to be a part of it. At the end as the music slows and so does the dancing, they all line up behind her but disappear. It is as if she has had a dream but we have been a part of it. This is like Florence's music video in that sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gKLsMtcvnU&feature=channel "Dog Days are Over"

The very first shot of the video is of the forest with colourful decorations around it as if there has been a party. From this setting, we will use some of the ideas in our own music video. Her audience will be of the party generation and so will want to be there. The camera pans around to show people dressed up in bright clothes with their faces painted. At first Florence wears a black and white suit but she changes into a more colourful dress, her audience are more likely to wear this type of clothing so will feel that they can relate to her, or want to be like her. The costume in our video will have bright colours part of the time too as we are planning to have a similar target audience. The dress she wears is also the same that she wears on the album cover and one of her single covers. This will enable higher identification of her from her audience. The end part of the video shows them all having a party. They are dancing, laughing and look like they're having fun. This will make the audience, like Feist's, want to be there and be a part of it.

This video relates to and represents Florence's individual and eclectic style through the colours and costumes.

Although these videos are similar in genre they have given us an insight into their own music videos and Florence's style. I will take some of these ideas and use them in my promo pack for example for the photographs I will take as I plan to have a picture of the woods with colourful decorations. We want to use this in our video too, the bright colours used in Feist's music video

will also show up in ours.



Animatic: in addition to and before our storyboards we produced an animatic on "final cut pro" by taking photos of our locations and put them in line with the same parts that it will be in our story boards. It enabled us to learn the basics of final cut pro but also made the basis of our music video clearer. Because I was ill the day Phoebe and Courtney went to take the photos I later added some of my own when we were editing the animatic. I think it would be better if we had more particular photos of each shot but I don't think we were at that stage yet. considering this it has been a very helpful process.

Story boards:

I drew out the storyboards for our video, I tried to include the shot type and timings for each shot.

At the beginning it starts with a silent title page displaying the name of the song to give it an old fuzzy look.then there are 16 beats before she starts singing so I thought that we could have eight shots (one shot every two beats/ one shot per second) which give bits away about the setting.

Courtney and I thought that the next parts were focused on her singing, we worked out the correct

timings each shot should be so we put timings in between most of the shots. On shot number 11, to make it more interesting I thought of making it a high angle shot.

Our actress then goes through the woods and finds the sea, which we will film at a wooded area near Eastbourne beach. the shot where she is on the stairs will be a low angle shot which was inspired by a photo Courtney took on location.

Then to go with the crescendo in the music our actress will run/dance around on the beach. there are then several beats whith we will get a long shot, mid shot and close-up of her each on the beat. She dances around to the faster muscic untill she lies on the floor. We thought we could rewind our footage untill she comes to a point with her lieing on the floor in the woods again just like at the beginning.

To look as if it was all a dream (as if she fell asleep reading the book and this was what was in the story) she would then wake up with a smile on her face, as if she shares a secret with the audience.