Planning setting and iconography - Miss Gerogiou

Locations are essential when creating a music video because the locations mean how much difficulty you'll be facing when filming in each location, this could be people walking into the shot or it could be that there is bad weather at the location of filming around a certain time. Iconography is essential to a music video as well because it can help emphasize the point of the song, e.g. there could be a guitar which makes the artist come across as talented as well as the fact that the artist plays the guitar in the music video, it may even be a prop that is used in all of an artists music videos as that's the image they want to get across to their audience.

The first location we want to use in our video is Buckhurst hill station, the reason why we want to use this is because it works for our narrative which is that he leaves his old town in search for his dream on becoming a music artist, the location also works because it suggests that the artist is about to start a long journey, this follows the conventions of the indie genre as a lot of songs talk about leaving home for their chance at fame which is what the artist here is doing. In this location we plan to film very few shots here, these shots will take place at the very beginning of the video and will just be establishing who our artist is, at this location our artist will be thanking a cab driver and tapping in his oyster card so that he can get through to the train. The location could be an issue when filming because we may get there at the wrong time and it might be rush hour so people could get in the way of filming, also finding a cab driver might also be an issue to wait for us to film a scene with him included. One health and safety risk that could arise is that cars are always coming in and out of the station so we need to be careful when we're filming the short scene outside, however as stated before, it is a short scene so we won't need too much time outside. Weather could be a bit of a problem when filming outside the entrance of the station but it can be overcome by frequently checking weather forecasts so that no rain disrupts filming or film another scene quickly before that and maybe the weather is okay but if it hasn't then we could use one of our jackets to cover the equipment so that it doesn't get damaged while filming.

Another location that we want to film at is liverpool street station, this station is used as a direct contrast from our artists first station as it's much busier as the other station, this shows how his life could be changing as he's moved on from his old life to a new one, the location is trying to convey how he desires to become famous in the music industry. This may also be a very short location being used as will head more into the city bit after this shot, but we hope to get a few shots just showing how busy the station is, showing that life in the city is fast compared to where our artist came from. For the scene to show that it's very busy, we can't film anything specific involving our artist in the train station because it's so busy and lots of people will get in the frame of the shot so it would be quite tricky. The only health and safety issues I can think of filming here is just people tripping over the equipment after we set it all up, to overcome this i think that our group should be standing around the camera so people then know we are filming and people will just have to try and get past us without worrying about the camera or the equipment. The weather won't be a problem as the station itself has a roof so the rain won't effect it much, however if there are a lot of clouds it may play with the lighting but not too much. This other filming location will be used because me and my group have decided to show the artist in a new area so that it will relate to the lyrics therefore the audience can see a connection between them, the lyrics are "I got out, i'm alive but now i'm here to stay" meaning he's gone from his hometown to another place in order to make it into the industry.

The next location is outside of liverpool street station and actually on the streets, we will be filming our artist here a lot more than we were inside the station. What we plan to do is have most of the narrative transpire on the streets, firstly we want to use a time lapse while our artist plays the guitar on the streets as people walk past him, showing how unsuccessful he is in the city, we want to film other normal mid shots of him just performing the song because this can be used later if we don't fill the song time limit with different shots. There aren't many limitations i can see but one problem that could arise is that people walking past might ruin the shot for the time lapse and get in front of the camera so this may be somewhat of a problem when we go there to film. Health and safety risks are the same as before which is that people might trip over equipment but cars are again a bit of an issue so we would need to take both of these things into account when filming and be very careful while filming. Weather is the biggest issue for this location because if it's too sunny or bright it won't give off the right mood that our video is going for and it could also rain which would again be massive issue because it could ruin the mood of the video if it begins to rain, however to overcome this issue me and my group could either cover up any equipment with coats or frequently check forecasts so that we don't get caught out.

The first use of iconography that will be present within the video straight away is the guitar of the artist that he'll be using later on in the video, the artist will first have it inside a guitar case on his back when he gets to the city he'll start to play it on the streets to try and earn some money for his efforts at trying to become famous. The reason why our group decided to use the guitar in the video is because the target audience for our artist will build up more of a relationship with him because they will eventually respect the artist because he can play the guitar, this makes it easier for the audience to relate to the artist because the guitar shows his shear talent and that this is why he went to the city, to make music. Having the guitar present in the video does link in with the song because it shows the audience how he wants to get out, he wants to get out of his old neighborhood and become famous by performing his favourite songs. This creates a relationship between the narrative style as it clearly shows this is the object that will hopefully save our artist from homelessness and make him famous so he can make money.

The next use of iconography in the video that i'll be talking about is the key which will be present right at the end of the video when the artist tries to go back home as he's had unsuccessful results in the city. The key is about to go into the lock until the artist finds out the locks been changed which further emphasizes that the artist tried to start again in the city because he wanted to get famous in the music industry, this is conventional as it conveys a dark subtext in the video, some people are just unlucky and if you're on your own in the world, you probably won't make it. There isn't a link at all at this point of the video between the lyrics in fact they both clearly juxtapose each other by the end, this is too further expand on the concept of the song that you need to know someone to get into the industry as our artist was on his own throughout the whole song. As stated before the visuals in this scene relates to the concept of the video which is that our artist is completely alone and that won't help him becoming famous because he has no one there for him if it doesn't work out at all.

The final use of iconography is the money basket for our artist while he's playing the song outside the station for any money whatsoever but more importantly to get noticed by someone that can help him, the basket will have to remain empty throughout the video to show how unsuccessful he was in the city. The basket shows our audience that he's trying to get into the industry but is having a lot of difficulty doing so, some audiences may relate to this because it shows how driven he is for his dreams like a lot of people are in the world. This is conventional as this where the concept of the video comes across, it shows that he is all alone and will soon be completely broke with nowhere to go but home therefore it shows that he's unsuccessful and couldn't make his dream come true. It doesn't necessary link in with the lyrics but the reason we did this was to show a clear contrast with another more successful character later on in the video. The money bucket also relates more to the concept of the video and shows that no matter how much some people try and make their dreams come true, it sometimes never works out that way.