Stroyboard

Storyboard
Our ideas are based around challenging the racial and sexual stereotypes and conventions of rap videos by using the opposite genders and race to normal rap videos. We feel there are too many dominantly male video's, where woman are used as a sex objects and men are portrayed as being in a position of power and dominance, by switching the gender's around it would cause the audience to think twice about what they are so used to watching in video's and see woman portrayed as the more powerful and dominant characters. With the added humour of the blonde females lip sinking to obvious male lyrics.

We have chosen to use a more improvisational technique by drawing out our key ideas and shots on the storyboard but continuously using similar shots of each verse and character. This storyboard is a guideline for all of the group and crew to know what we are looking for in terms of shots. We have decided to shoot against green screen as we feel that we will be able to make the lighting look more professional in a studio as well as add interesting footage onto the green screen if we want to.

We want the woman in the video to be dressed in clothing that the public would associate with urban culture and music;for example over sized jackets, hoodies, flat caps and chains as this is typical of Wu-tang Clan and Hip Hop video's and will add to our overall aim. This will be used to add humour to the video to keep it light hearted as blonde woman will be rapping and wearing male clothing.

We decided not to follow a narrative for our video because most videos in the same genre do not have narrative but instead have the characters perform to camera- engaging with the viewer.

Our key camera shots and movements will be close ups, slow zooms in and out, slow pans across and up from the feet, many different angles- from high up, from the side and from below. As well as using a variation of people that fill the frame, sometimes being solo, a duo or a group of three. We feel this will work well for our genre of Hip Hop as well as keep the viewer interested and engaged.

We have chosen to use many close up's of the characters faces to show their expressions and emotions as this will gain the attention of the audience and engage with them. We have chosen to use many mid shots as these are typical of many music videos to concentrate on the characters upper body. We have used some profile shots to add interest to our video and vary the different shot types. We have chosen to use long shots in our video as this will show the audience the characters figure expressions, dancing as well as their costumes. Finally we have chosen to use a static shot of the characters stood still staring into the camera menacingly as this will convey to the audience the power the woman have and how they can be dominant just like men.

The storyboard is a vital part of any film/video project. It allows us to pre-visualise the film before setting out on the long journey to making it. It is a working document that should be referred to at all times of the project and by all member's of the production team at all stages of the production and post production. By setting out a proposed idea on paper in a shot by shot format showing images of shots with detailed descriptions of what happens, it makes sure that the film will flow well and captivate an audience. I am glad we made a storyboard as it will be useful to look at for help and to make sure we stick to our initial idea as much as we can.

Shooting Script

After making our storyboard we created a shooting script which is used when actually filming. It enables us to set up a schedule for the day of filming including a list of shots that we intend to film. There is space in a shooting script to write information about each take of every shot to indicate which shots were best and which were not so good. This saves time in the editing process as we will only need to capture back the good footage.

This is an example of our shooting script..

Booking Equipment

In the real media industry, production equipment such as cameras, tripods and lights are usually hired from specialist video production companies. In this case you would have to pay a hiring fee and if the equipment was late to be handed in then a fee would incur. As you would have to pay for kit then it is essential that there is a tight well thought out plan and schedule set out so that you can maximise time with the production kit. Filming therefore is taken in the smallest possible time period, saving the director money in the long run.

In my case however there was no hiring fee but there were specific rules to be followed such as needing to book equipment 48 hours in advance and have it for a maximum of 2 days. This is because kit is in high demand all of the time. We will have to fill in risk assessment forms whenever taking out equipment to cover insurance and to make sure everyone is aware of the possible dangers.