Shoots

There will only be 3 shoots for the music video:
Croquet
Tram
Old mining district/Fon De Gras

That was originally the plan, however because of the coronavirus crisis the tram and mining district had to be cancelled and instead I directed the artist through a videocall as she filmed at her house.

1.Croquet

The croquet shoot is based on the cult film Heathers, and Alice in Wonderland. The intertextuality should appeal to an older target audience who can pick up on the preferred reading.

Mise-en-Scene
I want it to be quirky and somewhat psychedelic, so I am going to create an 'outdoor living room' in a field near my house, with a rug, bench, chairs, coffee table with chess and a candelabra on it, a lamp, and whatever other strange items I might find in a second hand shop.
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Trip to the second hand shop:
props i found that I would like to use from my trip to the second hand shop

• Silver tray (to place tic tacs on)
• Colourful glass jars (to place tic tacs in)
• Old fashioned telephones (possible intertextuality to Duran Duran's Rio music vid)
• vintage minifridge (to put milk in)
• fancy champagne glasses (to pour the milk into)
• greek themed chess board
• top hat

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The plan:


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Heather 1

Ryan, Aem's Boyfriend

Red shirt/blouse/cardigan from Ema's wardrobe, black slacks, going to dye some cheap white sneakers red.

red make-up (eye shadow or lipstick, maybe both we'll see how they look)

Red croquet bat and ball

Heather 2

Adam, mutual friend, long hair

Green jumper with furred cuffs, black slacks, going to dye shoes green

green themes make-up (eye focused)

green croquet bat and ball

Heather 3

Jade or Eli, mutual friends, long hair

Yellow knitwear vest with white shirt underneath, flared sleeves (pirate-esque), going to dye shoes yellow

yellow make-up (eye focused)

Yellow croquet bat and ball

"Buttler"

Jade or Eli or Leigh (preferably female)

white shirt, bowtie, black slacks, smart black shoes, black tux, top hat?

Silver tray with lid, glass/fancy vase with strange food inside (gummy bears or tic tacs)

Winona Ryder/Christian Slater mashup character

Aem

still uncertain on wardrobe, thinking a pair of dungarees she has with puffy mesh brightly coloured blouse underneath, blue shoes, long black trenchcoat on top (to be taken off during vid)

blue make-up

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Croquet set arrived!

Filming had to be postponed due to poor weather conditions this week, the update is to film this coming weekend.
Good news, I’ve been hunting through second hand shops and I found a pristine condition croquet set! Being second hand it was only 5€, which really helps free up budget for other props/costumes, so I may rethink some of the planned outfits/mise-en-scene.

For now I need to clean the bats up a bit so they’re presentable for extreme close up shots.

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Make-up Run-through

We practiced the different make-up looks on one of the cast members, I'm really happy with it - the colours pop, conventional for the electopop genre, and the level of skill was really good in applying it, so the androgyny doesn't look distasteful, Ryan actually looks really glamorous

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Cast members lost!
we have lost 3 cast members - their parents have forbid them from leaving the house in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Remaining cast members are:
-Aem
-Ryan
-Adam
I'm thinking that they can just be the 3 heathers now, and I've asked Adam if we can borrow one of his mums' dummies to be the butler, it looks quirky and we can but a top hat, bowtie and the long JD trenchcoat on it to still be a reference to the Heather's character.
His mum had quite the selection to choose from:

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Final Decision:

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Props!
all the props are gathered in the kitchen ready to go, were picking some up with Adam, costumes are prepared.

Make-up
Aem is doing the make-up while I put the nail polish on the boys

Costume
We've had to try a few different costumes, because some just didn't look right, Adam is now wearing a dress and Ryan is wearing a loose fitting shirt with loose black trousers and a necklace. We've added some jewellery too (pearls and the necklace for Ryan and Aem)



Spontaneous Change of Plan

We thought it looked really cool as when we were carrying all the props to the end of the garden, so we've decided to put them all back and film it to include in the video

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 Coronavirus Update: Performance footage!

Aem's parents have forbidden her from leaving the house due to the coronavirus crisis. Because of this we cannot film the performance footage on the tram or at the fond-de-gras.

To work around this we will be doing a video call as she films herself in the barn attached to her house.

I will be giving her directions on make-up and movement, and costume.

To acknowledge the situation, she will be wearing a mask, which she will take off to reveal dark lipstick, which deters the male gaze.

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