Treatment/ Pitch
Sail away with me is a relaxing summer time song, however as winter takes over and the nights come sooner Amy and myself have had to come up with plot which encompasses a perfect summer day within a dreary winters setting. How I hear you ask are we going to achieve this? Well we will set it inside of course.
The original video was supposed to be set on a beach and after two shoots and allot of discussions it was decided that the narrative wasn’t strong enough to entertain our audience for a sustainable amount of time. So we went back to the drawing board and created the second Sail Away with me idea. This time the video reached editing stage before we decided to alter it. Whilst we were cutting, changing and manipulating our material we became aware that the narrative was confusing and unstructured. Also we noticed that although we had filmed some very strong performance footage within the drama studio, our outside Elm Hill shots were shaky, poorly lit and unbalanced. All of the footage can be seen below please remember however that it is still raw and unedited.
The outside world
We will be recycling the tracking shots filmed during the previous videos shoot. However instead of having a pair of microphones as the opening shot we will be using an amp which will link into the performance shots.
Drama studio
The drama studio will house the two performers who will be pretending to play Sail Away With Me. Ruth Bewsey will be played by Freya Manthorpe.. Cameron appeared in the original video and has kindly offered to step in as the lead guitarist. We have chosen not to use Julian again for the simple fact that we needed a female performer. Freya has singing and performing experience and can lend her time to the shoot. She is energetic and can be relied upon to bring her all too each and every shoot. A variety of camera angles and shot types will be used to create focused narrative whilst providing the audience with diversity, as we found from our previous shoot, if a performance is shot correctly it can be a very effective way of connecting the audience to the artist whilst remaining interest.
The Bedroom
The other part of the song will be filmed in Amy Nolan’s bedroom. This is the narrative which will be shown interlaced with performance shots. Freya will be shown preparing for a trip, packing her bag, trying on clothing and generally preparing to leave her home. The narrative will be shot mainly through close ups to add an enigmatic quality to the scene. We have chosen this narrative as it ties in with the songs lyric ‘Sail away with me baby’ it’s also reminiscent of someone preparing for a holiday. People are always elated at the thought of going away and so monotonous tasks such as packing a suitcase always seem less tedious. Freya will be proving this statement by acting animatedly and sanguinely. Eaton Park or another tree lined path The final shot will be of Freya walking away pulling her suit case along with her. This shot is being used to leave the video on a cliff hanger, where is she going? Why is she alone? From our very first discussions about the video we have never wanted to take the narrative down the conventional route of girl meets boy as we felt it has been overly used.
Annotated Lyric sheet

Props and costume
Drama room
For the performance Freya will be wearing a black and white dress. We wanted Freya to be femininely dressed because of the, soft, relaxing, peaceful nature of the song. The dress will be black and white because of the colour symbolism. The white represents the pure innocents the song portrays, whilst the black hints at the modern culture from which the song originates. Also this outfit will allow Freya to move to the music.

She will also be wearing high heeled beige suede shoes, an anklet and a pair of silver earrings. The heels add to her feminine appearance and elongate her body. The anklet symbolises a different culture and also is once again a very feminine accessory. The anklet also defies the Urban legend that prostitutes wore them to show whether or not they had an STD, and highlights that they are now just a contemporary accessory. The earrings draw the viewers attention to the performers face and neck giving them a connection to the performer.
Cameron will be dresses in a grey t-shirt and jeans. We wanted the main focus to be on Freya and for Cameron to be portrayed as an enigmatic character as he is not in the other narrative and we did not want the audience to believe he was Freya's love interest. Cameron will be placed in the background sitting down with a guitar covering most of his body so his costume will be barley visible.
Where would a performance be without instruments?
The main instrument for the shoot will be Cameron's guitar, however Freya will also be using a microphone and tambourine.
The guitar we will use is going to be acoustic as not only is the the guitar that is played throughout the song, but also an acoustic guitar is less threatening and more relaxing than an electric guitar. As well as this the acoustic guitar fits in with the genre of the music. At first it was deliberated whether to just have Freya playing the guitar sitting in the room alone, however it was decided that she should be able to move around throughout the performance, and also that music is all about society, bringing people together. So instead of the guitar Freya will be using a tambourine allowing her to create the music not just with her voice but also with an instrument. It also gives her a prop to use to interact with the audience and provides her hands with something to do so they don't just look static beside her body. The microphone and stand gives Freya a main point in which to stand but also allows her to detach the microphone and move around the setting and of course where would the song be without a voice. An Amp and a stool will also be used. The amp is going to be part of the opening scene and will lead the audience into the performance. Bedroom scene
For the bedroom scene Freya will once again be wearing a dress,and also a skirt a t-shirt as she will be changing her outfit. All of the outfits such as in the performance scene will be feminine and girly. She will also be wearing the silver earrings again to create abridge shot between the two settings.
Her main prop will be her suitcase but she will also need a hairdryer, hairbrush, makeup bag- mascara, lipstick, clothes, paper boat.
Storyboards

The narrative for this video will be a mix of performance and story. The two different plots will be shown in amongst each other. Lots of close up will be used in each of the scenes. For the performance Cameron and Freya will be shot from many different angles which will cut between one another very quickly. This will be the same in the bedroom scene, all of the shots will be faced paced using lots of close ups and extreme close ups.
Shooting maps-

This is a lighting map of ideas for the drama studio.

Shooting schedule

http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ab-urbanlegends&tid=4910

In this essay I will be exploring the way the Foo fighters use symbolism and narrative structure, to represent feelings, within their video The Pretender.
The video begins with lights switching on in sequence as they do is most large halls and warehouses. The opening shot of a high wide angled long shot shows David Grohl (the lead singer) walking into shot towards the band’s instruments and picking up his guitar. The combination of a bird’s eye view and a minimalistic setting causes Grohl to be a figure of solidarity, which later links into one of the songs same messages ‘don’t link us all together, we are not the same’. The shots focal points are the large block of scarlet red backing against the ferociously clean white floor, and the straight black line which stretches the length of the hall. These colours are used for effect due to the visual discomfort they create.
The shot then switches to a wide angle view of Grohl’s back and then to a close up of him wrapping a bandage around his arm as though he is preparing for a fight. These shots cause Grohl to be a figure of ambiguity throughout the introduction of the song, as his face is not shown.
The size of the hall should represent freedom as it is a large open space, but the menacing darkness which engulfs the patch of light signifies confinement and connotes claustrophobia and suggests that someone or something has surrounded the area. This idea is accented by the opening lyrics ‘Keep you in the dark, you know they all pretend’. The aggressive scarlet block acts in contrast to the dazzlingly pure white floor and is a representation of confined aggression. The band members enter from behind the block: they are all dressed in black symbolising evil, apart from Grohl who is wearing white, implying he is their saviour and that their heart is pure.
For the duration of the first three verses only performance shots are used in order to introduce the band to the audience and showcase their talent. It also lets the audience form a connection with the band and its members. Throughout the song a succession of close ups, panning shots, tracking shots and zooms are used match the rapid rhythm of the song. The continuous close ups and zooms bring the audience towards the band and make them the watchers focal point.
As Grohl begins the first chorus a fifth character is introduced, the character is dressed in a policeman’s battle uniform; as the band is singing about the repression of freewill and character by the authorities, shrouded in black. He is pictured from behind during his approach; which like with the introduction of Grohl creates an enigmatic character, until he stops when the camera focuses on a close up of his face in which he readjusts his visor which suggests that he is also preparing for a fight. Despite being a representative of good this use of binary opposites suggests a deception behind the ‘good vs bad’ facade. The policeman walks up to the long black line and immediately the audience becomes aware that the line shows a point you do not cross, a boundary. The band continues to play singing directly to the guard their oblivious response is used to taunt the guard and he brings out his weapon once again referencing a fight and violence.
The performance continues switching between shots of the band and the policemen until a long line of guards enter from the darkness and proceed forward to the line.
The sheer number of the force suggests how the authorities always proceed with a greater advantage an unnecessary one. The fact that all of the policemen look the same references the lyric ‘So who are you? Yeah, who are you?’ and ‘What if I say I'm not like the others?’ by painting the band as individuals but showing the authority as being clones. It also suggests the band is trying to say in spite of their face value they are innocent and different from other ‘criminals’. The over dramatised suits the guards are wearing seem completely unnecessary against their four instrument wheeling opponents.
The line ‘What if I say I will never surrender?’ is an invitation for the force to take action Grohl is undermining the authorities power saying what if I don’t want to conform then what are you going to do? The answer of course is exert violence and force. As the tension reaches a climax the music softens. The camera pans along the guard who overstep their line in order to enforce their rules as. The quiet music works in contrast to the oncoming violence showing ‘the eye of the storm’ which draws the audience into the scene.
Then the crescendo hits the music returns to its mutinous volume and as the sound cracks in the scarlet wall breaks letting the anger, aggression and violence combat the guards (every time I see this effect I am completely absorbed by the brilliance of it). The band continue to play within the liquid as the policeman fall down from the force showing that they can be defeated and they are not indestructible.
Finally when all of the guards lay defeated on the floor Grohl collapses onto his knees and the onslaught of liquid comes to an end which suggests that they are either adverse to violence and find no happiness from it or that the battle against the authorities is exhausting, which shows that to gain you must first lose.

The male gaze is a feminist theory created by Laura Mulvey. She wrote about the objectification of women within media and that due to the high levels of male media workers e.g. cameramen, directors and editors, women are repeatedly being perceived and shown as objects of sexual fantasy.
She claims that women always play the ‘mother, virgin or whore’ stereotypes. Mulvey said that in a cinema setting ‘one may look without being seen either by those on screen or by other members of the audience’ This means that men can sit back and watch their idealised ‘perfect female’ without the feelings of guilt, or remorse and that according to Mulvey due to the masculine voyeuristic gratification that media texts provide, society has been shaped into, a patriarchal construct, with women taking on the role of the passive female.
Mulvey’s theory is hard to deny, due to the increasing number of scantily dressed females appearing on screen or in print. The fact that we have become so oblivious or immune to these images shows how common and unsurprising female objectification has become.
For the film transformers it has been reported that apparently director Micheal Bay asked Megan Fox to wash his car during an interview in order to gage how natural and appealing she would look thrust over the vehicles in the film. As is shown in the pictures below the director obviously liked what he saw. The first image has been taken from transformers and the second form transformers two.

This presentation was created on the use of he male gaze within the film Sin City.

But it's not just in films that this is occurring, magazine and television also feature a strong amount of under dressed over siliconed females. If you go out on the street and ask any member of the public to name a 'lad's mags' it is likely that they will be able to. If you ask someone what they would expect to see on page three of the Sun they would more than likely stutter over their answer. If you were to tell someone you wanted to be, or to be with a glamour model their minds would instantly turn to the pornographic male magazines. This immersion of sexualised females with informed public opinion just emphasises the amount of women that are being depicted as objects of desire.

Throughout this essay I will be evaluating the way in which binary opposites and gender representations, as well as the use of pixilation is used to create the narrative in Kate Nash’s music video foundations.

The singer uses socks, wrist watches and toothbrushes to symbolically suggest her attachment to the subject of her affection, with the objects continuously being pictured interacting, touching and moving alongside one another. At one point when the objects are shown the lyrics 'my fingertips are holding on to the cracks in our foundations and i no that I should let go but I can't' are playing. The combination of childlike imagery and vulnerable lyrics suggests that Kate has an innocent and creative character. When the song reaches its climax Kate uses the animation still shots to show her audience that it was her decision to leave the relationship. For example when the watches are shown it is her watch that detaches itself. It is also her toothbrush that begins to shuffle away and her sock which slithers off.
The video utilises gender stereotypes, representing masculinity and femininity as binary opposites, in order to propel the narrative of the video.
The socks shown are a male and a female socks. Kate’s sock is small white and has a frilly trim; it represents the singer as a stereotypical innocent and feminine character. It also attaches a childlike quality to the singer as the sock would usually be seen on a young girl. The male’s sock is also a product of stereotype with the bright blue colour emphasising the ‘pink is for girls, blue is for boys’ stereotype. This theme is used throughout the video to highlight the differences in personality and gender of the couple. For example when the toothbrushes are shown there is one dark green and one bright pink. Then again when the watches are shown Kate’s is a pearly white and her partners, is a dark black. The feminine character issues of Kate’s belongings create connotations of her as an innocent partner in the relationship. This is later confirmed by the way she paints her partner using her derogatory lyrics ‘Your face is pasty 'cause you've gone and got so wasted, what a surprise.Don't want to look at your face cause it's makin' me sick.’

However it is not just colours and props Kate uses in the video to connote her character. Her posture and appearance is always that of a delicate, well groomed house wife. She creates herself to look like a stereotypical ‘well trained’ female. The everyday jobs she performs throughout the video always have a connection to the mundane tasks of cooking and cleaning, and to emphasise her vulnerable feminine character she interlaces shots of her cake decoration with lyrics such as ‘Yes, it was childish and you got aggressive, and I must admit that I was a bit scared.’ These lyrics also suggest that the male shows hostility and aggression towards to Kate, which is another masculine gender stereotype.
Pixilation and animation will be used in the 'Sail away with me' music video as a transition gap between one location to another. A pair of headphones will be used in the shots to create a link from the drama studio to the elm hill scene. These shots will also be use to add to the enigmatic narrative that we are trying to create.

These are some examples of fan made music videos;

Daft hands- harder, better, faster, stronger

"I Feel Fantastic" animated video (This video made me laugh)

I must admit that looks like it took allot of planning

These are some music videos which have influenced parts of 'the Sail Away With Me' video.