Media Narrative Theories

Costume & Props: ideas & connotations

The costumes the actors wear in the music video are extremely vital in contributing to the mise-en-scene. Everything down to the nail polish syas something about the character and carries connotations throughout the music video.

I made this mood board to illustrate my collective ideas for Mimi's costume and make up. She'll have a simple white dress that was once clean but is now slightly ripped, a faded leather jacket and some scruffy converses. Her eye make up will be very heavy and dark with plenty of eyeshadow, mascara and eyeliner with two streaks down her cheeks where the make-up has run to show she's been crying. Her hair will be loose and in a kind-of bed-head style. This costume should indicate her beginings (the dress), her current situation (the leather jacket and the shoes), and how she got there (the rips and the running make-up). All these things are relatively easy to obtain and we're planning on doing some costume tests, along with the screen tests, to see how the costume works on each actor, if they are able to move in each costume and whether any changes needs to be made.

As I've previously mentioned, icons such as James Dean and Bob Dylan were major sources of insiration when it came to Daniels costume. A mixture of soulful artistry and simple but sharp black shirts. Daniel wearing black on the beach will be a nice contrast to Mimi's white dress. In some ways Daniel is embodying Billy Joel as he is the artist in the video. During the begining he will wear some Bob Dylan- style shades to create a bit of mystery around him. His main costume will compile of a Black shirt, black trousers, black coat and a scarf in the scenes outside. We want it to be smart but not stuffy and make him look a little older than he really is.

The child will be dressed up. The dress will most likely be in pink. She'll have ribbons in her hair, which will be in tight ringlets. Even though she'll be about 10, she'll have a mother who dresses her like a 6 year old going to a wedding. Her face will be free of any make up as she will then smear her mum's cosmetics onto her face.

Possible Locations

The important thing about the locations was that they had to show aspects of two different worlds: one "the Girl" is runnning away from and one she is running to. So the two locations we decided upon had to juxtapose against each other to represent this clash. We contemplated a third locations such as metropolitan London with the Girl static admist crowds of passers by, all with a direction whilst she is without one. Although it would have made for excellent cinematography, it presented a number of problems such as the amount of commuting and the cost, operating camera equipment in a busy place like London would be very difficult and the background noise may present many problems so ultimatly we decided against it, drawing to the conclusion that two prime locations (with snipets on a mode of transport such the train or bus) would be enough for telling the story we wanted to tell in relation to the song.

Suburban household

The other main location is the ordinary Suburban house which made the Girl into what she is today. We wil be filming these bits with Lucy and we'll most likely use a room in my house as it's a typical kind of house that you would find in the Suburbs of Southern England. It's very mediocre and it's quite simple which is fitting for presenting this idea of a washed-out existance. Below are some pictures I took a while ago with a friend of mine substituting as the Young dreamer, bored with her shelterd life. It's an easy room to film in and has the right vibe.

Character Ideas & Inspirations

In the planning for our music video we needed to put alot of thought into creating fitting 3- dimensional characters that carry the narrative and ideas about location, costume and props that are responsible for the semiotics that contribute to the mise-en-scene. For each of the characters we had a number of initial ideas, drawing insiration from existing material as we brainstormed the character traits individually and looked at them in relation to each other.

"The Child": On the surface she is a picture of youth and innocence but beneath that dollface-facade lies a confused young girl full of questions, which is what leads her to take her mother's pills...the ones that looked just like candy. She is a dreamer strangled by overbearing parents. It reminded me of Kirsten Dunst's character in The Virgin Suicides. A free-spirit in a cage of expectations. The challenge is finding the middle point between avoiding making a 2-dimensional cardboard cut out or a far-too complex Freud example. There's an element of "Blair Waldorf" to her... i.e. a pretty girl dressed in pretty clothes to cover up her insecurities.

"The Girl": The teenage incanation of the Child. The girl is a teenage runaway. Sad, lonely, scared and incapable of trusting anyone. We didn't want to make her the typical emotional rebelious teen. When me & Suela were discussing the character, I thought of characters such as Pippa Lee from various movies. She'll be the one who doesn't quite know where she's going among all the people heading in different directions, getting on with their lives. It's fitting to the lyric, "Slow down, you crazy child". If the girl's worried or concerned then she'll find her sanctuary by the end of the video.

"Billy": He's the narrator, the performer and the protective sheild of the Girl. People such as James Dean and Bob Dylan inspired this character. Soulful and serious and concerned for her safety. The lyrics in the song call for a male vocal and it ties in with the possibility of a love story that could emerge. Towards the end the Girl will notice him and they will meet on the beach. He will represent her "Vienna"...i.e. her sanctuary. Even though it's her story, he will be the one telling it so in a way he is our protagonist.

Updates on progress so far...

Yesterday was the first meeting we called with all of the cast and crew. It was a major breakthrough in our progress of creating our music video as it was the first time everyone was together to compile and negotiate our plans and it was a chance for Suela and I to exchange ideas with the group. The roles have been cast: Suela and I are to film (naturally) and Suela will also take some promo pictures as she also does photography so her skills will crossover; Daniel Mija, Suela's brother (chosen because of his intense method acting style as a drama student and was not out of nepotism or convenience) who also starred in our practice short film in the summer term, will star as the singer to bring the performance and narrative elements of the video together and be one half of the love story that emerges towards the end. The other half is "The Girl" whom we haven't named because we feel this will add to her mystery and indicates her lost identity. There is no spoken dialogue and she will not be addressed directly, so either way it is of no resonance. This role has been given to Mimi Naran, a girl in my English literate & language class who is wonderfully expressive and we have no doubt that she will play the part to perfection. We were very lucky with finding the younger version of the girl. As it would be a young girl we wanted someone who would be dedicated as well as a good actress. Me and Suela approached my drama teachers and asked them to announce whether anyone was interested in their year 8 classes. Mrs Mundy got back to us with 6 girls who wee interested. We had not anticipated so many girls being interested so we were very pleased as it allowed for more choice and decided to hold informal auditions to cast the role. I met with the girls and gave them each a sheet of paper with a small monologue relating to the storyline as audition material. After a few moments as they looked over the dialogue, they auditioned one-by-one and after I answered any questions they had. From assessing their acting skills and their possible resembelance to Mimi we chose a girl named Lucy who is very mature for her age yet still is able to embody that little girl persona...she also has the same bright blue eyes as Mimi which will be handy when we go to a flashback. We got her parent's permission and in the meeting it was a chance to answer any queries and co-ordinate schedules so everyone was in full understanding of where we were in the process. Our next step is to do some screen tests with Daniel lip-syncing or singing over the track.

Our Actors & Costume Tests

We have now cast the actors to appear in our music video and we are very satisfied with the ensemble. When selecting the actors/actresses to appear Suela & I acknowledged that we needed to think pragmatically as well as artistically so considering factors such as availability, reliability and work ethic was vital to contemplate alongside physical appearance, chemistry between the actors (also continuity between Lucy and Mimi as they portray two different stages in life of the same person) and their abilities to elevate and contribute to the performance and narrative elements to create our visual interpretation of the song.

On Tuesday Suela & I held a meeting in order to explain the set up, schedule and storyline to all three actors and it gave an opportunity for all of us to come together so any issues or concerns could be raised and answered. We started by thanking them for their participation, introducing them to each other (although they vaguely knew each other already) and explaining the story we hoped to depict. Then to familiarise them, we played the song (which they thought went well with the storyline) and we showed our Summer task short film "Home", in which Daniel also starred to show them the kind of camera skills and editing features we would like to develop on. The meeting was very successful and we discussed availability for shooting. We estimated that Lucy's scenes would take a few hours of work to polish whereas we'd take a whole day of filming to Daniel and Mimi. Daniel also is currently learning the lyrics to the song for the performance elements of the music video and Suela is planning to record the lip-syncing attempts for us to look over. Daniel is Suela's twin brother so I have no concerns about his reliability and I am pretty confident in both Mimi and Lucy for being on time when we start shooting. We are lucky to only enlist the services of three actors as other groups are having difficulties bringing many extras together. Overall if we keep focused, everything will hopefully be on track.

24th March:

Since originally posting I have added pictures of the actors during our costume & make up tests...

Mimi: "The Girl"

In this photograph Mimi is wearing a cream-printed minidress with a white silk bow around the waist so it isn't too floaty. Her hair will be more wilder (hopefully the wind will aid this for the camera) and she will be wearing a jacket over the dress with knee-high grey schoolgirl-style socks and worn out trainers. To juxtapose the lightness of the dress and to contribute to that "Teen Runaway" look he make up with be pale for most of her face with a predominant focus on the eyes. Thick dark kohl-rimmed eyes with smokey eyeshadow and plenty of mascara. We will also smudge the eyeliner so when we shoot an extreme close-up, it will give the illusion that she has been crying.

Lucy: "The Child"

We used the same dress for Lucy. They are both have the same body type and blue eyes so it worked out well and the fact that Mimi is a little taller, her hair is a little longer and her make up is darker all adhere to the development of the character. The point of the young girl is to be the epitome of youthful curiosity struggling against sheltered innocence and one of the main sources of inspiration for souring a costume to portray that was the eponymous Alice from Lewis Carrol's, Alice in Wonderland. Although not entirely visible from this photo, she wears a white silk Alice band amongst her soft curls and in the video she will wear dainty lace-trimmed white socks.
Daniel: "Billy"

Daniel plays against the colour palette for Mimi and Lucy. Suela & I decided we wanted him dressed in sleek black from head to toe apart from white trainers to give him a more contemporary feel. We contemplated giving him a black fedora hat but dismissed the idea as it seemed to cliched, as if we were tying to copy Billy Joel's look altogether. Daniel's hair is also quiffed up with hairspray to give him a kind of James Dean "leading man" type edge against Mimi's "lost schoolgirl" image. This relates to the ideas Todorov explores about binary oppositions in a narrative.