Costumes/Props

In order to create a sense of verisimilitude in my production I have had to organise some costumes/props to make the video as a whole seem more believable. Therein, as I have chosen my younger sister to star in the production. I have been researching music video extensively, and, as Pete Fraser alludes to in "Teaching Music Video", the Mise en Scene is of much importance as it is "the combined effect of a series of visual elements within the frame of a visual text, such as costume, props, decor, figure placement." 

Therein, in order to further help me and be more incisive in creating the production, I have photographed the costume that will be worn by my younger sister with a photo of a prop that I will use in my video. This planning will allow me to be more concrete in the actual production of the video and so by collating my thoughts now it will allow me to foresee how it will pan out.

This is the coat that will be worn by my younger sister who is nine, I intend her to wear it fully zipped up with the hood up to connote a lack of identity and insignificance - just like the girl who wore a large jacket and a hooded top in the A Team which created the effect of her seeming inferior physically and conceptually. Luckily the colour of the jacket is quite dull which will work well in conjunction with video effects on Premiere Pro such as black and white and colour correct (which isn't technically an effect but it may still have to be altered). The fur hood will go far in obscuring her face in some of the video and creating ambiguity. The coat also denotes that the weather outside is pretty unpleasant which does well in creating the effect of pathetic fallacy, essentially echoing the emotions of the girl wearing the coat who needs to be made to look smaller and more vulnerable - this parka style jacket does exactly that. I knew as soon as I was using a young actor that I would need them to wear a coat of this sort of style, it would be useless if she was wearing a fluorescent cardigan in the sunshine, the narrative/visuals need to go some way in matching the audio/lyrics.

Depicted above - a mid shot from Ed Sheeran's "The A Team" with the girl sporting  hooded jumper and large coat with the hood up - this denotes that she is obscured from society and also that he is generally trying to keep warm in cold weather and is suffering from a lack of shelter.

Another photo of the coat from the front.

During the inaugural scenes of the video, the girl will be reading a note she has found in her school bag, and so in order to match this and bring an essence of verisimilitude to the text she will be wearing school uniform attire to connote a sense of realism. The cardigan is a maroon/burgundy shade and quite an autumn like colour, it is not too bright and so it will not look ridiculous when black and white effects are applied to the piece, it also bears her school's logo/badge on the left side of the chest which clearly shows that it is a school/educational institution of some sort and not a fashionable piece of attire - this also goes a long way in establishing that she is very young and is not even in secondary school yet. This does well in embodying the lyrics of my chosen song: "the youth you've strangled in us it brings me to disgust". This is also why it is a good idea to ensure it is made clear through the Mise en Scene that she is very young, because it can help me reinforce Andrew Goodwin's theory of music videos - the visuals should match some of the lyrical content in the song. A good coincidence is that this cardigan is actually slightly too big for my sister, which will only make her appear more diminutive especially when filming her encompassed by large fields and in long distance shots.

This is another component of my sister's school uniform which I felt was important in continuity and verisimilitude - there would be no point in having her wear her school cardigan and coat if she was wearing jeans or jogging bottoms, it would lose the text credibility and people would most likely become confused by the mise en scene which would impact my production negatively. My actor will be wearing black tights underneath the skirt just to further reinforce the idea of youth to construct meaning and evoke a sense of empathy from the audience. It also connotes innocence and youth, the fact they are grey makes the whole outfit look more dull and miserable - which reflects the way in which the actor will be behaving in the video.

My video will feature this large teddybear at one point or another, I intend to have my actor clutch onto this in a moment of extreme depression (excessive crying) in order to build further meaning by creating another binary opposition - I like the idea of a young girl, who should really be carefree and enjoying the best years of her life, being depressed and clutching onto a teddybear - something that signifies youth, joy and compassion. However, this is not the case, the girl will be clutching onto the teddybear in desperation and in utter sadness (she has read a note containing an abusive message - I am unsure whether I will disclose the message on the note or not yet) and so she has been psychologically damaged by this. In addition to this, the teddybear is white, which in semiotics connotes a youthfulness, a purity and an innocence which is why it will be so effective in helping create a binary opposite. In addition to this, again, the teddybear is very large which will help create the illusion that my sister is incredibly small (which she is) but this will go some way in making her look even more vulnerable.

The residual effect of this prop is that it will elicit a sadness in the audience, therefore evoking a sense of empathy from them as they will be feeling what the protagonist is feeling.