Planning our video: Storyboard

This is a story board me and my group came up with. As you can see, we have decided on 'Cries In Vain' by Bullet For My Valentine as we think sticking to the 'metal' genre will guide us to understand what people we will give our quesionnaire to. At first we did one each using our chosen song and then we showed each other our ideas and merged them together to make one final storyboard that we would use for our filming process. We did this because we thought both me and ben in my group would get our own ideas in the video and have a fair chance of editing it and filming it. We both decided what shots would look good for whatever scene and have chosen different lighting to be used for different parts of the song. I am very happy with the way our planning started and how it is coming along now, as i think that with all our ideas and our media knowledge we can make our music video stand out and look very impressive! We were originally drew two storyboards to merge our ideas together and to finalize what we wanted there and then. We have a clear idea of what shots we want to use and we have noted them down on the storyboard. And editing techniques will come in later planning as for now we want to just picture the video from all of our ideas and images drawn on the storyboard. Shots such as close ups, high angle and low angle shots are the shots we decided to use most in our planning. A shot that i think is interesting to use also is a point of view shot as it gives the feel to the audience that they can see what the actor is seeing/feeling, so i later added that idea to our storyboard and i think that with well planned editing, our video will suit its genre and show the theories which we will later choose.




The video opens with a medium close up of a hand and an ipod turning on the song which signifies the song beginning. Me and ben came up with this idea together, we thought that it was an interesting way for the song to start and i personally have not seen it before, It is significant to the video as we will have a quick close up before of the 'ex girlfriend' as she is the one listening to the song as she has broken up the boy and therefore her cries are in vain as he still loves her but she has decided to move on to make him jealous.

When the music begins to open, There is a close up of the lead singer, using the rule of thirds well. We haven't discussed a lot of editing plans but me and Ben have decided that shalow focus would work very well at this point of the song. (The lead singer out of focus, coming into focus)
Then after the close up, there is a long shot shown of the band, to show it is their song and the video is related around their song. The band jumps in union with the music and when they are in the air the shot it slowed down until they land which signifies the song speeding up. The slow motion shot is used in many rock music videos so we will be using intertextuality of other media conventions.

It then cuts to a mid shot of a girl with her hood up walking down a dark street, as she has her hood up and it is dark, it shows clear links towards the dark mood of the video. There is slight chirascuro/low key lighting shown to add tension, we would like to film this at night and have the effect of the street lights but it may not be enough so we will use our own light. There is a quick cut to her ipod in her hand and she is listening to the song 'cries in vain'. Suddenly there is a cut to an eyeline match which shows she is looking around and is scared slightly/worried. The audience will get to see what shes looking at. It then cuts back to the medium close up of the girl and she goes into 'her' house. Shots like this show the audience the difference between the different characters.

We decided to have a close up of the singer at the words 'lord you know ive cried' as thats when the singing begins, which we feel will work well. Then there is a few quick paced cuts relating to the boy and his reactions to his text. A close up of the phone with the words "its over!!!" then three quick paced cuts in the space of a few seconds fits in with the words and shows how we can edit our shots to fit the pace of the song. Then he throws the phone on the bed, and walks out of his room. To show this we will use a close up of his feet walking towards the camera (as if he's walking to go out of his room) and then a mid shot of him leaving his room.

We came up with this idea that a shot of his feet pacing away from his bed, then to him going through a door, then into the bathroom (where the camera is already there. A mid shot will show him splashing his face then the camera will act as the mirror (secret cut) he is standing in front of and his reaction signifys that he is thinking about something. (we will try this and see if it works) - because they will defenately be effective.
A flashback will have to be edited well to show it's difference to a normal shot, but that is the nest shot we decide to do. A flash back to the past where he is with his ex girlfriend and happy! At the lyrics 'your not there' the girlfriend vanishes. We figured that we will achieve this shot by having to do three quick cuts to make it successful. One shot will be of them together, then a cut to him looking down and smiling, then a cut to him looking to where she isn't. He also gives her a rose to say he loves her and she takes it to keep supposedly . We think that in the editing process, we could use black and white to signify the reality from his memory.

There is then an extreme close up of the boys face to show his reaction to his haunting memory. This also fits into the gloomy mood of the video. There is a quick band shot before the next shot (this is intertextuality as this is shown a lot in 'rock' music videos. There is a cut to a new day, a shot of the boys ex girlfriend (who he still thinks about) with her new boyfriend who kisses her on the cheek. They are walking down the street that the ex boyfriend lives. She seems unhappy which reflects the story. There is a shot of the boy which is a low angle shot, of him at his window. He throws something out the window towards them suddenly there is a shot of her back she looks behind and see's that nothing is there and no one is at the window (suspicious) Shots to show this is a long shot then a close up to a two shot.



A few band shots carry on. Then there's quick cuts to the boy in his room and seeing a new notification on facebook which states where his ex girlfriend is going with her new boyfriend/ that she's going out wit her boyfriend. He sees this and closes it.
The next shot involves an extreme close up of the lead singers face at the 'screaming' part of the song which links to the next quick cut shot to the boys face which matches the lead singers (they're both screaming, different meanings but shows a link) this is a slight graphic match as it is the same face but changes. Me and Ben discussed how we would portray this shot and we thought to make it effective, we could have lots of quick paced cut between the two people to show a speed up and build up of the anger in the song and also the boys mood, but we will have to se if it works as it could be quite difficult with the limited equipment.
A close up of him holding a picture of his ex girlfriend, it then cuts to a medium close up, he rips up the picture and the shot moves on.

There is an action match shot of the boy walking down the stairs and out the door of his house. There's another flashback (happy flashback) which cuts to a medium close up of the boy then a cut to his eyes (anxious eyes) A p.o.v shot shows how he finds some alcohol in his kitchen, which he then drinks (to show he is depressed and he has seen an opportunity to get drunk and forget his sorrows). Me and Ben have not yet decided what camera angles will suit this shot. He then catches up with his ex girlfriend and her new boyfriend and meets them in a street,he walks over to them in rage.

There is a quick band shot after the last shot with a view of the band. When he reaches the boy and the ex girlfriend, an argument starts and this is shown by shot reverse shot. At the slow part 2:05 with the guitar playing, this is when the argument builds up a lot and when the screaming part of "look away" comes up in the song, he hits the boyfriend and he swears at the girl. He then walks away from the scene. When the music picks up, the boy starts to runaway from the action. His feet show graphic match with the bass and the snare drum. There is a sudden cut to him arriving at the scene where the band are playing. He takes the mic from the lead singer and he begins to sing (the band still into their song)
The girl follows the boy to this scene and she is in the middle of the crowd. A long shot will show this well. At the lyrics "has no one told you ..." they point at her and there will be quick cuts from crowd to her reaction to show the pace ofthis scene. Me and Ben discussed that maybe we could use a hand held camera here to show her reaction being confused and dizzy!



(talk more about story board)