Music Video- Greed

Research
From initial researching I found Greed had a big relation to money. So I went and researched the different types of Greed there is. 


From what I found there is three different types of Greed and that like Lust and Gluttony it is a sin of excess.
1) Wealth - money ( what the film Se7en showed)
2) Status
3) Power

As a secular psychological concept, greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth.

Also out of the Bible's writings of Greed and the sins- it is seen as the desire to possess more than one needs in particular reference to material goods.

Out of all the types of Greed's I found I felt Materialistic Greed would be the most relative one to use in today's society as it is described as a materialistic one. Straight away the idea of materialism which a girl would have is shopping. So a desire to possess clothing to the point of excess. 

I'd recently seen a film confessions of a shopaholic, in which the main girl gets herself in so much debt from excess shopping that she has debt collectors after her. 

What I also lead me to using inter textual reference was that people would associate the film to the music video I am creating.

After watching this film and thinking of ideas that I would be able to do lead to the beginning of planning the actual section of the music video.

Planning

Firstly from the girls at sixth form I picked a girl I felt would look good on camera and be ideal for the part of Greed, I asked her and she said she would be able to do it for me.

I created a themeboard to begin the planning and help me collect my ideas together. I included a picture of the girl i would be using.

 

In the film confessions of a shopaholic her house is covered in clothes and there is a shoe box of receipts, and whilst going through the receipts the main character is going shots of alcoholic spirits. In the end there is debt collectors after her. 

Here is the themeboard of Lust I created with the figure of Lust's picture on it.

With the idea from confessions of a shopaholic I have to incorporate in Lust.

I wanted the room to be covered in clothes, boxes then a table full of receipts. Then the girl walks in through the front door with letters hanging out of the door. She sits down and fixes herself a drink. But not a spirit of pint glass of alcohol to show that she is an excessive person. Perhaps even incapable of doing things a reasonable amount such as shopping and drinking. She then goes and collects the letters hanging out of the door and goes through them. The letters are from debt collectors and shops that say she owes money. But then amongst all of the debt letters there is a blank one that has been posted through the door. It contains two pictures of her and the figure of lust. This leaves the audience in suspense unsure of who posted it through the door it is open to interpretation. 

Here is the storyboard I created to help me on the day to stay on track;

Preparation for the video shoot day 2 of 6


Location-
I decided to use my brothers house because it is an older slightly smaller house, I wanted it to look smaller because of all of her possessions. The message that she is willing to have a smaller house so she can buy more clothes. 

Props-

I had to create letters, save receipts, and get a bottle of alcohol that I can fill up with water to use. Also clothes and boxes as well as bags and shoes to be scattered around. 

Letters- 

These are letters whilst I was creating them. I made an evicted letter to show the real extent of her debt as the other debt collecting letters might not show up. I searched the internet real debt collecting companies so I could use the real names company and their logo. 

Here is pictures of some of the letters and finished envelopes. 

The link to lust is through the letters, heres the blank envelope used and the pictures that were in them.

Receipts- 

For the receipts I just collected them over time, from my parents and my own spending. Luckily it had just been Christmas so there were lots of receipts to collect and keep. 

These are all the receipts on the table on the day of filming of this scene. 

Alcohol Bottle- 

When my parents finished a bottle of martini I thought it was an ideal drink to have as the "excess" as usually you mix it with lemonade but she just had it straight and in a pint glass emphasizes further the excess of it.  

The Clothes and Bags- 

As my household recycles bags finding them were easy I just had to ask my friends for some boxes which shoes come in. I used my mum's shoes and my own as well as our clothes and my friend lent me some dresses to use. I wanted the room to look overfilled so borrowing some clothes and bags helped. 

Call Sheet

I created a call sheet to help the actor I chose with finding the location and help me with the organisation of the day. Here is print screens of the call sheets from a publisher document. 

Creating the set on the day of filming.

When I arrived at the set I tidied up and took initial pictures from the angles I was going to shoot from. 

The next pictures are after I created the set with the lighting set up. 

The receipts with the martini bottle.

The room at a long shot showing all the clothing and boxes. 

I didn't want to hoover up because I wanted it to be messy. 

Here's the bigger lighting, these helped with the room and were worth the trouble of having to reset them after every shot.

All the shoes on the floor and the smaller light. 

Music Video- Gluttony

Research
My research into Gluttony began with finding the actual meaning, I knew it was a sin of excess but I wanted to know the exact meaning to help me brainstorm idea's. 


A medieval church leader created a list of six ways to commit gluttony, including:

• Praepropere - eating too soon.
• Laute - eating too expensively.
• Nimis - eating too much.
• Ardenter - eating too eagerly (burningly).
• Studiose - eating too daintily (keenly).
• Forente - eating wildly (boringly).

Gluttony is the overindulgence / over consumption of food or drink (to the point of waste). 

In Se7en the overweight man drowns in the food so he was eating too much, too eagerly/ wildly.

In girl versions of this it would be them surrounded by sweets and treats and this idea appealed to me more. So I began planning with this idea in mind. 

Planning 


Here are theme boards I created for Gluttony and Lust, with the actor and actress who are going to play them on there. 

These images made me think more deserts as what she would be consuming, my worry throughout was that I wouldn't have enough film to fill up the time it needed to. But if she was making cakes she could be icing and seem in a fluster which would fill time until the link with lust needed to be made. 

For this scene the figure of lust will be present, he will be there for only about to cuts it'll be as if he is a figure of her imagination or a memory. 

The girl who will be portraying Gluttony will be in a messy kitchen with cakes and all the ingredients to make the cakes around her, she'll be icing the cakes and the turn to the oven as if she smells something. She will get some cakes or cookies out of the oven but when she turns around she sees the figure of Lust. She looks down almost ashamed as she is standing around loads of cakes then when she looks up to where he was standing he is gone. This is for the viewers interpretation is he a memory like they used to cook together or a figure of her imagination. Once she realises he is gone she begins to eat, in a overindulgent way. 

here is a storyboard which I will use on the day of filming to keep my on track;

Preparation for the video shoot day 1 of 6

Location- 

The Kitchen at my house had been recently refurbished and I thought it would be an ideal and cost efficient place to film this scene. 

I removed the chairs so I could put the lighting there, put down the blind so I could artificially control the lighting. Within the room I removed the fruit because I didn't want it to show variation in her diet. I cleaned the Kitchen throughly then began making the cakes leaving the mess behind, as part of the set. 

Props- 

Was mainly cakes which I either made or bought then put in containers that looked as if they had been home made. Below are pictures of me preparing the cakes and how I did it. 

The fairy cakes I made from a co-op mix. 

The mars bar rice krispie cakes I made, I took a picture at each stage of making them.

This is a brownie mixture which I bought and just added eggs and water too.

I put these on a tray cut a few in half and put jam on them so it looked half a job done. 

I scattered the other cakes around the room so I put these in the cake tray for the actresses to ice them at the start of the footage. 

I chose to make flapjack because they are cheap to make and it produces a lot of mixture.

I shop bought these cookies then put them on a tray, these will be the things the girl smells in the oven and thinks are burning before she turns around and sees Lust. 

Call Sheet- print screen from publisher of my call sheet for this particular scene.

Images of the complete set with lighting set up. 

Music Video- Production Budget

If our school wasn't fortunate enough to have the lighting, recording and editing equipment that we do I want to see how much it would cost to hire this equipment out. I'd need the equipment for 6 days.


From www.kitroommonkey.com i'd need to get the equipment below.


1) HVR-Z5 Package - 
    HVR-Z5 camera/ 3 x batteries/ tripod/ wide angle adaptor/ charger and mains power leads/ dc power unit for running camera from mains/ gun mic / battery top light  / cleaning kit / all necessary cables.


Price for 6 days- £450.00


2) Dedo Light Kit- 
    3x dedo 150w heads/ stands / gels/ extensions / spare bubble / barn doors / croc clips.


Price for 6 days- £ 300.00


This production without the school resources would cost a minimum of £750.00


This is without the price of the apple mac which I am using to edit the footage. 

Music Video- Initial Planning and Ideas

Picking the song
I decided to pick the song I wanted to do a music video to first, because i found through my textual analysis's of music video's it is a better end result when their is a link between lyrics and visual. 


I researched all of the bands more recent songs and cover and I found two that I felt i could create a music video to. Both are covers the first is Scala's cover of "The Blower's Daughter" second was "With or Without You". 







The song to me is about someone who is infatuated by this person and cant stop thinking about them, even after some sort of trouble. it's a love story that has turned into a love that wont work and has to be left in the past - at a struggle.


The song is nearly 5 minutes long and the issue for me would be filling up all that time just with a love type story between two character which the lyric obviously depicts.
Also the original version of the song by Damien Rice was such a success and was used in the film Closer which had 4 major Hollywood stars I don't think my video could contend in anyway.





This song is one of the most meaningful songs i've ever listened to. The message is fairly simple, but the way that he expresses himself throughout the song is so real, and so full of emotion that you can't help being drawn into the song. Maybe its just because i have been in exactly the same situation myself and i can empathise with the lyrics, but the hopelessness of his situation is depicted with the great contradictions. You give it all, but i want more. Nothing to win, nothing left to lose. The basic problem is that being with her is too hard to bear because he wants her so much, and being away from her is too much for the same reason. On a bed of nails she makes me wait. You give it all but i want more. He is showing his mixed feelings. He is angry that she is letting him stay in this situation, yet he knows that she is doing all she can.- this is an analysis of the internet from a lyric meaning website. I felt this showed it perfectly this is an analysis of the U2 version thats the "he" she is referring to. 


I like the idea of hopelessness and they can't be with this person but also cant be apart. 









The original version to this song was used in the film Cruel Intentions, i believed they used this song to show how the main man in this film is caught in his own twisted life style and how he can't seem to change himself, even if not doing so would cost him the love of his life. He simply can't change who he is.  


From these video's I decided I wanted my Music Video to be based around hopeless love and the longing for something you cant have. 
What attracted me to the band in the first place was their video for the cover of the cure song "Friday I'm In Love"





I love how glamorous the girls look and how different it is to their classic covered up black and white videos to songs. So I originally trying to do the next day after the party/ brothel they're at in this video.


But when I really began to try and think of idea's I felt it would be showing the band in a negative light, then waking up after a party and it would be hard to have to try and find girls who looked like them to try and make it as a follow on video. 


In one of the many informal focus groups, in which a few media students would all bounce ideas off each other and give tips. here are the two main ideas I came up with ;


1) I came across an idea for a girl waking up in an empty bed and whilst tidying up a party having flash back to the party and her talking to a boy who she clearly desires, but then his girlfriend comes along and her dream is then shattered. Also to extend the music video her feeling she has to try and be with another man that night to make her feel better. So when it comes around to it she woke up in an empty bed but didn't go to sleep in an empty bed. - with or without you and blowers daughter. Issue with both of these is that they mention "she" in terms of a man singing it. This is less obvious in with or without you. 


2) Whilst thinking of specifics for idea 1, I thought about how love can be a sin (lust) but every one is guilty of this. After this I decided to research the seven sins and after doing so I decided that my music video could be based on Lust the sin with their being a male figure of Lust with women who are committing the other 6 sins, and on top of that they're in love with someone where their is no hope of a relationship. Perhaps because of their other sin or because of the way in which the relationship finished before. - With or Without you i felt would fit perfectly with my idea because of the hopelessness of love. But on top of that their life is twisted in other ways.


Having picked the song and the general idea ( idea 2) I went off to so further research into the idea of the seven deadly sins so I was able to create a pitch.  


Research into the seven deadly sins


To begin this I looked at the ways in which the media had already represented these sins. 
The film Se7en is a film based on the 7 deadly sins so i watched that and noted the ways in which they portray the sins. 


GLUTTONY- was an overweight male, in a dark room who had drowned in food.


GREED- it was a politician who was bled dry, greed killed him.


SLOTH- an alive person left to decompose whilst tied to a bed.


LUST- a prostitute killed in a strip club.


PRIDE- a pretty girl, whose face had been disfigured had a phone in one hand to call the ambulance or pills in the other to take an overdose... live ugly or die pretty?


ENVY- the killer, John Doe is envies Brad Pitt's character.


WRATH- he kills Pitt's wife so he Pitt would be Wrath, wants Pitt to seek vengeance. 


America's Next Top Model, a show in which girls have to be challenged to win a deal with a modelling agency. This is a picture of how models portray the sins.

I wouldn't be going so model/fashion more an everyday life feel, so girls watching it can relate and feel like it could be them. 


From this I decided that it would be impossible to link the image up exactly with the lyrics of the song I have chosen. So the link will be mainly between the image of Lust and him being absent and the main line "With or Without You".
So the music video in terms of what type with be a Narrative Concept Video.




From my initial research of the seven sins in general I decided to focus on each of the 6 sins with their relation to Lust (the seventh sin) in more detail. So i am able to create a more detailed idea and plan of what i'm looking for and how i'm going to depict the 7 deadly sins in a way in which the audience know whats going on but it isn't patronizing.