Character Profiles

Dan

The male character is a teenager who has clearly been with a girl for a long time. He is in an unhappy place after she broke up with him and is trying to come to terms with everything but is finding it hard to understand what has happened. He has stayed in his room for along time and is in a state of depression causing sleepless nights. He drinks a lot and his room is a mess because of this. The music video is focused around him and how he has been affected. The reason we decided to focus on the male opinion is because most love stories focus on the female side and always puts men in the villain role. We went against the representation of this and challenged it.

Dan fits this character profile because he is of the same age and stature that we had in mind. Also he has been in this situation himself and so understands the emotion we wanted to portray. When we filmed, his movement fitted with how we wanted to represent the character and the audience which would relate to his situation.

Helen

We see only a little of the female character in flashbacks due to the fact the song focuses on the male’s opinion of a brake up. However, we need to portray that she is heartless in only a few shots. On the other hand, because many of the shots are of the two totally in love, the implication is that she finished the relationship for poor reasons.

Helen fits this profile because she is young, good looking and fits the stereotypical representation of women in music videos though not scantily clad. This will target male viewers and show the audience that she does not act as innocent as she looks.

Furthermore, the two fit look good together, they have similar coloured hair and, because Dan is taller, the two fit the stereotypical couple. Also because they are good friends their chemistry works well. Finally, we found it useful to use people working within our group as actors, lessening the risk of actors dropping out. It also meant it was easy to organise everyone and find days where we could all film.

Album Cover Research

The Fray has had a big impact on us with their music and their album covers. This is because they do simple things that send a big message to their audience. This was their first album cover; a light bulb that has been shattered but still has light reflecting off it. I think it gives a warm feeling but also give the audience that things are easily broken but can be fixed. We think this is because the light is reflecting from the roof, so the bulb shattered and was replaced. It may also represent the fragmentation of society emulating the title ‘How To Save A Life’

In these two covers they have used light beams continuing with the light theme, because this is a common theme through several covers it would be fitting for us to copy this idea and incorporate it into our album cover.

The cover to the right has been taken on a slow shutter speed as people walk past which gives the effect of ghosting and that time feels as though it is assign slowly. This may be representative of how much people walk around with their eyes closed, and that maybe we should take time to notice the smaller things.

The cover to the left is on sand and again uses light beams. It looks a slightly sinister with the dark sky and thick cloud coming over to the light area. This is furthered by the desolate environment, but undermined by the power cables, they must lead to some sort of civilisation. This could emulate the title ‘You Found Me’, and how difficult this task may have been. They also took The Fray’s logo from the album and put it on their singles covers, starting off their own house style. This would also be good to use in our cover.

This is the song cover for “The Fray – Heartless” and as u can see they have continued with the shattered light bulb theme. This is similar to their first album cover with but with this one it has a different meaning behind it; that people can be heartless and also the feeling of being heart broken. So the shattered red bulb in the shape of a heart is very symbolic, it has a lot of meaning behind it so we should look to find an image which has a lot significance to the lyrics. It is a sad song but it gives meaning and values to life; it is said that your first love always hurts the longest but after time you begin to deal with it, this is one of the meaning behind the song.

Mise-en-Scene

As a group we decided that the mood of the film needed to represent sadness and depression as we are representing the brake up of a relationship. We used props in the bedroom scene, which we knew would represent this. Empty cans of drink were scattered around the room and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s half drank. We also used a pizza box to add to the lack of care and attention the character gives the room dirty clothes spread across the floor also reinforce this idea. Pictures of the couple are scattered across the desk and a picture of the two is the background of the characters computer. This adds to the depressing mood of the film and the sadness the character feels. The colours throughout the room are neutrals consisting of browns and beiges, this adds to the simplicity of the room in order for the feelings of the character to be the main focus. We also wanted to use the device of green screen and so had a photo frame in the background with green paper in to use in order to see the flashback of the relationship. The use of having a sofa bed in the scene instead of a real bed also adds to the feeling of depression and lack of money, an unhappy lifestyle.

We dressed Dan in simple everyday wear, jeans and T-shirt with a hooded jacket over the top to signify comfort and give the feeling the characters priorities aren’t the way he’s dressing in the bedroom scene. In the flashback scenes the costume had a lot to do with the time of year that we filmed in because it was very hot, this works very well as it shows the passing of time from the memory of the relationship to the present day. Helen is wearing denim shorts with a vest top and light black short-sleeved cardie. This gives a relaxed feel to the scene and a happy atmosphere. Dan is wearing a vest top and three quarter length trackies, which again creates a laid back atmosphere.

The film set in gardens was used in order to create a romantic feel and a peaceful atmosphere. We believed this would be a dramatic contrast from the dull scene set in the bedroom as the lighting is completely different and so creates a different tone in the scenes.

Textual Analysis

Aerosmith – I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing

The video begins with an establishing zoom beginning the other side of the moon and ending in a city on Earth; this fades into the singer’s face. The closeness of the shot creates an intimate feeling for the audience; it is personal as though he is singing to them (stereotypically romantic). This shot takes the audience away from reality and puts them in a studio-style situation.

They have used extreme close-ups of professional performance lighting, these are switched on flooding light into the room, giving the audience more of an idea of what the room looks like.

A voyeuristic shot of a door knob reflecting the room and the band makes the audience feel as though they should not be watching, as though it is a private performance or rehearsal, this furthers the idea of intimacy, romance and privilege. This is furthered by using shots of the sound technician changing shots and moving sliders.

There are also shots of people watching the video on their own TVs; this illustrates their popularity. These shots also show audience’s reactions to the song; some are shots of couples that are affected with a positive, loving emotion. Others are of single women who look sad as though they miss their partners or wish they had them.

The Fray – Heartless

This is the song that we are creating a video for, therefore, to study the original video would be useful; we can either follow a similar idea and use some of the same conventions, or we could take these ideas an invert them totally.

The video is based in a classroom setting. They have portrayed this image cleverly, without using an establishing shot. The close ups are of a partial ticking clock, a hand holding a pen, a note pad filled with doodles, all of these icons are stereotypical of an American classroom setting often portrayed in films.

The doodles on the note pad begin to move and represent the lyrics in a cartoon form. This shows the children’s boredom and creates a sense they are daydreaming and fantasising. A common character in the doodles is a walking heart that is put through a lot of torture, yet survives though battered and bruised. For example, the heart is attacked by a bird but dropped from a height, which saves it from being eaten. This emulates the idea of heartbreak.

There are close-ups of a young boy’s eyes as he looks towards a girl, the shot cuts to an extreme close-up of the girl’s lips and cheek, as though he is thinking about kissing her either a fantasy or reminiscing the past.

The doodles are released from the note pad when the boy screws up the paper and throws it on the floor. The camera then tracks the doodles as they expand and travel the length of the wall. This represents the hallucination entering reality.

The children do not move in the shots, they are almost stills for the most part, the most movement is in the animation. This draws the audience’s attention to the dream state the young boy seems to be in.

Finally, the girl is shown to be angelic, the last shot is of the back of the girl’s head as the doodles surround her. The drawings can be seen as wings expanding from her body and a crown and beams of light leaving a beating heart that represents a halo. This idolises the girl and illustrates the boy’s love for her, and so hints at how huge his loss is.

Target Audience

Before setting our idea in stone we looked at exactly who our target audience is. At the beginning of the project we decided that the MTV generation was who would be viewing our video most. However, when we came to think about our audience in detail we realised that we didn’t know who this was. Our initial idea was that we were targeting people of a similar age to ours and a little older, however, after a straw pole within our class, only 3 of the 7 people who had access to MTV actually watched it, meaning we were targeting the wrong age group. We then researched MTV’s audience demographic and came across the following article; it clearly explains MTV audience in detail and describes the power the channel has and how sought after their advertising space is.

The network's identity
   

MTV is more than a cable network. It’s an easily identifiable brand that advertisers know reaches the coveted but tough-to-find young adults the broadcast networks have for years struggled to attract.
   “MTV has a great story because they pretty much own the young-20s college-age niche,” says Jordan Breslow, director of broadcast research at MediaCom. “They obviously got away from music videos, which was their bread and butter when they first started. But there are other places to get that. People are streaming them from the internet, and Fuse network is now what MTV was when it started.” 

The network's target audience
  

MTV, its music-focused offshoot MTV2, and its online site target people 12-24 almost to the exclusion of other demographic groups. Still, MTV is a high-rated network in most other demos.
   “Our notion is to stay perpetually young,” says Graden. “Viewers at a certain time in their life may watch a lot of MTV and then perhaps move on to other things. That is why our median age has stayed around 21.”

The network's ratings
   

MTV isn’t merely a targeted cable network. From the perspective of viewers, it’s simply a network like Fox and the WB are networks.
   In fact, MTV shows such as “Real World: Philadelphia,” the series’ 15th installment, and specials like “They Wanted a Famous Face” pull ratings among 18-24s that are comparable to those for programs like Fox’s “The Simpsons,” the WB’s “Gilmore Girls,” UPN’s “America’s Next Top Model,” and even CBS’s “Survivor: Palau.”
   In the week of March 7, MTV had three shows, including top-10 ranked “Real World,” among the 30 highest-rated cable and broadcast programs in the 18-24 demographic.

The network's competitive set
  

MTV is the highest-rated network among people 12-24. But it stands on top, not alone. Other networks are competitive in the demo, including the comedy-focused TBS, Comedy Central, Nick at Nite, Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, Spike TV, USA, BET and ABC Family.

What’s new for 2005/06
 

MTV will continue to roll out new shows pretty much all year round and it has annual events like its Music Video Awards and the MTV Movie Awards.
   Graden says MTV’s new and upcoming programs are moving beyond pure unscripted reality shows.
   “Our next wave of programs tend to be adventurous. Some are reality hybrids with integrated writing and acting along with reality elements,” he says. “'Laguna Beach' was shot like a drama, so it blurred the lines between reality and drama. We try to not to repeat ourselves.”

The network's upfront outlook
   

MTV’s story this upfront is likely to be a familiar one. And that’s not a bad thing.
   The network will focus on its young viewers, hot new shows, good ratings and the seemingly endless cross-promotional deals offered by its parent company, Viacom. MTV will offer advertisers packages with MTV2, which has a slightly more male skew than the flagship network, and its online site. But there are many other deals available with Viacom’s other properties, including VH1, Comedy Central and young-skewing broadcast network UPN.

The final prognosis
  

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being excellent: 4.5.
   MTV is sitting pretty. It has strong ratings in a demographic advertisers are hard-pressed to find elsewhere. Moreover, several of its new shows, like “My Super Sweet 16,” have generated some of the network’s best ratings.
   Still, MTV faces minor challenges as it meets with media buyers this upfront. Its current lineup is heavy on female-targeted programs, tipping its typically even balance of male and female viewers. And media buyers say because the network is constantly burning through programs there’s often an uneasy sense that the next step MTV takes will be the one that trips it up.

Kevin Downey – 2005

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2005/mar05/mar28/1_mon/news3monday.html

Although this information is relatively out of date it details its popularity. The increase in access to the channel and its multiplatform approach (magazines and websites) suggest this popularity is growing. This article has shown that we were right to target the same audience as MTV due to its known respected name and therefore its demand within the industry. Our next assumption was that The Fray (the band whose song we are creating a video for) target the same audience as of MTV. We then chose to research into The Fray’s audience demographic, we did this by contacting Epic Records (the label The Fray are signed to) via email. Unfortunately, even after many attempts and a lot of pestering, Epic Records did not respond. We then decided that the most crucial feature of The Fray's audience demographic was their age, so we asked 10 people from every age group whether they listened to The Fray. From this we worked out an average of those who do listen from each age group, the results were as follows.

Age	Listen to The Fray	Don’t Listen to The Fray	Average That Listen to The Fray
<>	5	5	50%
17-26	8	2	80%
27-36	4	6	40%
37-47	1	9	10%
> 47	1	9	10%

 This table proves that The Fray have the same target audience as MTV. This means that our initial prediction was correct. We will target this audience by using many of the same conventions used by professional videos shown on the channel.

Furthermore, we have used characters that are of the same age as the audience. This allows the viewers to easily relate to the characters and so the plot, fulfilling an audience pleasure.

We have also used a stereotypically male bedroom, shown in the mise-en-scene. Empty beer cans, an unmade bed, a laptop and stereo are all indicators of the personality of the male character. These are obvious links that allow the audience to read the text with ease, meaning the audience can watch as a pass time, with relaxation and entertainment as their purpose, while still relating to and understanding the characters.

 

Why We Changed Our Idea

As a group we have decided to change our film idea back to our original concept, which we already have a lot of footage for. We have decided to do this because we realised our idea mostly consisting of stop motion was very difficult and time consuming. We believed as a group we were struggling with the idea and the time limit in which to do it. And so we have decided to use footage from the first idea and adapt this with a small amount of new footage. This will also include some green screen and some traditional animation over the live film if we have the time. Our original idea, which we have now developed, further is to use the song “Heartless” by The Fray. We are using our footage filmed in the summer as a memory in the film about a couple in love. The new footage of Dan that we have filmed recently will be used to show the brake up of a relationship and the character’s feelings towards this. The lyrics talk of a heartless woman from the point of view of the male in the broken relationship, our footage and plot reflects this theme.

We are using a green screen effect in order to take us from the footage of the male character moping around his room, to the memories of the relationship. We have done this by taking a photo frame and putting green paper in the frame. The character will hold the photo frame; we will then edit in the footage of the couple together by deleting the green colour and replacing it with the footage.

Our filming locations have changed due to the change in idea, and so our new locations are Will’s back garden, commercial landscaped gardens and the recently filmed footage is in Dan’s bedroom.

Although much of our planning and research will have to be edited and in some cases replaced we feel we are already in a better position than we were with the stop-motion animation idea.