Production Diary #1 (Group Post)

Today we had our first group meeting since making a final decision on the choice of song (Season of the Witch). The first item on our agenda was location; for the minimalist and conceptual video we currently visualise we require a large white space, of which is used for many music videos that have influenced our vision such as Lazaretto by Jack White.

Our first thought was that we could use our school's dance studio, as it is a large room with a white wall; however the flooring is grey, and to have performance shots like the one above we would need a more flowing backdrop to create the most professional aesthetic. For this reason, our best option may be to purchase a large white sheet, to set up like a proper studio with sufficient lighting either at home or at a large room in school.

We also started to consider the performance element of the video; to inter-cut with the unusual artistic shots of objects, a strong performance will be vital. Although the song was performed by Donovan who had a psychedelic 'hippy' look, the tone of the song and our visual concept for it are quite dark and Gothic. For this reason, we feel that our performer must have a clean, almost vampire-like Gothic appeal, like Marilyn Manson or Jack White for example, perhaps with some interesting accessories such as shades, bandannas and shock-rock make-up.

Finally, we listed some potential artistic shots. These include:

• Close-ups a guitar/bass being played, and a 'go-pro' like shot from the guitar headstock looking down the fret-board
• Close-ups of hands and feet tapping along to the rhythm
• Close-ups of people's faces, mouths and eyes darting around
• A balloon with a phrase such as "HELP" written on it being popped
• Close-up shots of various items such as a lava lamp, a lucky cat, a sand-timer, light-bulbs and drug paraphernalia, with follow-up shots of them being destroyed towards the end, in slow-motion.

Our next step will be identify what props, clothing and resources we already have, draft a storyboard, and then plan the performance element(s) of the video.