group Synopsis and Treatment

Synopsis

Song: "5 Years Time" by Noah and the Whale

This pop promo will be about a man remembering good times with his girlfriend. It involves two time scales, one when the couple are both happy together and the other when the relationship is over. This section will have a more melancholic tone. We will then reveal that his girlfriend is actually dead and he has been remembering some of their last moments together, some of which will be of them arguing. The video is about the man overcoming his grief.

We start at the docks for our first location with a high angle shot of the sun. At first we focus on the man wandering about aimlessly by the water’s edge and then sitting down and dangling his legs over the edge. We then cut to the two of them in the same location but at a different time after the man sees her reflection in the water. They seem happy and contented. During the chorus we cut rapidly between the two time periods to highlight the contrast of feelings.

For the next location we will be at Christchurch Park and we will witness the man making his way through a wooded area with the looming trees adding a hint of gloom in the promo’s tone. He will emerge and find himself looking on at an empty tennis court. We will then cut to the two of them playing in the tennis court beginning to have a slight disagreement. The girl will hit a ball away in anger and it will be picked up by the man in the next time scale. During the chorus we will once again cut rapidly between the time scales highlighting the contrast.

During the final section we will see the man lying on an empty road alone. We will then cut to the other time narrative to view the couple having a big argument which culminates in her walking away. Our final shot is of the man lying hopelessly in the road and then the girl appears above him but when he blinks she disappears.

Treatment

Editing:

Our narrative consists of two time scales so it will be important to make it clear which scale we are in by possibly using visually arresting cuts such as swipe edits when we switch time scales. Apart from those moments I intend to stick mostly to conventional edits although I may employ a couple of jump cuts during the argument to create an atmosphere of chaotic friction. I may also use a couple of graphic matches during the rapid cuts of the choruses in order to show the breaking symmetry of the periods.

In addition we have also discussed using a super 8 type of visual colour for the flashbacks as it creates a sense of hyper reality as well as harking back to a time in the past. It will also hopefully further distinguish between the different time scales keeping the audience abreast of what is happening in order to avoid confusion. It is also important to point out that editing can play a more significant role in this project than in our film noir project as cuts are often more obvious, numerous and stylised in pop promos. It will also be vitally important to integrate all of our establishing shots to highlight our changing locations as they play a vital role in showing the characters' relationship, i.e the waterfront is when they are calm and relatively happy (the smooth elegance of the boats and water) whereas the park with its wintery and wooded almost gothic atmosphere is better suited for the slightly souring nature of their relationship. Also the tennis court, a place of rivalry and competition, is ideal to show the first glimpses of conflict in their relationship.

Costumes

Beginning of the pop promo – Girl – Normal clothing (jeans, shirt) Man- Normal clothing (jeans, top)… when he is by himself he can be wearing a different top and jeans and a jacket (he can have his hands in the pocket jackets to make him look more sad)

New paragraph, middle – Girl – Wearing sporty clothing (tracksuit) Man – Wearing sporty clothing as well (tracksuit). Whenever man is alone he is wearing the same Jeans and jackets and he normally has his hands in his pockets to make it look like it is colder weather and he is sad.

New paragraph, middle (where the tree is) – Girl- Normal clothing, but different clothing from the beginning of the pop promo (jeans, shirt and thin jacket) Man- Normal clothing (jeans and top and thin coat). Whenever he is alone he is wearing the same clothing of the jeans top and jacket.

End – Girl – Normal clothing (jeans, top and a thicker coat) to show that it is getting colder. Man – Normal clothing (jeans, top and a thick coat).

Whenever the two of them are together their costumes should be lighter, for instance they can be wearing white or brighter colors like blue, to try and resemble summer. And as time goes by they wear darker clothing for instance the man could start with a normal blue shirt then when it goes further down the song it goes to a navy blue colour,

Whenever the man is by himself he can be wearing neutral colors, so a neutral jacket co lour like muddy grass green, and his shirt can be a black same with his jeans, to try and show he is mourning.

Props

Beginning of the pop promo – A bench (when the man is alone) but the bench will already be at the docks.

New paragraph, middle – We need two tennis rackets and at least 3 tennis balls in case we loose any.

New paragraph, middle – No props required here apart from the tree which will already be in Christchurch Park.

End – We need a jar that looks like an urn, also we need ashes, which we will get from Josh’s fireplace.

Lighting

Whenever the two are together it will be natural light to make it seem happier.

And whenever the man is by himself we should try and use low-key lighting to make things moodier or we can add more shade to make it look darker.

Cinematography

For the synopsis, we have collaborated our ideas and the Treatment has been delegated to each member of our group, and I agreed to create the Storyboards and therefore the Treatment for the Cinematography of the video. This was going to be the Group Treatment, a collaboration of the Treatments for different areas that will be covered during this project.

For this task to be completed accurately I took into consideration various rules, codes and conventions used by professionals and expert cameramen in the media, when filming with any type of video camera system. These include the “Rule of Thirds”, the “180 degree line rule”, the “30 degree line rule”, “Handles”, “Match-On-Action” (continuity and flow of one shot into another), and “Framing”.

The “180 degree line rule” will apply greatly to the continuity and comfortability of the video from the audience’s point of view. If the man walks from the right to the left of the screen and the girl from the left to the right of the screen, in shots to follow this known movement should be retained, unless otherwise shown by the camera, where the camera tracks from one side to the other. Then, once you have explained how the two characters have been moving and how we as an audience have ‘crossed’ that ‘line’, as a cameraman you can then begin to develop shots with a different point of view of the characters. Otherwise, a bad mistake and confusion can often lead to audiences becoming less interested in your production and your mishap is considered to be a moviemaking error and a bad piece of camerawork.

For the first shot, the establishing shot, we had discussed a possible point-of-view shot of the Sun. This is personification of the Sun because we are seeing what the Sun sees, if it had a point of view of our world. So, I took this as a consideration, and as a result I have decided that the first shot could either be a High Angle Shot from the Sun’s point-of-view, or indeed a Low Angle Shot of the Sun, then from the Low Angle the camera tilts down to look at the street, but at the same time elevating the tripod using the Elevate/Depress tripod controls, so that when the street does come into view we see the street as if it is from the Sun’s point-of-view, or that of a CCTV camera (as in the CCTV camera joke video above), but looking to the right of the street.

The second shot is a continuation of the first, so Match-On-Action is increasingly important here. We see the man walking, “wandering aimlessly by the water’s edge” as Josh had put in our Synopsis. I was thinking of maybe a High Angle Shot looking down to the left of the street, the camera on the opposite side of the street this time, and focusing on the man as he walks from the right to the left of the screen, continuing his movements from the first, establishing shot. I was hoping that to cut down on the number of shots we actually use, we could make these two opening shots into one long one, so that we are not worried about the flow of the cuts, but if we do film and edit these as two shots then we must pay particular attention to the “180 degree line rule” and the continuity and flow of the transition between the two shots.

The third shot is of the man as he sits down by the water’s edge and dangles his legs over the edge of the promenade, his legs dangling above the water. We could have a Wide Shot of him as he walks to where he will sit down, the camera panning left to give him some “looking space” in the framing of the shot when he sits down. As he has approached and sat down next to the camera, the shot changes from a Wide Shot to a Medium Shot. Originally I thought we could have only the man in focus (Shallow Focus) then when he crouches to sit down we re-focus the shot so that both the foreground and the background are in focus.

When he sits down, the next shot is of his legs dangled over the edge and his reflection in the water below. Because I wanted to show his legs at the bottom of the frame, I think this shot will be better shot as a handheld shot, and have a focus pull from his legs to his reflection, ready for the next shot of the water where we see him and his girlfriend reflected in the water. She isn’t really there, and the reflection of her is just one of his memories which sets us up for the shot to follow.

To be creative, I thought the next shot of the water could be in the past, still with their reflections in the water, only this time it is a memory, not so much an illusion. I thought we could have the shot of his legs and her legs dangling over the edge, only they are both in different clothing to his present - in summer clothes, and as they get up and leave happily from the spot at which they were sitting, in the next shot (a Long Shot), hand-in-hand, the real man in the present time still sits there, and sees his memory as if he is a ghost in another world, invisible to others but not to us, watching as their relationship together (in his past) progresses to the video’s climax. I reckon we can add this effect to the video in Editing, and only involves superimposing, or overlaying one shot onto another.

We had discussed, as a group and with our lecturer Jon, that we could use the effect on our video called “Super 8mm” which was an old type of camera. I researched this on various websites, and found a video on YouTube which was the best example I could find of this video effect. It comprises handheld footage with the style of watching a reel of negatives produced from, for example, a family holiday in the 1960s, viewed in the 21st Century. We agreed that if we could in fact create this kind of effect for our video on our Editing software Final Cut Pro (on the Apple Macintosh computers in our Editing suite), as the camera equipment we are using records onto Mini-DV Tapes, then we would use this effect to our advantage on shots where we see the man’s flashbacks and memories on-screen.

Concluding on the fact that our narrative is about a man who now has a sad life, remembering (through the use of flashbacks) the good times he had with his girlfriend, I thought of using mostly Wide Shots or Medium Shots, with a couple of Dutch Tilts here and there where appropriate and maybe a couple of Extreme Close-ups on their hands joined in his flashback. I want to include a shot where we are focused on a metal fence (in the tennis courts?) with them arguing in the background but out of focus, then pulling off a Focus-Pull so that when she leaves him after their argument (in the tennis courts?), we focus on him, alone, and possibly crying (or not).