Planning

 Mediation:

This process involves deciding how and what will be represented through a piece of media. For my project I will be using mediation within my mise en scene to represent the personality's of my characters. From my research and previous projects I feel I have a good understanding of what I can do as the creator of a piece to mirror my ideas onto my audience through visual and audio choices.

Anchorage:

A very important tool in changing or guiding your audiences opinions. Just by using graphics you can completely change the audiences perception and tone of the image. I will not be using anchorage to control my audiences opinion however if I did I would show my characters personality traits through it but I decided it would be much more effective to use mise en scene to do this.  

Proposal:

Rationale:

As previously stated after analysing my past projects I realised that my weakest point was my production I tend to always focus on my pre and post production leaving less time to consider my actual product. Therefore I decided something more physical would be best for this project allowing me to spend more time on how my show sounds and looks. From there I contacted a musical theatre student as I'm aware that the students are very keen on performing their work. I also thought I could easily do this within the Corona virus restrictions as I could easily position both performers two meters apart and then keep the crew two meters apart with masks on. To me this idea appeared perfect not only would it help me with future projects it would also help two musical theatre students while ensuring everyone's safety.  

Project Concept:

For this project I will be recording a live duet song by two musical Theatre students Holly and Olivia. I intend to use three cameras to capture this performance along with efficient sound recording equipment to ensure that my cinematography and sound is at it's highest possible quality as these are extremely important when producing a live performance. Because I intend for my focus on this project to be the cinematography I will keep my lighting, location and overall atmosphere simple yet effective, reflecting the musical piece. I will start my piece by introducing Holly and Olivia and it will play similarly as how musical acts are introduced on talk shows. 

Proposed Research:

Discovering and understanding the target audience is key for this project so I intend to start my research there. I intend to do an in depth analysis of my potential audience so that I can apply this to my final product. Also to help improve my technical skills I will be researching camera, lighting and sound so I can produce a high quality performance piece. Furthermore I will also research and analyse similar TV programs so that I can understand how to film live performances to a professional level. 

Evaluation:

I believe evaluation is extremely important and is key to reflecting and improving for future projects. In order to keep my evaluation in depth and accurate I will keep a detailed diary on my progress from week to week

Plan A:

Mise en scene:

Props and Setting:

The performance will take place on a stage but in the background there will be desks, chairs, books and a clock to give the illusion of a school setting. 

Costume, Hair and Makeup:

Both characters will be wearing office/school clothes to add to the impression of an education setting. However Holly's hair, makeup and whole costume will look better, more appealing than Olivia's to symbolise the social standing they each have. Holly's character is more popular than Olivia's and this will be reflected within their costume design. 

Lighting and Colour:

Because the characters are friends who are completely different I want to show this in my lighting. On Olivia's character's (Sarah) side of the stage there will be green lighting to show envy and on Holly's characters (Jenny) side will be blue to show a coldness in her character. The colour's will overlap in the middle of the stage where the performers dance together making a different shade of blue. These colours show the audience what kind of characters they are while also symbolising a middle ground in which they are friends. The lights will be soft but cast no shadow so that the performers faces can be clearly seen throughout the performance. 

Graphics:

Before the Performance begins there will be graphic's on the screen sating the names of the performers and what song they are singing to allow the audience time to digest what is happening. 

Set Up:

To begin I will spend time recording the performance myself starting by using three cameras so that I can decide a plan of camera angles and shot types. After deciding a plan I will film the performance like this so that I can be certain it works. Then I will add props, lighting and costume to film. Also I will leave an extra day after filming in case I need to do re-shoots. Then I will edit using adobe premier pro and adobe audition.

Plan B:

Due to the national Lockdown I am unable to film the live performance how I wanted to and I am aware that how I must now film and edit will be completely different to how I had planned to and the result will not reflect my true work. In order to follow the Government Guidelines I have now planned to film the performance over zoom the two performers will be in separate places and will have their mics and cameras turned on. This will mean that the camera and audio quality will not be at the standard I wanted. Also this will mean that I can no longer have the set design I wanted and the coloured lighting that I wanted. Although I can not get the angles and shot types I would have planned to I will get the girls to perform it three times each time moving their recording device to a new position if possible. This will then allow me to the illusion of using multiple cameras. Furthermore I can not access the editing software I would usually use so instead have found one called WeVideo although this software is not of the same quality and ability I am used to I will have to adjust and try my best to edit using it. 

 Risk Assessment:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kb8gNLfJkCzb3Y3Ni4kToh4Uml0YWpbm-63HkwvMuJA/edit?usp=sharing

Location Recce:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gEtGiBJm6Qy7SSPqaHDoWLBGeWAesKp2E2khcOTFASk/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gEtGiBJm6Qy7SSPqaHDoWLBGeWAesKp2E2khcOTFASk/edit?usp=sharing

Release forms:

Because Olivia could not sign this document in person she edited it through a shared google doc I included the screen grab so that it clearly shows she edited the document there by signing the release form.