Reflections on Locations

I purposely chose these locations because I was considering Blumler & Katz's theory of uses and gratifications, my favourite being that people use media to make personal connections and to find someone on the screen in a similar position to themselves, offering them someone to either judge or to aspire to and feel as if are similar to them. I did this by choosing a location that is widely populated, an urban environment that I think the majority of people live in, especially my target audience, choosing streets and alleyways that children/young people "hang out" in and would recognise as somewhere they spend a lot of time.

By filming my music video here, it puts a positive spin on the life that comes with these kinds of areas, council estates and alleyways that are usually populated with lower class/working class people. It supports the Marxist theory that the media, commercial companies full of the ruling class, attempt to make everyone beleive society is equal and that everyone is happy in their own lives. By having my actors dressed in glamorous clothes, dancing and singing as professionals and ignoring the fact that most people are scared to walk down the street in these areas, it fits into Baudrillard's theory that people often enjoy watching things like this that are hybrids of social realism but commercialised as it provides a hyper reality, better than their own.



LOCATION 1

Location 1 was in an estate car park, surrounded by rows of multicoloured garage doors. It came out well in the video as she walked past a different door every time and the colours looked bright and lively but at the same time, the metal was rusted and the paint was flaking so it still kept in the rough, run down street theme that I wanted from all the locations.

LOCATION 2

Location 2 was in the small alley way. This worked well because it was noticabley completely different to location 1. It successfully fitted the alley way critera for my setting because it was purely brick walls and a mossy floor, typical. The only problem with this location was that because of how tight it was, I couldn't fit beside her to film from the side and therefor only acheived a few different angles; in front and behind.

Also, because it was a short alley way, I didn't want it to look like she was walking down the same peice of alley over and over (even though she was), but luckily all the bricks looked the same anyways so you wouldn't know whether it was the same or not

 

 

 

LOCATION 3

 

 

This turned out to be my favourite setting but unfortunately I chose to film on the coldest day when she was wearing the least clothing. This meant that I didn't have a lot of time to film each shot and had to leave early. I brought my Dad to this location to help me as I needed someone to hold her coat so that she could put it on when she needed it between shots. He also made me feel safer as I knew the place I was filming was unsafe for two young girls, being hidden away from the main road. I took the photos for my poster and digipak here because it was by far the most attractive place. The colours on the walls made the place bright and lively but somehow still captured the rough look I wanted from my filming locations. Whether this was through it's lighting or the gritty, dirty effect the tiles on the walls gave, I loved the images and shots I acheived here. I will be including as many of these shots as I can.