Album covers

Before designing my Digi-pack I had a look at some examples of album covers from the artists i have looked at for my research. I have found that a popular link between these selection of album covers is that they all are either fully in black and white or are black and white with one suggested colour. I like how this shows contrasts between good and bad almost as we see the lights and dark's against each other. This also gives the album covers a heavy atmosphere and shows the genre of the music clearly as black and white is also a popular code and convention for the music videos. They all also seem to have a grunge feel to them as they have dirty backgrounds or a rude approach as nudity is shown in some of the album covers. I also like how some of the models have presented themselves lustfully or represented their own strength by either looking confrontational or in the bat for lashes cover generally strong as we see a role reversal.

Video update

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Okay so Dissociative Identity disorder (DID) is when you believe you have two separate personalities and you feel you can be two completely different people. Your other personality could be a different sex,race and can speak differently. I think it is appropriate to look up symptoms of this condition so i can look at how to present my character who could possibly have his mental issue as she is at war with herself and who she wants to be and why she wants to be someone so different.

The condition can be started by severe trauma during childhood. This could explain why my character is trapped in this stage of her life as she is still fragile and immature locked in her state of infancy as she clings on to the last of herself.

Symptoms are the following:

• Depression - The fact that my character is cooped up in her little box room will show that she feels overwhelmed and cooped up and the fact that i will show bleeding scene will be linked to self harm and connote depression.
• Mood swings-  I have done some scenes in my music video which show my character one minute laughing hysterically and the next is screaming. I think this will show her delicateness and how fragile she is as a woman.
• Suicidal tendencies- Again the bleeding scenes in my video will link to self harm which is a popular way to commit suicide.
• Sleep disorders (insomnia, night terrors, and sleep walking)- I haven't shown this characteristic in my music video however she is called insommia because of the sleep disorder and this will make her name sound more personnel and girly as the name ends in 'Mia' which is a popular well recognized girls name.
• Anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias (flashbacks, reactions to stimuli or "triggers")
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Compulsions and rituals- I show my character twitching throughout the film to show discomfort and will also connote to her instability as she does not have full control of herself and her well being.
• Psychotic-like symptoms (including auditory and visual hallucinations)- Of course my video is all about her having another self and imagining or hallucinating her own world were she can escape and be somebody else for a while.
• Eating disorders

my actors costume #2

So my actors main character is this image here. I wanted her to look as childish as possible as i have based her whole appearence on the first few lyrics of the song which are 'Oh sweet mama im not feeling well.' so i went to capture a childlike girl who suffers mental illnesses. To try and show this obviously i made my actress wear this costume and also pay close attention to her hair and her make up as it is important that this character completely contradicts with her altnernate character as the other character is someone that she wishes to be when she is with this boy.

The costume consists of a pinee dress. I decided to use this as dungeries are asociated with children because they are easy wear and are easy for children to put on. Also they look adorable. I also got my actress to wer a yellow t-shirt underneath. I chose the colour yellow because this colour has alot of negative effects and meanings.

For my characters make up i have given her heavy black dark make up around her eyes as this makes her eyes look socelled in and more skull like. This also makes my actress appear tired and very dark as she is naturally showing sign of fatige with dark eyes and also could connotate illness. I gave her big bluge lashes

My actors costume #1

This is my alternate character that i will be using in the outside settings. I have decided to make her look completely opposite to her other character because this is her mental escape and how she wants to see herself. However she doesnt want to see her self as a normal girl because she is childlike in the mind and has aspirations to be seen as a princess. I also believe this will make her look more dream like and be easy to establish this character as make believe and something that she has imagined her self to feel like she is when she is with this boy. She feels like she is a real woman because she feels such intense love for him. So much so that it changes her completely from being childish and insane and trapped to be free beautiful and almost in a sense look mature.

For the costume itself my actor will be wearing a long light pink dress. Pink is commonly realted to a girls colour and is sterotyped with little girls and fairy princess's so this shows that my character is still herself and that her prentending to be something she isnt is quite childish in itself. However with the dress she will be wearing helled shoes. This shows a sense of maturity and her leap from a girl to a women as she falls inlove she becomes more mature and aware of her personel appearence. She will aslo be wearing a little tiara to further highlight her childish needs and also act as a personal reminder for both her and the audience that she is a figment of her own imaginiation because she is still childlike and is still mentally ill and this character is only a dream.

My character make up is an important element in my characters costume as it helps veiwers recognise her as she was before with the heavy eyeliner. However instead of having dark lashes i gave her big white lashes to show that all diffferent elements of her are changing and shows that she is becoming pure when she falls inlove as she wants to be better and sane for him.

Props ill be using

Okay so i have a scene where i want her to drop this fake hair. I think this will show her letting go of her self a piece at a time as she is becoming distressed and agitated. Also loosing hair is also a clear severe sign of emotional stress. I think this will show my audience the torture she is going through and how ill she is.

I also have a scene where fake blood is involved! i will have my character bleeding backwards...sounds weird i know but there is a part of the song where she sings 'I spent my days,wondering whom,to pray' And i think that bleeding backwards will look ungodly and surreal and will help me create the dark sinister atmosphere i want to create and will help my audience feel interested ...is she bleeding? has it already happened? is it a delusion that she has hallucinated?

I also have a mask as part of my characters costume for her to wear. I have looked up the meaning of rabbits. Rabbits are a symbol used in visual arts to represent rebirth, ressurection and fertility. All of these i think are appropriate for my music video as she is creating herself in a new different way to be someone she sees fit and therefore seeing herself as a rabbit will be a literal representation of rebirth. Also the fertility shows that she has these mature feelings however she does not know what to do with them as she is not aware of love and how to develop the emotion.

my filming location shots

 So my inside location consists of the upstairs of a little store. However the reason i chose this location was because I like how abandoned the place looks with no paint on the walls no floor laid down and no furniture in the rooms. I think this shows how incapable my character is and how docile and naive she is as she is not aware that she needs to make this room more homely for her to feel comfortable. I also like how This could reflect her mind as she feels empty inside and has room to over think an daydream bout her fantasy boy. I also think that this room reflects coldness and surrealism of her situation and this will show my viewers that she is a strange lonely character.

These are the stairs that i want a scene to act on as she will be entering the outside world and entering her own new state of mind as she imagines her self being somebody that she is not and creating herself a whole new personality and identity. I also think that this will prove as a visual representation for my viewers of her escaping her state of mind and leaving herself to be someone else.

This is a picture of the room these two windows are the only windows in the room so the room can be quite dim and i dont have to worry too much about lighting as in her world it is dark and cold and she feels quite helpless as a person as she feels inconvenient and unable to be helpful to anybody because of her illness and therefor chooses to stay inside away from the outside and keep herself safe from falling in love however she is interested in the experience of love and what it feels like.

This is another camera angle which shows the room and shows how empty this space is. Notice there are no picture frames no furniture? because she feels as a character that she cannot have a life and has no recollection of leading one in the past because her illness enables her to develop from the present to create a past so she is always stuck in one stage of her life which makes her delicate as she still seems quite immature and uneducated as she is unable to learn.

 This is a photo from one of my outside scenes where i hope i can hold the dancing scenes as i think this open space will be a good contrast to the boxed up cold room that her alternate self is always stuck in. This place is her way out. Her way of stepping out of herself to a place where she has no limits and is free in her mind.

This is a bench and tree that i want to use for a scene which shows glitches in her imagination which will add a surreal effect to my video and keep that dark atmosphere present as she will still have problems even when she is away from herself within herself.