Casting

Adrian is our main character who will be playing the part of Ne-Yo. We have picked Adrian because he played one of the main characters in our schools production of 'Guys and Dolls'. From this we gathered that he is extremely confident, very reliable and dedicated to tasks he is given. This would be beneficial for us because we need someone that we can rely on and that will not disappoint us. Being confident is important because our artist, Ne-Yo is also very confident. He knows how to work the camera and how to get his emotions across through his facial expressions.

Danielle will be playing Adrian's girlfriend in the video, but cheats on him with someone else.

However due to circumstances, Danielle was unable to take part no longer. We then replaced her with my sister, Yoda.




This image will be used for the picture in the frame, that Adrian will smash up in their bedroom. To show it is their house we may need more then one picture. We need to dress the house a home that will look like a great friendly loving atmosphere, in contrast to the characters and the connection these two have.

This is an image of my sister, Yoda, who will be replacing Danielle. It is important that our character knew each other, which would enable them to be more relaxed with each other rather then shy.



Derek played the part for the character of who the female was cheating with. It was quite difficult at the beginning because he was shy but we made him feel more relaxed and did not put too much pressure on him.

Location Report

Location Report

This is an image for one of the places we are going to be filming. It is a location near our school so it will be fairly easy to get too. We will be using this location for two different scenes. One for when Adrian and Danielle are walking down the river holding hands, which will be in black and white footage to show it is in the past. The second time we will be using this location is when we are filming in the present tense, when Danielle shows no interest in Adrian and their relationship is falling to pieces. Walking along a river seems to be a typical romantic mis en scene. This will be the case for a part of the video, but the other part there will be a strong contrast to how things are now and how things were then. As we are following these two characters, we will pan them as they are walking along.
The problems we may have with this location is members of the public walking past or maybe even walking their dog. However, this lake is usually quiet during the day so we may not be faced with a lot of problems. We are also filming during the day, so we will have no issue with lighting. Another problem we may face though is the weather. It would be a hassle to film in the rain so we need to make sure we film on a day where the weather is fairly dry.



This is an image where we will be shooting our first scene. For our video we will have to make changes to the room, for example get rid of the pictures, and make it more realistic for a young couple. We will not have problems with the location because it is my own house where it will be private. It also has good lighting, but if not we can always put a brighter light bulb. A double bed also makes it more suitable for a couple. Props we will be using in the room are images of them both together at a happier stage of their life. This will be a good contrast to show how times were, and how things are now.



This is an image of the kitchen that we will be shooting scene 15 that Adrian makes Danielle dinner. Problems we may have with this location is that maybe when filming we may occur interruptions. This may be maybe the washing machine will distract our actors, or even my cat that may interrupt the scene. We can overcome this by locking the cat in another room and making sure we do not film while the washing machine is on.

However, we ended up not filming in the kitchen. The dinner scene was filmed in the dining room which we thought was better as it had a romantic vibe to it. We did plan out to film in the kitchen, but when editing, we realised we did not need the scene.



This is an image of the living room. As you can see the two images of me and my sister will have to be covered and taken down when filming as they do not relate to our video. This scene is shot number 10. We will be using mid shots and long shots. As for custom, we will dress them in casual clothes to reflect that they are in their house. This scene will capture the tension between these two characters. Our storyline is fairly obvious but the audience may be wondering why does Danielle just live Adrian. So, at this point of the story, we may show Danielle maybe trying to make the effort with Adrian. She is confused between who she really loves and we want this to come across in our video.

Mis en scene

• A hat for Adrian, a top hat and a normal casual one
• A picture frame containing a picture of them both at a happier time
• An alarm clock or clock to show the time of '6:45'
• A mobile phone, where Danielle and the male character she is cheating with can communicate
• Food, for when Adrian makes Danielle dinner
• Jewelery and accessories

I have put these props in because I think they are essential with the video we are doing. The alarm clock links to the lyrics. What I mean by this is in one of our shots we have a close up of an alarm clock. When we do, this particular moment of the song will say '6:45'.
We will be using a picture frame when to show how times have changed. Not only this, but when Adrian smashes it, it will show that their relationship is over.
We want the audience to see what Danielle is up too, so we will doing close ups of the mobile phone when the guy she is cheating with calls her or texts her.
Food is essential for when Adrian prepares a romantic dinner for them both. This sort of thing is typical for an RnB genre video. The mis en scene should look like a romantic dinner all set up, which will show how much effort Adrian is trying to make.
Adrian's hat goes with his custom, as well as jewelery.
Jewelery is extremely common for RnB videos. You will also see artists that have a bit of jewelery.

How we want our costumes to look like

We want Adrian to dress the style that Ne-Yo portrays himself. He looks appealing to women as he looks smart, colour co-ordinated and sophisticated. The grey suit is also a very dignified colour. It is not something over the top, but something that looks very smart and appealing, which is the image he is trying to portray to his audience. The man next to him in the photo looks similar in costume to Ne-Yo. The man in the photograph looks very classy and looks as if he is from the 1920's, where the time period was about gangsters and money, and suits is the type of thing they would wear, to show they mean business. Ne-Yo is mostly dressed like this. The fact that it is common for him to dress like this is important because it links to the genre he sings and the target audience he appeals too. His creating meaning by dressing like this.

He is usually shown wearing suits when he is on his own singing against a wall. He is not just wearing a suit though, he is also wearing a hat, something common for Ne-Yo, and something we need to be familiar with in our music video.



Ne-yo however does look sometimes in his music videos casual. Through-out the music video he does not wear suites all the time, he wears quite laid back clothes like a simple hat, tracksuit, maybe jeans and sometimes joggers. This image of Ne-Yo shows him as a kind of rebellious youth. His outfit is very stereotypical for his age and and for male gender.
He does wear a lot of jewelery. Maybe not a lot compared to some R&B singers, but a some that are visible. While Ne-yo does have his ear pierced, Adrian doesn't, so were not going to go to extreme copying methods like this, but simple necklaces or bracelet's will represent that he is being portrayed as an R&B sing. Maybe not a stereotypical one, but a more distinguished one.

The woman in his music videos are also important on how they are portrayed. I think it is not as much significance in what they wear but more importantly the colours of their clothing. For example, the video 'Mad'. The woman in the video is grieving as her boyfriend, who is played by Ne-Yo has died. She is wearing dull colours like black and grey which portray her emotions. The colours she is wearing are significant because even though their really dull and basic, the colours make a more impact. In the video mad it portrays her emotions. You would not expect her to be wearing a happy colour like pink, but more vulnerable colours like white, black and grey. She also wears her boyfriend's hoody wrapped around her to show she still wants him around, trying to capture the last of his again. This is all effective because a few dull bland colours can portray more than what type of clothes she is wearing. Her emotions are captured with the colours, and they come across on how vulnerable and upset she is.

This image above is from Ne-Yo's music video 'Part of the list'. The female actress in this video is wearing a plan jacket and casual boots. Maybe the boots are not supposed to be shown as the camera is only focused on a mid shot, however the clothes that are visible are very casual and simple. Her black jacket foreshadows danger. This is because they were together but they broke up. They have now met up again, while both being in a relationship. This shows the danger of the situation as they may get caught.

The image above is from the video 'I hate that I love you' that features Rihanna. As you can see she is portrayed as sophisticated, but also quite prerogative and seductive. This is also voyeurism. This would appeal to males, while Ne-Yo would appeal to the females. These two outfits are completely different which shows she can play two different characters. In our video it is important to capture this too. Ne-Yo would not have picked any ordinary girl for his video. He has deliberately put Rihanna in his video because she appeals to men and is popular with both genders.
While we will have our female actor wearing quite casual clothes at some scenes. However, in other scenes, it is important to get across our video that she is cheating on Ne-Yo through what she is wearing. In Ne-Yo videos, he has women dressed in prerogative clothing so it is important we don't do something too different to him, because if we do, it will go against his certain style of music videos. However, it is also important we do not copy little aspects of Ne-Yo's video, but do have the main features.

Timeline for music videos in the 20th century

Researching Narrative theories

Plan for music video

Song Lyrics

I have put the lyrics of my song on my blog to refer to when planning camera shots and the scenes I am going to do. When designing my story board, Jodie and I had to keep referring back to the lyrics seeing how long shots are going to take and what scene to do on which particular line or verse, or even chorus. When going through the lyrics, we have noticed that there is a lot of echoing, so when Ne-Yo repeats certain words. This is important because when we do film, we need to make it look like Adrian is being echoed, rather than just saying words twice.

When going through our lyrics, I was completely cautious to whether the shots we have decided on would work with the scene. I am confident that the close up shots of Adrian will work as they will capture his emotions better rather than long shots. Ne-Yo's fans will notice the similarity of this and how Ne-Yo typically dresses in his videos too. I think wearing a suit broadens his audience. He looks handsome and extremely smart. His obviously dressed in this particularly way for a reason. And the reason behind this is that he looks extremely sophisticated and appealing.
When Adrian smashes the frame of a picture of himself and Danielle at a happier time is our symbolic code of destruction. To capture this key moment in our video, we will have a close up of the smashed frame on the floor. The mis en scene will only show the frame as we do not want the attention anywhere else.
One of the mid shots we have is when Adrian and Danielle are lying in bed and Adrian tries to put his arm around her. It is important that we have a mid shot at this point so the camera can capture both of these characters. It not only shows their facial expressions but also their body movement.It is extremely important to show how these characters interact with each other.

Music video treatment

Adrian is playing the artist Ne-Yo, and Danielle is playing the part of his girlfriend. Danielle is cheating on Adrian, and he knows but he acts like he doesn't.
It starts off with bedroom when Adrian is trying to sleep. His girlfriend however creeps in. She's on the phone to the man she is cheating with. She then gets off the phone and gets back into bed, unaware that Adrian is still awake. The song then starts. It is then morning and Danielle gets up while Adrian is laying there singing.
Danielle's phone then rings and she takes the call outside the bedroom. He is then singing in front of the wall.
At the third verse, their then are flashbacks to when they were happy and things were good. We are going to show it's flashbacks by tilting the camera and making it black and white. This will give it the effect that it's in the past. Also flashbacks when they argue and she storms out. Ne-Yo does a lot of singing in front a of wall, so this is what we are going to make Adrian do.
One of the scenes flashbacks are going to be them holding hands walking a long a river. It then turns to present them walking distance from each other while she texts.
When Danielle is with her man she is cheating with, Adrian will be trying to call her. There will be a close up of her rejecting it. Adrian is then angry and smashes a picture of them.
While Danielle is going around the house getting ready, he follows her singing, but she goes to the bathroom and slams the door. Their both on either side upset. They can both kneel down and have their heads in their arm. Identically the same, but either side of the door.
They can also be sleeping and when Danielle wakes up she realises Adrian was trying to put his arm around her. When she realises it, she pushes it off her and gets up.
He also tries doing things for her, for example making her dinner, but Danielle makes an excuse and leaves. He then throws the dinner in the bin.
It ends with Adrian singing against the wall.

Ne-Yo - Part of the list

Ne-Yo - Closer

Ne-Yo - Mad

Example of R & B music videos

Example of R & B music videos

Letter to Def Jam

What is R&B?

R & B is the abbreviation for rhythm and blues. It originated in the 1940s. The term used to be used by record companies to describe recordings marketed mainly to urban African American. By the 1970s, rhythm and blues was used as a blanket term for soul and funk. In the 1980s a newer style of R & B developed, becoming known as contemporary R & B. African Americans then started to migrate to urban industrial centres of Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles in the 1930s. This created a new market of Jazz, blues and many other similar genres.
British rhythm and blues developed in the 1960s. This was mainly because of the response to the recordings of American artists. Many bands tried to outdo black rhythm and blues performers. This developed out the trad jazz, sciffle and folk club scenes.

Typical instruments that are usually used are drum kit, double bass, saxophone, horns, piano, organ, electric guitar, vocals and background vocalists.
Many famous R & B artists are or were Aaliyah, Alicia Keys, Backstreet Boys, Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Stevie Wonder and many more.

The British modern subculture was musically centred on rhythm and blues and later soul music, performed by artists that were not available in small London clubs around which the scene was based. This resulted in a number of bands forming to fill this gap in. For example Small Faces.

British artists music was much different to artists in America. It had a much different tone and emphasised on guitars. They have been criticised for exploiting the massive classification of African American music but they also populated it bringing it to the British world and also American audiences. They also contributed to build the reputation of existing and past rhythm and blues artists.

More about Ne-Yo

Ne-yo admits that his album, 'Year of of the Gentlemen', where our song features, was inspired by UK music. When asked who in particular, he responded Leona Lewis, Coldplay and Amy Winehouse.

"Years ago, if you weren't wearing the right suit or have a correct crease in your pants, you couldn't even get in the door--let alone on stage to perform," said Ne-Yo via a press release. "For me, the sharpness of Sammy and Sinatra is the kind of style I strive for in clothes and music. 'Year of the Gentleman' is named in honor of those guys."

Ne-Yo's singing ability was never in question, and he signed a deal with Columbia Records around 2002. Just happy to have a recording deal, the young artist allowed Columbia to twist his music into something he wasn't happy about. A record was in the works, but when Ne-Yo fought to write the type of songs he wanted and to be represented the way he wanted to be, the label decided they wouldn't compromise and dropped him off their roster in 2003. The young artist could have given up on music, but shortly after parting with Columbia his career as a songwriter began to flourish. "That Girl," a track Ne-Yo wrote and recorded for his never-released Columbia record was rerecorded by Marques Houston and became a smash when it got on the radio later that year. "That was the song that made me go OK, if people are digging this song, I guess songwriting is what I'm supposed to be doing," Ne-Yo confided to Hoffman. "That was my cue that God wants me to be a songwriter."

While simultaneously touring to promote his own record and being an in-demand songwriter for other artists, Ne-Yo was also sought out as a guest vocalist on a handful of records by the likes of Ghostface Killah and Remy Ma. In 2006 he had a cameo role in the movie Save the Last Dance 2, and showed true acting skills when he played the role of Rich Brown in the blockbuster film Stomp the Yard the following year. Ne-Yo's strength as an entertainer and businessman couldn't be denied. "R&B music is predominantly for women," Ne-Yo told Hoffman, "but I think that I've learned [that] my place in this whole thing is basically saying things for guys they want to say but don't know how to say." He proved to be more than successful when he had a hand in writing two of the year's biggest hits by female R&B singers, Beyoncé's number one Billboard song "Irreplaceable" and Rihanna's heartbreaking ballad "Unfaithful."

Ne-Yo

Shaffer Chimere Smith was born on October 18, 1982 in Camden, Arkansas but raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. Born into a family of musicians from Arkansas, Shaffer C. Smith a.k.a. Ne-Yo was raised in a single parent home by his mother. In hopes of a better opportunity, Ne-Yo's mother relocated the family to Las Vegas Nevada where Ne-Yo would discover his passion.

Before Ne-Yo became a songwriter for other artists, he was a member of the group Envy which was based in Las Vegas. The band split up in the year 2000, but Ne-yo was able to get a solo deal with Columbia Records. After his recording of his supposed to be debut album, the label let go of Ne-yo.

Ne yo is an American pop and R&B singer song writer who is currently signed to Def Jam records. He was previously best known for co-writing Mario's 2004 number one hit, "Let Me Love You", before he began a recording career of his own in 2005.
Ne-Yo's third album, year of the gentleman was released August 5th 2008. the album sold 250, 000 copies in the first week of the states. Ne-Yo's songs appeals to fans of all ages. The album sold 250,000 copies in its first week in the United States, debuting on the Billboard 200 at number two.



He has wrote songs for number of artists like Rihanna, Mario, Mary J Blige, Jamie Foxx, Beyonce and much more.

Has worked with actor Columbus Short twice in two Films Save the Last Dance 2 and Stomp The Yard.
His stage name is taken from Keanu Reeves' character in The Matrix.
Ne-Yo opened a recording studio called Carrington House and started his own label, Compound Entertainment, in 2007.

'Bossy' is a song written by Ne-Yo for American Pop singer Lindsay Lohan. The song became Lindsay's first number one hit on the Hot Dance club play chart.

Narrative theory

Britney Spears