Locations for the Music Video

The Soweto Uprising, South African student
Hector Pieterson dying in the arms of a
fellow student whilst his sister runs alongside. 

The first location that we shot at was the Forum in Norwich. This was the chosen location for the teacher strikes and so it wasn't really decided by myself and the other member of my group, however, it seems an appropriate location for a protest due to its central location and appearance of money/wealth. The Forum is a large building and is quite tall, making for an intimidating image if shown from a low angle or a worms eye view, symbolising the power of the money that went in to the building. It also has a large outside foyer that has an amphitheatre/colosseum appearance due to the steps surrounding it. The strike was a peaceful protest, however, many demonstrations throughout history have escalated into violence, hence why the colosseum appearance of the location connects well with the events/themes that are displayed in the music video. For example, the Soweto Uprising was a protest organised by several South African students to protest the recent laws enforcing them to learn the language of their white, Dutch oppressors; the result was 176 students killed by South African police. Colosseums were places often surrounded by violence and death, hence the linking to the histroy of protests. This is the area that the strike took place and due to the openness of the space we were able to capture several different shots from various viewpoints, thus the location was good as it allowed us to be flexible when filming.

Ancient Greek Amphitheater

Opposite the Forum is St Peter Mancroft's Chruch, another building with an imposing appearance due to its Gothic styling and heightened structure. Along with the government/corporate organisations, religion can be a controlling factor on many lives, as Karl Marx put it "Opium of the people". These two buildings face each other off; the church representing religion and the Forum representing the corporate side (with the home of BBC News East Anglian), but both sides have overwhelming control over large populations of society, benefiting most usually themselves rather than the community. 

Myself and the other member of my group discussed location ideas with our teacher, and decided that the American Embassy would be an ideal location to film due to the connotations of the building in regard to politics and the numerous protests that took place outside the building, including the Anti-Vietnam war demo in 1968. We also planned to use this location for the print production/CD cover part of the coursework, thus we took several shots of our actor outside the embassy. The building itself probably has the most intimidating appearance out of all of the locations we shot in, with its vast facade and golden eagle. The eagle and flag acted as symbolism for the corruption and government of the United States, particularly in the way that the government has control over the minorities in order to benefit themselves. Whilst shooting at this location, we were questioned by the police and the embassy security about our intentions and what we were filming. The security were enquiring whether we were filming their security cameras, security booths or their guards before contacting the police to come and take our details. This high level of security evidenced the reputation of the building and the suspicions/presumptions of the inhabitants.

Another of our locations in London was the docklands area, in particular Canary Wharf. This was due to the high level of businessmen and women in the area, creating a believable mise en scene and atmosphere. Furthermore, the surrounding area has obviously had a lot of money put into it and many of the businesses in the area deal with very large sums of money everyday, thus we thought it was an appropriate location to place our businessman character in as it connotes the air of wealth and power that links to the character. One of the surrounding buildings was J.P Morgan, who have recently been involved in a $4.5 billion mortgage settlement to investors who lost money on mortgage-related securities. This real life example reinforces the wealth of the companies and corporations that we are aiming to show in the music video. This location also had an interesting feature, a rolling screen showing the latest changes in the stock market as well as the most important news. We made sure to include a reference to the stock exchange to show that the businessman character is involved in large sums of money. Whilst shooting at this location, we were stopped and questioned on three separate occasions by security guards for the numerous high profile companies in the area, again showing their presumptions of what we may or may not have been up to. 

Some of the genuine businessman in the docklands area, captured for a montage section of the music video

When shot listing, we decided that we wanted two opposing time lapses of the characters in the underground stations, showing binary opposition. To do this, we used the Canary Wharf tube station for the businessman, choosing rush hour as the time to film due to the frequency of the trains and the huge number of suit wearing individuals rushing to escape from the commercial area. The general appearance of the station exhibited the wealth of the area and the overall smartness that falls in line with the corporate offices. In contrast to this, we shot in St Paul's station for the protester, which has a very different, more traditional appearance. St Paul's had a bit more of a grimy appearance and there weren't as many people in suits, showing the environment of the protester to be of a lower quality than that of the businessman, referencing the lack of social equality in Britain. By using very similar shots we were able to create a sense of binary opposition between the two characters and their reflective locations. 

This was another timelapse used to create binary opposition when placed alongside the timelapse of J.P Morgan in the docklands, it was an abandoned building at Bracondale Mill Gate. The location was easy to access making it reasonably flexible in terms of shooting, however we did not have access to the inside of the building. This location could act as a visual metaphor for the state of society in Britain, or could be connoting the idea of a 'Broken Britain' due to its crumbled appearance and sense of disarray. The location is also reminiscent of the derelict house in 'Fight Club'.

Derelict house in Fight Club

To show what the home life is like for the businessman character, we chose to shoot in my house. The character is shown in a double bed in a well furnished room, with a suit hanging up in the background referencing his working life. The bedroom shows little colour/decoration so it symbolises the cold exterior of the character. The double bed isn't necessary for the businessman, but rather it shows that he is wealthy and buys things that he doesn't need just because he can. 

The businessman is also shown briefly in a kitchen, it has smart appliances and an overall feeling of quality, this reflects the style of the character as well as his supposed wealth. 

To show opposition, we chose to show the protester waking up on a sofa with a blanket rather than a bed like the businessman. This tells the audience that the protester has considerably less money than the businessman and also isn't bothered about material possessions so much. The surroundings are also a lot more colourful and quirky, suggesting a friendly character, another example of contrast between the two characters. 

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