Photoshoot Planning

In order to make sure that we get the best photographs and conditions to take them my group and I must plan exactly what we are going to do.

How and What emotional impact do you want your photographs to have on the reader?
Instead of having an emotional impact on the audience, we have decided to go with a dramatic impact to keep with the theme of our music video as there will be teenagers partying, behaving in a wild manner so we want the images to be consistent with this. The images would be what they may look like after such a party.

What personnel do you need? Who are you going to photograph?
To identify with our audience we have decided to photograph ourselves for the images. This is because we will be of a similar age and young bands tend to be more popular with our audience therefore they will be able to relate more with our products. Another possible benefit of this could be seen in terms of the uses & gratifications theory (Blumer and Katz) because the people photographed are of a similar age they may be able to relate to what is going to in the image.

What props will you need?
As we don't want the image to be too busy we will be using minimal props that link in with the theme of our music video - cigarettes and alcohol being the main props.

How are you going to emphasise colour?
For the backdrop of our photograph we have chosen minimal colours, this being a plain fence. We chose this because we want each member of the group to stand out, by such a large amount of space taken up by one colour it will help emphasise them and attract the audiences attention which is the desired effect we would like. However, we also wanted to image to appear to have a vintage/faded look  - in order to do this we would have to edit the image after it has been taken on software such as photoshop.

Have you briefed your models?
As we are using our own group members they were already aware of exactly what they had to do, from their own ideas on their poses etc. and the individual parts they have played in planning out the project.

What lighting/equipment will you need?
To make the photo more realistic and the fact that we have chosen an outdoor location to shoot our images we thought it would be most convenient to use natural outdoor lighting. The equipment we will need is a tripod to set the camera on, so that the image will be specifically centred and full shots of the band members can be achieved which will make the photo look more professional.

Backdrop/Where will you shoot?
To add to the realism of the image so that the target audience can identify easily we have decided to to use an outdoor backdrop rather than a studio one. As we wanted it to be fairly plain we decided a fence would be the best option.

Costume?
We have chosen to dress our group in the clothes that will be featured in our music video - styles that have become popular with our target audience and chosen genre; this being indie/rock/electronic. This is because it will help our target audience identify with the people in the photograph.

Photoshoot Location Ideas

After discussing with my group members, taking inspiration from our texts we have decided to use a fence as the main background for our photoshoot location. We chose this as it was a fairly simple background to access as it is my own fence, relieving any restrictions we may have had. Also, it is easily manipulated if we needed to make any changes. Finally, it would provide an opportunity to allow the models to stand out from the backdrop.