Research and Planning - Props

In our production of our music video, we need to consider all mise-en-scene included in the shots we use, this is so that anything that is seen in shot has some sort of purpose and meaning behind it, it may have hidden connotations or mean certain things. My focus is upon props that we will use in mise. There will be two kinds of props we need, one is a main prop that will feature in part of the video, either it being picked up, used or just viewed. Other props will just be in shot and may connote hidden notes towards the video or just there to provide more realism and purpose to the scene.

The first main prop that will considering to use is an acoustic guitar. This prop would be key in our music video as we will have our artist playing the song and singing with the guitar, this will have a affect upon which actor we use as we will require him to be able to sing while being able to play a guitar properly, specifically the song we choose. The guitar would feature in many shots where we will have the artist singing to the camera.

The second main prop that we are considering featuring in our piece is a letter. In our music video we would have the letter as part of many shots, as the letter in the narrative will be from her husband who is at war and would have many shots from her reaction perspective of the letter. The letter would be quite key in the narrative part of the music video, however it will not feature throughout the piece.

The third main prop we may use would be rings. These would connote that the couple is in a relationship with eachother and are married to one another. It is put there to instantaniously allow the audience to understand they are together and have been for a long time. This would feature throughout our music video as with any shots where they can be seen upon the actor and it may possibly feature in a close up on the hand.


The laptop would again be key in our piece as we were planning on having a skype call on part of our storyline and we were planning on doing this through the laptop. It would be a main part of the storyline where the recognition of disruption would be shown to the audience and the break down of the character would follow soon after this.

We were thinking of using some dead flowers in a pot to connote their relationship, we would have them alive at the beginning of the video and soon dying by the end to show the cracks in the couples relationship and bhow this war has come between them. This would not be a main part of the video and would feature in the background of the video so it will be a hidden code to the audience, although we may do a close up of the flowers if we feel it to be appropriate to draw the audiences attention to it.

We were also considering using a bottle of wine and a glass, this would be a key prop in our piece as it will have an affect upon the characters behaviour. We were considering using it for when our female protagonist has a breakdown showing the audience she is drinking alone and missing her husband who has gone off to war.

Another prop that may feature in the background of our piece may be newspapers or books to connote that our protagonists are intellegent and avid readers, reading books or newspapers can connote wisdom to audiences, so this would be the reason behind using these in our piece. They would only feature in the background of the shots we use.


Another prop that would feature in quite a key scene would be army netting. This would be used for when the protagonists are on skype to eachother over the laptop and in the background on the males side, there will be some army netting. This will directly allow the audience to see where he is and understand what is happening. It would only feature in a small part of our video if it was used.

A duvet and pillows may feature in our piece where we have our female protagonist in bed having a breakdown crying while missing her husband who will return to her in this scene, he will climb into bed and comfort her and she will have an uplifting moment with his return. These pillows and duvet will only feature as the bed as a whole with her in it. Other pillows may also feature such as in the living room at the start of our music video.


A remote and TV may also feature as another background prop just to add some normality about the scene as most homes in the UK will have a TV, so it attracts the audience who are about middle class and feel some what connected to the characters. The TV would never feature as a key part of the video nor would it be seen playing anything. However it may feature the remote in the hand of the female protagonist and possibly her watching the TV but that would be the only time it would feature in the music video.

Dan Andrew