Camera Shots, Angles and Movement - Initial Ideas For The Band Performance

Within our music video, to achieve the greatest outcome possible and to get the finished product we want, we must select a range of different camera shots and angles to comply with our initial and developed ideas. There are a lot of different ways that we can choose to use the different camera shots and angles, but below are some initial ideas for the performance that the band do within the music video. There will also be planned camera shots, angles and movements for the narrative storyline involving 'Emily's' family, and the narrative involving 'Emily's' friends.

The Band's Performance

Camera Shot Ideas -

Medium Shot - This will be the first shot used within the performance. This is to straight away show the audience the location in which the band are performing, and show the audience each member of the band.

Close Up - This will be used to concentrate on the singers face, so we are able to succesfully lipsync to the song. The closeup could also be used to concentrate on a specific area of the mise en scene. For example, a genre characteristic of indie rock is a grunge and punk feel, so a way in which we may show this is by having one of the band members wearing a big punk stud/earring in their ear, and having a closeup of this.

Cut-In - A cut in is a shot that shows some (other) part of the subject in detail. An idea we had was to have a cut-in shot at the guitar when the guitar solo begins. This would work well as it creates a relationship between the visual and music aspects of the video.

Aerial Shot - The location in which we are filming our band's performance is in a barn, and the barn has a ladder leading to a second level of it, and we believe that incorporating an aerial shot into our music video will be highly effective. This could be shown either before of after the medium shot, as aerial shots can sometimes also be used as establishing shots, and this is how we will use our aerial shot.

Point of View shot - This is a shot we haven't quite decided if we would like to use or not. However, if we were to use it then the point of view would be from the drummer who would be at the back of the band set, looking forward at the other two members of the band and seeing different mise en scene aspects we have chosen to include, such as a candle burning in the background.

Camera Angle Ideas

Low Angle - The low angle camera shot will be used when the guitarist is doing his solo. There will also be jump cuts between the low angle and the cut-in shot in the guitar. The reason the low angle is used for the solo is because it used used to make things appear dominant and in power. When the guitarist is doing a great solo, it should be portrayed that he is in control and in power, and this is why we have decided to do the low angle shot.

High Angle - We had the idea that when the lyrics are talking about 'Emily' thinking that she is too old to be inhavin a family party, we would use a high angle. The high angle would be to represent her position of having no power, and wanting to go out and do what she wants but being forced to stay at home with her family, as if she doesn't have authority over her family.

Camera Movement Ideas

Pan - This will be used before our opening medium or aerial shot, and will go from left to right. Once each of the members of the band have been established within the barn through the pan shot, a medium shot will take place, possibly followed by an aerial shot to fully establish the location and mise en scene.

Track - When the lead singer first sings the chorus we will use the track shot. This is because it is a genre characteristic of indie pop to have a punky vibe to it, so this could include the lead singer strutting around and bopping his head to the beat of jumping up and down whilst walking along, so we will use the track to follow the singer whilst he does this. This will also help the audience to establish the genre as we will be complying to the genre characteristics by including this.

Tilt - The tilt is a possibility for a camera shot to do towards the beginning of the performance. We would tilt the camera horizontally, but not over 180 degrees. This would establish the mise en scene, show the location, and show the band and the costumes that the band have got on.

Zoom - We will be using an aerial shot almost as an establishing shot. To go hand in hand with this, once we have completed the aerial shot we could use the zoom. This will be effective because the aerial will start off by establishing the scene and showing the surroundings, and once this has been done we can use the zoom in to focus in on the band and the performance, which is what we are really trying to show to the audience.

This blog was created by Toby Moffat, Graeme Beck, Andrew Thomson and George Tibbett.