Planning cinematography

Cinematography consists of the camera shots and angles that are used throughout the music video. Without the use of cinematography there would not be a music video at all and it therefore a hugely crucial aspect of creating our music video and therefore very important to incorporate it successfully. Our group meetings therefore consisted of planning cinematography in detail to decide upon which shots that we will use to create the correct effect for our production. 

Establishing Shot: 

We will use an establishing shot to set the scene of each location that we use within the video and to provide context. It is the only shot that can show the audience the setting, what characters are involved and more complex backgroud and foreground details in a single shot. It will make it easier for the audience to understand the following events; as well as to serve the purpose of linking each location together so that they flow more smoothly and therefore make a more professional looking music video. 

An example of this is the establishing shot of the graveyard that our character visits throughout the music video. This is an important location to the narrative and by introducing it to the audience it highlights its importance as well as adding a sense of foreboding.

Mid shot:

The mid shot shows some part of the subject in more detail, whilst still showing enough for the audience to feel as if they were looking at the whole subject. In fact, this is an approximation of how you would see a person "in the flesh".

We have many midshots within the sequence when the subject is not showing much emotion or intense concentration. For example we have used this when the character is walking through the graveyard with the intent to deliver information which in this case is the setting of the graveyard and background context as there is no speech involved within a music video. This neutral shot also allows room for hand gestures and movement which we have accompanied with a panning shot to track the movement of the male.

Close Up:

We have followed the mid shot with a close up which is where a certain feature or part of the subject takes up most of the frame and is usually a close up of their face. They are useful for showing detail and emphasised the characters emotional state. 

The use of this camera shot allows us to present the audience with the reactions and emotions of the subject to show the mourning that he is going through when visiting his loved one. This will allow the audience to connect with the character and build a relationship as well as putting themselves in the situation. This will also continue to help them grasp and understand the narrative that we have chosen to follow for our music video.

Low angle:

We have decided to encorporate many different camera angles within our music video to represent the highs and lows of the relationship that posseses our narrative. An exmaple of this for example is the use of a low angle shot showing the couple in a pub with the city sky line behind them. This is used to show that this moment that has been captured is at a time where the relationship was going well and shows them as having higher authority as the camera is placed slightly below them. We also decided to position the girl at a higher situation (sitting on the wall with the boy looking up) to show that she is of higher importance than the boy in his eyes (as the narrative tells his story).

Eye level:

The majority of our camera shots positioned in this way as it is a fairly neutral shot where the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus. This is more practical for telling a story to show the different events clearly without confusing the viewer. This is important wihin a music video that is narrative based (such as ours) and is therefore why we decided to use this shot within our production.

Settings:

Graveyard: We have used a graveyard within our music video as a large part of the narrative shows the mourning of the main character to provide a sense of foreboding. We therefore chose to use a graveyard as it holds the connotations of death, mourning and sadness. This we felt would therefore be appropriate to reflect the emotions of the character and therefore make the audience aware of the sad story that we are conveying through the music video.

Iconography used within the scene:

- Flowers: These are used when the character is paying his respects to the loved one that he as lost to show the intense emotion that he is feeling. It is also very conventional to what the audience would expect to see in a graveyard and helps them to follow the narrative as we are complying to what they would expect to see.

- Grave stones: This audience would expect to see these in the setting of the graveyard that we have chosen and therefore makes it more believable that this is a real occuring event that is taking place.

- The sun: The sun can be seen shining in each of the shots that we used of the graveyard to represent the lyrics 'the sun dont shine without you'. Although it contradicts the words it represents the fact that she is still there although she is absent physically. It helps to link the visuals with the lyrics and therefore follows Goowins theory.

Pub: We have filmed the couple in a pub to show the happy times of their relationship. This is an appropriate setting to show the two characters having fun and in love as it is something that many couples would go and do together. This will therefore be easy for our target audience to relate too and in turn keep them interested in the narrative.

Iconography used within the scene:

- Glasses: We encorporated drink glasses within the setting of the pub to make it seem more realistic as it is what the audience would expect to see.

We plan on including some different locations such as footage from a club etc to link the narrative with the genre of Dance/House as this is what our music video seems to be lacking. The settings that we have used to date are not conventional to the music genre however do link to the lyrics of the song. By going against the conventions of what the audience expect we hope that it will add further to the attraction of the music video and therefore entertain them.