Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is essential within a music video as it creates diversity and interest within the video from the way you can be creative with different shots. Particular shots such as low angle and high angle ones can help display dominance or authority linked to specific characters featured in the shots. Different types of cinematography enable different emotions or ideas to be displayed which engages the audience and creates a more deeper and real relationship between them and the artist. Cinematography is important as it needs to distinguish what is going on in each scene of the video for example, if there is a narrative, the cinematography needs to help display how this develops, but also making the shots flow together well and in a way that will not cause confusion. The picture below demonstrates my group's planning for the cinematography that will be featured in our video:

Close Ups

The first shot in which I will discuss is the use of close ups that we will be including in our music video. This type of camera shot will be used in the performance parts of the music video, particularly during the stage setting. We have chosen to use this type of shot here as the artist will be singing as if she is doing a real performance and so a lot of emotion will be expressed. In order to capture this emotion as best as possible, close up shots will ensure that the focus will be solely on the artist and the emotion in which they are expressing. This type of shot also helps familiarise the artist with the audience as they are getting a more detailed view of them. Close up shots are conventional to the genre of soul because soul genre songs tend to convey a lot of emotions and are based on personal experiences of the artist. In a way to help this reflect onto the audience, the artist needs to express it in a genuine and realistic way to make the audience feel engaged and understand the feelings they are expressing. Close up shots therefore, demonstrate this through the way that the facial expressions are primarily the focus of the shot. On the other hand, they could be seen as slightly unconventional through the way they are exposing the artist when they are sometimes represented as being insecure and held back. However, because of the rawness of their music, the close ups help display the emotion and therefore, they feel like they can open up as they feel the need to try and get their emotions across in the best and most understandable way possible. The use of the close up shots will help to represent our artist as emotional and passionate from the way they can express their feelings during the performance, which will make them seem genuine and real and the audience will appreciate this. As well as this, we may use the close ups in the scenes where the artist is enjoying herself with her friends so that we can emphasise the positivity of her manner and how happy she was before she became famous. This emphasis creates by the close ups will enable a contrast to be created between how she is with her friends and how she is once she is famous and carrying out her performance. 

High Angle Shots

Another shot that we will be using as part of the cinematography in our video are high angle shots. We will use this type of shot during the piano performance style scenes which will help us reflect how 'small' the artist feels. Because of the fame she has risen into, (and in a quick space of time) the artist misses how she was when she was just an ordinary girl. By using a high angle shot on the piano scenes it makes the artist appear smaller and will make the piano be a prominent feature in the shot. This could show the piano being in more of the majority of the shot, portraying that music is taking over her life and that now that is the dominant feature in her life. As well as this, the high angle shots allow us to capture the piano in the scenes, reflecting it's importance and relevance within the scene. The use of high angle shots are conventional to the genre of soul as they display emotion and the position of the artist. For example, most of soul genre songs show the artist in the video as being depressed, sad or negative in some type of way. To reinforce this in a way that is not direct and initially noticeable, high angle shots making the artist look smaller really emphasises this idea and can put the idea across to the audience more easily by giving them a different perspective of the scene. The camera shot will represent our artist as being fragile and vulnerable which is conventional to the soul genre also. This will help to ensure that there is a link between the narrative and the performance as the artist will be shown more negatively in the performance style shots whilst happier in the narrative ones. The overall mood of the video will be fairly sombre and negative which this shot also helps display and helps represent how this has been reflected onto the artist.

Panning Shots

To widen our range of cinematography and create interest, we have chosen to also include panning shots. These shots will be carried out during the piano scenes which will help to make them flow which can mirror the performance use of the piano. The panning shot across the piano whilst the artist is playing also reflects the elegance of the instrument and further can create a link between scenes as it acts as a smooth transition. The shot allows more of the scene to be captured and so, because the setting for the piano scene is small, we can really emphasise this with the use of this shot. We can also use this shot to cut out certain parts of the setting, for example, in the music practice room where we will be filming the piano scene, there is a whiteboard on one of the walls which we don't particularly want to capture in the shots for our video. The panning shot allows us to still use movement but stop at particular places for reasons such as this one. This shot will also be used when filming the active shots of London as it will illustrate a wide viewing of the setting. The panning shot is conventional to the soul genre as I have seen it used to circle the artist in a video which creates focus on them to express the emotion they want to convey. The attention the audience pay to the artist is important as it is essential that the artist is focused on in order to create different effects. Because conventionally soul genre songs are based on personal experiences, having the artist solely focused on by panning around the artist ensures that this focus is maintained and the audience fully attend to the artist. The artist will be represented through this shot as multi-talented through the way it will portray the piano in the scene. The moving aspect of the shot will also help to represent the artist as having many talents as it helps to show an everlasting, endless nature sort of effect - especially against the pattern in which the piano keys follow.

Point Of View Shots

A further effective shot that we will be using as part of the cinematography in our music video is point of view shots. This shot helps to display the view of a particular scene through the character within's perspective. We will be using this shot on the stage as the artist walks on to carry out her performance which will allow the audience to empathise with the artist and reflect the daunting nature of her career. It also offers an alternative perspective from a literal audience's point of view as it is as if we are giving the audience the opportunity to be the artist in these shots. We will also be using the shots in the parts where the artist is in her hometown. There will be a connection created here as the audience will be able to mirror the happiness that the artist feels when she is in the 'comfort of her own home'. Point of view shots are conventional to the genre of soul as they help reinforce the personal nature of the content within the songs. Because soul genre music is based around personal experiences, by putting the audience in a position where they feel like the artist, it helps to demonstrate this personal aspect of the content. The shots will help represent the artist as being overwhelmed and emotional as well as open with her emotions from the way it is like sharing her emotion with the audience. It is also like sharing her experience with the audience as they are able to feel empathetic towards her from the perspective that is displayed for her.

Long Shots

As part of our cinematography used in our music video, we will also use long shots. They will mainly be used in the still shots of London that will be fast-paced edited because it allows the majority of the overall scene to be captured in one shot. Because a lot will be going on in the shots in London, the long shot will be able to capture these movements which will look effective when the editing has been applied. The long shots will help to show the artist's journey to where she is now and emphasise the difference between this active and busy location to her isolated, small hometown. The long shots will also be evident during the performance style stage scenes where the artist will be performing. Body language is enabled to be captured through these shots, as well as facial expressions which helps the artist's way of conveying particular emotions or moods easier. The long shots will also help reinforce the feeling that she reflects of being alone as making her central in shot on a large stage will make draw the attention to her but also highlight the lack of people surrounding her. This will help represent the artist as lonely as, due to the fact that she has become famous, she has lost the friends she once had in her hometown, when she was younger before fame had reached her. This type of shot is conventional to the soul genre as it shows the artist as feeling unhappy which is the general sombre tone that is widely expressed in soul genre music videos. The long shots also emphasise the settings in the videos which are very prominent features of all music videos, not just soul ones. However, this makes it conventional to soul genre ones because soul genre settings tend to reflect a personal meaning to the artist which makes them relatable to the audience.

The target audience are able to build a relationship with the artist through the different cinematography in which we have decided to include in our music video. This is because the way that some shots such as point of view and close ups help to display a personal impact of the artist onto the audience makes it appeal to them as they will be able to feel empathetic and understanding of the artist's situation. The emotion of the artist can be clearly expressed through the use of the close ups as they can witness facial expressions of the artist, as well as details of the features on the face or particular emotions you may not see further away, such as crying. The other uses of shots help to reinforce the narrative and performance parts of the video and also help reflect the emotions of the artist. Close ups and long shots were highly favoured when we carried out target audience research and so, by complying with the preferences of the target audience, we will ensure that they will like the shots we have chosen to include. As well as the fact that the shots overall do abide by the conventions of the soul genre so some parts they expect to see which will appeal to them. This planning has helped us ensure that our artist will appeal to the target audience as it has outlined the way in which camera shots can help display the artist in a particular light. For example, we want to make sure she is relatable and that the audience can empathise with her which can be demonstrated through points of view shots. As well as this we want to make the audience feel sympathetic towards the artist as they are more likely to appeal to her in this way and so, the long shots of the artist alone on stage will do this by emphasising her loneliness.