Research - Shot Types

Music Videos are rather different in style to the usual short film. Each employs a set of conventions of the genre to the way in which it is made. The most obvious of some these are the types of shots that they are used. Whilst they are quite similar to those found in normal film, the style is often more themed around the genre and look of the main video.
A small series of different shot styles were all found in the videos we have watched so far. Some of these are explained below:

• Slow Pan - A shot that is frequently used to show the artists performance. The camera very slowly moves around the subject, focusing on one part of the subject, perhaps in close up or in a wide angle. This is often used when it comes to filming vocalists.
• Slow Motion - A key feature of music video that is used in nearly every single music video with some form of narrative. It involves slowing the frame rate of the footage down by a considerable ammount to achieve an almost dreamlike effect or one of moving underwater. Often, it is used to draw emphasis on the certain narrative points or for dramatic effect. Pretty much the biggest convention of music videos.
• Close Ups - Used on artists or on their instruments, close ups are a good way of establishing artist identity and persona. They can als draw emphasis to specific emotion (since there is only a short ammount of time to do so in a music video) or the instruments on which a crucial melody line is being played.
• Tracking Shots - Often used to follow the artists "journey" throughout the song, tracking shots can once again be useful for establishing band members or for capturing an artists style.

Of course, this isn't to say that these are the only types of shots used in music video today. The range of shot types used is as wide and as imaginative as in film, yet subtle differences in this kind of composition are what essentially make music videos recognisable as what they are.

Recreating Another Music Video Shot

Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve

 

We took this still shot from the opening 30 seconds of the music video for Bittersweet Symphony, which we were asked to recreate. We discussed how we could be as accurate to the original as possible through replicating the mise en scene, colour, costume and other key features.

 

For this we thought props played a key role in the look of the shot. The urban location is crucial to the main themes within the song and so we considered trying to get this as one of the most accurate aspects of our shot. We also studied the way in which the camera moved since it's all one continuous shot. Tracking its movement, we found it began at the feet, tracking, before moving back slowly into a mid shot, then long shot. We realised we'd need to use the steady cam if we wanted to achieve the same sense of stability.

 

We hope to film the shot with the same style road crossing with another road the the right of the frame, meaning we'll also have to shoot at a time when it is safe for us to cross frequently. This will be tricky to achieve, as really we also want a few crowds to create the sense of going against the flow.