Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is essential within a music video because it makes the video more interesting and engaging if a variety of them is used. If a music video consistently used a limited amount of simple camera techniques then it will be very boring for the audience to watch and they may lose interest. In order to avoid this, a music video needs to entail a variety of different cinematography techniques consistently throughout. This will allow the music video to portray certain connotations, meanings and emotions. For example, a high angle shot makes the subject look small and inferior compared to the audience which will make them feel dominant and powerful. A low angle shot has the opposite effect of making the subject appear dominant and audience feel superior. Camera techniques are also useful in regards of the narrative. They can establish a setting or situation using a long shot or establishing shot as well as emphasising on a subject/object to show its significance using a close-up etc.

In my group, we discussed the camera techniques we would like to include in our music video and made note of five. The first is a point of view shot of the memory box from the artists perspective. This will be used in one of the first shots of the music video. The artist will pull a memory box onto her lap and open it. The camera will be looking down into the box as if through the artists eyes. This shot is conventional to the indie gene because artists of this genre tend to be very honest and willing to show their audience exactly how they are feeling in a situation because their songs are often written about subject personal to the artist. Therefore by allowing the audience to relate to the song by understanding how the artist felt/feels then they will be able to build a relationship with the artist. This relation ship will be formed on the basis that the audience will believe that they are similar to the artist and also understand that the artist trusts them with personal details about their life. This camera shot represents the artist as sentimental and nostalgic as it will show she is focusing on a box filled with memories. This also suggests that the artist is unable to let go of the past which is conventional to the music video theme of breakups.

Point of view shot

Close up

A close-up of the artists face will be used when the artist is singing. This is conventional to the indie genre because it will put emphasise on the artists emotions so they are easily readable for the audience. This is conventional because indie artists tend to sing about personal and relatable experiences that are high in emotion because they write their own songs and are honest about their lives and problems. In my music video this will represent the artist as honest and emotional for revealing her feelings so vulnerably. It will also portray the artist as sad and regretful about a past relationship.

Thirdly, my group discussed using a long shot. This will be regularly featured in our music video mostly during the memory scenes because this will establish the entire setting and situation, making the narrative clear to the audience. This is conventional to the indie genre because indie artists are known as being quite honest and therefore do not hide anything from the audience. This so why everything in the shot will be shown clearly. This portrays the artist as vulnerable as she is not given the opportunity to hide anything as about herself.

Shallow focus

Shallow focus will be used when the artist is standing in front of the bonfire. The background will be made blurry so the audiences entire focus is directed onto the audience. Also the blurry effect has connotations of being confused which could suggest that the artist has a muddled mind in which she'd not know what to think or do in her situation. This is conventional to the indie genre because indie artists will often sing about their own personal experiences and get them across in many ways including camera angles. 

Zooming in will be used each time the artist is looking into the souvenir box and pulls out an item. The camera zooms into the item putting emphasis on it before flashing to a memory connected to that object. This is conventional to the indie genre because it puts emphasise on the sentimental value of objects and how with mundane items a whole memory can be attached. This is conventional to this music genre because the meaning of songs tend to be personal to the artist yet relatable for the audience. Sentimental value is something that everybody is likely to relate to and the video may remind the audience of past memories of their own. This camera effect represents the artist as nostalgic and possibly confused due to the blur of the zoom which could represent her thoughts and how they are unclear.

My target audience consists of teenagers and young adults. They will be able to build a relationship with the artist throughout hess cinematography techniques in several ways. Zooming and long shots add to thew narrative and make it easier to understand so the audience will understand the story line and be able to engage with the meaning of the song more. They will be able to put themselves in the artists position through the point of view shot which will allow them to empathise with her.  This planning has helped me make sure that my music video will be received well by my target audience through deciding how they will build a relationship with my artist, engage with the narrative and find my video conventional.