Planning Cinematography

Cinematography is the camera shots which are used in each scene. Audiences don't usually look into the shots used in a music video, however they are extremely important as they effect the storyline and the meaning of the video without viewers realising. Throughout our video we will be using a variety of camera shots in order to create the atmosphere and tell the story.

Close Ups - 

Close ups display facial expressions and objects which are important to a storyline. Close ups can create the mood in a scene and present vital information to the audience. For example in the image below Christina Aguilera is smiling which portrays her happiness in the scene and relates to the genre of the song. The angle of the close up is to the left and she has turned hey eyes in that direction which brings more focus to them. In this song Christina is singing about her lover and the way which she is looking into the camera and the angle of it adds to the sexual nature of the song. Throughout our video we will use close ups to show emotion when singing into the camera and the angry facial expressions during the scene where the couple argue. Using close ups during these scenes will relate the lyrics to the visuals as it will create the mood.

Mid Shot - 

The use of mid shots in our video will portray the characters body language as well as establishing their facial expressions and surroundings. By showing the characters costume and body language it adds more meaning to the scene's and shows emotion to the audience which helps tell a story. Mid shots are extremely important in our music video as the costumes have a lot of connotations and represent a number of key factors to our story line, such as the emotions we feel as characters. We also use mid shots to show the body language between the couple as they argue in order to show the anger and frustration which has built between them.

Long Shots - 

Long shots are commonly used to show a characters entire body to the audience, from head to toe. Our long shots will be used to show the artist walking across fields and a road. This will be effective as it will show the journey which the artist has been on.

Extreme Close Ups - 

This type of shot is simply a close up which is even closer. They are used to define smaller details to the audience. A common use of an extreme close up is when only a characters eyes are in the frame which shows their emotion and builds the atmosphere of a scene. We will use extreme close ups to show old photographs of the couple when the artist sets them on fire in order to make it clear to the audience. Showing the photographs as an extreme close up will also show the audience that the couple were once happy and in love.

The variety of shots which we have chosen to use will keep out music video interesting and attract the audience. As well as this we have chosen carefully which shots to use as we want there to be meaning behind them and for the shots to portray the emotions and mood in each scene. Mid shots will be extremely important in portraying emotions and hidden meanings as they show costume and facial expressions as well as body language.