Music Video Case Study 1:

This music video is one of Beyoncé’s songs which is called Halo (has more than

202millon views and is posted on Beyoncé’s VEVO channel.

Camera Shots/Angle/Movement:

A lot of close ups are used to shoe Beyoncé’s facial expressions (happy

ones) of this guy in her bed (probably her boyfriend).

Lots of eye-line match technique used in each close up in the beginning

of the song (helps the audience connect with the Beyoncé more easily)

the audience can easily tell what she is feeling then with the eye contact

gained from this eye-line match.

An over shoulder shot of Beyoncé looking at this guy in her bed (there’s

no communication between them but they seemed to be connected to

each other.

Next thing you know the pair of them are cuddling each other (close up

used and a 2 shot) for the next 4 clips at different angles. This is

romantic but I want to go for a more innocent love based music video

(so I won’t be having my artist’s boyfriend cuddle like this on my music

video.

Full body shot of Beyoncé in her ballet outfit to show the audience her

boastful body (adds visual interests to the music video).

An over shoulder shot is taken of the guy who is watching her from a

distance while Beyoncé dances. This looks very romantic because it

seems as if the guy is watching over her as a guard if anything bad were

to happen.

More 2-shots of Beyoncé and this other guy as they lay down on the

coach while he places his hand on her leg (a relaxing atmosphere and

very romantically, just the two of them).

A lot of handheld camera movement throughout the whole music video

to emphasis the movement in this relationship with this guy (the

handheld movement gets rougher when they start kissing).

They get more intimate and get along with each other as the music video

goes along.

Panning used on Beyoncé’s whole body (right – left) when she danced to

the mirrors on the wall to also emphasis the movement in their

relationship.

Music Video Case Study 1:

Next scene Beyoncé’s underwater and seems as if she’s floating back

upwards (as if she was being held back by something and this guy is

letting her go).

In the end they kiss even more with a bunch of close ups to convey their

facial expressions and feelings. And the music video ends.

Editing:

The cutting rate is extremely slow throughout the music video and this

suits Beyoncé’s genre and style of music (especially her love songs).

A very professional piece of editing software would have been used to

slow down the scene where Beyoncé is floating back up from the water

(combined with a very high quality camera that increase the shutter

speed so that the FPS are very high so when the video is slowed down in

the editing stage it doesn’t skip frames and look glitch).

Mostly simple cuts quick with barely any transitions except for this one

flash transition used in the end when Beyoncé is just in bed talking to

this guy and then cuts to them talking again (shows how time with him

goes by really quickly because they’re enjoying the moment a lot).

A colour correction technique must have been used to increase the

brightness of the overall music video. I might increase the brightness of

my clips in my music video in the editing stage to emphasis the pure love

my artist has for her boyfriend.

Mise-En-Scen:

Clothing:

Beyoncé only has 3 different outfits in this music video and they alternate

between clips on the music video. For example at the beginning when

Beyoncé is with this guy she’s wearing a white/grey vest (the lower part

of her body isn’t shown), a black ballerina outfit when she is dancing and

a very large white dress (probably a wedding dress, which symbolises

their love for each other). Because I want my music video to look just as

professionally made as Beyoncé’s music video I will make my artist

change her outfit between each scene (preferably a different outfit for

each location that was used).

Music Video Case Study 1:

Make-Up:

Basic make was used in Beyoncé’s music video, mostly because she

doesn’t want to look fake especially because it’s a music video about her

honest love for this guy (very romantic). I also want my artist to barely

wear any make up during the shoots to keep that natural innocent

theme I’m going for.

Lighting:

Bright scenes were used throughout the music video. Most of that bright

light is artificial (probably from umbrella lighting equipment or other

professional lighting equipment). This very bright lighting is very well

done (you can Beyoncé’s face very clearly even though the light is

bright). I would use bright lighting like that but I don’t have the

equipment so I will need to rely on natural lighting.

Locations:

In this music video Beyoncé used only a couple locations (the bedroom

where she sang while the guy was asleep, the dance studio where the

guy was watching Beyoncé dance and the big pool where she done that

underwater floating scene). Only a few locations were used to keep the

music video simple, and that’s exactly what I am going to do.

Throughout the music video I picked out few techniques and ideas that I can

use for my music video, such as the bright lighting, choice of location, clothing,

camera angles, cutting rate, camera movement… etc. I will try use these

professional ideas/conventions/techniques found in Beyoncé’s music video

Halo in my own music video.