Performance Shots From Another Video

Madness – It Must Be Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmezIIrFQmY

I have researched another video from the same genre, looking at the performance shots to see if they are similar or different to the way in which we have filmed ours. I have looked at the shots they repeat, the length of shots, how many cuts they do and what angles they use.

These are a few shots from the main performance. It cuts from two shots of them singing the song with the instruments in the background to a couple of close ups of the band members playing different instruments. This is so that the audience can see all the band members and it looks more like a performance of the song, makes it look like they are actually playing the song there and then. It then cuts to a group shot of most of the band members playing instruments and singing, this is important because the audience need to see the whole group together. If this shot was not there then the audience would not know that they are all in the same room and doing the same performance.

The next few shots in this performance cut from a close up of the lead singer singing with a band member in the background to a shot of the drummer. This is an important shot because it shows that there is still something going on in the background. It also counts as continuity because we saw the drummer in a previous shot as well.

It then cuts to another group shot. There seems to be a pattern occurring. It starts of with a close up of a singer, then it cuts to a close up of an instrument being played and then it will go to a group shot of a the whole group performing the song.

Using this method of filming the performance shots seems to work and are present in the other videos that I have analysed which are also on this blog. It works because the audience can see all the members of the band and are aware that all the instruments are included and being played. It makes it appear more realistic.

These four shots are very similar to the previous ones used because they cut between close up shots of the instruments being played by the band and others singing the song. It will then again end up on a group shot. They have chosen to use a different angle for this group shot, I presume they did this so that it adds variety. Although the type of shot is repetitive the angle doesn’t have to be.

This part of the song starts off with a group shot but it’s focused on the main singer with who is in the centre. This shows that the band is still in the background and helps with continuity. It then cuts to an outside scene where the camera is at a low angle and the band members look down on it. It’s dark outside so you can tell that the scene has been lit up with lights so that you can see the band clearly enough. This is a good thing to think about when doing our music video. Although we don’t have any scenes set outside at night it’s interesting to see how it’s done as we had problems with lighting in AS. The close up of a band member singing and a group shot of some of the band performing is then repeated again as the performance scenes continue.

There is then another close up of a different instrument, this being the piano. From this I can see that it is important to get a variety of close ups of the things in the shot not only so the audience can recognise them but to make it more appealing and entertaining for the viewers.

The final cut I chose to write about is a repeated shot at a low angle where the camera looks as though it is as the bottom of a grave. The whole band has now joined so it’s also a group shot.