Planning Cinematography

Cinematography will play a vital role in our production. It will be used throughout and there will be various different instances of it. As you can see, in our production, the overall cinematography we plan to include is a two shot, P.O.V, shadow focus, over the shoulder and a long shot. We have chose to use a two shot for filming certain segments throughout our music video production. This is because during our music video there will be two people in the frame of the shot on a good few occasions, therefore the use of this shot is preferable and it is also used to support our narrative. Two examples where we are using this, is the scene where the artists asks the cab driver for a lift, which is played twice, at the start and towards the end of our music video. The second example of a two shot being used is when the artist is shown in the frame at the same time as the succesful famous musician. It is used here to show the contrast between the two and the differences of the high life and street busking. This shot is conventional to the indie music genre, as this is seen throughout indie music videos and is often used to portray the narrative which usually contains multiple different individuals, that are all eventually seen throughout the music video, meaning that there are a number of instances where more than one person can be seen, making the use of this shot frequent throughout indie music videos due to the constant presence of characters. The use of a two shot represents the style of the music video also, in this instance ours is indie. Our video will intend to be heavily narrative based, also including a hidden concept throughout, therefore the shot allows to feature more than one character in the shot at a time, as not only is there more than one character in our production,  this is expected for a narrative video as it assists with the portrayal and image of the artist which links towards the concept of the video, ours being the harsh reality of trying to make it in the music video and the struggles of trying to make yourself well known and succesful, with our video comparing the good life and the hard times, which our two shots demonstrate when used.

Another example of a camera shot which we intend to use is an over the shoulder shot. Unlike a two shot, the use of an over the shoulder shot may be used as more of a filler shot, to add variety to the visuals which will be seen in the video. This shot was selected for a number of reasons, one reason being the shot itself shows the perspective of an individual featured in the video, it also creates an emotional feel as the audience see what the character sees and what is in their close proximity, therefore creating a relationship between the artist and audience as well as adding some diversity to the music video at the same time. One example where this will be present is when the artist comes back home to get into his house only to find the key doesn't work and he is locked out of his own house, the climax of his struggles and also the video. The use of an over the shoulder shot will represent the style of the video as it will portray the artists perspective from a distant perspective, which links towards the narrative of him being alone and distant. The use of the camera shot doesn't match with the lyrics of the during the segment when he returns home to find the keys been changed, as during this point the lyrics begin to end and the visuals on screen will put an end to the narrative which was portryaed throughout the video.

Another camera shot which we will use in our music video will be a point of view shot (P.O.V). We have chosen this shot as it will be used on a number of occasions throughout the video, two examples being when our artist (me) sees the other successful artist for the first time, and also on another occasion where the artist swipes his travel card before getting on the train to start his journey. Using a point of view shot shows the perspective of the artist on a number of different occasions throughout, which gives a personal feel for the viewer as they see the artists actions through the artists eyes, which therefore then creates a relationship to be built between the viewer and the artist. This shot will be crucial towards creating feelings and the overall emotion in the video, and also relates to the narrative and concept of our video through its use in particular scenes. This shot is conventional to the indie genre, because it shows the perspective of another character, which creates emotions and sends feelings towards the audience, which the audience would expect to find when watching an indie music video. The use P.O.V and showing the artists point of view will help in our music video as it gives a more personal feel towards the video and that many viewers can relate too, which is conventional in the indie genre, which will then also help us towards appeal to our target audience as well as showing the narrative. The use of this camera shot also matches the lyrics of the song as "I got out, I got out" is heard and we see the artist getting away.

During our production we plan on including the use of shallow focus in certain frames. Shallow focus puts a focus one specific element in a frame, making it stand out amongst what's in the background, which is helpful for us our filming locations will be filled with lots of background e.g people and we want the main focus on our artist. We will use this shot during the scene where the artist is escaping his troubles and starting his long journey and another example is showing the artist through the use of shallow focus while he is street busking in liverpool street. This is covnetional to the genre itself as indie music videos often have signifficant visuals in them, used usually to show the narrative or concept and what the "important" thing is, or used for having the artist as the main focus, allowing the viewer to connect with them. This will help make our artist stand out amongst all of the scenery and background when filming in the urban London locations, which shows that he is alone and that it is just the artist there standing out from the rest and trying to fight through the struggle whilst those around him continue with their lives.  using this technique will show him as being a loner going through a hard time trying to make money, which the viewer may feel some sympathy for and due to this representation of the artist achieved through using shallow focus, they may be able to form a relationship with him as they may have experienced some personal troubles at a point in their life, or that they may also aspire to be in the music industry just like our artist. A shallow focus shows the style of the music video itself as it helps towards telling the narrative, as key shots involving the artist are easier to identify besides the other images. The camera shot also links towards the lyrics of the song, as it will be made clear in the video that the artist is trying to put his old life behind him in the past and move on from it as he is trying to become a successful musician, which is shown in the lyrics of "so I put two fingers up to yesterday".

Probably the most common and frequently seen example of cinematography which we plan on using on a number of  instances is a long shot. This shot will be used in our production on a various number of occasions throughout, used often as a filler shot to add diversity towards the visuals on screen and in the frame. A few examples in particular where we intend to use a long shot will be during the taxi scene with the artist, where in one long shot the artist will be shown getting into the taxi, and other example is where he is running away from it. We have selected to use a long shot as it will allow the viewer themself to see all of the characters within the specific frame, alongside the background involved too, which then can allow for a wider range of visuals to be seen by the viewer. This shot is convetional as it allows for the scenery to be viewn alongside the characters in the frame, which in many indie music videos they have a recognizable background which is a convention of the genre itself. In our music video the locations vary from being urban to suburban throughout the video, one example in particular being  showing the city of london which is conventional to the indie genre as it is an every day setting and has a "down to earth" feel. This camera shot will assist with the representation of our artist when used. The use of our long shots will convey the style of video, as it helps towards developing the narrative as the scene which I have mentioned has some important relevance to it, as well as having some importance towards portraying the concept. It does not match the lyrics of the song itself, however this scene takes place before the lyrics of the song itself are heard.