Video inspiration

Camera shots

Jessie J's  music video for the song 'It's my party' is a performance music video. I chose to look at this music video for inspiration as I like the use of camera shots and transitions. At the beginning of the video close up are used, I will try this in my music video because it puts an emphasis on the emotion in the song and my song choice is quite emotional. Direct eye contact with the camera is also used this combined with the close ups make the audience feel involved and gives them a personal view of the song, the style of my song  choice itself will work well as the diction is very clear I just need to ensure my talent portrays the emotion well through expression. I will definitely use direct eye contact in my music video because I feel its key for engaging an audience. The video is based around two locations, a corridor and a room full of people that change into different stereotyped groups through costume, because there is a lot of costume in this music video it makes sense to have a simple plain location, however with my music video although there is costume change there is only three changes,it may be better to have two to three locations to ensure its not boring. The whole idea behind this video is Jessie looking into the keyhole which reveals a different setting completely this may be a good way to introduce the different eras with my music video. I could change the costume on my talent by having a door or object that they step out of or into that reveals them in a different era. Towards the end of this video fast cuts are used to add together scenes from throughout the song it links together all the different costume as the pace increases during the last 40 seconds of the song, this is something I could use as the song I am using starts slowly and builds up.

Marina and the Diamonds performance video of 'Lies' is another music video I have been looking at for inspiration with camera work. Like he Jessie J video close ups are used a lot through out, extreme close ups are also used of just the eyes or mouth these are used when certain lyrics are sung to create emphasis and portray emotion. Pan up is used at the very start and this works well, however my chosen song is faster paced and not acoustic so this camera movement may not work as well, increasing the speed of the pan might be better if I was to use this particular movement. One thing I would really like to use from this video is the use of cuts and positioning of the talent in the shot. At a minute and forty nine seconds into the song the rule of thirds is used, Marina is shown positioned in a mid-shot on the right hand side of the shot after a second it cuts to a close up of her on the left hand side. I would really like to use this in my video I think its very powerful emotionally. It also suits the song much better as its a softer composition than it would be if the shot was central. It also breaks up blocks of singing to camera and makes the video more visually appealing. Cut-in shots are also used in this music video, as Marina is singing the camera often cuts to her hands either placed on the microphone stand or her hips, this would look interesting in my music video as my costume is one of the main parts, it may also work well with mise-en-scene.

'Electra heart' by Marina and the Diamonds is a song that I have chosen to look at because of the editing techniques used. Fast paced cuts are used at the start and end of the song, I won't use this in my music video as the song is very fast paced unlike the song I have chosen and I won't suit the style of the song. However a minute and twenty seconds into the song an Organ begins to play casting a dramatic atmosphere and slows the song down completely for thirty five seconds and during this time a figure can be seen wearing 50s clothing. A black and white effect is edited onto this footage and that's the sort of effect I need to recreate for my 50s section in my video. Possibly with a higher contrast as this part of the video is made slightly darker as it is supposed to appear quite sinister and creepy. It then cuts between this 50s style figure and Marina dressed in a 60s style pink dress and jacket with an editing technique that mimics the 60s TV appearance. Looking at this music video has shown me the sort of editing techniques that I can use in my own video to create the effect that I would like.