Camera shots for Piano scene

For my music video I am having part on the video where there will someone singing at a piano. I have decided to o this filming at school so that it accessible for most of the day. I have took some photos of different camera shots that I may want to use. Here are some examples of different camera shots that we may use.

For this shot below, I have used a high angle shot. By using the high angle shot we are able to see more of the location and the surroundings. I like the fact that the walls are white; his makes the piano stand out and that is the first thing people which catch on to. I think that I am going to use a high angle shot in my music video because it gives a good overview at what is going on.













I am also wanting to use close ups in the music video; this could be catching the person playing the piano, and you being able to see the fingers or having a close up on the feet. By having close ups it feels personal because you can see that the talent is actually playing the piano. i still think that I am going to use colour in my video because I don't think my video has enough emotion to work so well in black and white.

Foot:

Since this is the picture it doesn't show how you can fit this into the music, you could use it as the base.
Hands:
The same for the foot, you cant see how this will fit but this is just how I would like the camera shots.



Here are some of the other shots that I took that I am going to try and use in my music video:
I am going to try and use as many different shots as possible so that it is much more interesting and keeps it a  lot more personal. Since the song is quite long I wanted to make sure that it didn't bore people. Here are the shots that I am going to use:

The male gaze theory- Laura Mulvey

The male gaze theory has been developed by Laura Mulvey. This theory describes the way that the viewer or audience has been portrayed for the view of a male. What a male usually wants to see the camera shows this theory. Laura Mulvey explains how the camera makes the women look like the objects in the film rather than the possessors. The women are just there to look at and to enjoy the view but are not there to take charge or just be 'normal'. Most women in films have had parts of their body enlarged or exposed so that it pleases the male audience. Most films apply to this, because nowadays that is how you attract the audience. Same applies to a women seeing a male; but that can still make the women as the audience the objects. The women are either the over sexual in the film/music video or the audience watching the film. Here are two images from two different films which show how the male gaze theory applies.

Above are two images of actors which have both been apart of PG and 15 rated films. It has almost become the norm to have women who don't have many clothes on and who have parts of the body accentuated on show. The image on the right is from the film Transformers; the actor is Megan Fox. Megan Fox is known for her great body and being attractive. This is what makes most people watch the films because of the actor in it. If the audience are going to watch the film mainly because of this women then the director is going to make sure that the audience finds this film appealing. What keeps most of the audience interested is seeing the women will a small amount of clothes on.

From these images above, I asked the year 12 Media group on their opinions of this. The group is mixed so it gives me a varied response. The women in the group had opinions of the lady being unrealistic, weird and creepy. They wouldn't want to look like that and they thought that the breasts looked too fake and balloon like. Someone else said it was all in your face and there was nothing hidden. The male audience liked this; they said that they liked the fact that the features were emphasised and that thy wouldn't complain if their girlfriend did look like that. When asked what they liked in a girl, the response was Cheryl Cole. As you can see form this image below the male gaze theory again applies.

From the image you can see again where Cheryl is the object; she is dressed in a tight skirt and doesn't have much covered up on top. This again emphasises parts of the body that appeals to the male eye: The boobs and butt! The way that Cheryl is standing also elongates her and shows off her stomach which also attracts the male audience. 

                                                  

I agree with the theory of the Male Gaze; as much as there will be films out there that this doesn't apply to; the newer and more recent films are beginning to use women more and more as an object rather that having an importance at all. In films you may have a women in charge, but she will be extremely beautiful, a great figure and is great at everything. This will then appeal again to the theory that the films and music video's nowadays are just there to please the male audience, because apparently having a women showing her body is more important that having a good music video and film all because of the editing/idea.

As much as they appeal; the women are also changed to appeal more the male audience. If there were magazine covers or a DVD cover the women will be on the front and will be wearing something appealing. The actor Julia Roberts is perfectly showing the result of the male gaze theory. The women is dressed in knee high leather boots, which automatically gives you the opinion that she is quite open, adventurous, flirty. Leather is known as being apart of many sexual scenes films. It doesn't help when she is dressed up in a very tight skirt and a together short crop top. Black gives the audience a clue on what happens in this film and tells us that these two actors on the front have a lot of chemistry at the end. You can see that the women thinks that she is in charge but from the way she dresses and the way he dresses you can see who is the possessor and who the object is. Unfortunately again it is the women.

Examples:

Sara Bareilles - Brave

This is the song that I am going to use for my music video.

Storyboard

Here is my storyboard of my music video.

Scene 1
For the first verse, I am going to start with the talent sitting at a piano; playing it and singing. I am not just going to keep to one shot, I am going to use close up, mid shots, pan shots. Since the verse is long I want to keep it interesting. I only need to use a few shots and it can look so much better, and it can look much more interesting. Throughout this verse you can hear the piano playing, this is why I am using the Piano. I wanted to start the song before I got straight into the story.

Scene 2
The next 4 verses is the chorus, this is where I am going to start introducing the story of the song. This will be where I get the music class of only a few girls. There is girls going up and singing or playing an instrument and she gets asked to go up and do something. She is too nervous to do anything at that time so she sits down and waits till later. This will also go to a few clips of the girl at the piano to show the encouragement that she is trying to give. I am wanting quite a few camera shots; one at her hands where she is nervous and also so it gives a clue to the girl at the piano; which you will see at the end.

Scene 3
On this verse I would like to have one of the friends trying to guide her to go for it; trying to say to her that everyone has has confrontation before and has been nervous before but that all apart of trying is the most important. It gets to a part on the song where the girl from the story may look like she is about to go; this is when the line 'Don't run, stop holding your tounge' This is where the girl is going to sit down and think about carrying on and trying to do something that she may be nervous about but doing it anyway.

Scene 4
On these next 3 verses this is where we are go back to the girl on the piano and have her singing a few lines until they go back to the girl in the story. It will have the girl beginning to get up and her walking over to the microphone. The song will start playing and the girl is looking nervous. The girl will start singing while with this song playing over. She will begin to get even more confident and start singing even more. When the same verse is being repeated it can go from the audience clapping and smiling and the girl at the piano playing. At the end where the music stops the girl stands there smiling and happy, and the girl at the piano looks and then switches from the girl singing to the girl in the story.

Camera shots

For my music video I have decided that I am wanting to have two main parts to the video. In the video there is a very strong presence of a Piano. I thought this was good because I would be able to add an element of playing the Piano into this. Since the music video is 4 minutes long, it does give me a long time to put all of this together. I wanted to have an older person to do the part of the singing at the piano. This is because the people that I have chosen for the story are much younger. Also I have done this because at the end I want to swap two different people to give an effect that they are the same person. I am hopefully going to get people to catch on by using a particular piece of jewelery and getting them to wear the same clothes. To make this effect I am going to pan. The other shots that I would like to use is mid shot, long shot and close up. These are the shots that I want for the moment, but when I start filming, I am sure I will begin to use more and start to see the best editing. Here are some example of camera shots. I also think that it would be good to use high angle and low angle shots.

CLOSE UP

LONG SHOT

MID SHOT

Music video example

For my music video, I wanted to use a technique where I could merge two different parts of two videos and layer them on top of each other. My idea was to have somebody playing the piano as an older women; the camera will pan down from her head to fingers. When the camera goes back up; I wanted the person to be different, hopefully the younger person of that image. For my first attempt, I had a go at trying to to do; the people were different and we were not in the exact position. This does make it look slightly ghostly; but for my first attempt I now have an idea of what I would like to do.

Ideas for music video

For the song that I have chosen, I have noticed some instruments. The main one being, a Piano. I thought it as being apart of the video, it would be good if filming someone singing the song in the background at the piano would be good. So the singing and music is coming from that clip, which does come into show through some parts of the video. As well as this I would also like to have a story. I would also like to do a narrative. I am not sure on the particular story line as such but the video is called 'brave' and as you can guess it is about being brave. I know that the story will be about being brave and getting outside of that comfort zone.