[Shoot 1] Analyzing My Shots

  Here I'll be showing you three shots which I could possibly use for my finished music video and three that I could work with bits of or not use in the finished piece.

(I had a problem uploading the videos onto the blog and kept getting "errors", so I took four screenshots of each shot I analysed.)

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  Here is one of the first shots for the music video which I really like to use. It shows the (acting) lead singer, Christina, leaning against a wall in the subway, in town. This shot was taken as a practice still shot, as I was getting to grips with the focus on the lense and I really like how it turned out. I also think that adding a part of the quote on the wall, about life in general, could be a good touch for my music video, because the lyrics talk about how individuals spend their lives.

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  This clip shows the lead singer in the same location as the previous shot, but a close up of her with the quote still in the background, which focuses from the background to the foreground. I really like this shot because close ups important in this video; Amy MacDonald's version of "This Is the Life" shows a lot of close ups in her video of her singing and being in still shots. Although, with editing I could possibly break the 180 degree rule with her facing one way in one shot (before I cut away to the next shot) then her facing the opposite direction. I'd have to be careful.

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  Finally here's one of the clips I quite like in the street lamp-lights of town, the lead singer just walks down the street - no singing. I would like to make this scene choppy just like how Amy MacDonald has done in her music video. I like the change of lighting here. This gives the impact on urban life from the singer's point of view and what her generation usually do nowadays.

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  Although... these shots I can take bits from because either they're not good quality in some places, lighting change from the background (outside) and light near the lead singer, the singer not in complete frame etc.

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  Here I have a shot down the subway showing the lead singer leaning against the wall on her phone. I do like how I've placed the camera (angles) but it's the lighting which is the problem, and if I used this shot, it might let me drop a few marks because of the blue light. If I do want this shot badly I could always try and place a filter over the blue lighted areas of outside.

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  This is one of the many shots of the same location with the lead singer, Christina. This was taken in town in front of the road into town and the car park, where I thought it'll be good with people walking around as well. Although, I do like the look of shots i.e.; the out-focused background, and everything being shown in the background, she is out of frame. I do want to use these shots though, especially for the chorus parts. There is nothing much I can do apart from to re-film them, but it depends if I have enough time to do it again, also taking into consideration of the possible continuity errors I can make, I don't know whether it's worth risking. As well as a few lip-syncing errors and breaks of laughter (shown in the fourth screenshot) after a verse/a chorus, it needed to be taken (the shot of the singer in the location) many times.

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  Finally here is shot at the car park where the lead singer is shown to pace down the alleyway towards the back of town, in the dark. I do like this shaky camera shot (this shot was more of a test to see if it would work) although it cuts to the blue lighting from outside which doesn't look right with the lights inside the car park. I could fix this with filters in the editing process, but it's difficult when I can easily break the 180 degree rule with my movement around the lead singer, because she could be facing one way and when it cuts back to the same shot she can face another way. I could use bits of this but I wouldn't use the second half of the video, due to out-focus of the camera, blue lighting, lip-syncing being out from the song being played, and it just doesn't look right to me.

• These shots are based in an urban setting to represent their ordinary life of the singer's generation. I chose the local town centre for shooting because the song isn't trying to show its set in a glamourous/big city i.e.; London, but it's tryingt o show the grundgy average town where an average person will live near.