Camera
Within my video, there will be roughly an even split between in person filming and digital production. For my in person filming, I need to carefully consider to type of camera shots in order to achieve a successful result. As seen in the demonstration put together by Wix.com in Figure 1, there is a wide range of camera shots when focusing on a subject. These shots start far out to capture the full subject and zoom in gradually until they are extremely close up. From my storyboard, I have concluded I will most likely use a combination of close ups and medium shots (also known as mid shot) as none of my videos necessarily need to capture the full subject.
For the digital scenes such as the digital face capture and text, camera angles are a little different as nothing is being filmed. However, to make transitions between scenes smooth, the digital assets need to be centred or in line with the next scenes assets. For example, on the scene where there is a video masked over the cars rear view mirror, the assets need to be lined up correctly so the zoom transition is smooth. I have created a very short animatic to show how this needs to be done;
Colour
Since my video will include darker themes, the colour palette for the full piece will general be dark and lack bright colours. Colour is important within visual media as specific colours can present different messages and themes. For example, red is often associated with love in some products but as blood and gore in others, whereas a colour like pink, usually carries positive connotations such as being healthy or content.
Due to the nature of my music video and the inclusion of political themes, I will predominantly use dark colours such as black and grey with the addition of slightly brighter colours such as blur, orange and white to contrast with the dark themes. This colour palette will carry their own themes, such as power, unhappiness and evil, as well as more positive themes like confidence and youthfulness.
Lighting
For the in person filming, I need to consider lighting both pre filming and post filming. On the site of my filming, I need to look at what lighting types will make the raw footage look the best and highlight any details I need to be shown efficiently. Due to the nature of my filming and it being a small project, I will only have access to limited lighting, however this can be manipulated to produce different effects.
The two typical types of lighting when using limited assets is high key and low key, which describes the single main light source that illuminates the scene. High key is a brighter light which brings out more of the colours within a scene and creates a brighter atmosphere both visually and emotionally. However low-key lighting dims down the colours and highlights the darker tones and shadows. Due to this, scenes and images filmed using this style of lighting ‘display a varying range of deep negative emotions'(Gabriel, 2017).
Below in figure 4 is a visual example provided by Artlist of the difference between low key lighting which is very dark and mysterious and high key lighting which is very bright and amplifies colours and details. As previously mentioned, the low key lighting style fits my project and intended message much more.
Sound
Due to the nature of my video and it being a visual musical piece, there is not much more sound beyond the song itself, however it is still important to consider the choice of song and any other sound effects that may be added.
For this video I have decided to use a royalty free instrumental and apply my own voice over the top which I will do inside of GarageBand. The instrumental was created by a producer called ‘Wonderlust Beats’ and is labelled as a ‘free for non-profit’ song. Since I am not getting any monetary gain from this project, I am free to use this song in any way I need to, however if I was gaining money from the video, I would need to purchase a license or ask for further permission. I will be using a 60 second snippet from this instrumental, combined with my own lyrics to soundtrack this video. Other sounds that will be included in the video would be static sounds at the beginning as well as speech from myself. I would personally be recording these and therefore wouldn’t need permission from anyone.
References
Ruiz Ricart, J. (2018) 20 Types of Shots, Camera Angles, and Movements All Videographers Should Know. Wix Photography Blog. Available online: https://www.wix.com/blog/photography/types-of-shots [Accessed 9 Jan. 2023].
Gabriel, M. (2017) Understanding The Basics of High Key vs. Low Key Lighting | Contrastly. Contrastly. Available online: https://contrastly.com/understanding-the-basics-of-high-key-vs-low-key-lighting/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2023].
Bowker, D. (2021) High Key vs. Low Key Lighting. Artlist Blog. Available online: https://artlist.io/blog/high-key-lighting-vs-low-key-lighting/ [Accessed 9 Jan. 2023].
Wonderlust Beats (2022) (FREE) PinkPantheress Type Beat – Midnight Racer. YouTube. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2IyxQn0KjQ&ab_channel=WonderlustBeats [Accessed 9 Jan. 2023].
