Camerawork & Editing Ideas

(Brick & Lace – Love Is Wicked

music video)

(Cassie – Official Girl music video)

Lighting EffectsIn Brick & Lace’s video the artists are in the shadows and the sunlight is behind them – this looks very aesthetically pleasing and also the shot looks intriguing and mysterious because the artist is just shown as a silhouette, not a clear shot of them.

In Cassie’s video she is dancing against a CGI background of moving clouds. It looks very effective and intriguing to watch because her silhouette contrasts with the dramatic background.

Multiple angles of the same shot in sequence

In Brick & Lace’s video (ABOVE) there are 3 consecutive shots of the singer on some stairs - the first shot pans to the left, the second shot pans upwards in the direction of the stairs, and in the third shot the camera doesn’t move. It

adds variety to the shots and is interesting to watch, because it isn’t just a long shot of one frame, it’s chopped up into different angles.

Keri Hilson’s video (BELOW) has 3 shots of different angles of her singing into a microphone, the second one is a close-up of her face. The variation of

angles makes the video look more aesthetically pleasing and exciting to watch.

COLOURISATION EFFECTS

In Cassie’s video (ABOVE) and Rihanna’s video (RIGHT) the

footage has been edited so that half of the screen is an orange-yellow colour. It gives the shot a warm feel, it makes the shot look

very glamorous and girly, and also it makes the shot look more

interesting to watch.

TRANSITIONS

In Nicki Minaj’s video each shot fades into each other, to reflect the flowing pace of the music, and to match the fast speed shots of the car driving.

In Rihanna’s video (BELOW) CGI technology is used to create a water splash special effect. The water splashes between the shots and reveals the next

shot, for example the first shot of her dancing, then the water splashes onto the screen and the shot of her face is revealed, then the water splashes again

and the shot goes back to her dancing.

From my research I have noticed that fast-cut montages of different shots are very popular within

music videos.

For example, I took screen shots of every shot in the first minute of Brick & Lace’s video “Love Is

Wicked”. The shots jump backwards and forwards between lots of different shots/scenes, which

makes the video very interesting and exciting to watch – (rather than long shots of the same action,

which could be boring to watch).

The next slide shows the screen shots of each individual shot in the first minute of the video.

FAST-CUT MONTAGE

DIGITAL EFFECTSI like the way the editing of this shot has been made to

look like CCTV footage – the theme of the video. It looks very effective and interesting because there is 4 screens showing the same shot, and 2 of the screens are blurred

like a police footage video which adds even more excitement and unique quality to the video.