The document discusses various camerawork, editing, lighting, and digital effects techniques used in music videos. It provides examples from videos by artists like Brick & Lace, Cassie, and Rihanna. Some techniques discussed are using silhouettes against dramatic backgrounds, varying camera angles of the same shot, splitting the screen with different color tones, adding transitions like fades or water splash effects between shots, and creating fast-paced montages. The document also mentions using effects to make shots look like CCTV footage.

1. Camerawork
& Editing Ideas

2. (Brick & Lace –
Love Is Wicked
music video)
(Cassie – Official Girl music video)
Lighting Effects
In 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

8. DIGITAL EFFECTS
I 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.