Existing Techniques I Can Incorporate Into My Own Video

Within this performance/abstract video only the artist, Gabrielle Aplin, appears in the video. Since she is not shown in any other locations, various shots are used within the one location, keeping the video interesting. In the first 22 seconds of the video, we see various shots which develop the location of the video.

The first is an establishing shot of  open gates and then a shot of what appears to be in the garden behind the gates. The audience are then taken into the building in which we find the artist. The use of different shots, within one location and the props, compared to the lyrics, will develop the meaning of the song and what the video is trying to portray. The empty space conveys loneliness and the use of white curtains displays purity and the 'cleaning of her soul' which is mentioned in the lyrics. 

After the intro, a slow zoom is used to enter the room Gabrielle is in, making the audience feel part of the video and reflecting the slow sound. This is a good technique as, while the video is quite slow, it will keep the audience engaged.

Close up shots of her hands and feet are used to show her playing the piano, a technique I can use to show the artist in my video playing the guitar.

I can use this type of editing in my music video to develop the narrative for the artist and show the nature of the song through the location I will be filming in and the props I will use. This will make my video abstract as I will be trying to create a visual mood and feeling.

However, this song is considerably slower than the song I am going to use, therefore I have looked at Lightning Bolt by Jake Bugg.

The editing in this video is a lot faster, reflecting the speed of the song. The speed is also shown through the use of a hand held camera and shots of vehicles, sped up.

To help me construct my own story board for my music video, I have gathered some screen shots of different types of shots with the video. I can use all these types of shots in my own video as it will feature only the artist and similar props (guitar+case).

This long shot clearly shows Jake Bugg with his guitar, reinforcing the acoustic style of the song. Using this type of shot in my own video will allow me to portray the artist's mise-en-scene well and I will be able to incorporate more props into the shot to develop the narrative. For example, in this photo, graffiti can be seen which reinforces the time and area the video is trying to portray. This is done by reflecting the lyrics that say 'no one blinks an eye' when a 'siren of an ambulance comes howling', showing he is in a place where nobody cares- the graffiti shows how nobody conforms to the norms and values.

A mid shot can reinforce the mise-en-scene of the artist and, again, be good to have props placed in the background. I can use a similar shot type in my video when the artist is lip-syncing.

In the video, a downwards tilt is used to show the artist lip-syncing and playing his guitar in the same shot. This woud be a good shot to use as it conventional in most music videos with the artist playing an instrument (as shown in Gabrielle Aplin's video above). 

This close up of the Country vinyls reinforces the genre of the song and style of the artist. It also reflects the era of this style of music which is reinforced by the black and white and coloured effect. I could incorporate something similar, for example if I were to make my video very modern I would show an artist of a similar genre playing on an IPod or IPhone.

Here we can see, again, the use of a long shot showing the guitar case as a prop.

Another mid-shot is used later in the video which connects it to the second screen shot I got.  This shows continuity which is crucial in developing a narrative to a music video or even to an abstract video.

All these shots are just within 50 seconds of the video (including various establishing shots) showing the speed of the editing. These are the main locations Jake Bugg is featured which we see again and again throughout the video but use different techniques and types of shots each time. Looking at the editing in this video will help me construct my initial story board as I will be able choose up to 5 locations and understand how to link each shot throughout the video and go back to previous shots using different shots and techniques. This will then help when editing my actual video together.