AD: Six Inspirational Frames

Peder - "Ghost of a Chance"

• Low key lighting is an effective way of emphasising fear or gloom. While maybe not as dark as this, we could underline the same sombre feeling by de-saturating the shots in the reality sections.
• Also creates negative space around the character, meaning that the audience's focus will be looking at the one thing/person that they can see.

• Long shot shows how small and seemingly insignificant the character can look
• the large hallway creates diagonal lines for the audience's eyes to follow.
• Lighting helps underline this by being dark in the background, and dark in the foreground.

• Putting objects in the foreground can create a natural focus point for the audience to follow.
• Above point is reinforced by the use of soft focus. This means that whatever is in focus will be what the audience will look at first - thus, by using soft focus in our music video, we can suggest certain elements of the protagonist's life but without showing it directly.
• The LS shown above follows the rule of thirds. with each of the characters in the foreground standing in the left and right columns.

Skrillex - Bangarang

• Rule of thirds and leading lines draw the audience's attention to what the protagonist is looking at or doing in the shot.

• Lighting on the boy's face puts focus on him. The angle which the light is hitting him at almost gives a sensation of a supernatural being looking down upon him, or possibly connoting his innocence.
• CU of the character also establishes a connection between the audience and the character.

• Effective rule of thirds - the first thing the audience notices is the character on the right.
• The above point is once more emphasised through the use of leading lines, i.e. the rooftops in the background and the edge of the roof the character is crouching next to in the mid-ground.

Fever Ray - When I Grow Up

• Using CU shots of the protagonist, the audience will be able to catch and understand the emotions of said protagonist and thus position the audience with them. This, combined with the shallow depth of field emphasises the fact that it is this character that we, as the audience, are to relate to.

• In this image, the focus is on non-verbal language. The way the character positions their feet can be representative of who they are. In the image above, the way in which the feet are positioned connotes that this person is perhaps introverted or insecure.
• Costume acts as another way of describing character in this shot. The dirty shoes and the odd socks connote eccentricity and possibly that they wear this outfit regularly.
• There are diagonal lines included in this shot, as seen on the springboard in the foreground and the edges of the swimming pool in the background.

What can we take from all of this?

I have emphasised the point of the aspect of rule of thirds. I believe that, in order for us to achieve the aesthetic standard that our chosen song provides, we should consider composition throughout the music video. The elements of composition, as researched here:

• Shallow depth of field, to reemphasise the second point below.
• Close-ups of the protagonist, which will help display his emotions and position the audience with him.
• Focused lighting that highlights a specific element in a shot.
• De-saturated shots in the reality sections will emphasise the gloom that looms over the protagonist's reality.
• Leading lines or diagonal lines.