Planning lighting and colour - Miss Georgiou.

Lighting and colours are very important within music videos as they help set the atmosphere and create the scene. This makes it easier for the directors to portray a certain mood to the target audience. Lighting and colours can also make the music video conventional or diverse. Therefore it is important that we carefully consider what lighting and colours we shall be using within our music video. As a group we have carefully reviewed our options and planned what lighting and colour we will be using in each scene in our music video.

Lighting:

There will be a lot of low key lighting in our music video, especially when we are showing our artist performing in a club. In this shot there will be a lot of low key lighting, this will make the audience feel more involved in the club atmosphere and they will be able to relate with the video more. Furthermore the low key lighting used in the club will make the music video more convetional to the dance genre, this is likely to appeal to the target audience. The low key lighting will be in the background of the shot and the artist will be flashing in and out of light. This will make the shot look like a club environment and also the identity of the DJ will be concealed because of the
flashing lights, this will make the target audience want to find out more about him as he seems mysterious.

 We will also be adding strobe lighting in the club scenes, which will again make the video conventional to the dance genre. The strobe lighting will be created by flashing lights on and off in a dark room. This will give the audience the effect of being inside a club and listening to music, meaning they will feel more involved in the music video. Furthermore the strobe lighting will create a dance atmosphere which is going to be in coordination with the music, meaning that the visuals and music will be in relation making the music video conventional to Goodiwns theory.

We will be using high key natural lighting in our music video when we are showing the female begging for money in the park. Here the lighting will be high due to the natural daylight. In using high lighting here the audience will be able to fully see the female character and see how vulnerable she is. This will allow the audience to sympathise with the female character and therefore they will be able to build a connection with her. This high key lighting will be in contrast with the dark mood that is being set in the narrative of the music video, and I believe that this will shock the audience as they can see how much the female character regrets where she is in life. The use of natural lighting in this scene will also add a sense of realism to the music video, making the narrative more believable for the audience.

I will also be using negative lighting in my music video. This piece of lighting will be used when the female character is filmed with a time lapse. I will include flashes of negative lighting in this shot. This will make the female character look more vulnerable as the negative lighting creates a cold effect surrounding her; suggesting to the audience that she is homeless and therefore cold all the time. This will again make the audience sympathise with the character and feel the pain that she is feeling. 



Colours:

The colours that we will be using in this music video will vary throughout. For both the male and female character we will be using dark and dull colours to demonstrate how they are not happy with life and wish they could "turn back time". The dark colours will allow the audience to identify that both characters are clearly unhappy, this will make the narrative more easy to understand for the audience. Furthermore the dark dull colours used surrounding the characters will set a dull mood during their scenes in the music video, emphasising how dull the characters lives are. We will be using these dark dull colours when the male character is on the train to work and when the female is sitting in the train station begging for money.

Contrastingly we will be using bright colours surrounding the music artist, such as his bright red hat, which will represent passion and make him more relatable to the target audience. We will also be using a lot of different colour tints when the artist is on screen to create that club setting and make the audience feel although they are actually in the club listening to the artist. These colours will be used when the artist is on stage performing. Using bright colours surrounding the artist will also show the difference between the artists lively lifestyle and the characters dull and boring lifestyle. In addition, the bright colours surrounding the artist will attract the audiences eye towards him, making him the focal point of the music video, allowing them to idolise him.

When the narrative goes back 'in time' to the conventional club setting, there will obviously be the use of the bright colours lights and there will also be coloured tints over the whole picture which is very conventional of dance music videos. These colour tints contradict the dull colouring that has previously been seen in the video, it will help to create the lively and upbeat mood that is being expressed by the characters to the audience. Colours will also be evident in the artists performance, once again the coloured lights and tints conform to the dance genre and create the lively atmosphere that the target audience want to see.

To conclude, the planning that I have taken into lighting and colour will help me a lot when it comes to creating my music video. This will allow me to create a music video that appeals to my target audience through the colours and lighting. By incorporating the conventions of the dance genre in the lighting and colour categories, the audience get to see exactly what they want, this helps create a relationship between the audience and the artist. Finally I believe that the colour and lighting that I have chosen will be very effective in creating the artists image and portraying the characters in the narrative to the audience.