Achieving the band shots

Here are some stills from music videos to show you how to frame your band shots like a real media text. Here is some advice when achieving the band shots for your video:

1. The camera focus is very important and often band members are shot in a shallow focus.
2. Lighting is very important too as it helps focus the audience and create atmosphere in the video.
3. Very tight framing is often used so think carefully about where you position the camera.
4. A few 'full band shots' are used to establish staging but then camera will go into a series of close up and extreme close up shots of all the band members.
5. The camera is rarely still, Often the camera will have slight movement to it to match the flow of the music. This could be a pan, tilt, zoom or dolly.
6. The lead singer is key. You need to have a good performer to act as your lead to pour the emotion and energy of the track down the camera lens. The lead singer is almost always centrally framed.