Planning Lighting - Miss Gerorgiou

Planning Lighting

The use of lighting and colour seen throughout a video is key to the progression of a music video. Much like other micro elements it can have a very large influence upon the presentation of the song, the themes and narrative within. For example, within the dance genre of which my song 'I know' by Shift Key belongs to, lighting can be used develop connotations that link into theses of the genre such as clubs dancing and vibrant, happy emotions. Also, the lighting used can have an effect on the presentation of the narrative within the video by signifying different aspects of the video through connotations and emphasise on setting.

One form of lighting the we are planning to use is strobe/neon lighting. This will be developed additionally through editing but we will also create the strobe and neon lighting whilst filming. It is highly conventional to the dance genre; the music that the genre consists of includes music that is often played within the club setting. The lighting is seen to portray the same party atmosphere that a club aims to produce and that our use of strobe lighting will aim to convey. This form of lighting will specifically be seen in the main scene as the artist sits in his office thinking about the night life he could enjoy without his demanding girlfriend. It is used in this scene in order to juxtapose the simple and relatable work setting with the vibrant atmosphere in the club setting in order to emphasise the party lifestyle he could potentially have. It is furthermore used to present the artists lifestyle in a way that the audience can aspire towards; younger adults beginning their working career would aspire towards the artists balance between his professionalism and his social life. 

Another form of lighting that will be seen within the video is the use of high key lighting. This will be produced in the office scenes through the large amounts of lighting stemming from ceiling lights seen in the shots. Although having little coherence with the conventions of the dance genre, the use of high key lighting in this specific setting will hopefully add to the artists presentation in a way that appeals greatly to our target audience. It emphasises the artists success within a professional environment and elaborates upon his high status. This will appeal to our targeted age groups of teenagers and young adults as they are starting to enter different working environments and can aspire towards this success. It will vastly help the artist market himself within his target audience. The lack of conventionality within this use of plain, sophisticated lighting shows us challenging the conventional aspects of the video in order to develop upon the narrative. This narrative shows the artist to be linked towards the lavish party lifestyle due to his success and power. It is highly conventional to the dance genre with all artists often aiming to portray their full lifestyle. 

In addition to these two examples of lighting used within the video; the colours that we have selected to be focused upon may also have an effect upon artist presentation. These colours will be particularly evident through the use of clothing, iconography and setting in the main work related scene. Colours of grey, blue, black and white that show professionalism will be juxtaposed in the main work scene with the use of brighter tints such as orange, green and red that portray a more spirited atmosphere. This is done to present the artists high professional status at work alongside his vibrant party lifestyle, this being a reoccurring presentation throughout the video. It appeals to the younger target audience as they, again, may aspire to be able to mix this professional success with an exciting social life. Also, it does meet the conventions of the dance genre as the brighter colours connote the lights within the club and the fun party atmosphere that dance artists aim to portray through their music.