Music Video

Students will explore key cinematography concepts—camera angles, framing, and color correction—before applying their knowledge by creating a music video. They will analyze professional music videos, experiment with filming techniques, and edit their final product using color correction to enhance mood and storytelling.

Project Idea

Overview  
Driving Question How can we use cinematographic techniques to visually enhance storytelling in a music video?
Learning Goals
  • Understand and apply cinematography techniques including camera angles, framing, and color correction.
  • Analyze and critique professional music videos for visual storytelling elements.
  • Collaborate in groups to plan, shoot, and edit a music video.
  • Reflect on the filmmaking process and justify artistic choices.
  • Learn practical digital skills, such as taking screenshots and embedding multimedia content into presentations.
Project Summary Students will explore cinematography using Music Videos as the lens to discuss concepts like framing, camera angles, lensing and frame rate.
Major Products Music Video
Making it Public Students will present their video to the class
Key Project Documents Rubric

Project Path

Ideation

  • Watch and analyze several music videos of different styles. Discuss what makes them visually compelling.
  • Define the mood/story and vision of the music video.
  • Find visual references to help your team agree on a look/feel for the film.

Planning

  • Create a two-column script, pairing your ideas to the lyrics/musical cues in the song.
  • Develop Storyboards to help you previsualize your music video.
  • Clearly establish Mise-en-Scene:
    • Settings & Props: How do the environment and objects enhance the story?
    • Costume, Hair & Makeup: What do these elements reveal about character or time period?
    • Facial Expressions & Body Language: How do these convey emotions or relationships?
    • Lighting: Is the lighting high-key, low-key, or natural? How does it shape mood?
    • Color: What role does color play in setting tone or guiding focus?
    • Positioning of Characters/Objects in the Frame: How do spatial relationships create meaning?
    • Camera Angles: How do angles and camera movements shape perception?

Filming and Production

  • Use DSLR Cameras to film your Music Video.
  • Offload footage DAILY to your Google Drive to ensure that the footage is maintained.
  • Assign a team member the role of DIT (Director of IT) to offload footage and begin organizing files for your final edit. If there are enough available resources, allow them to begin putting the footage together as the rest of your team continues shooting.
  • Bring a speaker to help sync the action to the music. You may also elect to create a tempo track (a metronome playing at the beat of your song, if exact sync is less important). If you are experimenting with reversed/slowed footage, create reversed/sped up tracks to help create your song.

Edit

  • Edit your video to match your vision for the song.
  • Color Correct your footage to create a distinct look.
  • Export to H.264 .mp4.

Plus/Delta Reflection

Present your final projects to the class and complete feedback using a plus delta chart.

Portfolio Documentation

An Example Google Portfolio Page

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