This video got me thinking of what goes into the decision making process when filming large gigs. Do they have a generic way of filming large stages or are the shots and cuts carefully decided upon for each different band or even different song?
One would first of all jump to the conclusion that they would of course select each shot with the upmost diligence however it is also not implausible to consider the fact that the people behind the lens know that the fans watching the footage are going to be so enthralled by their favorite bands, that any sort of slow moving picturesque image that shows a rockstar strutting their funky stuff is going to get their juices going.
I think the only way to answer this question is to compare the above act with the Prodigy's performance at this year's Glastonbury.
The footage of Placebo has two obvious differences to that of the Prodigy. Firstly the Placebo video's cuts are far less frequent. As we know, frequent cutting creates a far more energized feel to the footage and seeing as one can't really get much more energized than a live Prodigy gig the second video is cutting left right and centre!
Secondly the camera is far more static in the Placebo video. At least a fifth of the shots in this video are completely static and the remainder of the shots involve very little movement at all. The Prodigy video is of course a completely different kettle of fish as aside from the start, the "calm before the storm" so speak, the camera is constantly moving. It pans left and right and zooms in and out. I suppose it's doing a rather good job of mimicking the head movements of the crowd! I should know, I was there!
I saw them 3 times this year on this tour. I remember at Wembley, Global Gathering and Reading, Keith Flint pulled the camera on the crane close to his face and and pulled it around in line with his face. It looked really good on the big screen. Some footage definitely worth trying to find.
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