U2 performing at Glastonbury 2011

This performance taken from Glastonbury 2011 on the BBC uses particular camera work in order to give the audience at home an optimum experience.

The establishing shot is an extreme long high angle shot which gives the viewing audience at home an idea of the scale of the festival site. This shot is followed by low angles which give a powerful presence of the band and is from the perspective of the crowd so that the audience feel more involved. The band is also introduced individually: guitarist, drummer; second guitarist, singer. The cuts of the shots are timed to fit in with the tempo of the music which gives the impression of a clean cut performance. Framing is important in this and is used particularly well on a shot of Bono singing as the head of the microphone is in the centre of the frame because it is crucial to the show.

Building up to the chorus there is a crescendo and during this the camera is focused upon the drummer, the camera then tracks upwards to mimic the level of the music. The camera then zooms out to an extreme long shot of the crowd, displaying the scale of the performance and band and how many people there are in the crowd. In this shot the audience can also see the screens amongst the crowd which allows the audience at home to feel more included in the crowd. Following this shot displaying a collective experience, is a shot of two individual people enjoying themselves. This shows the enjoyment the festival go-ers are having while also letting the audience put themselves into their shoes and can relate to them.

There is a point of view shot of Bono as the audience can see him through the flag poles, emphasising how crowded it is and involving them. There is a shot of the guitarist as he is turned towards the camera, with the crowd and Bono in the background. This gives the audience a unique experience and view that the crowd can not get. When the tempo changes to one much slower, there is a crossfade transition to match this. There is a shot where the camera tracks Bono down the runway pans to see what he is looking at (the crowd), zooms out to show the scale of the audience and then goes to a point of view shot of the crowd. The finishing shot is the same as the establishing shot and shows the majority of the campsite.

The BBC keeps the audience in mind by using shots and camera techniques like these in order to sell the band & involve the viewers at home.