Robbie Williams 1998 Glastonbury Coverage

This extract of Glastonbury 1998 (26th - 28th June) is a performance of Robbie Williams' 'Angels'. Not just analyzing it in  terms of Camera work, sound, performance, setting and editing but the overall coverage of the event.

Firstly the use of the camera firstly is extremely simple, and calm in movement to emphasize the music, this is further complemented by the simple caption of Robbie's name and the famous song 'Angels'.
With an attendance of 100,500 people that year, it was only fitting to see the iconic lyrics being sung back to Robbie, heavily shown within the performance. Many shots used took full advantage of showing the manic crowd with equipment such as Crane's and Jimmy Jibs, also showing fully, the extent of the audience and the venue and stage itself.

On stage camera work shows the musical instruments being clearly played live which is accompanied by close ups of the artist. Medium shots are used to include nearly everything on the stage from an angle side on we can see the artist and guitarists but also the drummer in some shots. We also see the entire length of the stage on tracks. Handhelds are heavily used also upon the artist but also behind the drummer almost giving the audience at home the bands perspective.

The mise en scene is extremely focused on the 'music' and the clothes the band wear, the way the stage is set up and the lighting is of extreme simplicity, whether that reflects the budget for the stage is not known or whether the artists vision is to be one to focus on the performance itself. Little production is used as the artist and the band is definitely enough with the small use of colored lights, the crowd truly appreciates the music.

The Editing is again very simple however the vision mixing is very layered and complex the way in which one shot is of the artist then cross fades into a shot of the band which is then super imposed into the audience and then back to the artist, we see all aspects of the event and its effectiveness and make the audience at home feel as included as those at the festival.

Beyonce 2011 Glastonbury Analysis

The analysis that I'm doing for a new festival is the first 10 minutes of Beyoncé's headlining act. The start of the clip is a presenter introducing Beyoncé to the stage. This is a common feature used when showing a festival to an audience at home. It gives them an insight of whats happening and it keeps them involved with the festival. The target audience to this part of Glastonbury coverage I would say is more a teen/young adult audience as Beyoncé is very mainstream and she targets all her music to that target audience.
While the presenter is introducing Beyoncé to the stage, a caption with the latest Glastonbury logo appears at the bottom of the screen saying the presenters name "Jo Whiley."
Beyoncé's sequence starts off with a long shot from a camera placed in the middle of the crowd. This gives a great effect of making the audience at home feel as though they are in the audience at Glastonbury.

Glastonbury Analysis

Glastonbury Festival, was created in 1970, on the 19th September. This was the first year that Glastonbury ran and had a £1 entry fee. At this time, new crews were interested in the festival, but it wasn't until 1994 when it became a major feature of UK Television.

The festival in 1994 was broadcast live on Channel 4. On the Saturday night of the 1994 festival there was a shooting incident involving five people but no one was badly hurt. Although there was the first death in the Festivals history when a young man was found dead from a drugs overdose.

BBC Choice (now known as BBC Three) ran 6 hour long specials from 1994, 95, 97, 98, 99 and 2000. Glastonbury has had a number of media partners, you could watch or listen to BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 4, playlouder.com and also HTV. Since 2002 Glastonbury has been licensed to be aired outside of the UK in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and 9 other countries. 2002 was Glastonbury's busiest year so far with approximately 140,000.

Highlights from the festival have been shown internationally by NBDTV which have had a huge impact on the festivals fame. This year Glastonbury has been at its most populated with 175,000 attending, and it also made history with the first female headliner in quarter of a century.