Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Concise Video Analysis



Dire Straits- 'Walk of Life'
The video shows to good effect crosscutting of the swooping of shots from different lines of action. The sports stars getting ready to play sport (American Football and baseball) and the band preparing to go on stage and this is developed throughout the video, cutting between band and sport out takes or funny moments.

The video echoes the narrative in the song. The song being all about the ups and downs that we face in everyday life! The ups are represented by the sports stars performing – however there are clips of them performing with less aplomb than usual – tripping over, fumbling passes etc. I feel that I don’t want to have such a close link in my video as how we want the world to be is very individualistic and if I portrayed it one way; others may dislike it and not watch the video.

With the number of shots of the band star image is promoted. I feel this is not an important factor for me in my video and I personally feel that there is close to the maximum film of the band performing in this video.

A variety of shots are seen throughout the video.
· The video uses to good affect Graphic Match in the opening clips. The lines of guitars linked with the line of baseball bats. The musician putting on the wrist bands – the sports man his gloves and placing his box in his trousers with the artist buckling his belt. These shots closely tie together the two elements of this video.
· Tracking shots follow the band as it moves from the dressing room to the stage.
· An overhead shot of the drummer, the coach walking along the side line and numerous sporting clips from an overhead angle
· Low angle shots are used to show despair of the coach with his head in his hands.
· Tilt shots of the guitarist, when having focused on his feet the camera tilts up and out to show a complete shot of the artist.
· Most of the pictures of the artists are heads and shoulders or close up. There are some shots where the band is playing on stage which can be termed mid-shot.
· The transition or editing is all straight cuts with relatively short quick clips to introduce the subject matter. This is an idea I would like to use in setting the scene quickly and to hold the audience guessing about what is going to happen next.

Aerosmith - 'Don’t want to Miss a Thing' 

Close links with the film Armageddon

Opening image – a Long take of the planet moving through space. It doesn't have much action but as it moves towards the viewer there is a feeling that it will come through the screen and the tension begins to build from the off.

The transition is by way of a quick dissolve from the planet crashing to Aerosmith appearing. Following this there are straight cut editing techniques between the performer and clips from the film Armageddon. The shots from the film briefly introduce and develop the story line As a result the climax of the film script is reached quickly without the viewer having to watch the film they can understand the action.

The video cleverly uses clips of the band superimposed over the original film. This gives the impression, through skilful editing that the band is in the film, viewed from NASA control room actually out there in Outer Space. This artistically links the film with the band and the song and unlike other videos from films which simply cut from the musicians to action from the screen. Later on in the video the back drop to the orchestra and the band appears to be inside a cavernous metal structure and leads the viewer to feel that this could be another area of the space craft seen in the film. Again this enhances the link between the band and the film.

The narrative of the song begins to link with the action on the screen as the musical score builds towards the chorus images of the leading couple appear saying their goodbyes and moving away.

The use of a variety of shots cleverly and skilfully enhances the singing and music. Overhead shots are used to diffuse the power of Aerosmith’s voice. Tilt shots (from above to waist height) bring the viewer back down as his voice softens. In contrast as the volume once more rises the camera tilts upwards across the flags.

Straight cutting of short clips builds the tension as the space ship takes off and the music once more builds towards a crescendo. At this moment the viewer is once again transported back into the film when watching the space craft launch smoke appears under the craft as it lifts. The following shot is of the band being engulfed by similar smoke. The thrust of the engines creating wind through the sectors hair, moving their clothing etc. is again echoed cleverly through this cross cutting technique to link the band to the film set.

The end of the video finishes with a reverse tracking shot leaving the actress alone in front of the screen.

Eagle Eye Cherry 'Save Tonight'
There are many things from this video that I like and would like to incorporate into my own production. The video follows the singer who takes on a number of different characters. This is a base for where I wish to start my video, I will incorporate more and add my own twist onto it, but the way the tracking shot done through the use of steady cam has been done flows from one scene to the next. The reason that I’m inclined to continue with this idea is because of the way that it incorporates a performance element, as well as a storyline, running simultaneously together, this not only looks better than confusing edits back and forth from storyline to performance. It also on the other end of the spectrum doesn’t swing entirely performance related or entirely storyline. Another selling aspect of this video to me is the way in which edits are put together, for example he walks out the shot, seemingly heading for the door then an edit to outside where he has taken the place of another person. This keeps the singer alive and doesn’t mean that he has to keep the same character flowing, as well as allowing us to see different angles of the production. I really like this idea and would like to mould it into my own production however instead of the singer changing characters he would only change costume from set to set. This is so the star image of the artist is kept alive.


Lupe Fiasco – 'The Show Goes On'

This video has many aspects to it which I think both work really well and that I admire. Firstly the camera tracks the performer as he makes his way to stage. Other from this I also like the use of close ups to start the music video especially of the performer and how he is preparing for his performance on stage. I feel that this adds detail to the video and it is an idea that I’d like to develop into my own music video with a different element not focussing on the same things on different aspects that are relevant to my artists track. Another key factor of this music video which I feel could help me with ideas for my own music video is the performance element and how this is done on the way to the stage to the camera head on so there is an amalgamation of storyline and performance both running perpendicular to one another. The incorporation of live shots seemingly from a concert or gig, give the production a more real feel about it and this is something that I feel works well and also enhances the music video to a higher level. There can be some types of theory that apply and fit in with this music video for example Goodwin’s theory of music videos says there will be certain aspects that will be included. This video adheres to some of those statements for example ‘That there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals’. This can be recognised through the way in which he is working to the stage to perform a show and the lyrics to the song mean that the ‘Show must go on’. This is directly linking the audio and visuals together. This is a theory that I’ll be looking at and try to incorporate some of the aspects that Goodwin feel are paramount for a music video. Alongside this theory there is also loose connotations of voyeurism through the use of flashing cameras say that he is constantly seen and being viewed, this links to a star image with the camera flashing. This could have been intentional to build a star image and an idea of pleasure from watching the video or the artist.

No comments:

Post a Comment