James - Technical Analysis

This is the technical analysis to the opening of 'The Kooks - Sway'. The video has a very lowfi feel and is shot in black and white. the link to the video is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF2A4i1Itlk&ob=av2n

• The opening shot is an establishing long shot of waves breaking onto a beach, this last for 4 seconds. This helps set the scene and location of the video.
• Then it cuts to a mid shot of a pair of hands making a pyramid out of playing cards on a table. This is a very short shot that only lasts one second.
• There is then a low angle long shot that track the lead singer who is walking on a promenade above some shops. This shot lasts for 4 seconds and the lead singer is not lip-synching.
• It cuts to an extreme close up of a finger dialling a number on an old fashioned phone. The camera is remains still for this shot, which lasts for 4 seconds.
• It then cuts to a long shot of the lead singer still dialling the number and then placing the phone to his ear. This shot lasts for 4 seconds.
• It then cuts to another mid shot of the lead singer but from the other side of his body this time. This lasts 3 seconds with a slow zoom into the character slightly.
• From here the camera simply pans left and we then see the singer on the phone, however this time we are looking at him in a mirror. This is an example of the notion of looking. This shot lasts for one second.
• It then cuts back to the shot with the pair of hands making the pyramid from cards. This time however the shot is slightly further back and there is a ‘handy-cam’ pan to the left. This shot lasts for one second.
• It then cuts to a low angle mid-shot of a band member walking along. This shot lasts for 2 seconds.
• There is then another cut to the same band member still walking, however this time it is a mid/long tracking shot from behind him and we can see that he is walking through a games arcade. This shot lasts for 3 seconds.
• It then cuts back to the lead singer in the mirror making the phone call. There is a slow zoom and a jump cut during this shot which lasts 2 seconds.
• From here it cuts to a low angle close up of the band member walking through the arcade. This shot tracks his movement and there is also a small jump cut, the shot lasts for 3 seconds.      

Doing this technical analysis has helped me realise just how quickly music videos are cut together. During this short thirty-second clip there are 14 cuts. This has made me realise that we will need to shoot all of our scenes from several different angles so that we are able to cut them together, this will make the video more interesting. it also help stress the importance of using a number of different locations because otherwise our video could seem very monotonous and repetitive if we keep cutting back to the same shots.