The track that I chose to deconstruct, shot by shot was again, 'The Used' - "Pretty Handsome Awkward". the director, Lisa Mann, uses various shot including; (extreme) close-ups, mid shots, mid long shots, long shots, aerial shot, low angle shots, high angle shots, rotating shots, subjective shots and a vivid use of montage and fade out techniques to create a repetitive and attractive video.
The video contains vast amounts of quick cut editing and montage that provide two, and sometimes 3 shots per second, as well as using various camera techniques, such as over-cranking, cross fading images and deep focus. The video focuses on a part concept-based, part-performance based narrative structure, evolving around an aftershow party at a Night club. The singer takes up the majority of time within the video, both in the concept and performance parts of the video, as he provides the 'meat' of the video to the audience, espeacially as he is the most recognisable face within the band and the voice of the band.
This goes hand in hand with Barthes theory, 'Grain of voice' because the director, Lisa Mann creates here voyeuristic and masculine images by using the singer's voice as an expressive instrument tocreate associations within the lyrics, hence creating the realtionship between the lyrics and visuals. Atleast a third of the images are mid shots or close-ups of the singer and his face or body, where he breaks the fourth wall by talking to the camera (audience), creating a first person mode of address.
The song provides catchy hooks which attract the audience and provide a picture in mind when you listen to the song, creating a psychological process of building visual images for the song (synaesthesia) , as the relationship between the lyrics and visuals is based on the process of visualization. The collection of images used by Mann are an example of 'illustration' as the meaning of the lyrics are conveyed through this literal set of vivid and attractive images. Despite large amounts of camera time focused on the singer, the other three band members (guitarist, bassist and a drummer) all have a significant role in the video, as the bassist is dressed as a transvestite during the climax of the video and each member has his own detailed role in the perofrmance and concept parts of the narrative structure, which isn't always conventional within the genre, where the singer has the most camera time in both the perofrmance and concept based areas of the video.
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1 comment:
the technical analysis is supposed to be a list format, however this piece of work is useful.
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