BS: Technical Analysis (Performance)

Bloc Party - Two More Years - 2006

Focusing on performance based video (first minute)

 

SHOT TYPE	DURATION	EFFECT
Medium close-up	0:14 – 0:17	Because this is in silhouette it introduces the lead singer, and focuses more on musical performance as there is not construction of “star image” as his face cannot be seen
Medium close-up	0:17 – 0:19	Again this is a very similar shot, establishing this time the guitarist
Medium long shot	0:19 – 0:20	Establishing the drummer, but start to see other band members in shot
Close-up	0:20 – 0:23	Close up on the drummer performing which introduces the beat for the track
Long shot	0:23 – 0:26	A long shot where we see the band together, introduces the lyrics and guitar and shows a sense of “togetherness”
Medium close-up (with pan)	0:26 – 0:29	A repetition of the first shot, but the music is introduced, we see the man singing, as this happens the camera slowly starts to pan around him
Series of fast pace close-up cuts	0:29 – 0:32	Again introducing each element of the band’s sound separately, each for a 1 second time period
Close-up	0:32 – 0:35	Again repetition of similar shots with close up on singers face where we see him singing the lyrics
Long shot (with pan left to right)	0:35 – 0:37	We see the guitarist playing, emphasises the performance, there is movement in which we can see the two guitarists playing in time with one another
Long shot	0:37 – 0:39	See the drummer playing, keeping a similar beat throughout the track
Medium close-up	0:39 – 0:41	In shot is a guitar and lights on the floor, help to establish a band image
Close-up	0:41 – 0:43	Switches quickly to close up of the same guitar with more of a performance aspect outlined
Long shot	0:43 – 0:46	We see the whole band, facing each other playing in time with cohesion
Medium close-up	0:46 – 0:49	Very dark shot in which the outline of the singer can be seen
Medium close-up	0:49 – 0:50	Repetition of the drum shot but with slow movement
Close-up	0:50 – 0:52	Again on the singers face
Medium close-up	0:52 – 0:53	Repetition shot
Long shot	0:53 – 0:55	We see the drummer and guitarist in this shot, playing in sync
Long shot	0:55 – 1:00	See the whole band as the drums begin to sound louder and faster, as this happens there is a connection with visuals and music, the lights start flashing

• When analysing this video technically focusing on the performance aspect of the piece it was very evident that there are a huge variety of shots, all in quick succession. During the first minute I was looking at the correlation between shots that followed one another, what I noticed is that the shot types are similar for the majority of the time, this gives the video more continuity.

 

• Another main feature of the performance video was that each time the video cut to a different angle or shot it cut in time to the music, and nearly always cut on a drum beat in this case.

 

• There were many repeated shots within this sequence, clearly when focusing on just performance the band members are doing almost the same thing for the whole duration so there is only a certain amount of variance.

 

• Most of the shots were almost static, but some shots involved a slow pan, but still keeping focus on the instruments and performance aspect.

 

 

• I chose to analyse this video because we want our video to have sections of performance. More specifically this is a more simplistic performance piece that is more achievable for our low-fi budget.