[MP] Technical Analysis Review

The Kooks - 'Always Where I Need To Be'

The first video that I analysed revealed to me the seemingly ridiculous number of different shots that were used. In the first 30 seconds there were 24 shots, giving each shot an average length of 1.25 seconds. This is quite fast even for a music video, but even if our shots lasted for an average of 3 seconds we will still need a considerable amount of footage to fill the 3.30 that our song is.

I also discovered that the large majority of shots in the video were mid shots, with long shots coming a close second. This will influence the making of our own video so as to keep to the conventions of our indie pop genre. To continue, nearly all of the shots were hand-held, giving a very personal feel to the video, which is also in keeping with the video for 'All The Pretty Girls' by fun., which Dom technically analysed. This suggests that there is a trend towards a feeling of being less manufactured than those videos of chart music, which would fit entirely with the creation of indie pop music which has a much more natural sound, with far less electronic influence.

A well composed performance shot

Another finding was that there was far more performance than narrative during the first 30 seconds, 17 of the 24 being so. This suggests that the metanarrative of the band is more important than the narrative fuzz during the beginning of the video. This allows the audience to recognise very early on who they are watching and to give an idea of how the video will progress.

The Killers - 'Human'

The second video that I analised had a much slower cutting rate, with meat shots especially lasting longer. In the 120 seconds that I analysed, there were 26 shots, giving an average shot length of 4.6 seconds, a considerable amount longer than the previous video. I think that this presents a different challenge in the way that each shot has to be much more interesting to keep the audience captivated. 


This video is also very performance based, but in the performance there is much more happening , which makes up for the lack of narrative. Furthermore the setting for the performance is a rocky desert meaning that the setting plays much more of a part in holding the audience's attention.

The main setting for the performance shots