Editing Styles Of Chosen Genre - Jordan Scott
Editing as a form for a music video is one of the most vital components. The use of transitions on the whole consists of fast and slow cuts. The pace of editing is often linked with the pace of the song e.g. a slow song is likely to have lengthy shots with less frequent cuts and transitions unlike a Chase & Status song which is fast paced and so the editing is characterised by this. Fades are a common editing technique used in music videos fading in and out of certain camera shots. Fades can also vary in pace based on the speed of the song and some can fade into black or white mainly at the end of the video. Cross dissolve is another feature of editing and this is a technique which is used more than you might think. Many cuts consist of this type of editing technique adding a more professional look to the transition between two shots.
When looking specifically at the Indie Rock genre....
In this music video, one man is focused on throughout the majority of the video giving him prevalance meaning the audience see he has been given a lot of screen time in turn telling them he is an important role in the video.
Focus pulls are also utilised throughout the video in order to help show the audience the main characters perpsective. Also near the beginning of the video the audience sees the main character walk down a set of stairs followed by a flash which causes a different set of stairs to appear, this editing shows a time lapse in the narrative. In this music video the narrative dominates most of the video, this is not that common when it comes to indie rock videos as they can often contain some performance as well. Throughout this video the speed of the cuts used reflect the tempo of the music, so during
the chorus which is fast paced the cuts are quick in comparison to other parts of the vidoe. Finally CGI is used on the eyes of the people on the videos, as their pupils turn black conveying a darker and a more sinister side of the video.
In this music video the man with the guitar is focused on throughout, giving him prevalance showing the audience he has the most important role in the video.
Also near the beginning of the video the light bulbs along the corridoor are edited in order for them to look like they are flickering at the same time as the
beat of the music, here the setting of the video almost comes alive for the audience to see. As well as this at one point in the song slow motion is used to show the main character in the video stamping on a bulb, this allows the audience to see every bit of glass shatter and disperse which is very effective. Slow motion is also used near the end when a group of people is dancing around the main character and they are all moving in slow motion apart from the man with the guitar again reinforcing the idea of prevalance.
In this music video near the beginning of the video a blur effect is used around the outisde of the shot when the woman is in the shot, which gives the experience
of looking through the characters eyes. Next the audience sees a glowing light effect when the woman is going through the door, this is to emphasise the significance of the doorway to the audience. The camera focuses on one main woman throughout
narrative in the video giving her prevalance so she is able to be related to and seen as the main character. As well as this the lead singer is focused on througout the video suggesting he is the most important member of the band. Zoom is utlitised throughout the video, as the camera zooms in on the instruments to show their importance in the video. Slow motion is also utlisied near the end of the video to show the movement of
the confetti.
This music video is black and white throughout, this is done to convey the period of time in which the video is set, it also gives across a nostalgic feel to the audience.
The cuts in the music video reflect the pace of the music, when the music speeds up the cuts increase in speed also. The camera shakes throughout parts of the video
conveying the movement that is taking place. Some of the shots throughout the video are seen to freez for around half a second, this is done to portray the idea of
a pause in time or to emphasise what is happening in the shot. At some points in the video the audience see a black border around some of the shots, which looks like the frame around pictures taken in the past when cameras were not digital this is again reflecting the time period in which the video is set.