AR:Technical Analysis

Paloma Faith- Black&Blue (2013)

Shot Number	Duration (seconds)	Mise-en-scene	Camera
1	3	Faith’s non-verbal language shows her shying away from the audience with her hand on her neck as if she is protecting herself. She looks nervous and vulnerable.	The video opens with a still medium close up shot with Faith positioned in the centre of frame being rotated away from facing the camera making her appear ‘absent’.
2	2	The lack of continuity as the shadow of her arm is shown in the shot moving up to her neck creates an unsynchronised order of shots which adds confusion and allure.	Faith’s shadow is in the centre frame but her actual body is right at the edge being dismissed from focus and so her star image appears distanced.
3	2	She wears a sad, confused expression which is consistent with her hunched over body language that suggests the negative mood of this song.	This is a high angle shot as Faith is shown looking down and so the audience is made to sympathise with her as she appears small and fragile.
4	2	(SAME AS SHOT #1)	(SAME AS SHOT #1)
5	2	As she begins to sing her notion of looking at the camera makes the audience feel involved. This voyeurism of directly gazing into the camera makes it feel like the artist is telling a story, breaking the fourth wall.	Faith is positioned in the centre of frame but her shadow appears in the right third. With one third left blank an attractive composition of shot is created that perfectly frames the artist as she begins to sing which is one of the most iconic parts of a pop video.
6	2	Here barely anything of the artist is shown as the character blocking positions them nearly out of shot. The cut from her looking at the camera to this shows a juxtaposition between the presence and absence of the star.	It is an MCU shot of below the neck of Faith to her waist positioned in the left third of the frame. This is also the first movement of the camera in the video as a tilt down technique is used pushing the artist even further from the audience.
7	2	(SAME AS SHOT #5)	(SAME AS SHOT #5)
8	1	(SAME AS SHOT #6)	(SAME AS SHOT #6)
9	1	(SAME AS SHOT #5)	(SAME AS SHOT #5)
10	2	A new character is introduced of a bearded man in a chair rotating in an opposite direction to the artist. The character is played by Faith herself dressed in a wig and beard with padding and a big thick jumper to create a fat man. This may symbolise the many personas of the artist.	The camera is still as the character moves in the centre of the frame, their shadow in the the left third, opposite to the positioning of Faiths shadow. This creates juxtaposition between the artist and the new character.
11	2	(SAME AS SHOT #5)	(SAME AS SHOT #5)
12	2	(SAME AS SHOT #5)	(SAME AS SHOT #5)
13	0.5	The next three shots are a montage of one new character with a very fast cutting rate. In the first she is shown drinking with a glass as a prop again rotating in a chair. The glass blocks her face from the camera.	She is positioned in the left third of the shot suggesting she is more the focus of the narrative (fuzz) than the artist. It is a close up shot which further exaggerates this idea.
14	0.5	The rotation of the chair has made the characters face turn away from the camera and we are made to notice her distressed costume with the ripped shoulder and the shaven head which connote the alcoholic background of this character.	The durations of these shots are very short and the camera is still throughout.
15	0.5	The prop of the TV has made lights flicker off the screen onto the sleeping girl in the chair. Her slumped lifeless body language connotes her deteriorating health as an alcoholic.	The camera is still and the composition is a profile outlook on the scene that shows the side of the character and the TV. It is a long shot that distances the life of the girl from the life of the audience.
16	1	(SAME AS SHOT #5)	(SAME AS SHOT #5)
17	1	(SAME AS SHOT #6)	(SAME AS SHOT #6)
18	0.5	The dress is shown to sparkle in the varying focuses which presents Faith as very glamorous and beautiful	There is a shift of focus from a soft focus to a very blurred out of focus image.
19	2	(SAME AS SHOT #5)	(SAME AS SHOT #5)
20	2	(SAME AS SHOT #5)	(SAME AS SHOT #5)
21	1	This shot emphasises the dove tattoos that run along Faith's back. They are one of the artists visual motifs and are often present in her music videos to put across her rebellious, original, beautiful star image.	It is an MCU shot of below the neck of Faith to her waist positioned in the left third of the frame. There is a lot of white space in the video which breaks that traditional rules of composition so it very compelling in the video.
22	2	The borders in the shot have emphasised the thirds which is a very visually pleasing composition technique as it sets up a very attractive, artistic look at the musician.	Using split screen the same shot is repeated three times side by side in this triptych composition.
23	1	The next character introduced is also swiveling on their spot like everyone else in the video. They move with their desk and computer which gives a very voyeuristic look on the whole character and their circumstance.	It is an MCU shot that is more cluttered than any other in the video as every third is occupied.
24	2	The artist is dressed as this woman by a desk, typing on a computer to depict the character of 'people who use chat rooms as confessionals' which may be a strategy of connecting with an audience who do they same suggesting the artist is somehow like them.	The image has been reflected vertically to create this symmetrical, mirrored effect. It is a long shot so the full length of the artist can be seen twice.
25	1	The artist is presenting a lot of skin to the camera which may be a techniques to create fetishism, selling the product.	Here the artist (as them self) has been reflected vertically in the left third as an MCU shot.
26	1	(SAME AS SHOT #18)	(SAME AS SHOT #18)

How many shots feature the singer?

All of the shots feature Faith in some form however the presentation of the singer we recognise, where she appears singing to the lyrics is around three quarters of the video. 

How long are the shots?

The shots range from about half a second to the longest being three seconds. The shorter shots are usually used as part of a montage that subtly feeds the audience little sequences of information about a character without clearly giving everything away so allowing the viewer to figure out the rest. The long shot of three seconds is used in the opening which is what gives the audience the first experience of what the style of the video will be.  

How is camera movement incorporated to create pace?

The camera rarely moves in this video as the character on screen is always spinning on their spot so extra movement from the camera would make the video too chaotic which is not the effect wanted for this song. This makes for a slow paced music video to match the song. 

What other framing is used?

The rule of thirds is used effectively in creating neat, beautifully framed compositions. White space is used well to eliminate clutter and to help focus the viewers eye on the action in the scene which is the movement of the artist or character being played. Split screen and reflection is used to present the artist beautifully in interesting compositions. 

Transitions? 

Plain transitions are used except for the fade transition at the very beginning which eases in with the song softly. The effect of having no interesting transitions throughout makes it harder for the audience to realise a cut and so the whole piece is smooth and more cinematic looking.