This is the first of five pieces of research I will be doing, it is an analysis of the music video of the Arctic Monkeys song, R U Mine? Here I will analyse the video shot by shot and describe reasoning and effects of each one
The first shot is a mid shot of a radio presenter who is about to premier a new song by the Arctic Monkeys, this could be used to make the listener feel like they were there when the song was released to make it more personal to them
The first shot is looking at a car window, this acts as an establishing shot to give the viewer a feel for the surroundings. The darkness here gives the video a mysterious feel.
The camera then turns around to see 2 men in the front car seats, the 2 shot shows they are both of equal importance, although Alex Turner who is on the left is slightly closer possibly meaning he is a bit more important than the other man who is Matt Helders
The music kicks in and then the 2 men start the imitate the drumming of the track
Both the men start singing together the car, this could be to represent people having good times while listening to music by the arctic monkeys, it could also show people who listen to their music have close friends encouraging people to listen to it.
The drumming commences again in time with the track.
Alex Turner then stands up to look out of the sun roof, he uses his arm as support which reveals a tattoo, it makes the viewer wonder what the tattoo is and why has he got it, adding to the mysterious nature of the video
Alex Turner then grabs the camera and closes in whilst lip syncing onto himself as he turns the camera around
The camera is placed at the back of the car, this creates an Over-The-Shoulder shot of both men and we can now see out the windscreen
Alex Turner takes the camera again and gives himself a close up, the amount of close ups and camera time he is getting shows his importance in the video
As earlier in the video he lip syncs as he brings the camera up to himself, this is a recurring trend in the video
This is a 2 shot which includes a close up of Alex Turner and a Mid-shot of Matt Helders
The camera is turned around again to get a close up of Alex Turner at a similar angle to before
The camera is very quickly turned to the left to see the car being lighten up and Nick O’Malley is mouthing the backing vocals with 2 girls by his side with masks on, this adds to the mysterious nature of the video
Matt Helders then receives a close up, just as O’Malley he mouths the backing vocals
After seeing Helders the camera is very quickly moved back round to face the back seats to find Alex Turner lounging with his feet stretched out. The face paced nature of which Alex Turner moved and the camera moves fits in with the pace of the song
Turner then sits up and closes in on the camera, this matched the point of song where it is slower paced and more concentrated on the singing at that point rather than other instruments
Alex Turner jumps out of the car and the camera is lifted out of the sun roof, the wide shot acts as an establishing shot to show that they are in a derelict looking area. To go with the music Alex Turner imitates the guitar by using the air guitar motion to mimic the music
The camera moves down again to see one of the women formerly in the back seat with Nick O’Malley now having a close up and behind the steering wheel.
The rear view camera is used here in a clever way, it displays Alex Turner looking down it and singing. It looks as if Alex Turner is looking at the viewer or the viewer is looking down the camera, making it more personal to the viewer
The woman then leaves the car and this mid shot acts as an establishing shot to the area they are, the lights and smoke in the distance highlight that area and attract the readers eye to it.
The video now goes performance based. This mid shot shows Matt Helders playing his regular position as drummer and backing vocalist
The camera waves its way through the smoke and aims at a television with the image of a face which disappears after several seconds, this adds to the mysterious nature of the video
Alex Turner receives a close up as he mouths the lyrics to go with the performance
The camera zooms out and has a wide shot of the whole band including Nick O’Malley who is just walking across at this point. From here the video zooms out and back in again before fading out
