Video Analysis- Watsky!

Exploring other techniques that Artists use is quite a challenge as bigger artists are under pressure to release content so may not have the time to some of the stranger videos. However Independent artists have to show their uniqueness so have to try stranger techniques to stay different. 

Jump Cutting

Another effect that Watsky! uses is jump cutting back to something hat has just happened and keeping the video lip-synced. This is show in his video for "Whoa Whoa Whoa".

 

In the video the jump cuts are going back about 0.5 seconds but the video stays lip-synced. This is because of instead of being just jump cuts they have put it trough after effects and taken a full video of him singing the song and deposited the mouth over. This gives the video a strange effect, plus the whole thing as also synced to the drums in the backing track. 

Translation On a Pan

The video for "Dent in The Moon", the premise is that Watsky! is throwing a baseball from scene to scene and the camera tracks the ball in flight until it does a sideways translation to him catching a ball thrown from the opposite side. This gives the impression that he has thrown the ball to himself.

This effect also works because he uses a variety of locations. He goes from places like a farm straight to New York and then transitions to somewhere in the countryside that has snow. This would mean that he would have first have to have gone to all of the locations and thrown a ball. This would require a lot of planning.Although it is a nice effect I don't think I will be able to do it as it would require more time than I have. I could use elements of this do do one or two cuts but I don't think I will be able to do a whole video of translations. 

Props

The video for fireworks is only props made of ice that are being played back by a high speed camera. There are also cuts to the beat showing the ice exploding. The video is also in parts played in reverse which give the impression that the ice is reforming. The props used are also the lyrics of the song so it's not like its just some random props. 

This is all done in a studio with very good lighting as you can only see the table that the ice is on and nothing else. Although this is a nice effect I don't see how i would incorporate it into my music video as my video would have to be all props as well, and I don't have the correct equipment to be able to playback high speed video (or explosives to blow up ice). 

Reverse

The video for "Stupidass" is all one take played in reverse at half speed. The video played nromally shows someone throwing up on Watsky! and Watsky! taking off all of his clothes to get rid off the sick whilst walking away. This creates a strage effect as a shoe comes flying into the scene, whilst played in reverse, and lands on his foot. Because it is all in reverse it means that the physics don't look quite right as everything is falling up.

This effect is a good effect however it is only one shot so would not get me many marks as there is no shot variant. however another notable video that does the same thing is Coldplay's "Scientist". This is done in reverse and also lip-synced as well. This means that the singer learnt the words backwards and sang it like the for the video.

If I was going to do a video all in reverse it would be more like "Scientist" but i liked the effect that the falling objects had in Watsky!'s Video.

Camera Track 

In the video for "Never Let It Die" the whole premise is that Watsky! is inside paintings and the camera travels through the painting to interact in the scene. This requires lots of props as he is dressed up to fit into the paintings. The effect is done by having a scene with a very tiny green screen on the wall, about the size of an A4 piece of paper. This acts as the next painting and that's what the camera is going to "travel" through. The camera is on a track through out all of the painting scenes. and Watsky! walks backwards and interacts with things in the scene. 

This creates a very nice effect as it looks like the video is all done in one take whereas it is changing scenes. however this would require lots of set building as it would need to look like a different location each time. I may use this technique for a transition but not for a whole video. To make the painting look like it is going past the camera they first need to start the next scene with a Trombone shot. This adds the effect of depth the the video layered onto the green screen and makes the transition easier. 

Passing props from scene to scene

Like in "Dent In The Moon", Another video by Watsky! uses a similar effect. "Strong as an Oak" often has three videos playing side by side and they pass props in between them whilst staying lip-synced. The aspect ration is also smaller than the window that it is played in and there are three colours that show which character is on scene, as they are all played by Watsky!. There are actions that are synced in the video that can be jump cutted to from any of the characters. This creates a very nice effect of a fluid video between three narratives.