Assignment #3

Video Analysis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ3h8r53i84
This is a video for the song "We make hay" by Braincell Harmonics Feat SY6. It was shot in Shropshire hills (UK).

The storyline is simple, but the idea is brilliant. The ironical message of the video is based on a juxtaposition between our usual associations with gangster rap and those who sing it in 'We Make Hay'. The main heroes of the video are young farmers in their usual environment (village, hills, etc). They dance, sing and use rap hand gestures, but simultaneously, they help themselves with usual farmers equipment (shovels, pitchforks, watering cans, etc.) to make the words of the song sound more authentic. The video became so popular that recently YEO Valley (USA) has borrowed the idea and created their own version of the farmers' rap.
The video is very dynamic but a bit 'ragged' because of the number of cutaways used per minute.
The opening prepares us for the appearance of the band. First, we see a photo imitating an old ‘out-or-service’ TV caption. There is the name of the song in the lower left corner and also a picture of the band in the center. Then the introduction to the ‘heroes’ starts with a motivated pan, when first we see some part of Shropshire hills and then the camera moves to the left till we see the whole band. This is a wide shot that shows us all the singers at once (00.08-00.11 min). At 0.15-0.17 min we get a close-up of some of the band members. The shots are combined with cutaways, and then we are returned to the wide shot, when the whole group is together again. At 00.26-00.27 min the creator of the video uses blurring and a change from wide to a medium shot to add some dynamism to the guys marching along a narrow road.

00.29-00.31 – Clear entrance of the tractor (first half of a second the picture is still with no tractor, then it enters the frame)

00.33 – expand dolly is used. The camera tries to follow the running man, but the guy moves faster than the camera.

01.56 – suspense is created due to a sudden disappearance of the music and the fact that we see a wide shot of only two members of the band. One is moving towards the camera and the camera takes a medium shot, then a cutaway and we see the second guy with a glass of beer sitting on the fence and being a sort of an opposite to his friend (whom we’ve just seen with some yoghurt in his hand).

02.14 – contract dolly. The band is running towards the camera, the camera moves backward but not too fast, thus finally all we can see is a close-up of the guys’ torsos.

3.31-3.32 – clear exit. Final shot only the pitchfork is left.

I really like the video for the creativity, sense of humor and, defiantly, for its dynamism. However, I think that there are too many cutaways by the end of the video and too little change of the main movements (hand gestures, jumps and the tractor driving, those are the major variations). I would probably add some other locations like the band in the town, a fight with townies, etc. It would be much more interesting if they would keep their unpredictability of the picture till the very last frame.