#104 Laura's Music Video Research (1)

 Semisonic - Closing time.

I chose to analyse the video for the song 'Closing time', by the band Semisonic.

I feel like this video can definitely inspire us and the video we create, by the types of shots used, and the types of editing.

The video, is made up of a split screen, with two continuous running shots, running side by side together in screen. 

Semisonic are a typical alternative rock band from america, so like in more rock band videos, they feature, in one of the sides, the band playing in a rehearsal room. 

Whereas on the other side of the screen, we see woman, playing the part of the lead singers girlfriend.

As the video draws to an end, the lead singer Dan, and his girlfriend switch sides of screen, as they attempt to meet up. And then at the end of the video, they both wind up at the same nightclub. However, they still end up missing each other by mere seconds and never meet up. The "trick" of the video is that each shot was done as one long, continuous shot, with no cuts or editing, and therefore relies on proper timing during the filming to get the two sides of the video lined up properly.

They also, use alot different camera shots, such as tracking shots (as they follow Dan and his girlfriend, on separate side, around the rehearsal room, and out of her apartment), close ups of their faces, and panning shots.

Also in the video, there is a very strong link between the lyrics and the visuals (a convention for music videos made by Goodwin). The name of the song, and the main lyric in the chorus, is 'closing time', and in the video, it shows Dan's girlfriend leaving a shop (maybe the shop she works at/owns), and changing the 'open' sign, to 'closed'.

As for the iconography, the band ARE a rock band, but instead of featuring some live performance, they include a more 'rehearsal' performance, that looks more relaxed and lade back (like the pace of the song). 

As for the mis en scene, everything is quite simple. Everyone in the video is wearing just typical every day clothing, and the types of clothing you would wear to certain places. For example, towards the end when they are at the nightclub. And as for the lighting, everything throughout the video, has a slight color grading of green. Starting from the start of the video, where in the rehearsal room, the wallpaper is green, yet, there still seems to be a hint of green yellow light on BOTH screens, throughout the video. 

The video all together, is very simple, but entertaining. Due to the types of editing (the split screen) the viewer, first time, second time, and maybe even third time, always has something different to watch, as something is constantly happening throughout the video. 

I think when shooting and editing our video for the song 'Kickstarts', we can definitely think about using split screen, and using some continuous shots as well. And maybe think about adding slight color grading to the video.