The opening two shots of this video are stills of bowling trophies with a close up of the photo of the band winning the trophy, these shots are accompanied by sounds of pins going down in the background. This only lasts for a few seconds but the effect is that the audience understand the back story, and the location immediately. It is really simple and lets the video start without having to do panning shots or a section of dialogue. I really like this technique! Another simple feature that works well in this video is the shot at the start of her legs walking left across the screen which turns into 2 pairs of legs (hers and supposedly his) walking right across the screen at the end. Implying she has chosen the main character/lead singer over her caricature of bad boyfriend. This video is aimed at a male dominated audience as it focuses only on the appearance of the 'lovely' woman instead of her character and this attitude is stereotypically male. A as a female watching this video, I did see the humor of all the men being turned into drooling dummies in the wake of this woman (panning shots of a line of men with their mouths open and a man spraying shoes loosing concentration and spraying the customer) but after a while I felt annoyed that they were just focusing on her sexuality. However I did like the matching shots when both male characters had a close up shot of their eyes with the bowling ball covering the rest of their face. Matching the shots like this, made a clear comparison between the 2 characters.
Its not about you it's me
This is my favorite video out of the three because it makes the audience feel sympathy for the main character, it is very funny in places and the happy ending is understated and subtle. I really admire the way the cafe scenes have been filmed. It is not too stylized but there is just enough symbolism and meaning reflected through the types of shots and the repetition. The point of view shots used isolate the characters from each other and shows the uncomfortable/funny reactions from the main character to each girl's distaste for him and his gifts. The repetition of him giving the same flowers to all the different girlfriends and the girls leaving one after another, is synchronised with the repetition of the lines 'I guess we've got nothing the same' and 'don't you go home'. This technique highlights the lyrics and gives a sense of familiarity. From these three videos, it is clear they like to use unglamorous locations for their narrative sequences. ('greasy spoon' cafe, bowling ally, pubs and corner shop) This fact coupled with their singing style (their london accent is still audible) give an impression of down to earth, normal people which helps their audience to relate to them. Also in each video, the other band members 'work' in the location which adds to this persona of 'real' people. e.g. the guitarist works in the kitchen and the drummer works at the bar in the bowling ally. It also adds a surreal element as they spontaneously start playing their instruments in the kitchen!
Elvis ain't dead
There are just a few elements I wanted to pick out of this video that I thought were really original and fun. The concept of the main character seeing Elvis every where he looks surreal and really kooky, and they have executed it really well. the costumes are not flash or very realistic but that adds to the humour. The reactions of the main character, especially the mirror shot, the looks to camera in the corner shop and the close up shots in the pub, are very funny and provide a normal reaction to the mad imaginings of his subconscious. Another really clever technique they have used to make sure the audience understands the Elvis's are just in his mind is at 3.02 where the shot of a pub full of Elvises is wiped using a man walking across the shot, to reveal all the people in normal clothes. I would really like to find out how this was done and if it would be possible to use the technique in our video, should we have a reason to. This narrative combined with quite an uncharacteristically glamorous stage set make this video a great and funny one.
From this analysis I have learnt:
Using less glamourous locations can still look brilliant and professional if the set is dressed properly.
We can pick out lyrics by having them appear on things that are found through the video. For example: showing 'elvis aint dead' on card a found in the street.
Scounting for Girls use humour aimed very much at a male audience, we will not be aiming our video at a mainly male audience.
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