Technical Analysis – Africa Shox – Leftfield and Afrika Bambaata

Evaluation

It is evident from my analysis that the duration of each shot does not exceed more than two seconds. However there is a longer shot of around 25 seconds but this shot uses camera movement to design a fluid, interesting shot. This technique seems to be an alternative technique to fast paced cutting. This is because the camera moves in different directions resembling a journey. It is not still so the shot doesn’t necessarily seem longer than the others, at least it is not obviously longer than the other shots when viewed passively. This effect adds fluidity to the process of revealing and anchoring s with the main character. It also gives us more detail of where he is and his surroundings which is s good way in setting the location. Other than this shot, the majority of the shots are between 1 and 2 seconds long. This follows the timing of the music and can add more detail in mise-en-scene whilst telling a longer story in a short amount of time. The shots follow in chronological order and are continuity edited. This allows for the narrative to flow through the invisible cuts.
The movement of the camera is also essential to making the cuts go unnoticed. For example, when we see the pigeons taking off, the camera starts pedding upwards. It then cuts to a shot, still pedding up, of the pigeons flying higher up. This means that the middle part of the pigeon’s flight not in the sequence but the audience will fail to notice this. This technique is seen throughout and by cutting whilst the camera is moving, to a shot where the camera movement is continued, the cutting goes unseen.
The majority of shots and MLS, MS, MCU and CU. This allows the main character to always be the focal point of the video, thus giving us the meat which builds up a star persona. These shots also position the audience with the character which means that a certain degree of emotion can be obtained through POV shots an reaction shots. This video uses this technique to convey pain and anxiety.
The video also uses other techniques. It is fairly voyeuristic of pedestrians and films them from low camera angles which connote degradation when used I this way. The camera also zooms into a group of pedestrians from a distance which has connotations of the paparazzi intruding, stalking and spying. The video also uses still shots to good effect. When the main character’s arm breaks off we get a still CU of another man’s face which doesn’t react to the situation or help the main character. The fact that he is filmed in CU with a low camera angle makes the man seem pretty sinister. However, this is anchored further as the camera doesn’t move, as though it had been stopped dead by the man’s callous.
I think it would be a good idea to use the voyeuristic shots used in this video and also using still shots in this way would be a great help in constructing the mood of our video. Furthermore, I will use cutting on action to conceal the cuts and I may even use a longer, more fluid shot to match the baseline in our chosen track.