H.P. - Technical Analysis - The Speakeasy Three

Technical Analysis of When I Get Low I Get High - The Speakeasy Three

Technical Analysis - Shot by Shot

Shot Type	Camera Movement	Mise-en-scene	Duration
Opening Credits	Zooms	1920’s style fonts in gold and grey	0:14
Mid/Long shot at a high angle	Slow panning	Establishing shot of a crowd of people dancing in pairs in typical 1920’s fashion and in a cramped but luxurious interior setting.	0:02
Mid-shot	Panning right to left	A similarly dressed band plays instruments. The camera moves across them revealing them, finally settling on the saxophonist.	0:03
Mid/Long shot at a high angle	Slow panning	The crowd again, this time the camera pans a little faster and from left to right across the crowd of people.	0:06
Close up	Static	Only the midriff and hands of the man can be seen. He is dressed smartly and is skilfully shuffling a pack of cards.	0:01
Mid Shot/Close Up	Static	Three female singers are viewed from the side looking down the row. Three retro microphones are in front of them. They sing ‘oohs’ to the music. They too are dressed in glamorous 1920’s fashion.	0:04
Mid Shot	Slow Jib or Ped Down	A couple are dancing in the crowd and the camera picks them out and draws focus to them by slowly lowering to their height from above.	0:04
Mid Shot	Slow Dolly to the left	Two men can be seen laughing and playing cards. They are framed so that the focus is on their chests and arms rather than faces. The man on the left is likely the same man as was shuffling the cards earlier.	0:02
Mid Shot	Slow camera movement backwards and direction changing by turning to the right	The camera movement follows the man’s hand as he deals cards. The footage is slow motion. Various glass bottles can be seen both filled and empty. There is British currency on the table, suggesting the country of origin and that betting is taking place.	0:02
Mid Shot	Slow Pan to left	Slow motion still. The men laugh as they play, their faces and torsos are in shot as well as the table.	0:04
Mid Shot/Close Up	Static	Repeat of the shot with the three singers	0:03
Mid Shot/ Close Up	Static	A man’s hands can be seen playing the piano	0:02
Mid Shot	Static	The man who is playing the piano. His face is viewed from the side as he plays.	0:01
		Continues in this style until the lyrics begin
Long Shot	Static	View through the crowd towards the three singers on stage. They sing and do some simple movements with the lyrics.	0:03
Mid/Long Shot	Slow Pan to the left	Shot through the crowd, lower down than before and at a slight angle to the stage. More focused on the dancing crowd but the singers can still be clearly seen in the background. They are in focus and the crowd is not.	0:04
Mid/ Long Shot	Stabilised handheld movement. Slowly moving towards the band.	The band playing, they are more engaged in the song now that the build-up has finished. They dance while they play.	0:03
High Angle, long shot	Static	High angle shot showing the singers, the band and some of the crowd. Reveals the cramped environment.	0:02
Mid Shot/ Three Shot	Static	The three singers, a closer shot of them from in front of them.	0:03
		The video continues in this style for its duration

Summary

• The visual style is first and foremost a fairly accurate recreation of a 1920's style bar, with all the action in the video taking place here.
• The video is entirely performance based, with very little in the way of narrative fuzz. Shots away from the performance are all of people in the crowd enjoying the bar with dancing and card games, and are all closely related to the performance.
• A significant difference between this video and others of the swing genre, including the electro-swing videos we have looked at already is the cinematic style of this video. It very closely resembles a Hollywood film from the 1970's or 1980's with its use of colours, shots and camera movements. The closest comparison I can find is to the scenes in the bar in the Indiana Jones Sequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Spielberg, 1984).
• The cutting rate is fairly fast for the duration of the video, with each clip usually between 2 and 4 seconds in length. This seems to make up for the number of static shots in the video, with the movement of the actors also contributing to making the video feel dynamic, despite the fact that many shots are static.

Still Frames

The following frames show the visual aspects of the video that I think will inspire our production the most. They clearly show the cinematic style that it would benefit us to try and replicate in some capacity. The most significant points of inspiration here is the colour scheme and the use of the crowded environment to make the frame look more busy and complex, while also adding a dynamic element to each shot, which is particularly important in the numerous still shots.

The framing of this image is particularly of note. By placing the three singers in the left side of the frame, facing towards the empty right side, it is implied that they are singing to an audience. It makes it clear from just one frame that this is the case.






A mixture of mid/long shots and close ups is very important. In addition to providing plenty of material to help fill the run time with a fast cutting rate, this variety of shots also shows technical skill and helps the audience to fully visualise the scene.






This shot I find particularly captivating. Among other things, I believe the strongest factor influencing the look of this shot is actually the very slight blue light hitting the woman from behind. I believe this may be one of the factors contributing to this video's late 20th century film look.






This shot is key in the video as it is the only time that all four lines of action are featured in the same shot. The band, singers, dancers and people at tables can all be seen. This is important in the video as it solidifies that they are all in the same environment, rather than just implying it.






There is a wide variety of content featured in the shots in this video, which is instrumental in keeping the viewer interested in the feature. It is not constantly cutting between the same people in the same situation, there is a wide variety of characters in various environments within the bar.






For electro-swing in particular, the music from the band is a very important component. In almost every song we have looked at in this genre the band has been featured in some capacity within the music video. We would do well to continue this trend in our own production.