Timed Analysis 2

The Killers - "Miss Atomic Bomb"

0:00-0:04: A white screen fading into a location of a desert. The cinematography is the camera panelling at a fast pace.

0:05-0:12: The song title "Miss Atomic Bomb" fades onto the screen, whilst still panelling through a desert.

0:15-0:17: A medium shot of a caravan, whilst the camera slowly zooms into it.

0:20-0:30: Eye-line match of the old man looking at a letter on the floor. The camera zooms in closer towards to males face as he picks up the letter, which emphasises his emotions, therefore making the audience sympathise with him.

0:30-0:35: Fades of the old man, photo frames and onto a cartoon ballerina. 

0:36-0:44: A close up of a ballerina glowing, as well as wearing white, which links to Barthes Semantic code due to the image of the woman being angelic, as well as the symbolic code being used due to white connoting innocence and purity. 

1:02-1:05: Medium shot of the old man against a white background in natural light and causal clothing. This might connote that this is a normal everyday situation without an exaggerated or surreal narrative that the audience would be able to relate to.

1:06-1:12: Shot reverse shot of the cartoon version of the old male throwing stones at a window and the old man himself walking around in his caravan and looking out of the window, which connotes him looking back on old memories which is shown by the cartoon. Lots of close-up shots are used to emphasise the characters emotions, making the audience sympathise with them. In this case, the emotion shown is love and broken hearted.

1:16-1:27: Shot reverse shot is used again with the cartoon female looking out to the audience whilst on stage. The shots of the female are in colour, connoting that she is full of life as she is young and bold. However the audience are all in black and white, as well as wearing dark colours connoting society being dull and everyone being the same like a herd of sheep. This gives a moral message of standing out from the crowd.

1:30: A medium shot of a bouquet of flowers being thrown on the floor. The flowers are red, which signifies love and the shoes are pink, which signifies lust as well as being a stereotypical colour for females as it's seen as a "girly" colour. This therefore suggests that the female has mixed emotions at this time as she isn't sure whether to choose her love for the man or the lust for fame.

1:43-1:50: Close-up shots are used for the male and female looking at each other when they finally meet, then a fade is used onto a close-up shot of two bugs who also seem in love. One bug is grey with green lines (symbolising the male) and the other is pink with blue lines (symbolising the female). This connotes that the male was feeling empty and this woman has brought happiness and growth to his life, whereas the female is in love but she still isn't completely happy as the blue signifies sorrow and sadness, which may be the lust for fame which he cannot give her.

2:08-2:14: Eye-line match is used when the female is looking up to the sky, then the sky having shooting stars. Shot reverse shot is used with the eye-line match as the camera goes back to the woman and then an extreme close up shot of her gripping onto the man tighter. This symbolises that she wishes to be with him as she smiles only when she's with him.

2:16-2:20: Shot reverse shot is used again with the man looking the opposite way of where he's driving to as he sees a mysterious male figure wearing a hat leaning on a fancy car watching them go by, signifying that there is a distraction in the man and woman's relationship.

2:29-2:31: A medium shot of the female standing next to the mysterious man wearing a dark pink, which symbolises that she chose the lust for fame over love. This is also shown by the colour of the flowers being a dark pink, which connotes the strength for her lust for fame.

2:38-2:39: Medium shot of the man looking directly at the camera in sorrow, whilst the background is sucked in and then turned black, connoting his heartbreak. This makes the audience sympathise with him.

2:46-2:53: The lighting around the man is red, connoting his anger about his love leaving him. Also, a close-up shot is used of him holding a ring in his hand, showing that he wanted to marry her. However, when the ring is shown, the red light reflects off of the diamond and turns it to pink, connoting the woman's lust for fame, which makes the man throw the ring on the floor and walk off, symbolising that he's letting her go.

3:02-3:05: Time-lapse of the ma ageing, whilst looking directly at the camera. This gains the audiences attention and sympathise with him.

3:06-3:12: A pan shot going in different directions of the woman ageing with her rich boyfriend, then shows her life story by a medium shot of her doing drugs and then her eventually having children with someone else. This can show that she wasn't happy with the choice she made and she's regretting it.

3:21-3:25: A close-up and zoom out is used at the same time on a clock which is going anti-clockwise with a black background, making the audience focus on that. Then a medium shot of a guitarist, connoting that the man is thinking of what he could've been.

3:33-3:53: The woman comes out of a fancy car dressed in fur and wearing lots of makeup, connoting that she's still living the famous life and she's not wanting to age. She looks at the edge of the cliff in front of the moonlight thinking about what could've been, due to her watching herself getting proposed to and being happy. Eventually she walks off back into the car. This connotes that she misses the man and she regrets her choices.

4:41-4:46: A close-up shot of a photo frame with an image of a ballerina, which is the woman, showing that the man has never forgotten about her.

4:47-4:48: Blackout, showing that it's the end of the video.

4:49: Credits.


From this video, it has inspired my group and I to use some of its aspects to create our own music video. For example, the synopsis of a romance and a video telling the story by using actors and actresses. Also, we will use editing such as blackouts and fades to change scenes, which keeps the audience wanting to watch more and understand what's going on. The cinematography used will be close-ups, extreme close-ups, medium and long shots to help the audience sympathise with characters and know the locations of which they are in. The mise-en-scene used will be casual clothing as shown in this video of the 'Killers' as well as using a variety of locations and props. The sound will be used as the same as this video, which will mainly be the non-diegetic sound of the song playing throughout the video.

Timed Analysis

Timed Analysis of James Arthur "Say You Won't Let Go"

0:00-0:01: Blackout and then fade-out to the first shot of James Arthur sitting on the sofa alone.

0:01-0:02: Medium shot of James Arthur sitting alone on the sofa, playing his guitar. The editing used is a black and white filter, which creates a chilled but dull mood within the scene.

0:03-0:05: Close-up of James' face. This is used to help emphasise the emotions shown, which will make the audience sympathise with James.

0:05-0:07: Extreme close-up shot of rain falling into water in slow motion. This can also create a relaxed atmosphere.

0:07-0:08: Long shot of two people in a boat, with their figures and the boat looking like a silhouette. 

0:08-0:09: An over the shoulder shot is used to look over James' shoulder and see him looking down at the window. This shows that he is trying to hide his emotions, however, the audience want to continue to sympathise with him. This is also shown by the camera putting all the focus on his face, whilst blurring out the scenery outside.

0:13-0:15: Low-angle shot of a couple walking. The camera panels to the right to focus on the woman. Again, the main focus is on her and everything else is blurred out, connoting that nothing else matters to the man other than her.

0:16-0:20: Shot reverse shot is used due to the camera continuing to go back to James singing whilst playing the guitar, then going to the couple. This connotes that he's telling a personal story to the audience due to the flashbacks being used.

0:20-0:23: A medium shot of the couple standing still is used and then eventually blurs out whilst they are walking and playing around in the field. This connotes that they want privacy.

0:32-0:34: A medium shot of a man in the studio is used, showing the audience the scenes in the background which occurred whilst James was filming this video. Therefore showing the audience how much work he puts in into his music. 

0:43-0:47: Shot reverse shot is used as shot one is the couple are looking down at the equipment, then the second shot shows the equipment. This helps the audience engage with whats happening, therefore making them want to watch more to find out what may happen next.

0:54: A medium shot of James is shown looking at the audience, which is known as direct address. This, again, engages the audience to watch more of the video as James is singing directly at them, making them feel comfortable.

1:03-1:05: A medium shot of a man holding his baby is shown and then a close-up of the baby's face. The costume, which the baby is wearing is white, connoting innocence and purity. However, the male is wearing a grey shirt, connoting that he's ageing due to old people stereotypically having grey hair as they age. Also, it connotes maturity as the male is a fully-grown adult.

1:14-1:19: Extreme close-up shots are used at the same time as shot reverse shot as the camera starts at the baby's face, then to the baby holding onto the fathers fingers. This symbolises love ad the fathers hands are gentle with the baby's delicate hands, as well as him looking down at the baby smiling, showing the strong bond that they have.

2:11-2:15: A medium shot of a man and a dog, linking to the quote "a dog is a mans best friend".

2:35-2:37: A medium shot of tan elderly woman in a hospital bed with family gathered around her. The camera slowly panels closer to them. This links to the stereotype of elderly due to them being seen as weak and a burden.

2:42-2:45: A close-up shot of the man at a much older age crying, making the audience sympathise with him as they understand the reason why. This also links to the stereotype of the elderly due to elderly couples sticking together and having a long lasting relationship.

2:50-3:10: The camera panels and shakes in every shot shown, connoting the roller coaster of emotions which the man is facing, due to him knowing that his wife is dying. Shot reverse shot is used too by the camera being on the old man, back to James.

3:12-3:15: The camera goes back to the medium shot of the elderly woman in the hospital bed but this time, the camera panels away from her, connoting that she doesn't have long to live and is leaving her and the family to say their goodbyes.

3:16-3:17: Goes back to the medium shot of James Arthur sitting alone on the sofa, playing his guitar, connoting that he's only been telling his personal story based on the future.

3:23-3:30: Close-up shot of James' face and a blur-out was used to connote the end of the story and video. Also a credit is shown saying "Directed by Felix Urbauer".


From this video of James Arthur "Say You Won't Let Go", my group and I have been inspired to use some of its conventions. For example the use of editing such as the black and white filter in some parts of the video and fades to change shots and let the audience know what's happening. Also, the mise-en-scene used will be casual clothing which is used in this video, as well as a variety of locations to keep the narrative going and the audience engaged. The cinematography used will be close-up, extreme close-up, long and medium shots of the characters and props. Finally, the sound used will be the non-diegetic sound of the song playing throughout the music video to help tell the narrative of the performance occurring.