Research: Music Video Analysis

Track: Castle on the hill 

Artist: Ed Sheeran

Record Co: Atlantic (Warner)
Director: George Belfield

Release Date: 23^rd January 2017

Video Length: 4:48

Shot Amount: 105
Shot Length: Varies between 3 to 10 seconds

Time analysed from: 1:45 - 2:15 
Number of Shots:  14
Number of Close Ups: 9
Number of Extreme Close Ups: 1
Number of Extreme Long Shots: 1
Number of Mid Shots: 1
Number of Two Shots: 2
Number of Over the shoulder shots: 1

Shot Number	Shot Type	Shot Length	Description	Edit to the next shot
1	Close Up	2s	A teenage boy stood by a wall lighting up a cigarette.	Straight Cut
2	Extreme Close Up	2s	The mouth of a different boy, watching the smoke release.	Straight Cut
3	Mid Shot // Two Shot	2s	Two guys walking through a race track car park	Straight Cut
4	Close Up	2s	A shot that is linking to the one before, however it is a close up of one of the guys as they carry on walking	Straight Cut
5	Two Shot	2s	A girl and boy sat in the car together	Straight Cut
6	Extreme Long Shot	2s	An overview of the empty car park, that has a random car and a group of people stood outside of a bus stop in the middle.	Straight Cut
7	Close Up	2s	The shot returns to the girl and boy in the car that are now kissing	Straight Cut
8	Close Up	1s	A shot of the guy looking into the distance	Straight Cut
9	Close Up	2s	This shot is an eye line match to the shot before, allowing the audience to see what is in the distance. In the distance is another guy walking towards them	Straight Cut
10	Over the shoulder shot	1s	Shows a group of people gathered around. The over the shoulder shot means that the audience is able to see more of the people that are stood around in the group	Straight Cut
11	Close Up	2s	The shot is showing a fed up girl that is gathered around in the group	Straight Cut
12	Close Up	5s	The shot returns to Ed Sheeran singing as he walks down the lane.	Straight Cut
13	Close Up	4s	A side close up is of a different teenage boy that is playing on the slot machine	Straight Cut
14	Close Up	1s	The 30 seconds ends with the a girl talking, whilst holding a straw in her hand	Straight Cut

By watching this music video, I was able to learn that the transition from one clip to another is commonly a straight cut. The reason that a cut maybe used over a dissolve or a wipe is because it makes the editing look a lot cleaner, and will run at lot smoother through a lot of different shots. As well as looking at the editing, you can see that it is very common for a music video to contain a lot of shots that last roughly two seconds, rather than a couple of shots that are thirty seconds long. The reason for this is because of the idea that a music video is trying to keep the audience interested in what is happening. When creating my own music video I will be taking into account that the more shots that I cram into the video, in as many different shot types works a lot better and means that it will be like other types of videos that have already been created by professionals.