music video analysis = Slam, Pendulum

The video for Pendulum’s “slam” is incredibly individual and entertaining yet very simple in its filming, editing and narrative.
The video beings to set the scene of the narrative and events that will take place within it in unison with the introduction in the song building to the music. The first shot is a high angle shot looking down on a car being driven by a man through a small road with a sign at the end of it. As the car approaches the sign the shot changes to dolly shot that gets closer to the sign reading “Road Closed” as if we were the front of the vehicle. The man’s face is then revealed in a close up shot into his mirror followed by the camera panning round from the back of the car to the front of it to a mid shot of the man sitting in it.
A close up of the back seat and in particular a gym bag being removed from the car suggest to the audience that this will play a part in the narrative and its necessity to the man will be revealed later thus keeping the audience’s interest. Another example of a close up is when the man takes a bite from what appears to be a Cornish pasty the audience will relate back to later in the video.
The producers and makers of the video have done their best to include as many interesting features in terms of filming and being artistic as possible with over cranking being used in places combined with an effect that wipes peoples movements across the screen as if they’ve been smudged. In contrast, around twenty seconds later the man is standing in the middle of the street with people walking past him and activities happening very fast.
Quick editing is evident when the music has three quick, successive drum hits and the man starting off quite far back is suddenly right in front of the camera. Point of view shots are also used from the point of view of the main character looking at other people walking past him and giving him funny looks.
Around one minute twenty seconds the use of the bag is revealed when the man removes a CD player and a CD with “slam, Pendulum” written on it. This happens in a number of different locations in different streets. Then as the music speeds up the main character beings to take off his tie, tie it round his head and rip his shirt off to reveal a rather large stomach and unfit figure. He then, in unison with the music, starts to dance topless in the street with on lookers amazed. This is the individual and entertaining element of the video, something viewers will find amusing and want to watch again and they will want to show their friends etc. which means it gains a lot of views and popularity (ultimately popularity for the band and their music).
The rest of the video is just composed using different types of shots of the man dancing to add variation to it and ensure it doesn’t become too boring to watch. The editing fits in well with the music. Transitions between shots are fast when the music is and slow when the music is slow. A good example of that is when the music slows down and takes a break, the man takes a breather and the shots of him in frame become longer but when the music comes back the shots are short and sharp to allow the viewers to get a real feel of the music and feel involved.