Music Video Analysis - Losses

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Short Film Analysis

Losses – FilmRiot:

Narrative:

·      The location is not too clear until you get a few minutes into the film. We start with a 4x4 vehicle driving up to the camera which pans round to the back and shows a man taking a hostage out of the boot of the car. The main title shows and we cut to the first location. It is an interrogation room that is harshly lit. In this room, we first see the main protagonist and the main villain. Some aggressive lines of dialogue are exchanged until the villain gives the protagonist a chance to find him in five minutes after he un-cuffs himself with a paper clip. The first henchman approaches the agent (protagonist) then he is smoothly killed by the agent with the paper clip. The agent walks out into a corridor of a large building and this is when the action starts. He disarms one henchman, kills him then shoots two more in the same location. Another appears who he also kills. He then enters a second location (looks like a balcony) where a cover gunfight takes place. He does some skillful moves and eventually kills all of the henchmen. The next scene is probably the best done. It is a one on one fight scene. It begins with a powerful fist fight then the agent acquires a pool cue. This is what he uses to kill him. The music here fits perfectly and when the fight is over it seems to seamlessly move into the next scene. As the agent walks up the stairs he grabs a revolver to kill the main villain. He enters the room, the villain tells him that hes got the job, he doesn’t like it and shoots him. End.

Music / SFX:

·      Seeing as this is a short film and not a music video, multiple songs are used in different sections of the video, however they all follow the same tune and are all in the same genre of music.

·      The first song is a collection of strings, drums and what sounds like a few electric guitar notes. It is absolutely brilliant score to start the video, it sounds very “special ops”. From multiple modern warfare games I have played such as Splinter Cell or Rainbow Six Vegas 2, this song very much reminds me of music from the games.

·      During the interrogation scene, it sounds like only a bass guitar plays a few notes in the same style as the song before. Some very faint electric guitar notes come in again. It sounds absolutely perfect with the scene.

·      As the action builds up, the strings and guitars become louder and louder. When the first shot is fired, the main song comes in along with louder drums. It really gives a sense of the action.

·      The next scene has a similar song but with stronger guitar sounds. For the rest of the film, the music stays like this until the end where is builds up so much tension before the final kill then cuts off for a stylistic effect.

·      The sound effects used in this video are all incredible. There is actually a behind the scenes video which explains more than I could made by the same people who made the film. It is amazingly informative: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSZvs8hecI0&safe=active

Lighting / Colour:

·      The colour and lighting in this film fits to the codes and conventions of other action films. The first shot is very dark and desaturated to build the tension and to show the genre. There was also a faint cyan filter over the image.

·      The interrogation scene was very well lit. For all shots, there is a warm back light for the actor and a cooler font light. This is a very generic convention of almost all films if there is an object in a darker space. The contrast is also very high and the grading is done very well.

·      The lighting is constantly very harsh on the actors and room to show the gritty and urban environment.

·      When the first scene ends, we move onto where the action first starts. The lighting here is just practicals (lighting that is shown in the shot) from the hallway, however the muzzle flares are very detailed when broken down. Again, there is a great behind the scenes video on how they do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDx83vsLLKk&feature=bf_next&list=SP5F218CF0B697F371&safe=active

·      In addition to the green/blue tint to all the clips, some faint and realistic lens flares have been used to give the stylistic effect of an action/sci-fi film.

Characters:

·      Similar to “Dubstep Guns”, none of the characters have names, if they had names it would be too much to remember for the narrative and would take you away from the elements.

·      The main protagonist is dressed in a black leather jacket, dark trousers and black shoes. Seeing as the first time me is introduced he is in the trunk of a car, we assume that he has been captured by villains and forced to kill his way out of the building.

·      He keeps a serious expression throughout the whole film and nothing seems to phase him.

·      The next character appears to be the boss of all the henchmen that attempt to kill the main protagonist. He is wearing a suit and smoking what seems to be a cigarette holder. He acts very casually and treats the main protagonist like an item talking about the “money” he put into him. He acts the same in the two scenes we see him in.

·      The other characters all appear to be henchmen who one by one are killed by the main protagonist apart from one. He is still killed but gets far more screen time that other characters.

Genre:

·      Being an action short film, there are multiple codes and conventions that the film follows. First of which being the use of guns and over exaggerated muzzle flares for a stylistic effect.