Shot count analysis

Track: Radioactive                                                   

Artist: Imagine Dragons                                     

Director: Syndrome Studios                                 

Release Date: May 3rd, 2013

Length of video:4:21

Number of shots in entire video:163

Average length of shot:1.6

.

Number of shots in 30 second segment:18

Within the 30 second segment there are:

Number of CU: 4

Number of ECU: 5

Number of LS: 3

Number of MS: 7

Number of panning shots: 0 

Number of tilts: 0

Other shots: POV
start : 17 seconds in
ends at 47 seconds

Shot number	Shot type	Shot length	Description	Edit to next shot
1	Extreme close up	1.5 seconds	And extreme close up of a flower	Straight cut
2	Mid shot	1 second	Man playing guitar behind bars	Straight cut
3	Close up	1.5 seconds	Close up of man behind bars	Straight cut
4	Close up	1.5 seconds	Women walking	Straight cut
5	Long shot	1 second	Women walking camera positioned at side	Straight cut
6	Mid to close up	3 seconds	Women walking toward the camera starting with a mid-shot and ending in a close up.	Straight cut
7	Establishing shot	1 second	Long shot of a shed/barn to show main place	Straight cut
8	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Extreme close up of women’s eyes	Straight cut
9	Mid shot	3 seconds	Women goes toward the barn with mysterious box in her hand	Straight cut
10	Mid shot	1 second	Man throwing money	Straight cut
11	Close up	2.5 second	Over the shoulder shot of hooded person	Straight cut
12	Long shot	2 seconds	Artist lip syncing	Straight cut
13	Extreme close up	2 seconds	Close up of box	Straight cut
14	Mid shot	1 second	Artist lip syncing	Straight cut
15	POV shot	2 seconds	Group of men gambling	Straight cut
16	Mid shot	1 second	Man throwing money on to the table	Straight cut
17	Mid shot	0.5	Man behind bars	Straight cut
18	Extreme close up	0.5	Close up of guitar strings	Straight cut

 What have you Learnt?

From doing this shot count analysis I have learnt much from music videos which I have seen before but never really picked up on. Firstly I looked at the edit to next shot, straight cut were highly common and very few other types of transitions are used. Also the average length of each shot is no more than a few seconds and anything longer is very rare, these aspects give the music video a very high tempo and can often reflect the type of music. Also I noticed that there are normally two separate scenarios in music videos the first will be some sort of storyline and the other will be the artist performing, the two parts to the video are completely separate and they both serve different purposes to entertain and to portray the artist image. Lastly I noticed that the video does not necessarily have to match the music or the lyrics as many videos are very different to what you would imagine.