Monday 8 September 2014

Music Video Analysis: Underneath It All-Zebrahead

The first shot is a tilt long shot of a dirtied trailer in America, implying a low-budget lifestyle for the stars in the video. The concept of this video takes the form of a hidden camera show (similar to 'Cheaters'), with the band members acting as the film crew and as the person they are filming.

It then cuts to a medium shot, in the style of a home video confession, in which a woman, parodying Gwen Stefani, who was the singer of the band that originally released this song, explaining how her partner Matt (who is the lead singer of Zebrahead) was cheating on her. She then brings up a rabbit mascot headpiece (comically used in many of this band's videos).

The next shot is a long shot, in which a silver van drives in, it then cuts to a medium shot of the band members (emulating a film crew) jumping out. It then cuts to another long shot of the band in poses.

It then zooms in to Ali (the other lead singer of Zebrahead) in a reality show style. It repeats the process for the other band members with the same effect.

Afterwards, it cuts to a close up of the drummer hitting the snare, before quickly cutting to a long shot of the band performing, in what looks to be a jungle-style area, surrounded my dancing animal mascots, which will be shown again later in the video.

The next medium shot shows the camera crew spying, presumably on the target. After more shots of the band, it cuts back to a long shot of Matt riding a tandem bicycle with the rabbit mascot, with a slight tracking effect.

After several more shots of the performance, it shows a stereotypical romantic comedy pan shot in which the two lovers are running to each other, however, it's not in slow motion. It then shows a transition of a heart which captures Matt and the rabbit in a heart and shrinks down, revealing the live performance section, but focused on the cat mascot. It also features many tropes of a romantic theme, such as when they are looking through the binoculars, which may also be a reference to 'Sometimes' by Britney Spears, which was also parodied in 'All The Small Things' by blink-182.

It cuts to more shots of the the film crew following Matt in his escapades, such as skipping on the beach. The shot is staged with Ali (the host) in stereotypical 70s dress (sunglasses and cigar) to the left, gesturing for the camera to follow him. This is complimented by intermittent shots of the band performing. This particular section shows the lead singer Matt and the bassist in a deep and shallow focus transition.

Later in the video, it cuts to the rabbit mascot playing the saxophone, in time with the part of the song. This may also be a reference to the original song being of the Ska genre.

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