1. The Saturdays- Higher
The music video begins by a medium shot of some taxis; from the taxis we
gather that the setting to this video is New York.
The Saturdays are a British girl band and this video is portraying their
conventional “girl group” image.
The first scene of the girls is in a stationary car, a medium close up introduces
three of the singers in the back, but the main focus of the shot is the girl who
is singing. The camera is allowing us to see only their faces, and the audience
can see that they have (a lot of) make up on and have “perfect” hair styling.
Therefore this also introduces their image to the audience- thus creating an
understanding of their characters within the group e.g. the one with short hair
looks like a tom-boy and the one with long blonde hair looks smiley and fun.
2. This scene then cuts to another angle from the other side of the car. Here we
are introduced to another member of the band as she sings the next part of
the song. The turn-taking technique is common way to shift the camera from
one group member to the next. This technique is effective as it looks like
natural editing, because the other girls are in the same positions as the first
shot.
There is a lyrical transition when the singer says the line “It’s getting hot in
here” and the girls exit the car and the next shot is a long shot of them walking
across a zebra crossing, kind of dancing. This shows their costumes and
reinforces the setting of NYC even more. It also shows they are now out of the
car, wondering about happily, so fans of The Saturdays might be wondering
where they are going.
There is elliptical editing, when the band go from the road to the street. As
they walk past a group of young people on some steps, their happy attitude
translates to the group of people and they start dancing etc. This is a common
scene in pop videos. The group are conveying an attitude of carefree
happiness; they are dancing and are being very upbeat amongst this traffic
jam scenario in NYC.
3. The shot reverse shot technique is used when the band are on some other
steps singing, and then shots of the other group of people dancing or other
scenarios develop around them as they take a break.
Close ups are used so the audience can start to identify with the members as
they sing. Also their clothes are more significant as the video goes on
because the girls get up and start moving around a lot, and the camera
follows them in medium/long shots so the audience can see their costumes.
Moreover, whilst the band is on the steps they are singing directly at the
camera, what they do in every shot. This helps to create a connection or a
degree of intimacy with the audience.
4. As the song changes tone and tempo slightly, and the time of day seems to
have rapidly changed to dusk, a forward tracking shot follows the band
members through the traffic as they continually sing to the camera. The shots
seem slower and more pronounced.
The final shot features the band members being joined by other people and
dancing. Some shots are in slow motion and this is to exaggerate or emphasis
the band having a really good time together.
