Timed Analysis

Radiohead – Karma Police

0.00 – 0.07

0.00 – Stationary establishing mid shot.

0.08 – 0.17

0.08 – Quick left panning shot until the camera reaches the front of the car allowing for a long shot out of the front window.

0.17 – 0.20

0.17 – The shot remains still whilst the car lights turn on within the mise en scene.

0.21 – 0.23

0.21 – The light turns of again whilst the shot framing remains the same; the mise en scene lighting change occurs at the same time that the sound of a car door shutting can be heard.

0.24 – 0.27

0.24 – The car lights flick on once again as the crescendo begins slowly to increase. The slow pace of shots reflects the slow pace of song.

0.28 – 1.07

0.28 – The long shot framing begins to change as the car starts moving once the musical first verse begins. As the car continues down the leading line of the road it becomes obvious gradually that the car is following a running man.

1.08 – 1.32

1.08 – The camera begins to pan inwards within the car once more to reveal the performance aspect of the video through the lead singer for the first time. The lead singer of the band is seen singing to the chorus of the song with the lyrics “This is what you get”.

1.33 – 1.56

1.32 – The camera begins to pan outwards once more after the lead singer stops singing along to the recorded soundtrack meaning the music stops being synchronus diegetic and transitions to asynchronus non-diegetic sound. As the shot is once again from the front perspective long shot it can be seen that the running protagonist is much closer as the tracking shot continues.

1.57 – 2.23

1.57 – The camera pans right back to the backseat of the car where the lead singer again is synchronusly singing the lyrics of the chorus. The shot this time is close up to mimic the closer framing of the running protagonist. Once more the miming stops before the final lyrics of the chorus “When you mess with us” which is used as a sound bridge during the pan back.

2.24 – 2.34

2.24 – The camera pans round once more as the music reaches a crescendo and the running man is seen much closer again.

2.35 – 2.49

2.35 – Cut away to close up shot of the running protagonist as the headlights of the car flash over the shoulder.

2.50 – 3.00

2.50 – Jump cut back to the framing out of the windscreen for another long shot. The running protagonist is seen slowing and collapsing to the floor.

3.01 – 3.06

3.01 – Match on action low angle cut away as the shot transitions to a close up on the collapsed secondary protagonist. Synchronus diegetic sound of the car slowing is introduced.

3.07 – 3.14

3.07 – Cut to a mid shot of the secondary protagonist on the floor. As the music increases the running man stands up and faces the camera in a direct address following the motion of an upwards tilt tracking shot to a close up on the face of the character.

3.15 – 3.21

3.15 – Quick cut back to point of view mid shot from the perspective of the primary protagonist. The car starts reversing as can be seen due to the subject getting smaller in the leading line scenery.

3.22 – 3.23

3.22 – Cut away to a point of view shot that shows the car aimed at the secondary protagonist.

3.23 – 3.24

3.23 – Cut back to a close up shot of the secondary character looking distressed lit by the headlights of the car. Shot change pace begins increasing due to the tempo of the song increasing very marginally but also to create a climax in the narrative storyline.

3.24 – 3.27

3.24 – Cut to the headlights on the car. This transitions to a canted tracking shot mimicing the point of view of the secondary protagonist and follows the motion of flammable petrol leading up in a trail to the secondary protagonist. Lens glare is edited on top to mimic the extreme brightness and interrogation-like lighting of headlights.

3.27 – 3.28

3.27 – Quick cut back to the protagonist stood at an extreme long shot allowing time for the audience to process the symbolism of the petrol trail alongside the lyrics of the song.

3.28 – 3.30

3.27 – Cut away to long shot of the car. The lens solar flare is continued as a post-production editing technique to stress the brightness of the car lights.

3.31 – 3.32

3.31 – Cut back to a mid shot of the secondary character looking distressed once more.

3.33 – 3.39

3.33 – Cut in to the hand of the protagonist reaching into his pocket erratically. The hand of the character reaches behind the back but the object being held is obscured thus linking to Barthe’s Enigma Code. A tracking upwards tilt shot then moves up the body until an almost over the shoulder shot is employed so the audience can see the standoff between the two protagonists.

3.40 – 3.45

3.40 – Cut away to the hands holding what is now obviously a box of matches.

3.46 – 4.08

3.46 – Cut back to an extreme long point of view shot from inside the car as the primary character is unaware of the actions of the secondary protagonist. The match is dropped and the car begins reversing at speed to escape the fire and possible explosion. The car then catches on fire as it gets further away.

4.09 – 4.13

4.09 – A low angle pan up to exaggerate the flames is followed by a canted angle back and fourth pan to mimic the motion of someone panicking in the fire.

4.14 – 4.20

4.14 – A right pan reveals to the audience that the primary protagonist is no longer in the back seat.

4.21 – 4.26

4.21 – Cut to a black screen as the record company name fades up and then fades out returning back to a black screen once the music has also faded out.