Music Video Analysis / Switchblade Smiles

Switchblade Smiles by Kasabian was the first single from their 2011 album 'Velociraptor'.  The genre of the band/song would fit into the indie/psychedelic rock genre and in general the video is typical of it's genre. The length of the video is 4 minutes 16 seconds long and it was uploaded to YouTube on the 15th July, 2 months prior to the release of the album. It was produced by renowned filmmaker Charlie Lightening who had previously worked on music videos by Arcade Fire and short documentaries for Liam Gallagher's clothing label 'Pretty Green' and directed by conceptual designer Aitor Throup. Although the majority of the video consists of just black and white editing the contrast of the film has just been lowered significantly which is quite common with videos in the indie/alternative genre although there are some hints of vibrant colour throughout which look quite effective. The video is mainly performance based but rather than the band just performing on a stage throughout, they're performing in front of some form of green screen in order to create a 'white room' effect. The camera rarely stays in one place during the video and there are a wide range of different shots from various angles. 

           

The entire band themselves appear to be wearing completely black clothes in order for them to stand out effectively on the white background. Tom Meighan and Serge Pizzorno, the guitarist/vocals and lead vocalist from the band seem to take centre stage in the video and appear more than the other members. However, this is quite typical for Kasabian as these two members tend to usually feature in Radio or Television interviews and magazine shoots over the rest of the band. Not only is there footage of the band performing in the video but various different shots of the band doing various things that to keep in sync with the music. For example, at several points throughout the songs there is the sound of both Serge and Tom simply singing 'Aaaahhhhhh' for fairly lengthy periods of time and the video matches this with the two members shout the lyric to each other. This is a great way to start the video of a fairly up beat and lively song, foreshadowing what is to come. 

This and other similar parts during the music video also draws attention to the lyrics of the song. As well as close ups of both Serge and Tom lip syncing appearing on various occasions throughout, quite a stand out lyric 'MOVE' fills the screen in bright red writing whenever it sounds in the song. This is very effective in my opinion and the colour makes it really stand out in front of the back drop of just blacks, whites and greys. To match this, the white back drop also turns to red later on in the video. Other videos that include similar conventions are Azealia Banks' hit single '212'. 

The editing includes lots of short snappy cuts in certain places especially when the music gets quicker and louder. The camera is only completely still on the odd occasion as the majority of the shots pan or rotate in various different directions. When searching for the Switchblade Smiles video on YouTube, I came across the 'Making Of' video which I found very interesting and helpful  when writing my analysis of the video.