RC - Looking at a music video for editing inspiration

It is easy for anyone to get too immersed in a project you are working on; an aspect that I am concerned may happen to me and the rest of my group. This is why each one of us have taken it upon ourselves to commit to something that works outside the box that is our music video. In order to keep an open mind I am going to analyse a music video primarily looking at the editing techniques, which will enable me to be inspired and to potentially offer new ideas for the editing process of our production.

I have decided to look at the music video 'VCR' by The xx:

The xx are an indie/rock band from London, England.

My initial reason for choosing this video was out of my own liking, despite the fact that this band is similar to The Enemy, it was then after watching it that I felt it would be relevant to the development of our video.

Recently we have been discussion over whether our music video should be converted to black and white due to some of our footage lacking the quality that we originally desired. This suggestion could be one that is put into action particularly because our deadline is now quickly approaching and there may not be a chance for us to re-shoot the parts we felt were of a lower standard. Personally I was not keen on the black and white effect as I felt that some sections in our video needed the impact that colour would provide, however, this video proves that using black and white can be just as effective, although it is clear that this is dependent on the brightness and contrast of each shot.

One other aspect that could relate to our work is the how the beat of the track seems to match the cutting rate of the footage to great effect. This is definitely something that we need to work on ourselves, because although we are aware of the song's beat in terms of the cutting rate, some areas need to be cut more efficiently so that none of our shots are stationary.

I personally like how the order of these shots provide the basis for a good storyline; one key aspect of our video is building narrative, as concept is the foundation of our video. The XX's video has allowed me to investigate into how narrative is built effectively.