Textual Analysis Radiohead – Lotus Flower

Camerawork

The video features a lot of long takes of 10 seconds or more. However, certain section feature lots of short takes.

The video follows the 180 degree rule; the line is drawn horizontally across the front of him and the camera never crosses that line

From when the song starts up to when the vocals come in, there a number of mid shots of him dancing. They all face his front, however, the shots all capture him from different points of the 180 degree section. There are some close up shots as he occasionally claps to the beat of the song.

Camerawork

When the vocals start, the camera starts to capture longer, more wide angle shots as opposed to mid and close up shots

In the short refrain building up to the vocals, the camera captures a medium long shot of him as his dancing calms down and he stays in one spot ready to start singing

At the end of the line, it cuts to another medium long shot of a wider angle to show him lifting his arms in the air

Camerawork

In the final part of the verse, after he brings his arms back down, it cuts to a mid shot, and it pans downwards as he sinks to his knees. The camera pauses there for a few seconds while he dances then pans upwards as he gets up again. This is the only motion shot of the video, the rest are static.

It cuts to another mid shot of him tapping his chest while he sings the pre-chorus

Then a long shot to show him twisting his whole body around, followed by a medium long shot as he moves his arms around.

Camerawork

As the chorus starts, there is a wide angle long shot of him singing. He is positioned directly in the middle of the frame.

Medium close up shot (head and shoulders) as he twists his hands slowly together while raising them.

As the chorus ends, it switches to medium long shot perspective as he dances frantically

Camerawork

When the verse begins again, there is a medium long shot from a profile perspective as he stands still while expressing his vocals with his arms.

As the pre chorus begins again, there is a very wide angle shot from a high angle perspective, which present him as vulnerable.

This shot continues as the music interlude before the chorus plays and he claps along to the song

Camerawork

As he begins to sing the chorus, it captures a close up shot of his face from a high angle. He lifts his hands up towards the camera as he sings. The camera pans down slowly and is at eye level as he sings the final line before the drum solo

Camerawork

After the drum interlude, the camera switches to a mid shot of him from the front as he sings the hook line of the chorus.

Camerawork

As he sings the final line of the chorus, the camera shoots a medium close up from a profile perspective

Camerawork

As the vocals end, it cuts back to a medium long shot from his front as he begins to dance erratically again.

Camerawork

There are short takes of mid shots from his sides as he dances.

Camerawork

There is a short take medium closeup as he claps in sync to the song.

Camerawork

One final long shot as he freezes his movements and the camera fades.

Mise en scene

His costume is minimalistic; he is wearing a plain white shirt with black jeans with a belt on, as well as trainers and a bowler hat

Mise en scene

The room is completely empty and lighting is low key, casting a hard shadow on him

Mise en Scene

The room the song was performed in is minimalistic, with only a power outlet and plain textured walls

Mise en scene

His dancing style is unusual. During the musical introduction, he dances erratically and moves around the room

Mise en scene

During the verses, his arms still move but he stays in one spot during the vocals.

Mise en scene

During the choruses, he has minimal movements other than slowly moving his hands upwards.

Mise en scene

At the end of each chorus, he lifts his hat off his head before putting it back on again and moving into a new dance move.

Sound

Based on sound, the music video only contains the music and vocals. The vocals are considered synchronous diegetic sound, as the sound can be directly linked to his mouth moving and it exists within the world shown on screen. However, the music doesn’t exist within the world inside the video therefore it is non diegetic sound. It is also asynchronous, as it doesn’t directly link up to anything happening onscreen.

Sound

During the musical opening, he changes dance moves as the note of the bass line changes

As there is a drum fill, he shakes his body, moving to the rhythm of it.

Before the pre chorus starts, his lip syncing of the vocals temporarily stops, turning the vocals into non diegetic sound.

Sound

The vocals become non diegetic on the second pre chorus again, as he dances instead of lip syncing them

In the short interlude before the final chorus, there are synchronous diegetic hand claps.

In the final instrumental section has some background vocal notes, which when heard, it cuts to a different shot.

Editing

There are not a lot of cuts throughout this music video. Most of the shots last five seconds or more before it cuts to another shot.

During the first minute, there are more frequent cuts than in the rest of the video, which help portray his dancing as erratic and wild.

The first jumpcut transitions from a midshot to a wide angle shot, and shows the transition from one dance move to another

Editing

There are then a series of short takes in which the editing jumps to and from. The jumpcuts each show a different dance move and a different angle to the last

There is a cut to a medium close up shortly before the verse starts that shows a short take of his face.

There is then one long mid shot for half of the verse, which cuts to a medium long shot as he uses the pause in vocals to do a whole body dance move. It then cuts back to the midshot as he finishes the verse

Editing

There are no cuts until the prechorus begins, in which there is a jumpcut from his finishing his dance move to him starting to sing the prechorus.

Then next jumpcut comes at the end of the prechorus, in which he is dancing while spinning around, and it jumpcuts to a long shot of him standing still and singing the chorus

Editing

Halfway into the chorus, it cuts to a medium close up perspective, which shows him singing in closer detail

As the chorus ends, it cuts back to the medium long shot perspective seen in the previous verse.

When the prechorus starts for the second time, there is a jumpcut from a long to a high angle wide angle shot that shows him stumbling around the width of the room

Editing

In the short musical interlude before the chorus, there are several short takes and jumpcuts, with each cut showing him clapping to the music but in a different part of the room.

There is then a jumpcut to a high angle closeup shot of him as he begins the chorus again.

As the second section of the chorus starts, there is a jumpcut to him with his hands together from a profile perspective, which cuts to a front facing mid shot perspective as he begins to sing again.

Editing

There is one final cut in the chorus, in which it cuts from front facing mid shot perspective to a mid shot from the side as he lifts his hat and puts it back down again.

When the chorus line ends, it cuts back to the medium long shot perspective the music video started with.

The last 25 seconds of the video show him dancing quickly while there are short takes and cuts from different perspectives as he dances.

The final long shot is a longer take and it fades out to signify the end of the video