F.O'C: Technical analysis

'Take Me to Church' Hozier

Shot number & Length	Shot distance	Camera, mise en scene & editing
1.       2 sec	Medium close up	Very slight Steadicam of a campfire in an unknown location. The greyscale makes the flames stand out as white in the darkness. It’s not a neat fire however, it has various grates of wood that look like they formed something prior to the fire.
2.       1.5sec	Medium eyeline shot	Handicam pan right of a man (man 1) clearly in a rush. He looks out of breath and is running through a doorway. Still in greyscale.
3.       2 sec	Long shot	The camera is tracking backwards smoothly in Steadicam with a man (man 2) cycling towards the camera at a constant distance. He wears a hoodie and isn’t in a rush, a contrast from the previous shot.
4.       1.5sec	Close up	Back to the fire, we now see an object of interest, a box, locked up in chains in the heart of the fire. The camera is steady here and is very slowly pedding down.
5.       0.5 sec	Medium close up	The camera is rapidly tilted to follow the box in Steadicam. The box is in centre frame the whole shot. Man 1 frantically grabs the same box from a shelf, connoting that the shots of the fire are in the present and everything else narratively has already happened.
6.       1.5sec	Medium close up	The camera tracks in towards the box in Steadicam from a high angle. The box, still in centre frame, is now on the floor. This event is seconds after the previous shot and shows the man chaining it shut as fast as he can.
7.       2.5 sec	Medium long shot	The camera is following man 2 on the bike from the front again (presumably from the back of a car) like in shot 3 but shakier and from a closer distance, only showing half his body. He is travelling faster now and it looks like he’s looking out for something. He’s slightly anxious.
8.       2 sec	Medium long shot	Man 1 is digging a hole in the earth with full concentration. His feet are planted but the camera tilts up and down with his body as he bends to shovel the dirt. The box is next to him, implying that he intends to bury it.
9.       0.5sec	Medium close up	The camera follows the box in shakey handicam keeping it in centre frame like in shot 5 as man 1 puts it in the ground, giving it added importance. We only see the box and his hands in frame.
10.   1sec	Medium shot	Shot 10 is an action cut which follows on from shot 9. The camera tilts and peds up and down to follow man 1’s body as he finished putting the box in the ground. His head moves in and out of frame faster than the camera can follow him.
11.   1 sec	Medium close up	A relatively still shot of man 1 finishing the digging sequence by pressing down the dirt in which he buried the box. The camera has very little movement and is purely focused on the ground from a high angle, only his hands in frame. Blades of grass cross the frame but are out of focus, not distracting from the action.
12.   3.5 sec	Medium close up	Intense shot of the box in the fire which is still blazing. The camera is still apart from slight movement due to Steadicam.
13.   2sec	Medium long shot to medium shot	The camera pans left and tilts up as man 2 cycles towards a fence and starts to get off his bike.
14.   2sec	Medium shot.	The camera pans left quickly and then slows down as man 2 runs through the fence and starts to fast walk as though he’s in a rush. He’s not entirely visible as the camera is positioned behind the fence so the viewer is positioned looking through the gaps between the metal bars which are out of focus.
15.   3sec	Medium shot	Looking at the base of a small hill which man 2 quickly descends in a few steps while the camera tilts down then up in Steadicam. A lot of the video is very slightly in slow-motion. It’s more apparent in this shot as we can see man 2 isn’t falling at regular speed.
16.   1sec	Extreme long shot	The camera pans right from a low angle, following 40 or so small birds in the sky above terraced houses.
17.   1sec	Medium long shot	Steadicam focussed on man 1 as man 2 walks into frame. Man 1 looks happy as he stands up and sees man 2 walking towards him. His NVL is relaxed & they both have practical, plain clothing, connoting they are comfortable with each other.
18.   1 sec	Medium close up	The camera tilts up slightly and follows their movement in handicam as they embrace in a hug the closer camera distance and the 3 consecutive shots of this reflecting the intensity of the moment.
19.   0.5 sec	Medium long shot	Same framing as shot 17. The two characters are hugging like in shot 18, head’s buried in each other’s shoulders.
20.   1sec	Medium close up	Tracking shot of them walking side by side. Man 1 looking around, wary of something (NVL). The camera is on the other side of a fence to the two men. The relevance of this is to connote the imprisonment of their relationship.

Hozier ‘take me to church’ from Reggae_Chimp