As you may know, I am a Video Editor – and one of the things (probably the main thing) that inspired me to work in television post production was actually music videos.

Music videos are one of my favourite things in the world and I spent hours and I MEAN literally hours when I was growing up watching them Even now in the modern world, I can find myself getting lost on YouTube watching music videos for hours on end – they are an addiction.

This month we look at a band that I have always liked from the first album when I was at school I think I came across their music initially through the music video for Swing Swing and really liked them and found them very different to the music I was listening to. Since that first song I have been a fan but some of their music videos are truly amazing the editing techniques that are used to create a narrative. That is why we are looking at them this month!

The All-American Rejects – Walk Over Me

Why did you choose this particular video?

Why this song may not be one of my favourites the video that accompanies this is fascinating and it is so cleverly done. It relies heavily on the animation and the video effects to create this really unusual video. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t my favourite song from the Kids In The Street album ( I would say Somebodies Gone and Affection probably are) it still packs a punch with this video and I think it lead to me liking the song more then I originally did.

So, what is the narrative?

The band get ‘printed’ out and then there are various ways the band performing gets distorted.

Favourite parts of the video?

We have to talk about the opening shot as it sort of sets up the whole theme for the video. Tyson gets ‘printed’ onto paper and his moving in a jittery way. This is a really effective editing technique that really sort of sets up the video for the style and what is set to come. A really inventive way to open a video.

I think this is a really interesting video and there is so much to look at that I could write a lot about this video but I will keep it short. It feels like this video is broken into sort of sections. The first thing to highlight is the bold coloured backgrounds behind the band, the fact that they are simple and striking colours means that you can focus more on the animation and the interesting edits happening in the foreground. The animation is a very clever part of the video and it is really fun to see how they modify the members of the band. The jittery effect on the camera also creates this really interesting impact on the way that the animation appears and feels like it is being created in the moment.

There is a lot of really interesting animation shots that they are too long to list but have a look at the video above to really acknowledge and appreciate the detail and effort that has been put into this video. The next part we need to highlight is when the lights are brought into the video – it sort of breaks the fourth wall and reminds you again that all these animations are happening on paper. The editing starts to speed up incredibly fast and it sort of signifies when the ‘mayhem’ starts to happen in the video.

The last section of the video again is quite fun to watch as it yet again messes around with the fourth wall and incorporates lots of different props such as different bits of paper, googly eyes and a magnifying glass to show that it is on paper and the create silliness and fun to the video. The editing here is very quick and slightly distorted which again breaks the narrative up and makes it a really enjoyable video.