Textual Analysis of Radiohead's Lotus Flower music video for A2 Media

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

14. 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

15. Mise en scene
 The room is completely empty and lighting is low
key, casting a hard shadow on him

16. Mise en Scene
 The room the song was performed in is minimalistic,
with only a power outlet and plain textured walls

17. Mise en scene
 His dancing style is unusual. During the musical
introduction, he dances erratically and moves
around the room

18. Mise en scene
 During the verses, his arms still move but he stays in
one spot during the vocals.

19. Mise en scene
 During the choruses, he has minimal movements
other than slowly moving his hands upwards.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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.

29. 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