Phase 3 Planning - Music Video Analysis of Kendrick Lamar's Swimming pools

As part of making our own music video, it's important to look at the original music video for the song. This will give us ideas on how the artist wanted to portray the song, and gives us an idea of what type of theme we should go for and whether we conform or subvert it.

00:00 - 00:35 Intro of song and Hook

• First 10 seconds has no music and tells us the artist, the name of the song and the director.
• Next 12 seconds we see Kendrick defying gravity and falling through the air in a red leisure suit and gold chain. The red is there to stand out against the black background and the gold chain is there for iconography. 
• It pauses for a fraction of a second suspending him in air.
• Next 12 seconds features smashing bottles and a woman posing for the camera. These two alternating shots match the hook section of the song, with the smashing bottles shown for the deep voiced commands and the word 'drank' for the girl. The bottles are there close up and show the audience how fragmented and tiny the smashed pieces get, perhaps a metaphor for how fragmented people's mind can be once they start drinking. 
• As with rap video's, it features an attractive girl, and this could be just to conform to genre conventions.

00:35 - 01:02 Verse 1

• For about 10 seconds, it alternates between 2 shots. One being a long shot through an open door of Kendrick sitting, in what looks like the bedroom of an abandoned house with a bottle of liquor by his side, and different shots of the house and bottles of alcohol, each cut is in time with the snare drum sound in the music.
• The next 8 seconds features shots of Kendrick in the house and what looks like a night club of some sorts, however it;s hard to tell as it's on screen for a few seconds.
• The next 7 seconds feature different shots of Kendrick dancing in a room of the house, each cut is to the beat, and is one beats one and three. Each shots alternate between normal paced and slow mo.

01:02 - 01:28 Chorus

• The first 10 seconds features fast paced editing, with shots of Kendrick dancing in the house with the editing slowed down, shots of him close up but the camera is blurry, Kendrick in the red suit falling, and a woman with a sheet of material (possibly clothing it's hard to tell). There are some repeated elements seen before in the video and also new elements for the chorus.
• The next ten seconds feature alternating shots of Kendrick either falling or rapping and the girl from the beginning of the song walking towards the camera.
• The next 6 seconds feature a front facing Kendrick falling, as to show his dead pan expression, a bottle of alcohol which corresponds to the lyrics 'swimming pool full of liquor' and shots of him rapping

01:28 - 02:07 Hook and Verse 2

• The first 14 seconds features the hook and this occurs 8 times, there are 8 cuts for each one showing a party. The lighting is red, and could symbolise danger, suggesting this next verse could be about the dangers of alcohol and it's effect on you at parties
• The next ten seconds feature Kendrick and alternating shots of him drinking alcohol, this is shown in a quick pace, then shots of him stumbling around the house, edited at a slow pace. This shows the actions and consequences of alcohol. The singing is there to replicate Kendrick's inner conscious
• The next 18 seconds shows a change in style of rap, from the quick and altered voice of his inner conscience, then comes his normal rap, and also a change in scenery. From the red lit party is replaced with what looks like a warehouse with a cage of lights with Kendrick in the middle rapping. These shots of Kendrick rapping are alternated with the girl featured twice before, sitting down, looking broodingly into the camera.

02:07 - 02:33 Chorus

• There is 13 seconds of alternating shots between the party and shots featuring 2 Kendrick's in the same shot.
• After the first portion of the chorus, it then goes to shots shown in the first chorus.

02:33 - 02:46 Hook

• This section just features Kendrick in the red suit falling.

02:46 - 03:12 Breakdown

• This section features lots of fading out of shots. We see Kendrick falling into a swimming pool and it fades to black.
• Then for the next 12 seconds it's shots of Kendrick ghost riding (walking next to a moving car which doesn't have a driver) next to a modded car, there are about 4 shots that fade in and out of each other.

03:12 - 03:37 Chorus

• The first 8 seconds is of the party and each shot is cut in time with the snare of the music, like the beginning.
• The next 12 seconds combines the intro and chorus, featuring shots of Kendrick stumbling at the party and the bottle smashing/girl posing combo.
• Next 7 seconds features bottles smashing and a pool setting, matching the lyrics of 'dive in'

03:37 - 03:56 Outro and Hook

• The falling imagery ends with Kendrick landing in the pool, then being pulled out of the pool. The editing has slowed down by this point, to signify it's the end of the song.