Music Video Analysis - Do-Wah-Doo by Kate Nash

The second video we looked at was the video for the song 'Do-Wah-Doo'. Like Pumpkin Soup, this song too was sung by Kate Nash and it also shares the same genre (indie Pop) as Pumpkin Soup. This video was directed by Rachel Dargavel. As the song Do-Wah-Doo is an indie pop song, the video for it was made to feature many indie pop genre traits. One of these traits is the use of a dance performance. In the video the singer (Kate Nash) is an air steward on a plane and the dance performance we see is a flight safety demonstration that has been made into a dance. The narrative style of the video is illustrative. The illustrative nature of the video is due to how the video matches the lyrics that we hear (for example when we hear "I don't even think she cares", we see the stewardess being referred to giving alcohol to airplane pilots just as they are about to take off).

Like the video for Pumpkin Soup, there is a performance aspect in the video for Do-Wah-Doo. As mentioned before, the video features a dance performance but it also features a narrative performance by the singer as she acts and lip syncs accordingly to the music. All of the performances seen in the video take place on the plane but in different areas of the plane (i.e. pilots' cabin, stewards' cabin etc). Again, like the video for Pumpkin Soup, the Do-Wah-Doo video is fairly balanced between narrative and performance. The narrative is seen when normal verses can be heard where as with performance, this is seen during the chorus

The type of shots used in the video are varied. The shots we see range from such shot as two shots, close ups, medium shots, canted shots, over the shoulder shots and long shots and also high angle shots. Apart from the hand held movement in the video, there is no other movement (like tracking) in the video. We assume that since the video was shot on a plane (or a plane interior/set), such movement (like tracking) was restricted. The most effective aspect of the camera work was the use of canted shots. The use of canted shots offered a refreshing and new change to the usual style in which shots are normally taken. The canted shots also added more 'energy' to the video as the canted shots gave off a frenzied and more 'animated' feel.

Unlike Pumpkin Soup, the editing for Do-Wah-Doo in terms of post production effects was non-existant. The video did not make use of special effects. However, through the editing the video had a fast cut rate (the shots varied between 2-4 seconds) but none of its shots did any cutting to the beat.

The Do-Wah-Doo video lacks a mise en scene laden with bright colours. The video still has colours (i.e. brown) but they are not as bright. In the video lighting is used but it is only used generally and not for the sake of aiding the mise en scene. The location used in the video is what appears to be an out of use but maintained small passenger jet. The majority of the shots shown in the video take place in the jet. There are also a number of small shots of the outside of the jet.

The music video for Do-Wah-Doo, is not strictly speaking a spectacular or highly visually pleasing video but as a music video it is fairly effective. This is thanks to the use of a narrative (i.e. lip syncing and acting accordingly) performance from the singer and as well as a dance routine in the video from the singer and background dancers. The use of canted shots also added a sense of an energetic frenzy.

Kate Nash - Do-Wah-Doo on MUZU.