Video Analysis Essay

The music video Back to December by Taylor Swift uses many editing techniques to explain the story of a couple who have broken off their relationship and are visiting each other. At times the shots are longer and other times they are shorter. The shots are longer when the guy is trudging through the snow. This gives the effect that he is frustrated, confused, and is having a hard time leaving her. The shorter shots make it seem as if some parts of the video are memories. There is also the use of close up shots to show the emotion on their faces. For example, there is a close up shot of the girl (Taylor Swift) showing a tear running down her face. That shot shows that she is sad and frustrated. During their visit the girl (Taylor Swift) writes
It appears that they are thinking about each other at the same time. However, that’s not completely true. If you pay attention to the video, there is a close up and medium shot to show her putting the note in his jacket pocket. The shot directly after that is a medium shot of him taking the jacket out of his car and putting in on. The is no way those things were happening at the same time. I believe that the shots of her writing the letter and putting the letter in his jacket are flashbacks to explain the following shots. Though some of the shots are a use of parallel editing, not all of them are, they vary.
Some shots of the video were similar to surrealism, meaning that they were dreamlike. An example of this would be the shots were there is snow inside of the room. This shows that she is daydreaming in a way and remembering their time together. In a way the snow could be representing her memories coming back to her at once.
The editing of this video flows with the cinematography or the way the video was photographed. There are not many sound effects in this one but, the one that you do notice is the sound of the guys boots against the snow, as he is walking through the field in the beginning of the