For my video review I chose Tom Waits’ 2006 music video “Lie to Me.” The video is similar to La Jetée in that it is comprised entirely of still photos. The separate photos are connected through jump cuts, paced in time to the music, creating the illusion of movement. I believe this would be considered a “jump cut sequence,” since the camera focuses on one character in one room, changing the angle slightly for each shot.
The video has a gritty, DIY feeling, and is set in a room with a dirty industrial feel, perhaps a warehouse. Besides Tom Waits and his guitar, the only things we see in the video are musical equipment, some random chairs and at one point a dog. Although the video seems very low budget and hastily constructed, it’s clear that it was carefully put together. In instrumental parts of the song the photos switch from full shots, showing Tom Waits’ entire body, to close-ups of his feet, continuing the jump cuts between still photos so that it looks as if he is dancing. In places where he does a rockabilly “whoo!” we see a quick subliminal cut of his face, he mouth open, as if he were singing. Although the camera set up is pretty simple, for a short segment of the video we get some multilevel action/ depth staging, as a dog is in the foreground, moving around, while Tom Waits continues playing his guitar and jumping around in the background.
Also interesting about the video is that instead of straight still photos, the director uses close-ups of a contact sheet. We know this because each shot is framed in black, we see the white film lines at the bottom of the screen, and in most shots pieces of the photos on either side of the one selected are visible. Some shots are circled, as if a photographer selected the shot to be printed. The contact sheet contributes to the video’s overall deliberately messy feeling, and at once points out the video as a construction – deliberately assembled with specific shots selected – and contributes to the overall feeling of grittiness or messiness. This complements Tom Waits’ unconventional, gravely singing voice.
Personally, I love this video. I think it works because it’s a simple concept, yet the images perfectly complement the song. In the same way that the video has only a few different types of shots (long shots, a couple close-ups of his face and feet), the song has a simple repeating line “You gotta lie to me, baby” that alternates a couple times with a few short verses. If I had to criticize the video, I wonder why they chose not to include the backing band. In the song we hear upright bass and drums, but the video is just Tom Waits.
