Analysis of Slow An Easy by Whitesnake

Analysis of Whitesnake ‘Slow An’ Easy’

The song opens with a shot of a dirt road, which then smoothly fades into a close up of the lead singer, David Coverdale. Examples of thought beats are shown throughout the video. The smooth transitions and superimpositions match the slow and smooth start of the song. When the bass comes in the camera displays an extreme close up of his fretboard as he plays. A similar shot is used to highlight the guitarist’s slide guitar intro. The main focus of the camera is on David’s eyes when he sings the line “I can’t see you baby, I can’t see you anymore”

The lights then flash to the beats of the drums when the song properly kicks in. During the breakdown, the band claps their hands to match the track.

As for narrative, the narrative of the video doesn’t match the lyrics. The song is in all senses a love song about making love to a woman, typical of the style of music. The video on the other hand, has a narrative of its own. The storyline is revealed gradually in small chunks through the video. The first hint of it is a shot of a car accident at the start. From what we can gather as we watch the video is that the narrative involves a woman, her car and a mysterious pearl necklace. The necklace is also wrapped around David’s hand during the shots of the band’s performance. It is then revealed later in the video that David is the one seen putting the pearls around her neck, just after a shot of him trashing her dressing room in anger. At the end of the video we see him discovering the car crash and her necklace near the wreckage. Just after he picks it up, a car that looks exactly like the one in the accident pulls up next to him and he discovers her behind the wheel without her necklace on. She then drives away very quickly leaving him behind.

Performance is used throughout the video and it is made up mainly of the shots of the band on stage. They are seen on a fully functioning stage with a full light show, monitor speakers and even the drums with microphones placed near them as if they are about to capture the sound through a PA system, as if they are playing at a real live concert. The guitarist points his guitar in the air and David does the same with the mic stand on a number of occasions, like you would expect to see at a real rock concert. Even the band mimes to the backing vocals as though it is a real show, and the camera’s attention is then brought to them.

Star image is important in this video. The first minute of the video is made up mainly of extreme close up shots of David Coverdale’s mouth or eyes, and whole face. During the guitar fills, the camera brings its attention to the lead guitarist in low angle shots to highlight his skills and bring focus to his facial expressions. The same can be said for the drummer when he does his little drum fills. During the guitar solo, the camera focuses on the guitarist and shows close up shots of his guitar.

Visuals occasionally relate to the song in this video. Examples of this includes tracking shots of the word ‘Slow’ written on the road when David sings ‘Take me down slow an’ easy’. Also, all the instruments are played perfectly in synch as though they performed it live.