Jordan Crookell

Media A2

Cutting to the beat

Owl City Fireflies

Before the music starts in the video, there are two edits that we can see. This
breaks the convention of only cutting to the beat. These edits are Adam turning
on his keyboard, increasing the master and pressing the start button.

| = beat
Space = new bar
/ = edit

Key:
A - Adam Young/Owl City
K - Keyboard
I - Inanimate objects (toys and lamps)
B - Bedroom (childlike)

|||| |||| |||| |||| / |||| / |||/ |||| ||/| Lamps and lights turn on; the edits now follow
the melody and not the beat of the song.

/You would not believe/ (Mid shot of A)

your eyes (I of robot head)
/If ten (Extreme close-up of As finger) /million
fireflies (I of speak and spell)
/Lit up the world (I of disco ball) as I fell (Mid shot of A) /asleep (I of TV
screen) /

Jordan Crookell

Media A2

/'Cause they'd fill the (Mid shot of A) /open air/ (I of lamp)

And leave tear (I of toys on shelf) /drops
everywhere (Master shot of B)
/You'd think me rude (Level shot with I)
/But I would (Extreme close-up of As fingers)
/just stand and (I) /stare (A lip-syncing)
||||/
I'd like (I) to make myself believe (Master shot of B)/
That planet (Low angle shot of I) /Earth turns (Mid shot of A) /slowly
(I) /It's hard to say that I'd rather (I) /stay awake when I'm (birds eye view of
A and I)
/asleep

These are the lyrics from the first minute of the song, and here are all of the
edits that are in the opening minute. The edits are denoted in red and brackets
when they occur in the video. Here is the order of all the different edits in the
opening minute in order of when they occur in the music video:

1. (Mid shot of A)
2. (I of robot head)
3. (Extreme close-up of As finger)
4. (I of speak and spell)
5. (I of disco ball)
6. (Mid shot of A)
7. (I of TV screen)
8. (Mid shot of A)
9. (I of lamp)
10.
(I of toys on shelf)
11.
(Master shot of B)
12.
(Level shot with I)
13.
(Extreme close-up of As fingers)
14.
(I)
15.
(A lip-syncing)
16.
(I)
17.
(A lip-syncing)
18.
(I)
19.
(Master shot of B)
20.
(Low angle shot of I)
21.
(Mid shot of A)
22.
(I)
23.
(I)
24.
(birds eye view of A and I)

Jordan Crookell

Media A2