Other Music Videos Considered:
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Analysing Music Videos:
Concept
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Title: The Greatest
Artist: Sia Furler Album: The Greatest Date Published: 2016 Genre: Pop Director: Sia Furler and Jake |
- “The Greatest” by Sia is a concept music video dedicated to the victims of the brutal June Orlando mass shooting that took place in Florida, America in June, 2016. The tragic attack took 49 casualties, most of whom were a part of LGBTQ+ community, and the artist’s intension for this music video is evident as there are 49 dancers in the video – each one to commemorate a life lost in the attacks.
- However, before jumping into the music video we see #WeAreYourChildren written on a plain black background. This hashtag will enable the young target audience to find more information, about the music video, song, artist and the political issues she raises in this video, on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. This is known as cross-media-convergence, where two platforms of media converge and effectively work with each other in order to create a greater promotion for the artist and their work. It can also be used to raise awareness about the artist’s political, social or environmental beliefs; Sia uses this to raise awareness about the Orlando shootings. By putting this at the start of the video, Sia’s young target audience may be able to recognize the hashtag and get more information, according to the Blumler and Katz theory, through social media, while forming relationships with others on these social networking sites and escaping into another world as they watch this video. This helps not only promote this music video and Sia, but also her star image; portraying her, to her target audience aged 15-25, as socially and politically aware, henceforth urging her young audience to do the same.
- A close up of Maddie Ziegler, infamous for her appearances in several other music videos by Sia, shows her marking herself with two rainbows down her cheeks that look like tears. A similar closeup of Ziegler is shown at the end of the music video to signify the grief and pain over the blood that has been shed, as evident in the dark red background. Since the rainbow is an iconic symbol representing the LGBTQ+ community, the audience is able to understand the artist’s intension of addressing those who are part of that community, especially those who have suffered hate crimes against their sexuality or gender in America. Therefore, Sia is addressing the under-represented population in America that does not conform to society’s conventional heteronormative standards. Her “tears” may symbolize the pain of the victims themselves at having lost the opportunity to be “the greatest”. The lyrics “the greatest. I’m alive” communicates the great loss of human life, and the human potential and opportunities that have been taken away from the victims by the attack. Spencer Kornhaber, a writer for multi-platform publisher The Atlantic, summarizes this perfectly: “[Sia] is pepping the listener up, but she’s also defining the value of life, marking the human potential that’s been lost.”
- The music video starts with a loud ringing that lingers gradually getting louder and softer like an imbalanced buzz. This may connote the tinnitus that often follows an explosion or an extremely loud noise, such as a gun being shot, which relates back to the Orlando shooting. This metallic ringing reappears towards the end of the music video, and slowly fades in as the music fades out, growing louder to signify the silence that often follows an explosion, along with the growing realization that people have been killed. This is shown through a close up of Ziegler who is shown crying real tears over the rainbow ones she had drawn on. This connotes the grieving LGBTQ community, and may also represent the mourning families of the victims.
- Moreover, the choice of the directors to use young dancers under the age of 18 creates a bigger impact on the audience, as children as often represent hope and innocence, and their lifeless bodies lying inside the dilapidated house, connotes the death of their aspirations, purity and their lives.
- Ziegler is wearing a Sia’s iconic wig, as the accessory has become synonymous with the artist and her work. However, instead of the usual platinum wig, the dancer is wearing a black one. Since black is the colour of mourning is several western cultures, the wig may symbolize the mourning of the 49 people who lost their lives. Furthermore, seeing as the wig is an icon for the artist, it helps Sia build her star image based off of her music and the image she presents of herself to her audience, helping them to identify, according to the Blumler and Katz theory, with her lyrics and music and her branding, instead of her physical appearance. In the music industry, artists are often judged not by their work, but through their appearances, therefore, by going against this norm, Sia’s anonymity has become her USP.
- The pace of the choreography matches the rhythm of the song and the editing, which helps the music video flow easily. As the beat becomes more fast paced or softer, so do the movements of the dancers, and as it grows stronger and louder so they.
- This music video uses non-diegetic sound throughout, which enables the target audience to escape into the music video, following the Blumler and Katz theory.
- While this is a concept music video, it follows an abstract narrative of liberation: the long shot of Ziegler kicking open the door of a cage (at 1:19) is clearly representative of the action. The dilapidated long shots that contain dirty, long and narrow corridors and grilled windows, further emphasize the prison-like atmosphere generating an atmosphere of entrapment. The director uses perspective to draw the eye to the center of the image using the lines of the set to guide the slow zoom. The low key lighting filtered through the window also shows the absence of shadows, which may connote that these children are no longer alive as they are consumed by darkness and therefore, death. These few long shots are the only ones wherein the camera stays still, creating a portrait-like perspective.
- And the sooty and torn costumes of the dancers’ contrasts with their bodies, which seem to be strong, athletic and energetic. This may connote that the shooting killed people who had great physical, mental and emotional potential, however despite being physically equipped to survive in society, they were confined by its norms regarding sexuality and gender roles.
- Moreover the first few long shots of bodies piled over each other in a cage, in the narrow corridor, huddled together facing outwards, later facing in, connote the trapped atmosphere.
- The directors Sia and Daniel Askill uses several long tracking shots that follow Ziegler as she dances, this helps engage the target audience in the music video and creates a more immersive experience for them. Several of these long tracking shots also peer around corners at 90-degree angles, creating the impression of uncertainty of what’s around the corner. This produces feelings of anticipation and dread within the target audience. The directors also make use of enigma codes by only showing the lifeless bodies in several long shots, mid shots, close ups and pans.
- This high angle horizontal pan (at 0:56) shows the piled up small bodies of children that are seen through the bars of the cage, connoting their entrapment, along with enigma codes that make the audience question weather they are alive, and why and how they got there, while placing them in a position of power.
- This is followed by a jump cut that shows a close mid shot of Ziegler, succeeded by yet another jump cut to a mid angle mid shot.
- The director then uses a jump cut to a tracking shot that transitions from a mid angle long shot to a mid shot of the children all running in a line towards the light. This may connote that they are seeking freedom, clarity and purity, away from this prison.
- Ziegler, undoubtedly adheres to her role as a leader of the pack, as she urges the other to “come on” and “get up”. Even though we never hear her say so, her desperate and pained expressions and lips are easy to understand. Later we see her lead the others into another corridor, and lift up their spirits. Moreover, her high position is further emphasized as everyone is united by the dark grey paint on their face, all except for Ziegler. This makeup may represent war paint, connoting that the Orlando terrorist attack was an act of war and a hate crime against people in society. Since Ziegler is a representation of Sia herself, who does not like appearing her music videos, Ziegler’s actions imply that Sia is the true leader of this movement.
- The low-key lighting combined with the coolly graded shots connotes an atmosphere of hostility and primitive danger, which may relate back the Orlando shooting which was a tragic attack on people’s lives.
- At 3:29 we see a tracking shot that shows the entire group of 49 people huddled together, each one doing their own personal choreographies, which may connote their individualism. The track shot jump cuts to a low angle long shot that puts the dancers in a position of power, this is followed by several long shots, mid shots and close ups that against emphasize the theme of individualism.
- The song starts to fade out as the camera zooms back to show a small crowd of children jumping up and down making faces and sticking out their tongues – the may represent their pure energy and potential as people. However, as the music fades out, the metallic ringing returns and the long shot shows everyone falling down, as if being shot down; and behind them we see a wall with bullet holes in it – representing the Orlando shooting. The mise en scene that includes the disco balls rolling on the sides of the set may be meant to symbolize the lights of the nightclub where the shooting took place, while the red and blue lighting may connote police lights and a crime scene. The camera then moves into a mid shot of Ziegler laying atop a pile of bodies, looking directly into the camera, as if questioning the audience about the pain and suffering that she has gone through.
- This is followed by 3 long shots similar to those that the audience was shown at the beginning of the video. Here the audience is looking at these shots with a different perspective than before, now that they are aware of the events that led up to those bodies ending up where they did.
- This imagery relates back to the initial message at the start of the music video: the victims of the shooting were someone’s children, siblings, parent or relative. Sia is trying to communicate to her audience that not only did the victims lose their lives, but their families and friends also lost someone they loved, and also suffered in pain.
Performance
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Title: Symphony
Artist: Clean Bandit featuring Zara Larsson Album: So good Date Published: 2017 Genre: Dance Music/Pop Director: Grace Chatto and Jake Patterson |
- In this performance music video the directors Grace Chatto and Jake Patterson choose to use a story arc in order to show the performing orchestra and Zara Larson, who is singing. This keeps the audience engaged with a non-linear narrative, which effectively brings out Levi-Strauss’s binary opposites of life and death; and the themes of loss.
- A performance indicates to the audience, that the artist sounds the same live and on the record - emphasizes their talent and gives them a better star image.
- The first shot is a bird eye view, showing traffic at a roundabout, creating a circular formation in the centre of the shot. This shape could symbolise the cycle of life and death; the distance of the camera from the ground makes all the people and traffic on the roads look very small. Therefore, it suggests how every person is insignificantly small in this infinite universe, bringing up themes of loneliness, existence and death. A single piano note further amplifies the feeling of loneliness; this foreshadows the events of the narrative and the emotions of the characters in it. Furthermore, the next eye-level mid shot is of Patterson sitting on a piano alone, again indicating the theme of loneliness in the performance, and how it relates to the narrative of a man losing his partner. The directors choose to employ a subtle vignette around this shot, connoting entrapment and the feeling of isolation that is reflected in the lyrics, and hence, in the characters. The shakiness of this shot may also foreshadow the shocking events about to take place.
- A stronger vignette is applied to the mid shot at 0:32, that shows the man crying alone. This could represent the first stage of grief: isolation and pain. This high angle shot make the man look powerless and alone in a bubble of grief.
- Followed by an ultra-wide-angle bird eye view, the perimeter of this shot is blurred. The director may have chosen to do so in order to reflect how the edges of our vision become blurred with tears when we cry; foreshadowing the grief of the characters in the narrative. It may also serve the purpose of making the audience feel an acute sense of entrapment and isolation, even though that feeling may be juxtaposed with the large group of people in the orchestra. This connotes how we can feel alone, even if we are part of a large crowd. While the image is distorted and blurred around the edges, a small rectangular lens flare peeks out from the left side of the screen. And as we progress through the music video, lens flares become a motif. This could connote heaven or spirituality, and the afterlife, relating to the themes of death and loss. The pale faded atmosphere created by such techniques may, therefore, symbolise the fading away of a character or object.
- Another important motif is the white paint that is used to colour the bike and the walls of the couple’s house; it is also applied on the man’s late partner’s face, foreshadowing the man’s death, since white is a colour of mourning in many cultures.
- Cutting away from the bird eye view of the orchestra, the next shot shows a man at a library, the location is evident through the mise en scene: books in the background arranged in a haggard manner; the labels on top of the shelves in red, marking the categories; and the table set up for people to sit and read or study on. Therefore, by placing a character in a familiar setting, the director is able to amplify the emotional impact of the song on it audience. This could happen to anyone at anytime, and due to its common setting the audience may, according to the Blumler and Katz theory, identify with the message of the song and performance, and build relationships with other fans of this music video. The man is also seen putting on proper safety gear before getting on his bike, this further emphasizes the point that no matter how hard you may try to protect yourself and your loved ones, loss is inevitable, and this song conveys the helplessness one feels at the loss of a loved one.
- All shots of the orchestra and the flashbacks are colour graded warmly, while nearly all those of the grieving man, are graded coolly, showing the contrast between the cold emotions of abandonment, grief and anger the man feels, in comparison with the warm and heavenly atmosphere of the performers on stage, representing the paradisiacal memories of the man and his partner. Therefore, this song is a dedicated piece to his late partner, as the man has accepted the death of his significant other after going through the stages of grief: isolation, anger and acceptance. When he looks in the mirror he sees an incomplete and cracked version of himself, as he is missing his other half, as seen in the close up at 3:12.
- At the beginning a single piano note keeps playing on repeat, in order to build up to a crescendo, and the percussion aims to serve the same purpose: to build tension up to a breaking point. The music gets gradually louder until we hear the beat reach its climax – the accident, which kills the man. The accident and his death are clear due to the shot’s mise en scene and the diegetic sound of police sirens mixed with the alarms of an ambulance: common tropes of narratives, that indicate an accident; accompanied by a missing shoe and the man’s blue backpack lying on the road. Moreover, the long and un-breaking sound of the orchestra creates a feeling of unease, foreshadowing the devastating events about to take place.
- The theme of loss becomes more evident as the lyrics are reflected in the visuals. For example, the lyrics “I’m sorry if its all too much” suggests that the police officer about to report the death of the man’s partner, begins by saying “I’m sorry”. This is apparent as the director uses a common narrative trope based on social expectations: when the police arrive at your doorstep, you have either broken a law, or lost a loved one. And since before this, we see a montage of the two characters together, and one of them crying, we assume that the other has lost his life.
- In several shots we see the man going back to locations, which hold precious memories of the couple. This reminiscing relates to the overbearing theme of loss in this song and in the performance. Both are trying to convey the feeling of entrapment, as one is unable to communicate with their significant other, once they have passed away.
- As the man looks out into the audience, he only sees his late partner sitting in audience, to whom he has dedicated this performance to, in a close up that zooms out into a long shot and fades out.
Narrative
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Title: The One
Artist: Kodaline Album:Coming up for air Date Published: 2015 Genre: Alternative/Indie Rock Director: Unknown |
- This music video has a unique narrative style that follows the lives of two people who are destined for each other. This multi-stranded narrative shows two young individuals meeting upon accident. Their youth is evident in the mise en scene, as the girl and the boy both look like teenagers. This symbolises they are soul mates for having met at such a tender age, and foreshadows their inevitable future together.
- Like in most narrative music videos, we are introduced to the characters in the first couple of shots. We know the first shot opens up in a café-diner due to the panning mid-shot that shows an old man chewing food, sitting at a table with condiments. This mise en scene makes the café-diner setting prominent and recognizable for the audience. Since cafes are a romantic trope of an ideally American Hollywood, this music video will appeal to the primarily female target audience whose psychographics indicate a strong interest in genres of romance, intimacy and passion.
- Followed by a hand-held pan that shows a mid-shot of two women entering a café, we are introduced to one of the two protagonists. We know that the girl with a backpack is the heroine as we the camera hold a longer focus on her than others. The camera the pans in the opposite direction, showing a boy dressed in a leather jacket. The long focus held on him indicates that he is the hero of this story arc.
- This music video also uses tropes of romantic filmmaking in western cultures. At 0.22 camera pans to the girl taking off her glasses, and at 1:36 we see her remove the clip from her hair and let her hair down. This is a common trope often seen in western films where the actor or actress gets rid of their glasses, braces, ponytail or any physical flaws to seem more attractive and sexual. Her taking off the glasses is in sync with the lyric “tell me that you want me”, which goes further on to prove that the girl is trying to make herself look more conventionally attractive to captivate the boy’s attention.
- Like in most music videos of the narrative style, THE ONE features lyricist and lead vocalist Steve Garrigan. Since the rest of the band is not featured in this music video, it indicates that this song is very personal to him. Helping Garigan create a strong, personal and emotional connection with his target audience, engaging and enabling them to identify with his emotions. This song was originally written by Garrigan as a wedding present for an old friend. Therefore, the song is further romanticized by its origin and its initial purpose, appealing to audiences interested in the romantic genre.
- The singer himself is featured in the music video as the camera pans to the right , showing a close up of Garrigan, who is lip syncing to the song. The close up and high key lighting create a sense of freeing intimacy between the audience and Garrigan, enabling the audience to identify with the artist and construct an emotional bond.
- The background contains nothing but a pale yellow light that has connotations of heaven, as it creates a pure, ethereal tone in the shot, enabling the target audience to escape to another world. All shots have been colour graded warmly, to create a mood of comfort, romance and heat; foreshadowing elements of the relationship between the two protagonists, which would be effortless, loving and passionate.
- At 0.54 the girl accidentally pushes her glasses off the table, and the boy picks it up and hands it to her. They make eye contact for a couple of seconds and then a person walks in front of them, breaking their connection and creating a split screen. This divide is a significant motif as it represents them parting ways in life. However, ironically they cross paths with each other several times. This connotes the idea that they are meant to be together, bringing up the symbol of soul mates. The split screen allows the audience to witness how the two go about their lives differently, yet remain entangled with each other in some way. This helps promote the song’s theme of destiny and love. While the director uses several motifs throughout the video to signify the bond between the two, the black leather jacket that has “Till death do us part” written on it, acts as a constant reminder of the destined union of two people; relating to the theme of love, marriage and destiny. The jacket may also symbolise the matrimony of two souls rather than just people, giving a deeper meaning to marriage. This may appeal to a target audience whose psychographics suggest a secure interest in romance and supernatural forces such as fate; hence they will be able to identify with this music video, the artist and his star image.