Blog No.14: Music video analysis (third example)

Example: 3

 

Camera work

There's not much to say about the camera work since this whole video was filmed in one shot. Since we are planning to shoot a number of locations, this strategy would be impossible and difficult. However, there's a tilt shot at the start. If the video just started with a tracking over-the-shoulder shot, not much would happen at the beginning of this video. In other words, it would lack some camera work. I suppose we could include another shooting strategy at the start of our video (maybe zooming out of  the character's phone) instead of beginning it with a low angle over-the-shoulder shot.

 

Visuals and lyrics

The name of the song definitely links to the visuals within this video. As Robbie sings "I believe I'm goin' crazy" all of the actors are wearing peculiar costumes: top hats, gothic leather and one actor was wearing the Union Jack flag at 2:15. Near the start, Robbie didn't sing the first few lyrics of the song even though the song had already begun. In other words, the music begins at the start of the video but Robbie didn't sing until 0:20.

 

Mise-en-scene

The singers in this music video both wear different costumes. Robbie wears a casual brown jacket and jeans whereas Rascal wears gothic leather clothing. Like the second example, these two types of costumes could portray the bright and dark side of the music genre. This relates to our idea of comparing the band wearing baggy 70's clothing and the main character wearing casual clothing. This also represents the idea of including binary oppositions within our music video. This video is all set in one location but we've already planned to set the music video in different locations.

Editing

Since this whole music video was filmed in one continuous shot, not much editing was included.

 

Narrative

There's an element of mystery at the end of the video. We see that elderly man at the start and at the end of the video. Although the camera was following the two singers throughout the video, it doesn't really explain much about why the camera was following the elderly character at the end of the video. As soon as the elderly character leaves the street, all the actors start to go "crazy". However, as soon as he returns, the street becomes normal again. This sort of coincidence raises a lot of questions in terms of who this character is.