6.Two Door Cinema- Something good can work...Textual analysis

Camera:

The first shot of the music video is a close up of bushes in a dark environment. As the viewer is not able to see anything else around it could have a slightly scary and mystical effect on someone. Also the mid shots of the setting and the moon are slightly confusing, as it does not really harmonize with the track in the background.

A mid shot of a ginger young man in a bar is followed by a close up of the same person. That clearly emphasises that this character is important as he is sitting on his own and full focus is put on him.

In the next scene a bird’s eye view is used to show a man jumping into a pool. Through choosing this camera setting it is impossible for the audience to see his face and it makes them curious who he is and what he is going to do before he jumps into the pool. As soon as he is in the pool a hand held camera is used under water, which makes it exciting for the audience especially when it gets spun around. That is interesting as it is not often used and therefore it draws attention to the shots.

Throughout the whole of the music video the camera is held in a high angle when the singer is singing and he looks up straight into the camera. That gives the impression that he is directly singing to the viewer and it makes it very personal. It also gives the feeling that someone is more dominant than him.

When location is changed and they arrive in the wood it becomes very obvious that a fish eye camera is used, which makes the picture more interesting and look more modern and also artistic. A close up shows the face of the band singer, while at the same time a focus pull is used, which focuses on him and blurs out the surroundings. That gives the audience the opportunity to fully focus on him and they are able to make their own individual picture of him.

A tilt, which starts at the treetops, goes down to the band. Again, it is a shot to confuse the audience and show them different sorts of perspectives, which makes it interesting.

Another attractive shot was used when they were driving the bumper cars the camera was fixed on the wheel and therefore it was spun around.

The high angle in the desert onto the band indicates that the desert is huge and how tiny they actually and it gives a feeling of freedom. Another feeling of freedom was created when the camera was fixed at the top of the guitar and the player stretched out his hand with the blue sky in the background.             

Editing:

After the dark scenery is shown someone walks in front of the camera and the location changes immediately to the bar. That is an abstract idea and therefore suits the style of the rest of the music video. Quick editing is used, which gives the audience the opportunity to look at the band from different prospective and also each prospective has a different effect on the viewer. One of the guitar players pretends to spin the camera in order to change the scene. As it spins for a while and the audience has no idea what is happening next. That creates excitement and prevents the audience to be bored. Another technique of how to change the location is to blur out the image.

Mise-en scene:
The music video starts off with a dark and remote area, which gives the audience the impression that it is going to be a scary video and probably not what they expected.

The man sitting in the bar who is the lead singer, which becomes obvious to the audience quite quickly as he is the only one seated in that bar, seems to be bored and lonely, which still lets the viewer think that is it going to be a scary or depressing video. The only aspects, which shows that is not the case is the music in the background.

The next scene shows a man in a striped shirt and a hat. He makes the scene mysterious, as someone is not able to see his face.

Although the lead singer has ginger hair, which is in the media often closely connected to being a nerd or an outsider, he is wearing stylish clothes and seems very confident. He also seems a lot more important as he is always in the foreground. At the beginning of the video clip the lead singer is always looking straight into the camera, which lets the audience know that he is aware of the camera. Throughout the video he ignores the camera, which gives the impression as if he does not sing to the audience in particular, which makes him look confident.

The different locations have different meanings such as the wood with the trees is much less open and does not really represent freedom and space like the desert at the end of the clip does.

Sound:

It starts off with diegetic sound of the wind blowing while then the actual song is fading in. The sound of the blowing wind gives the audience a little intro and also a connection to the reality. When the camera is under water it is obvious that the intro will be over soon and someone is going to sing soon. That part is a clever part to start the actual “main part” of the music video as someone dives up from under water, which brings the audience into another environment.

To sum up this video is very inspirational as it has many clever effects in it, which could be used in our music video in order to make it more interesting to the audience. In addition the effects are not hard to copy such as someone walks past the camera and the location changes. Also the different positions of the cameras are interesting to look at and I am certain that similar movements and shots will be used in our production. 

Camera:

The first shot is a tilt from the sky to the main character who happens to be the singer as well. This shot as it is tilting down from the sky might be related to god or spirituality in someone’s mind. People might interpret that differently but that is what I thought when I first thought why the producers used that shot. Throughout the whole video it seems as it would be a long tracking shot, however it was filmed in a studio and therefore the camera stands actually still. Assuming it is a tracking shot, it shows that the woman is on a journey although it might be seen as a journey in her head, which might therefore be closely related to the tilt from the sky down to her. The first time the children appear on the road, close-ups are used to show the children’s facial expression and they are obviously happy.

A close up shows her when she says, “ You did everything.” which means that she is referring to someone who is there for her and helps her out. The following shot is a close up of the paper saying, “ Thank You”, which strengthens the theory that someone is always there for her. The final camera movement is a tilt up to the sky again, which is equal to the tilt in the beginning. This movement sums the video up, as it is symmetrical.

Editing:

From the quality of the video it becomes obvious that she is not actually walking down the street but it is done in a studio. There was probably no other way to film it on the street but after having a closer look it seems unrealistic and destroys the video.

Whenever people are walking in front of the camera, the environment changes. That is cleverly done as the audience is not confused and they believe that the long take would still carry on without a cut.

Mise-en-scene:

The singer’s style is not what someone expects in a music video as it is done with little effort and not as glamorous as someone would think. However, this video is about this woman and the outfit shows a lot about her character. When she cuts her long hair, it is quite obvious that she changed. This change can be seen from two sides. Although it changed her look it might have also changed her inner values and her character.

Throughout the whole of the video she changes her mood quite often. When she is around people such as her boyfriend or the children, she seems very cheerful and happy as she is smiling a lot. However, when she is on her own she is serious and completely different. Does two sides to her show that when she is around people she might not actually show what really bothers her and forgets about it but when she is on her own she has time to think about it. When the bridge of the song comes in, the singer is walking through the dark but then a light of a car is lighting her up. That indicates that there is always a light in the darkness. Although it was dark she did not seem to be frightened and just kept going steadily, which shows that she is a strong person who does not give up. At the very last part of the video everyone is coming together as a big group with the singer still in the front. That shows that everyone who loves her or means something to her is always behind her and she can rely on them.

Sound:

The song is mostly about herself and how she gives her thanks to someone, which can also be related to god. The song ends again with a tilt up to the sky, however without any sound. That gives the audience time to “reflect” and think about the video and the song.