Philippa Golding

The music video is shot from the point of view of someone looking at James Bay (in this case it is as if the audience are looking at him), this clearly shows his reactions to various events and allowing the audience to see him from the start to the end. This technique captures the audience and makes them believe that they are in the situation with the artist at the time. This could be a useful technique to use in our creation if we were to create the music video to this song. 

 

The use of dark, sombre colours creates a sad atmosphere immediately when the audience begins to watch the music video. This sadness is continued throughout. I believe that continuity is very important in the creation of a music video because the only audio is the song, therefore the narrative (moving image) cannot be backed up by anything added. Having a narrative that changes throughout will confuse the audience and not convey the message as successfully.

 

Earth, wind and fire are all natural but can be very meaningful; I would like to use at least one of these in the music video that my group and I create. Let It Go's music video uses 2 of these, both in interesting ways:

There has been an interesting use of natural lighting in the music video. It is the only source of light in most cases and is very bright as the camera is often facing towards the window/light source. This creates an image of the outside world and all things natural taking over James Bay and getting the better of him; for example, sometimes he is blinded by the light. The light is therefore symbolising the love that he has lost and the heart-breaking feelings that are taking over his thoughts, emotions and ultimately his life.

Having fire in an emotional song can add a lot more meaning to the song than ever intended. This is because it can symbolise harsh feelings, in this example the fire symbolises Bay's heart that has been broken and cannot be fixed as well as his overall emotion which is anger. This emotion is also seen by his facial expression when seen driving away from the burning house in a car.

 

I like the way that the artist’s performance overlaps the narrative. For example James Bay will be singing along to the song in one shot, but in a partnering shot where he is seen sitting in the same position he is then acting and showing his emotions to illustrate the meaning of the song lyrics. I like this technique because it suggests how meaningful the song is to the artist. If someone else was acting then it would suggest that the meaning of the song has nothing to do with the person singing it. When a soul performer sings it sounds as if they truthfully mean it (singing from the soul), so if we were to create the music video to this song my group and I must use the technique of having the performance overlapping with the narrative with no extra actors. Adding actors for the narrative would contradict the meaning coming from the sound of the artist’s voice.