Directed by Keith McCarthy, featuring acclaimed performance artist, Theo Adams.
This is a concept based alternative rock/indie themed video.
Here it is; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ZPTFfpO40 please watch!
MISE-EN-SCENE;
The video starts off with a wide shot in a colourful woodland forest that has been scattered with party streamers, flags, confetti, coloured leaves, tinsel, ribbons and kitsch decorative bird cages. This wide shot instantly sets the scene, and as the viewer we know this video is going to be a very conceptual based idea. Also, with regard to lighting, the first part of the video appears to be naturally lit, in this shot you can see the sunlight shining through the trees towards the camera.
After the initial establishing shot, we then see a close up of a woman walking in a white dress towards the camera which suggests ambiguity, we want to know who she is and what she is doing there.
When Florence (lead singer from Florence and the Machine) is introduced, she is situated lying beneath the decorated tree, blindfolded by the woman in the white dress and then lead to the depth of the forest where other abstract characters surround her. The abstract "carnival type" characters link in with our own ideas for using masks and hiding the identity in our own storyboards also, i feel that this character type reinforces the theme of confusion throughout the first part of the video.
At the beginning of the video we see that Florence wears black trousers, a dinner jacket and a bow tie, along with the bottle of champagne in her hand, this could be symbolic of "the morning after the night before" when she would be feeling dazed and confused, adding to the dream-like element that is a recurring motif throughout the video. The surrealism of the entire video reminds me of the works of Kinga Burza by the way she uses kitsch elements that stand out.
In this shot we see the camera tracking around Florence's face, showing her facial expression and she discovers where she is for the first time.
SOUND;
Director, Keith McCarthy has used the abstract characters within the video to show instrumental beats, whereas most performance based videos would use a close up of the actual instrument, he has shot these characters hitting the kitsch instruments together to reinforce the beat in this particular bit of the song.
The first chorus is very significant within the video because it is the first time Florence takes off the blind fold and is exposed to the surreal surroundings and creatures. The lyrics for this are, "The dog days are over, the dog days are over, the horses are coming, so you better run" at this point Florence is looking around, and begins to run away. This lyric reflects the idea that sometimes the solution to witnessing things that are wrong, is to run away from them completely. The lyrics following this are "Run fast for your mother, fast for your father, run for your children and your sisters and brothers", Florence is then seen running faster and faster, whilst being chased down by the characters in the surreal forest. The edits become even more fast paced at this moment as the tension and suspense build up. Eventually Florence falls and becomes smothered by the abstract characters.
CAMERA;
The close up of the arms smothering Florence as she lies on the ground (above) leads into the calmer, slow motion part of the song where we establish that Florence has in fact been changed by the characters, her simple black and white attire has been transformed into one of them by a colourful clown-like jumpsuit. After this initial transformation, the pace of the song increases dramatically. The fast drum beat comes in with the lyrics "Happiness hit her, like a bullet in the mind", this is a mid shot of Florence lit up, central to the composition. I think this lyric is conceptual in the way that the idea of happiness can be taken away so easily, in a way that a bullet to the head takes life away instantly.
Followed by another mid shot of Florence in the forest surrounded by the characters circling around her, yet she appears to be in the centre of it all moving slowly and waving her arms in the air.
I particularly like the shot above, where she is central again to the framing and looks directly into the camera lens with her arms stretched out to grab the viewers attention. Keith McCarthy makes particular use of handheld camera work which i really like as it gives a sinister and atmospheric feel to some of the shots. The wide shot at the end of the video shows Florence, the girl in the white dress we saw at the beginning and the child we often see throughout with the outrageous characters all holding hands and walking off into the darkness (notice Florence carrying one of the bird cages, which could be symbolic of her now being free)
LIGHTING;
Initially at the start of the video as Florence wakes up, the lighting is very bright/natural and dream like but as the song progresses and she becomes transformed we then see more cutting between the two locations. one being the bright colourful forest setting and the other being the dark, more atmospheric forest setting in which we see the mid shot of the character throwing glitter onto his face. i love this shot! its probably my favourite from the whole video, the low lighting captures the shimmer of the glitter. The cutting between the two differently lit scenes shows the duration of time she has been in the forest.
EDITING;
The editing is fast paced and consistant throughout the entire video. Going back to the first half of the video when Florence is establishing where she is and the abstract characters are cautious of her, there are various characters peering from behind the trees to get a look at her. These shots are very voyeristic, this is one of Goodwin's features in a music video. Another one of Goodwin's features i have recognised is the link with lyrics and visuals, even though, as i have explained previously these lyrics are far more conceptual in relationship with the visuals.
Above are some exmples of voyerism within the beginning of the video.
Thanks for reading, Lorna :)
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