Analysis of similiar products

The  music videos I am analysing are Gotye- ‘Eyes wide open’,   Sting- ‘Fields of gold’ 

Camerawork
Gotye- ‘Eyes wide open’

The Gotye video opens with an Establishing shot with the sun rise in the background. In this shot there is a silhouette of ‘aliens’ legs, to introduce the characters though there is a close up of the faces of the aliens. The long shot then shows three aliens walking in the desert. The camera cuts to another long shot but in front of the aliens so they walk from the background to the middle ground.
   There is a short sequence of three close ups all of different events, we see the aliens release buckets down to the ground to retrieve water but all they get is sand, this gives an indication of the narrative of the video. The continual change between the aliens facial expressions cutting to them searching for water, sympathy is also created because they are obviously in a difficult situation and aren’t familiar with the environments.
    When the aliens find themselves in a different environment a long short is used to show the scenery, this is shot with multi coloured flowers in the foreground then in the middle ground there is destroyed buildings with debris scattered across the floor, to show there journey in the background there is the desert.
    During the chorus of the song in the video the aliens project Gotye’s face from within their eyes, this is when he sings “eyes wide open” so the lyrics reflect the images on screen., in the following chorus though the aliens face cracks and certain parts fall away, this is where Gotye appears underneath the aliens face.
   Throughout the video there is often nothing specific in the foreground and the next long shot follows this trend with the aliens again walking into the distance but this begins the next sequence, with the camera stationery and the aliens still walking into the background the location changes numerous times. These jumps through time show how desperate the characters are, they travel across the globe from the desert, Northern lights, New York, Landfill sites, power stations and finally to the Artic. Throughout the sequence the aliens keep fishing for water, where finally the penultimate close up they finally find the water and use it to heal themselves, the close up shows them watering their faces and they cover over crackles.
   The final shot is a pan from the aliens to giant metal spheres in the sky where we can assume they have found their destination with this been a long take the camera stays on the spheres.
Sting- ‘Fields of gold’
   The opening shot is an Establishing shot, shot at a high angle to introduce the setting; the video is filmed at an English village. The shot pans down and around a street to where we are introduced to Sting who is in silhouette form to the right of the screen. This shot is followed by an over the shoulder shot which tracks Sting walking through the village, with the silhouette there is a family walking through the village the during the day whereas Sting walks through the town at night. The silhouette shows the difference between the day life and night life of the village and how much differently everything looks.
   There are two types of sequences in the video, one been where Sting walks around the town, then the second type is close ups and medium shots of Sting in a dark room singing into the camera. A medium shot zooms into close up of Sting and he is singing directly addresses the audience.
    After a fade into a low angle shot which shot from ground level the figure walks into the distance then into a courtyard, a fade then introduces a steadi-cam shot with the figure walking towards the camera. In the silhouette we see a couple walking together who seem very happy, which is contrasting to the figure that appears to be emotionless shown by the way he walks, very slow and slumped over introducing him as a lonely character.
   The second sequence is used again with Sting directly addressing the audience, the camera reverse zooms from close up to medium shot which shows more of Stings expressions and gestures from his hands.
   The silhouette reappears but with a tracking shot of the figures feet, within the silhouette there are children playing with their families outside their home, showing relationships between the characters and how the figure is alone. A fade to a steadi-cam over the shoulder sees the figure walk alone again into the distance and the surrounding scenery appears to be lifeless but within the silhouette there are garages in use showing normal time and what actually happens in the village.
   Towards the end of the video there is tracking shot of Sting where the silhouette figure has more of an identity with certain features are more visible for example facial expressions. To follow there is then a short sequence of Close ups to long shots and medium shots starting from slight low angles to extreme low angles. This is where Sting is clear in all the shots but with a blue outline.
     The final shot is a wide shot filmed with steadi-cam where the silhouette walks from the background into the foreground and past the camera, as he nears the camera the silhouette becomes wider and the village is bustling with activity and everything seems normal.
  Editing
Gotye- ‘Eyes wide open’
Sting- ‘Fields of gold’
    All the transitions in the video are fades due to the slow tempo of the song and the mood of the song; the fades add more emotion and shows that there aren’t any major events or disruptions in the video. The pace through it is very slow paced with shots overlapping frequently to match the nature of the song, however during the sequence of close ups to long shots and medium shots the editing does speed up with the editing been fast paced but fades are still used which have a very short duration because the song is reaching its climax shown through he tempo increasing and the editing also has to match this.
   The tracking shots have been edited post production to have a slow motion effect to show the drag of time and to show the loneliness of the silhouetted figure. This contrasted against the people inside the silhouette who are moving at normal speed.
    The silhouette is gold which does link to the song title, but also adds a sepia effect to the shots in the village when it is supposed to be daytime. This effect creates an atmosphere because it can be used to show a past event, this shows the extreme differences between past and present.
   Throughout the short clips where Sting addresses the audience he has a blue spotlight over him to represent the moonlight because the figure walking through the town is filmed at night, this adds continuity to the video creating links between Sting and the figure where we do eventually see them as the same character.
Sound
Gotye- ‘Eyes wide open’

   The chorus has the line “Eyes wide open” in it, when this line is used Gotye is projected from the eyes of the aliens, also when this line is used in a later chorus the aliens outer shell shatters meaning Gotye is visible in the flesh and now he can see due to what was distorting his vision has now broken down.
   Another line that has a graphic match is “Walk the plank” sequences of destruction take place for example there is a volcanic explosion with large lava streams coming from the background to the foreground of the shot, this gives the line a meaning of danger.
   The final line also uses a graphic match to the lyrics “end of the story”, we the audience could presume the characters have to continue with their journey but the shot shows the giant spheres in the sky and with the aliens not been native to the world the spheres can be linked to the aliens.
   However In the video there aren’t any added sounds for example during the explosions there isn’t any eruption sound effects so the whole video other than the lyrics is purely visual.

Sting- ‘Fields of gold’
   Throughout the video Sting is miming even when he is the silhouette although we only get glimpse of him miming when his faced is turned to the side of the camera.
   There are certain moments where what is been sung matches what is on screen, for example there is tracking shot of the silhouette when he walks through a graveyard, the line goes “but I swear in the days still left”, this shows how time is running out for someone and how the end never appears to be too far away, which is shown by having the graveyard, in the silhouette we see an old gentlemen tidying up and around a certain grave, this represents how time can be close to ending in different ways, either in age or an end of a relationship.
Mise-en-scene
Gotye- ‘Eyes wide open’
Sting- ‘Fields of gold’
   The entire video is filmed in an English village, this is shown through a number of factors, one been Sting is a British artist, and a major one being the red Royal mail post box which is seen the final shot of the music video. There is also other familiar village location like the local pub and markets.
   Costume suggests the characters in the silhouette are from pre 1990’s (the song was produced in 1993), all the characters are dressed similarly depending on the gender, and all the women are dressed formally either in floral dresses or plain coloured dresses. Whilst the men dressed a lot more casually wearing a short sleeved shirt with trousers. Whereas the children were wearing shorts, it is stereotypical dress for the genders with the women wanting to look their best for their husbands, especially if this era is meant to be around post war.
   The lighting on Sting during the direct address he has a blue spotlight over him to mimic the moonlight but to distort certain features of his face a black light is also used. During the chorus when “Field of Gold” is sung a gold spotlight shines down on him to create links between the video and the song.

The Smiths- Strangeways, Here We Come

   The Smiths are one of the original bands in the Indie Pop history. This Record cover has the title and artist name which follows the rule of thirds with the title been along the line of sight. This catches the audience’s attention because it makes knowing the artist and album name clearer. However the eyes and mouth of the person in the image are on the hotspots, but the image doesn’t have a link to the name of the title. The image is of Richard Davalos. Davalos is looking at James Dean, who is cropped from the image. Dean was a hero of Morrissey's, about whom the singer wrote a book called James Dean Is Not Dead. Creating a link between artist and idol. The colours are very subtle with the image blending into the background which stops the Record cover from becoming intrusive. The title colour is very contrasting to the image to help it stand out and be recognisable to the audience. The cover keeps top common conventions for the genre where the case isn’t intrusive with subtly to it to attract the audience it wants to. The audience this cover would attract is one that is conservative by nature and isn't over the top which is very similar to the layout of the Record cover.

   The Smiths are a British band therefore the British road signs shows significance to the bands identity. The album takes its title from Manchester's notorious (and now renamed) Strangeways Prison, "Strangeways”, of course, is Victorian monstrosity of a prison operating 88 to a cell," Morrissey has satirically explained. The colour theme has been continued from the front to back cover; it adds more of an effect instead of having the usual black and white street signs. Unlike other CD’s this back cover has the length of each song which informs the audience. The back cover also has the record labels logo on it. ‘Rough trade’ is record company set up in east London, this shows that the production of the album is also British, therefore a predominantly British audience will be attracted. The text style is masculine as well to match with title and the bands culture. The layout of the back cover allows the image to be the main focus whilst the track titles is at the bottom left to still be the last thing the audience looks at.

Gotye “Making Mirrors”

The main feature of the front cover of Gotye’s ‘Making mirrors’ is the image, the four squares with identical patterns but with the different colour schemes they make different designs. There is a link between the image and the album title because each picture mirrors each other; it is different from most Pop album covers because they very often have the picture of the artist on the front which doesn’t necessarily link with the genre or songs on the track, but from this album there is link to the music. Gotye had painted the design himself making the CD more personal instead of been another cover created by technologies which only try and impress. The layout of the CD cover is painting form, with the background as a canvas and the image been the painting then the artist’s name is in the form of s signature at the bottom of the painting. It is simple but attractive to the audience because it is different. It is very suited to the genre and the music because the music isn’t ‘harsh’; it is genuine without the special effects in the background. Unlike other CD’s which have the album name on the front, this doesn’t because it allows the audience the chance to research the whole case, only having the artist name on the front reduces the clutter on the CD cover making it more inviting and easy to know whose CD it is. It isn’t really a common theme to have the name of the title not on the front of the CD so it doesn’t necessarily challenge any convention not having the album name in the front; it just leaves the option open for new audiences to get to know the artist. Also Gotye has his name in the terminal zone where the most important in formation goes from the rule of the thirds meaning the last thing the audience sees is his name.

 On the back cover of Gotye’s ‘Making Mirrors’ the text style is handwritten to match the way the artist name is written on the front cover; it makes the CD cover more personal. The album name is the name of the first track; usually the first song on the album which is chosen by the artist is the most significant song on the CD. The majority of CD’s have between 10- 12 songs on them, which equates to about 60-70 minutes of audio. The font type links with genre, the genre is indie pop but other artist’s like Sting for example the music is soft rock, therefore the font is very calm and subtle creating an identity for the artist and the music because the songs aren’t about violence and social disruption like other artists from Rock sub genres. The beige background colour connotes that the artist uses calm and relaxed music, which is not a stereotype for an indie pop artist, because Indie pop is a sub-genre from rock therefore dark colours like black and deep reds would be used. The colour is relatively similar to that of ‘The Smiths’ album with subtle background colours showing that this a common convention for Indie pop, also with the Smiths been one of the original Indie pop bands the themes still continue through the decades. The record labels logo’s in the bottom right suggest the genre because ‘V2 music’ releases a variety of music from different genres two of them been Rock and Pop.

   The rule of thirds is used properly and well in this album release advert, the title is along the top of the line of sight then the next piece of text is along the bottom. Florence the lead singer of Florence and the machine has her face on the top right hotspot, her face is emotionless and empty, however the colour scheme is as well especially the dark colours connote sadness. There is a very obvious link between the album title and the image. The lungs contrast with her skin tone to reiterate the album title. The most significant the part of the image that also has the most visual attention is the lungs, they can relate to the singers voice. “A good pair of lungs” is a common term; Florence has a strong singing voice so the connection between her and the image is significant.

   The advert itself has little detail but specific points like dates etc. this poster has to be informative but not in essay form to get the required message across, key information for example the different formats the album is on makes the album increasingly available for a wider market. Also the record labels logo who will have released the CD album has its logo last on the poster so the audience can relate the label and understand the genre.

   The rule of thirds has structured this poster advertisement with the title along the top 3 thirds with the name of the band in a large font with a contrasting colour to the images; this is very similar to the Record cover. This is intrusive but in a positive way because it is what the audience is drawn to first with it been the first part of information along the line of sight. As the audience moves its eye diagonally down from the top right to bottom left they see the band members in full pose. It is often a common occurrence from any genre to have the lead singer at the front because they are the ‘face’ of the band therefore the most easily recognised band member.

    The information on this poster is a lot vaster than that on the Florence and the Machine’s. That is because The Smiths first released their albums on Vinyl Records, therefore their fan base might not be familiar with the new set up. This poster though shows which format is the best and what the differences are between the conventional CD and the deluxe CD.

    The two tone colour used for the image is very similar to the original Record covers; this keeps continuity for their audience and making the band more recognisable and noticeable.

   Also the record labels logo who will have released the CD album has its logo last on the poster so the audience can relate the label and understand the genre.