SAM SMITH – STAY WITH ME

CAMERAWORK

• The camera is used in a point of view type arrangement for the majority of the music video. This allows for a connection to be established between the artist and his fans, by doing this in such a way we see a emotional connection between song, audience and artist. This assists Sam Smith’s established star image as a moral voice living a troubled life, hence his emotional songs and the link made via the camera. The follow cam (below right) and the close ups/ medium close ups that are stage in an enclosed space make a very personal music video with the artist and audience, it therefore becomes all about focus on what the lyrics mean factoring into the performance and technical aspects of the video.

EDITING

• There is very little editing in this music video which makes the video sync up to the slow paced song. By only utilising cuts to jump between Sam Smith walking down a street and then being sat alone in a bedroom, with the exception of a third scene, angelic type scene later, we see the ideal of the song being emotive. The slowed down pace between video and lyrics really portray the artist’s style, adhering to what his fans would expect of him. This does not in anyway challenge many theories or his own styles, it is essentially a form of complying to his own expectations. His work is quite minimalistic and natural to create the sense of a human not isolated form his fans, the subtlety is created in the editing as you are focused on the lyrics and performance if there is less to look at. On the other hand, more editing would distract the audience and lose part of the effect.

MISE-EN-SCENE/ INTERPRETATIONS• The Mise-en-scene of the music video is staged in a sub-urban city

street and seemingly average bedroom, which creates an interpretation that despite his superstar status, he is still just a normal human. This complies with the lyrics to his song which humanises him saying he is just a man who does make mistakes and needs human comfort; the average sub urban London street does further his humanity by not isolating him from his audience and presenting him in the superstar lifestyle. If the person is presented as a normal, relatable figure then the audience can relate to his lyrics more which gives a success to the music video. The room he is in does represent the normality but also gives a dimly lit room which connotes the darker side of the artist in his song, which of course comes through the representation of his hopeless love life and need for human contact, in this case in a physical and likely sexual manner.

ALBUM ART

The album cover of ‘In the lonely hour’ is focused on Sam Smith as a person, much like the performance in ‘Stay with me’ which supports my analysis of his human, down to earth star image. The single cover is very basic and complies with the way he has presented all of his singles, the same font is used as his album and the paint splashed background makes it very minimalist like his music video.