Music Video Analysis 2

Emeli Sande - Clown

Background Information

O ‘Clown’ is a song by Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli

Sande

O Sande’s genre of music can be classified as RnB and

Soul

O It was written by Emeli Sande, Sahid Khan and Grant

Mitchell

O It was produced by Khan, whose stage name is

Naughty Boy

O It was released February 3rd 2013 as a digital

download

O Sande is under the label Virgin Records

O The video was directed by WIZ

O The video is set in the style of a silent film

Lyrics and meaning of the song

O The story of the song is about Emeli Sande’s first

experiences in the music industry

O It mainly reflects her struggles to get signed, and

also encounters she had with people in the industry

O Sande commented on the song by saying:

“It‟s about how I felt when I was trying to get signed, I was

going for all these meetings and people were looking at me

like „What do we do with you‟? It‟s about not allowing

yourself to be judged by others or to be taken for an idiot. I

feel the video reflects that.”

Camerawork

O The establishing shot is

of an entrance to a room

which has stairs around it

and a cross at the back

wall. There is a man in

uniform pointing through

the door

O After this main officer is seen to be pointing, 3 more

male officers walk through the doorway into the

somewhat ambiguous room

CameraworkO The use of extreme close up’s are used repeatedly

throughout the video

O There is a concentration on the contrast of the bright room with the soldiers, to the dark, intimate room with a dimmed spotlight

O The camera angle seems to be slightly low whilst filming in the dark room, however Sande’s position of her head changed slightly e.g. from facing down to facing up to the light

O In these shots the use of lip synching is used, whilst with the soliders in the bright room, Sande is acting as a character, except at the end when she signs the form, she starts singing in the room with the men

CameraworkO The other part of the video when it is not Sande lip

syncing in the dark room, she seems to be being

scrutinized by a room of lots of male soldiers

O The first shot of Sande in contact with the soldiers

is right at the beginning where she is seen to be

brought into the room by two male guards. A

medium-long shot is used

CameraworkO When Sande is in the room with the soldiers, there are

a close up shots of the soldiers which do not show their

faces. This creates the fear factor, and makes the

audience feel slightly uncomfortable, which mirrors the

way Sande must be feeling

O These shots which do not show the soldiers faces are

low angles, which adds to feel of the authority and

power the soldiers attain

CameraworkO There are lots of low-angled shots of the old

soldiers, which triggers the idea that they are being

patronizing towards her, as many have when she has

approached people in the music industry in the past

whilst trying to find someone to sign her

CameraworkO This film was created to hold the style of a silent film

O The way in which this was created was by overhead

shots of pieces of paper which had typed what that

character was saying

O The video then shows the reaction of what is said by the

expression of the character, then responses they give is

shown

O This was extremely effective as it added authenticity to

the video and the sense of fear and tension as to what

the soldiers want from Sande.

Editing

O At the beginning of the video, when the soldiers are

beckoned into the lit up room with the cross at the

back, their walking seems quite static and sped up

O There are lots of cross cuts, from Sande singing in

the darkened room, to her being interrogated by the

male soldiers

O Another technique that is reoccurring in the video is

the of different focuses e.g. many shots are focused

on Sande, with characters and props in the

background blurred out

Mise-en-SceneCostumes

O The soldiers are wearing appropriate army gear, such as full

uniforms, big, black boots and belts. The guards seem to be

wearing army hats

O Some of the soldiers are wearing gloves, with some others

holding clipboards

O The uniform certifies the soldiers power, and allow the

audience instantly to recognize the characters

O Emeli Sande is wearing the same outfit both when seen in

the darkened room and with the soldiers

O She wears a black skirt, with a black blouse and a white scarf

O Sande looks very professional, as if going to a court hearing

O The dominant use of black helps to link with the videos

theme, and shows that she is serious through her attire

Mise-en-SceneLocation

O There are two locations within this video: the dark room

where Emeli Sande is seen to be singing, and the bright

‘courtroom’ with the soldiers inside

O Emeli Sande seems to be more comfortable in her own

company, which is where she is seen to be singing, and

looking straight down the camera, compared to her self-

conscious self, whilst with the soldiers, where she seems

to be looking downwards most of the time

Lighting O Due to the film being in black and white, the lighting is

extremely important in this video

O In the room with the soldiers, the lighting is very

bright, giving the impression of complete exposure, and

interrogation like at a police station

O There are no shadows in the room with the

soldiers, with nowhere to hide compare to the other

location, which possibly enhances the feel of

vulnerability for Emeli Sande

Compared

to…

Lighting

O In the darkened room, they use one spot

light, which, at the beginning of the video, is placed to

the right hand side of the camera

O This allows for shadowing to appear on Sande’s

face, which shows her introvert character

O As the video progresses on, the spotlight seems to

move to over Sande’s head, as there are shots with

her looking up, and Sande’s face is lit up quite

clearly, still however, with some shadows on the left

side of her face

O These shadows could represent her insecurities about

her music as she had been turned so many times

Theory present in the video

E.A. Kaplan in Rocking around the Clock: Music Television,

Postmodernism and Consumer Culture (1987):

O Kaplan describes the importance of referring back to a

shot the singer/band’s repeatedly throughout the video

O He explains that the singer’s face act are a key

anchoring motif, a visual hook

O In the Sande’s video of Clown, there are many intimate

close up shots

O They vary from shots of Sande singing in the darkened

room, to looking uncomfortable and being forced to sign

the form by the soldiers

Theory present in the video

‘Course on General Linguistics’ (1916), Ferdinand

de Saussure:

O Saussure describes the science of signs as

semiology

O This refers to the deconstruction of the significance

of imagines and words; the meaning of images; the

associations the audience brings to the symbol.

O Through the use of incorporating soldiers in uniform,

that is a symbolic sign

O The audience will connect the soldiers in uniform to

punishments, authority and power