Monday, 27 November 2017

Genre Specific: Music Video Analysis: 'To Be Human' Sia




I wanted to create a timeline analysis of Sia's 'To Be Human'  because her footage can create a context for my own music video. Within her video it features clips from a film. These clips are organised in a way to create their own film and this is something that I wanted to touch on in my music video. Along with this context these clips both contrast and appose one another, not only does the lighting signify the change in area and time in the storyline, but it also falls back onto itself, repeating the same moment captured before the man goes to war, creating a non-linear storyline. This could suggest that it is the final time the main soldier spends with his lover before something inevitable will happen.
The music video opens up with a mid close up low angle shot on the mans face, cutting between that and an over the shoulder/ dirty mid shot of the same mans face in a convocation with his partner. The two clips contrast with one another, a 'before and during' the war appearance. The second time the camera switches to the first shot, the man is crying and then, for the first time the camera shot moves to his POV showing the woman he is talking to. The woman in this shot also begins to cry, a similar act happening between that shot and the previous one creating a mirroring effect and an emotion connection between the two characters. The camera also focus' on the mans face between the two shots, illuminating the colour of his eyes. The before and during shots of the war change the scenery around him, his appearance changes from clan to ragged but his eyes still stay the same.
The whole music video has a green-tint, this can have negative and dingy connotations associated with the different settings the film clips were shot in (urban, underground, abroad carnage; semantics of war).

0:00- mid close up low angle shot (dark colours)
0:03- over shoulder/ dirty shot (bright colours, looks clean)0:06- back to first shot (a before and after affect from the war)
0:09- over shoulder facing woman (same position as first shot but from males side)
0:10- cuts to first shot0:11- same as second shot, woman reaching for mans face, clips cut jaggardly to her hand moving up the side of the face (images synchronised with music)
0:17- mid shot (dark, light back ground, slightly slow motion)
0:21- close up (focus moves from mans face, blurs then focus' on background follows what the man is looking at)
0:24- wide shot, silhouette clean shot, foreshadowing that woman will drown in water
0:28- mid shot pans following man walk light in front of him 
0:35- high angle mid shot slowed down pans up following the men walk away
0:47- high angle pans closer to running man and follow him 
0:56 low angle extreme close up pans up to see the view the man can see moves over his head 
1:08- low angle close up 
1:10- mid shot side of man silhouette show motion pans into wide shot 
1:23- mid shot close up 1:29- wide shot pans to mid shot
1:34- close up 
1:41- low angle up towards light, follows movement from lady's eyes 
1:43- close up of woman
1:45- mid shot 
1:57- close up on letter, light on front
1:58- close up 
2:14- everything becomes reversed
2:21- back to second shot, over shoulder mid shot
2:24- close up 
2:29- mid shot (hand held)
2:45- everything reversed again, running backwards 
2:47- wide shot
2:59- long shot
3:09- long shot (same position as last shot)
3:13- close up high angle
3:19- close up (repeated location)
3:22- wide shot
3:33- low angle close up
3:36- mid shot, water goes over lens (audience goes under water too)
3:40- high angle? Or in water with woman, mid shot
3:46- close up (turns into a dirty shot a hand intercepts shot to take away letters).