Music Video Analysis | Sia - Elastic Heart

Music Video Analysis

TITLE: Elastic Heart

ARTIST: Sia

RUN TIME: 270 Seconds

FORMAT: Theatre /Role-play

SYNOPSIS

The music video that was created for the song "Elastic Heart" by Sia is based around a running narrative behind two characters who are pictured to be fighting and displaying different forms of emotion to each other. The music video is typical of Sia and can be seen from a very artistic perspective as oppose to a narrative video which could be seen much more story based.
We get the basic understanding that throughout this video the person is clearly dealing with trauma or some kind of addiction, in which one side of them is trying to break loose but the other is stuck in the same looping spiral.

The video has many different running themes and narratives throughout which I split up into four different categories to analyse.

LOCATION

The music video is based in an abandoned warehouse in which there is a large cage like setup and two characters are trapped within this cage in the narrative although, as we see at the end of the video, the girl character can get through the cage but the male character is trapped, from this we can understand that he is trapped in a never ending spiral of his ways or in a relationship or in any kind of never ending circle.

We can see minimal light coming through the top of the warehouse through small windows this tells us as the audience that little light is being put into the situation and not much sanity is being prevailed maybe.

RUNNING THEMES
Right from the beginning we can understand that there is some kind of distress emanating from both of the characters, this is greatly increased by the swirling eyes (0:15).
The whole video has just one main running theme and that is a face of between two characters, moreover the characters represent a persons battle against something, as they are battling and showing lots of emotion. The child character, at times, is showing a more grown up approach to the subject where as the adult who is the route of the addiction is behaving erratically and non controllably to leaving the addiction behind.

NARRATIVE

There is no set narrative throughout the music video as there is a display of multiple emotions and characteristics throughout. The viewer cannot get an absolute understanding of who plays what and their relevancy to the narrative structure as everything is very abstract within the video. I believe this was done deliberately as that is Sia's style of music and that is a running theme within all of her music videos.
You can break down the music video to discover little narratives within it however and there are multiple examples throughout for example the older man plays a supportive role for the child entertaining her towards the end, but at the same time 

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The music video is shot in a very contemporary style as that gives the viewer a clearer understanding of the overall narrative and house style.
The producers decided to film the music video in this way because they had sufficient budget and crew to do so, they also said it presents a more clear view of the video and the meaning.
Although simply filmed the message is clear through how the video is shot that the characters are distressed and are looking for some sort of contrast and salvation.

Music Video Analysis | Taylor Swift - Blank Space

Music Video Analysis

TITLE: Blank Space

ARTIST: Taylor Swift

RUN TIME: 282 Seconds

FORMAT: Narrative Story

The video is compiled of separate elements that make up the overall music video, these elements can be split up into ten individual sections.

NARRATIVE

The Music video sees Taylor in a big house, with lots of glamour and exclusive items, along with who is shown as her boyfriend. From the rest of the video we understand that he is only temporary and there is always someone new.

From the narrative we get the understanding that everything is good with Taylor and she is in her dream relationship. Quickly that takes a bad turn and she is seen to go crazy and quickly let her emotions get the better of her and attack the man.

The video consists of 19 scenes compiled with multiple shots that makes the video. Throughout the scenes there were at least 22 hair and outfit changes for Taylor and 16 for the man, this shows us that Taylor is very wealthy and can afford lots of different clothes, it shows that Taylor can discard clothes often as well moreover this can relate to how the media presents her to be using her money and wealth to support and discard her relationships.

MISE-EN-SCENE

The mise-en-scene within this music video uses satire to reflect the media’s view on Taylor Swift and how she is portrayed. The prestigious house, clothes, car, and boyfriend are all part of an act that mocks the way she is represented within physical and social media, moreover the way she acts on twitter as well as how the press capture her. The large mansion suggests that she is very wealthy and has expensive clothing such as the expensive looking shoes that convey the image that she could be very materialistic and only soughts as after only the best products available. A grey sky is used from 0.48 seconds in the music video when there is a long-shot of her and the man walking outside of her mansion. This and her black dress further conveys her supposed ‘dark’, ‘twisted’ character that we see being brought alive later in the music video. The red lipstick throughout suggests that she is dangerous, red is classified classically as evil, and as you watch the video ahead you see her turn from very sweet and innocent, portrayed via summer clothing, into a very deranged and irrational person that makes snap decisions.  The red car that turns up at the end of the music video reinforces the red t-shirt syndrome, showing that whoever is driving the car is in danger and may reach the same fate as the others.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

The cinematography is introduced with a traditional establishing shot which also reflects the prestigious mansion-like building. This establishing shot shows an expensive sports car and therefore, the audience can assume that whoever lives here must be wealthy. There is a pan at 0.05 seconds which also graphic matches with the bedroom scene at 0.08 where Taylor moves her arm to the right, in the direction of the previous pan.

EDITING

The pace of the editing becomes faster as the narrative progresses onto Taylor Finding out that the man in the video had cheated on her. 1.54 - the shots become fast paced and more frequent . The use of animation at 3.00 could further represent the surreal way media portrays Taylor Swift.

SOUND

The only sound within this music is the non-digetic soundtrack. However, music videos such as ‘Rihanna - We Found Love ft. Calvin Harris’ has a one minute dialogue that sets the tone for the rest of the video. This therefore could reinforce that the music video is more of a short-story in that case. Rihanna – We Found Love ft. Calvin Harris.

LANGUAGE

If you analyse the lyrics from a first-glance view, you can interpret that the song is about getting into a relationship. However, in collaboration with the song’s music video, the song lyrics become a lot more reckless and encrypted.

IDEOLOGY

The ideology of Taylor Swift is conventionally teenage relationship troubles. However, after bringing out her new album ‘1989’, her ideology has seemingly changed slightly. She was quoted saying that she wanted her new album to be about being free and not being tied down by things such as relationships is reinforced by her hit single ‘Shake it Off’ that came out on 8th October 2014.

INSTITUTION

Taylor Swift is a singer/songwriter from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was just 14 and was signed to the independent label Big Machine Records. Creating her first hit album at just 17.

AUDIENCE

For this specific music video by Taylor Swift, I think that her target audience is for those who create false representations of her such as: the media and certain characters within society. It highlights a very prestigious lifestyle that can only be obtained through money.

REPRESENTATION

There are distinct representations of both men and women in this music video. The woman is represented as a clingy, attached ex-girlfriend who is also slightly insane.

Working Between Premier and After Effects | Research

Way 1 Old School
Click on File, export Media choose the correct format and sequence settings and open in after effects.
This is the traditional method of importing files into after effects and was discovered before the Dynamic Link Methods.

Way 2 Dynamic Link Connection
ALL WORK MUST BE SAVED IN PREMIER BEFORE USING THIS METHOD

Lasso all clips in the sequence you want to export. Right click, replace with after effects compilation.

Save place for After Effects project. All sets up perfectly sequence is the same etc.

Way 3
In premier highlight clips that want to be copied across in premier, press ALT and drag up to  a new line to create duplicate clips.

Lasso the duplicates over to After Effects and still retain the original clips.

Way 4
Drag and drop sequence from premier directly across to after effects. Gives single footage item. Everything you change in original will sync across the same.

Way 5
Import like any other asset. Double click and import into after effects. Choose sequence to import.

Visual Effects Explanation | Adobe After Effects

In my film I had three main visual effects. I will explain how they were compiled in the following paragraphs.

Visual Effect 1 - Fire from Right Arm

This effect was vital in my film as it made up all the three effects in my final sequence. The effects was originally compiled by alternate sources and was stock footage free to use under the creative commons license. When I added it to the sequence I made sure the correct ratios were met when re sizing and scaling the effect. I then added stock fire sound footage which was found from freesounds.org.
Overall the combination of those 2 sound effects made a great looking and sounding visual effect.

Visual Effect 2 - Smoke Rising from the Head

I originally came up with the concept of this idea as soon as we had decided on the sequence. I was quick to find a YouTube tutorial on how to create the smoke and carried out my plans using the After Effects plugin 'Partical Playground' Which is renounced for creating smoke effects. After carrying out the work with Partical Playground and getting the settings perfect I then downloaded the royalty free sound effect from a royalty free sound website. I combined the two perfectly to create the final effect which worked effectively in my film.

Visual Effect 3 - Fire from Palm of Left Hand

Precision with placing this effect was absolutely essential as it was the difference between the film being great and okay as this was the main effect that stands out to the viewer. I made sure when collecting an choosing the stock footage that it was good and complied with the theme of the film. Furthermore the sound choice was essential as well so I spend a good deal of time looking for the appropriate sound effect and when I did it worked excellently and was suitable for the main Visual Effect.

Research | Composing Music for Films

5 Point Guide to Creating Great Music for You Film
Engage Yourself
Start by watching the film once, to discover the story, then watch it again, and you start seeing different things, the rhythm of the film, the video editing, and the other details..

Live the life of the product
Have it play in the background while you're doing other things. Your brain will still get used to it more, it's far more efficient than we think.

Watch it without the sound
Play it again now without the sound completely: another dimension will be revealed. It may talk to you more than with the sound. You will get to see more details as well, or notice other things, if it's very still, or very fast. The style of filming and video editing will stand out more. Your brain will not be distracted by the sound (and our ears are far more sensitive than our eyes), so it frees some space for your mind to focus on the images and the image detail.

Select the instruments or select the atmosphere
The instruments are chosen depending on the atmosphere. It might be instruments you've never used before. At this point, the video will dictate to you what it needs, hopefully.

Immerse Yourself
Let the film take over. Like an actor suddenly becomes his role, and lives, breathes, eats, sleeps and talks like his character. The images will inspire you to do the rest.

Reference:
http://www.wikihow.com/Compose-Music-for-Film

Case Study Questions
Describe how Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan worked together to create the music for the Dark Knight?
Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan worked together to create the soundtrack for the The Dark Knight film. Christopher Nolan started off the process of this creation sending Hans Zimmer still images of the visions that he had thought of in his mind of what the character would be like. Hans Zimmer reviewed those images and then began to put together a great amount of sounds that he thought may work when compiled. Christopher Nolan then listened to all of the sounds, intensely and greatly. Which caused the two of them to come together and decide on what worked well and what to do next.

What was the process that Hans Zimmer used to come up with the music?
Hans Zimmer started off by creating many different sounds that could be considered the sound for the joker. He created a nine hundred bar recording with hundreds of different sounds. He then refined the sounds to only a few that he really thought would work. Hans Zimmer came up with the idea that the music would be mayhem wherever it was taken. He wanted to use a fresh approach, defining the character in one note but found that two notes went well with each other. This was the sound of tight strings that get tighter and tighter but never break, this sound was created using a cello.

What was Hans Zimmers intention when making this soundtrack?

Hans Zimmer didnt want to create a 'summer blockbuster', as he thought that it would be very dull and lifeless. He wanted to put something out that people would truly hate. He consulted with Christopher Nolan about the nature of the sounds, discussing the idea of a razor on strings to cause extreme sense of tension. He wanted to get the feeling of the character with the music without it making much of a difference to the rest of the music.

What qualities did Hans Zimmer want the music to have?

 He wanted to make it something twisted and to suit the film's house theme, which was seriousness, he also wanted it to give a sense that the Joker is always there. He didn't want the music to be screaming, he wanted it to be like a whisper, as a sinister theme. 

How do you feel about the final score and explain why you feel it works/doesn’t work.

I think the final score is very engaging and serious, it attracts the viewer in very well and explains the narrative well. As well as this we can get an idea of the genre /type of film and the characters involved. For example there is a very biased lean towards the sinister genre in the music.

Final Video | The Shattered Looking Glass

Attached is the Final Video that is hosted on Vimeo.



Tom Adams Project 1 from Long Road Applied Media Diploma on Vimeo.

Meta Data | Adobe Premier | The Shattered Looking Glass

The enclosed screenshot summarises all the clips that were in my final project archive. I labelled all the clips accordingly including the DUD clips. I found this useful as I could constructively plan my lessons and I knew what had been done.

Screenshot of labelled clips