The music video opens with an establishing shot of a white dessert with a road marked in the middle. This kind of contradicts the song title, as the ideology of the audience would expect it to be in a city or crowded area as it’s called “skyscraper” and the song is based on ‘a picture of the apocalypse, in which the world was in ruins, and among collapsed buildings, one skyscraper was still standing’, and so when the opening of the music video shows a lonely, empty dessert.
A slow edit cut, cuts from different scenery shots and then to a close up of Demi’s face. Mise-en-scene shows her with tears in her eyes and a sad face, so straight away you can tell that the mood of the video is sad and you can establish the genre of soul ballad and pop. The narrative begins to develop as diegetic sound is played and the lyrics basically describe a bad relationship with a lover.
A slow cut edit shoots to a mid shot of Demi holding her arm across her stomach. This could show insecurity or maybe represent “gut wrenching” pain, which is showing the pain of her mental abuse in the relationship.
Mise-en-scene shows Demi wearing a white, floaty dress. This colour represents innocence and pure feelings. It is also a protagonist colour representing that the lyrics are about an ex boyfriend or an antagonistic character which demonstrates Levi Strauss idea of Binary opposites. (Always a good to a bad person). This again also exaggerates the narrative.
The Editing is really slow at the beginning again representing the narrative and chosen genre of soul ballad. A shot then shows the clouds with a mountain in the background representing the height of a skyscraper, and then mise-en-scene shows a heart in a glass box. Glass is fragile and so shows that her heart is kept in a thin, fragile box and later on shows the glass broken again developing the narrative, and the stereotypical view of girls and getting there hearts broken.
Diegetic sound show’s Demi singing the lyrics of “go on and try to tear me down, I will be rising from the ground, like a skyscraper”. Cinematography links with sound by showing a low angled shot making Demi look really tall again exaggerating the lyrics.
When she sings “skyscraper” she lifts her arms straight above her head and then grabs her hands together, this exaggerates the length of her body and also could be seen as demonstrating a skyscraper. A zoom in is used to exaggerate how powerful the song gets.
As the song develops, mise-en-scene shows a black long cloth wrapped around Demi. This could be the “male” figure she sings about as black is antagonistic colour and could represent the evil. In another way it could represent the place she was in and as it blows away is represents how strong she ha got and how she’s moving onto other things.
Three quarters of the way through the music video, it starts to get quicker and the editing gets quicker exaggerating the power and strength of Demi again showing what she said happened to her when she was recording the song.
“When recording it in 2010, Demi was very emotional which triggered outbursts and caused her to start crying. Later the same year, she entered a treatment facility to deal with her personal struggles. After finishing it in early 2011, she re-recorded the song, but kept the original recording as she felt that it was "symbolic" to her. According to Demi, the song represents the journey she had been on the previous year. The lyrics speak of staying strong and believing in oneself.”
The narrative develops and basically shows how strong she is getting and how she no longer needs love.
Taylor Swift
All I knew this morning
when I woke
Is I know something now,
know something now I
didn't before
And all I've seen since 18
hours ago is green
eyesand freckles
and your smile in the back of my mind making me feel right
I just want to know you
better know you better know you better now
I just want to know you
better know you better know you better now
(Both)
I just want to know you better know you better know you better now
I just want to know you know you know you
Cause all I know is we
said hello
And your eyes look like coming
home
All I know is a simple
name, everything
has changed
All I know is you held the
door You'll be mineand I'll be yours
All I know since yesterday
is everything has changed
(Ed Sheeran)
And all my walls stood
tall, painted blue
But I'll take them down,
take them down and open up
the door for you
(Taylor Swift)
And all I feel in my
stomach is butterflies the beautiful kind
Making up for lost time, taking flight, making me feel right
(Both)
I just want to know you
better know you better know you better now
I just want to know you better know you better know you better now
I just want to know you better know you better know you better now
I just want to know you know
you know you
Cause all I know is we said hello
And your eyes look like
coming home
All I know is a simple
name, everything has changed
All I know is you held the
door You'll be mine and I'll be yours
All I know since yesterday
is everything has changed
Come back and tell
me why
I'm feeling like I've
missed you all this time
And meet me there tonight
And let me know that it's not all in my mind
(Taylor Swift) I just want to know you
better know you better know you better now
I just want to know you know you know you
(Both)
Cause all I know is we
said hello
And your eyes look like
coming home
All I know is a simple
name,everything
has changed
All I know is you held the
door You'll be mine and I'll be
yours
All I know since yesterday
is everything has changed
(Taylor Swift with Ed in background)
All I know is we said
hello
So dust off your highest
hopes
All I know is pouring rain
And everything has changed
All I know is a newfound
grace
All my days, I'll know
your face
(Both)
All I know since yesterday is everything has changed
Everything
has changed is a song written by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran and then performed
by both of them. The song was placed in Taylor’s recent album red and tells a
narrative of how children form crushes and young love over a short period of a
day and they feel like it is there whole world. It could also be representing
the two artists own experiences as children, as the children placed in the music
video are specifically chosen to look like former versions of Taylor and Ed.
The music video shows their normal school day, filled with children’s
activities however it shows the two always together and sneaking off doing
things together independently from everyone else.
Cinematography
is used to show the narrative developing. The music video starts with an
establishing shot of a scenic view with a long road and a typical stereotyped
‘yellow’ American school bus, showing where the music video is set. By seeing
the yellow school bus the audience can tell straight away that this is going to
be about school children. Editing then uses a fast cut edits-maybe representing
the speed of the bus or on the other hand representing the youth of children and
how they have a lot of energy and move a lot quicker- to a shot of a girls
shoes and then a tilt upwards is used to show a young, blonde girl. A depth of
field shot is used to show the girl in focus and the background blurred. This
could be representing the age of the girl and how young children are in their
own world. Mise-en-scene is used to show
the girl wearing a white floaty dress, a backpack and pink ribbons in her hair.
The dress colour of white can be seen as representing her youth and age and her
innocence. The ribbons and backpack all show her age of around 7-9 and in
pre-school. Non diegetic sound is used of Taylor singing over the top of the
music video and so this girl could be representing Taylor swift in how she is
dressed, the hair colour and again using them to represent their own
experiences.
Once the
girl is on the bus she walks toward an empty chair next to a ginger looking boy
reading a comics magazine, again showing the age of the children. An over the
shoulder shot shows the boy is seen as a ginger haired, young boy, wearing blue
jeans and a blue top reading a comics paper and drinking a flask. This could
show that he is trying to act older or has gained characteristics from his
father, e.g. Ed Sheeran. Him being a mini ed. A two shot shows her looking at
him and smiling. This is when the narrative begins to show as the audience are
then able to see the crush and friendship begin to develop, and thanks to
stereotypes explored by Tessa Perkins, showing that everyone knows what a girl
looks like when she is in young love.
Throughout
the music video cinematography is used to show the two children always
together, doing their own thing and showing their friendship. A close up tilt
upwards, shows a lot of children running around a play area having fun with
each other, the tilt then shows the two main children (mini ed and Taylor) sat
together on top of a play frame eating their sandwich's together and being
individual from the rest, which exaggerates their importance in the music video
compared to the rest of the children. A similar shot is used again, this time
showing an extreme long shot of a football game. The two main children are
however at the side of the pitch doing yoga together. This again shows their
individuality.
And how they are representing an older influence. This point is
then represented by a sequence of shots placed together with a series of fast
cut edits from a zoom out to eventually a zoom in. This shot shows “mini ed and
taylor” decorating cakes. Hers are really neat and delicately placed where as
his are messy. This could represent the stereotype of how boys are messy and
girls are neat or however it could represent the song lyrics of when they both
sing “I just want to know you better”, this could be saying that they want to
get to know each other better as they are clearly different in some ways. The
narrative develops further when the non diegetic sound goes from solo singers
to Taylor and ed singing together. This seems to happen when the shots show
mini Taylor and ed playing together and being around each other more. Again
stating how a stereotypical crush works.
A range of shots
show the two together sharing childish activities together showing, the love
they have. A range of shots show them, drawing together on eachother’s faces,reading
to each other however it’s he notebook which is an older book contradicting the
children but again the book I about love and so represents the narrative. It
shows them performing in a school play. He is the knight and she is the
princess. All of these shots representing the love and developing the
narrative.
The
narrative comes to an end when the two children run out of school at the end
of the day. A shot reverse shot goes from the girl, to Taylor swift, and back
to the girl. This is the only time you see Taylor in the whole music video and
it shows that she is representing her mum stating that everything was
representing Taylor and ed with the two children. It shows mini ed running to
ed sheeran, again representing the dad and it brings the whole narrative to the
end.
Written: Paloma Faith, Wayne Hecter and Tim Powell
Director: Nelle Hooper
Genre: Pop
Structure: Narrative
"Picking Up The Pieces"
Do you think
of her?
When you're
with me?
Repeat the memories
you made together
Whose face do
you see?
Do you wish I
was a bit more like
her?
Am I too
loud?
I play the clown
To cover up all these
doubts
Perfect heart
She's flawless
She's the other
woman
Shining in her splendor
You were lost
[Chorus]
Now she's
gone
And I'm picking
up the pieces
I watch you
cry
But you don't
see that I'm the one
by your side
'Cause she's
gone
In her shadow
is it me you see?
'Cause all that's left is you and I
And I'm picking
up the pieces she left behind
I found a photograph behind the TV
You look so happy
are you missing the way it
used to be?
And I have changed
this room around more often lately
It's clear
that we
And these
four walls
Still known as hers
and yours.
Perfect part
She's flawless
She's the other
woman
Shining in her splendor
You were lost
[Chorus]
Now she's
gone
And I'm
picking up the pieces
I watch you cry
But you don't see that I'm the one by your side
'Cause she's
gone
In her shadow
is it me you see?
'Cause all that's left is you and I
And I'm
picking up the pieces she left behind
Are we liars
in denial?
Are we smoke
without the fire?
Tell me please
is this worth it?
I deserve it
[Chorus]
'Cause she's
gone
And I'm picking
up the pieces
I watch you cry
But you don't
see that I'm the
one by your side
'Cause she's
gone
In her shadow
is it me you see?
'Cause all that's
left is you and I
And I'm
picking up the pieces
She left
behind
Ooh, I'm
picking up the pieces
Of a broken
heart
Who will save
them?
Who will save
them?
I'm picking up
the pieces
Ooh, I'm
picking up the pieces
Somebody save me
Somebody save me
Oh, oh, ooh, ooh.
Picking up the pieces is a song performed by
Paloma Faith from her album Fall to grace. It describes the relationship
between her and her partner but how he is un happy and still suffering from his
loss of his previous relationship. Paloma is seen as a shadow of the previous
woman, who she states as perfection and the reason why he cannot let it
go. Another version in what paloma describes
is that they’ve just broken up and are both very upset. He's sort of obsessed
by this other version of Paloma who represents perfection. He's in love with
perfection, but the perfection doesn't actually exist - it's like the perfection
that she's imagined in her own paranoid, self-loathing way. Faith then becomes
wax-like and she begins to melt, which could be described as resembling the
emotional crumbling she has suffered through domestic abuse. “Faith said: that
the scene in which she melts shows that her character is not real and that what
she was imagining does not even exist. She added "We have this kiss at the
end that signifies that we just had a blip. I think that happens a lot in
relationships.
I
would say that this song appeals to mainly women as it is from a woman’s point
of perspective and women can take it as real life events and can relate to the
lyrics from times in their own lives. It can reach out to a range of audiences
for different reasons.
I would say that this song is a ballad with
strong and powerful instruments used within the piece such as drums and the
piano. At different stages these instruments are used in softer touches
creating light atmosphere but when they are played hard it creates power and makes
you listen to the lyrics more.
I
believe that the target audience for this song is from teens (13) to middle age
(30’s/40’s).
The music video opens with an establishing
shot of a country manor placed on a dark hill. The scene is shot with the sky
looking black and dull so almost straight away you can tell that it is not a
happy music video. Non- diegetic sound also plays a crow squawking which in
some superstitious ways examples death and sorrow. It goes onto follow a car
driving up a road and diegetic sound of a car engine supports this shot. The
shot shows a rich but old-fashioned car, which could support a different era.
You can also tell this by the way in which mise-en-scene, shows costume of the
two characters. Paloma where's a cream thick mid length jacket with a skirt,
white tights and her hair styled in a 90's style. The male wears a shirt and tie
with a long black jacket. The rest of the mise-en-scene enquires the 90's style
so this could be set in a different era but from Faiths background and how she
dresses anyway it cannot be confirmed. Mise-en-scene later in the music video
shows the man walking through different rooms. These rooms are decorated with
90’s style décor such as an old grandfathers clock, large fireplaces and
wallpaper patterns of that era.
The narrative is almost explained immediately
with a close up shot of Paloma, dresses in cream, a colour that could symbolise
innocence. It then quickly cuts to a close up of a man. His expression is stern
and mise-en-scene is used to show him dressed in black, giving the audience a
feel of an antagonistic character. Mise-en-scene also show's light shining on
Paloma's face, again exaggerating her protagonist character, however only
little light is placed on the man's neck. This could symbolise Paloma's light
of how she's there but he can’t see it. This is supported by her lyrics in the
song when she sings later on: "but you don't see that I’m the one by your
side". Levi Strauss also came up with the theory of binary opposites where
there is always a bad character to match a good character, i.e., Superman and
Lex Luther. Faith is the protagonist, the girlfriend that does everything for
her lover and puts up with emotional domestic abuse whereas the male is the
antagonist who treats her badly.
The Narrative is developed to show a high
angled shot of the car pulling up outside the manor house and the man gets out,
closing the door and leaving paloma in the car, alone. This is when the song
begins to start and she starts singing watching him leave. Throughout the whole song this Paloma, is
seen as two women, the one that sings and the one who is seen as a statue,
never are the two seen together and never does she sing at him in the same
shot.
Cinematography develops the narrative by
allowing the audience to see from different angles and of what they want to be
portrayed. The director tells you what to see through the different camera
angles. After the male leaves paloma in the car, he walks through the house.
This is seen through a tracking shot that follows him from behind. This could
represent his dominance is the speed of his walk and the dominant stand, like
no one can stand in his way. It could also represent Paloma and its her
following her and its as if the audience are looking through her eyes, watching
him walk away and then an over the shoulder shot shows him kiss the “other”
Paloma which could represent the perfect woman. I put other in inverted commas
as I feel like paloma is represented as two women; the one he kisses is seen as
a statue like character, possibly representing the “perfect woman” he wants.
She wears a blue lace dress and he hair styled up in another “90’s” style up
do.
Editing then works with
cinematography by using jump cuts to different shots. It jumps from the over
the shoulder, to the man reading the paper, to looking at faith, to faith, then
to faith singing in the car, then to a painting of an old man. Whilst this is
happening non-diegetic sound is playing over the top, of faith singing “do you
wish I was a bit more like her?” This
could be representing what I said about there being two faiths and her being
the statue is trying to be perfection. These edits could also symbolise that
they can all see her in pain but “he” cannot as he’s trying to carry on as
normal. This cinematography tells the narrative of her pain and how she wants
to be the other woman for him.
Diegetic and Non-diegetic sound is used
within this music video. Non-diegetic music is played over the top of the video
in scenes where you can hear Paloma singing but you cannot see her singing,
until the shot of her by herself when she is singing into the camera. You have
diegetic sound of the car and you can see the car and diegetic sound of the
footprints of the maid walking with the food through the house. The music stops
at this part, which could represent the tension between the two but also builds
up the tension and then emphasises the song lyrics more powerfully when the
non-diegetic sound of her singing begins to play again.
Mise-en-scene and non-diegetic sounds work
together when Faith sings, “are we smoke without the fire?” they have placed a
fire in the background of the video creating verisimilitude.
The Narrative progresses into Faith melting
like wax. This supports what she said about her not being real, how she’s not
perfect and she cannot be the other woman. He doesn’t see her for who she is
and so she’s melting away. At the end he runs to her, the Paloma we see singing
into the camera, and he kisses her. This can also represent that none of it is
real; it was a lover’s tiff, which creates realism and verisimilitude of real
life relationships.
The lyrics I have highlighted are ones I felt
best described the narrative they are heart felt and create verisimilitude for
the audience of mainly female to relate to. I feel the video is well directed
and produced and really makes you want to watch right to the end it makes you
feel for Paloma.
