Music Video Desconstruction

I am going to deconstruct two music videos to find out what makes them appealing to the audience but for easiness sake I will be writing them up in two posts as blogger can sometimes be a 'little' awkward.

The first video that I am going to deconstruct is Adele - Hometown Glory

I will be looking at Number of Shots, Camera Movement, Colour Schemes, Number of Locations, Length of each shot, Composition of shots (including speed and type)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MixzjwDFSvM

This is a rather odd and yet brilliantly fantastic music video. It's amazing how so much effect can be achieved from this.

There is only one shot through out the whole film and the camera moves around Adele's face and person to reveal different backgrounds which give you a window into her life and memories.

The camera movement is fluent and smooth, there is no jerking or jolting of the camera. The odd very subtle zoom in and then out compliments the artist. It is because of the camera movement that we are able to see the different backgrounds.
The set is a studio and the film does not move out side the studio. The audience is very aware that it is a studio and the record label has not tried to cover it up. Like in a photo shoot the backgrounds are on material and are moved in and out when they are behind the camera. She is sitting on a stool in the middle of what is essentially a box of backgrounds.

The colour schemes through out the video are mostly greys and a few bright colours slip in to enhance the artist against the greys of the city or 'Hometown'.

The composition of shots is key to this video. the long shot reveals her on the stool. It then zooms in to her face and the back ground lights up. As the camera zooms out the lights go down and it then zooms in on her face again after panning around a bit. This gives the illusion of Adele being in the background location.

I have noticed that there are no wires on the floor and so the camera must be a satellite camera that is not on any rails or connected via wires.

The video does not fit in with the Genre Characteristics of a pop video as there is usually more action and a more up beat rhythm.

The background visuals relate to the lyrics Adele is singing at the time. When she sings
"I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque" a picture of an oil refinery appears as the background.

There is no noticeable reference to the notion of looking.

There are no references to any other texts.