Semiotics Analysis

URL link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHIFpFep9NQ

The music video I have selected is a story of a young couple and could be interpreted as them having a fresh start after arguments or any sort of relationship problem.

Because of the drum and guitar producing a similar beat, there are many quick cuts used throughout the verses of the song as they match to the music very well. The first shots in the video are close ups of photographs. The camera has been set up to focus on one small area of the photograph which is on screen at any given time and to blur out the remainder of the shot; this is to emphasize the important part of the photograph which matches the song's lyrics.

Creative camera focusing and flare are used throughout the scenes set in the small room and this shows intimacy in the young couple as they are never completely seen and their actions are not fully known. We can see them embracing out of full focus.(0.31) The two actors turn and face one another, and the cameras take it in turns to represent each actor, first the woman, then the man. This is an eye-level camera angle and shows the emotion across the actors' faces(which is a mixture of sincerity and lust).

(0.39) The chorus begins and the scene dramatically cuts to an extremely low-angle dolly shot of trees quickly going past, presumably over the head of the male actor. This could show weakness in the character, but also a sense of urgency as the dolly is moving fairly fast. The tree shots can also make the audience or viewer feel a bit uneasy about the speed in which the shots are moving and eager to know what is going on. Quick cut to the actors feet to show the importance of his movement and acknowledge the fact he is running and then another quick cut to the actors' face straight on, at eye-level and then another from the side using a dolly tracker. The camera pans vertically down the actor to show his full body moving.(0.55) A moving/spinning oblique angle is used on the tree shot which could signal desperation or urgency.(1.10) The male actor slows his pace and then stops altogether whilst the camera continues to move backwards along the dolly track and the focus isn't altered - this means the actor becomes blurred and is eventually just in the background and unseen.

(1.13) In the next verse of the song, the first shot is an aerial shot from above the two actors, in the small room scene. The aerial shot suddenly cuts to a low angle shot of the ceiling and then switches back to the starting angle. The video cuts to the male actor in close-up and using a handheld camera.(1.30) A panning, aerial shot from above the actors gives the audience a sense of the cramped surroundings and, potentially, the claustrophobic relationship this couple are in. Another cut to the male actor from a low angle and slightly out of focus. The lack of focus on the camera lens could show that the actor is tired from the running and it could represent his vision. This shot and extreme close ups of the young couple are switched, back and forth for a while during the chorus.

(1.55) Another panning aerial shot of the couple bouncing on a bed in slow-motion shows the sudden delight in their relationship and there are lots of cuts between close-up parts of their bodies and POV shots.

There is a quick dolly-shot of a pylon and the male actor walks beneath it in an eye-level angled shot looking straight up.(2.30) The scene switches very quickly from a POV shot of the actor spinning around and looking at the pylon and a dolly tracker circling the actor as he spins - this gives the audience the feeling of dizziness which the character is experiencing. The actor then runs out of focus and a low-angled shot shows him running out of frame.
Slow-motion scenes of the couple ripping the photographs off the walls and throwing them into a box fill up the time for the rest of the chorus, with the occasional over the shoulder shot of the actor running.(3.15) Low angle shot of the actors' feet stopping in the water to show that he has reached where he was going and an aerial shot follows of the couple lying in bed, revealing a bare room without any photos as they are now in the cardboard box the male actor is clutching and is clutching throughout the entire video. Low angle shot of the actor throwing the box, and then a rare, long shot from behind of the actor and the box he has just thrown landing in the water.(3.20) Low angle shot as the actor walks away.