Music video analysis clown emeli sande

1. Music Video Analysis 2 Emeli Sande - Clown

2. Background Information ‘ Clown ’ is a song by Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli Sande Sande’s genre of music can be classified as RnB and Soul It was written by Emeli Sande , Sahid Khan and Grant Mitchell It was produced by Khan, whose stage name is Naughty Boy It was released February 3 rd 2013 as a digital download Sande is under the label Virgin Records The video was directed by WIZ The video is set in the style of a silent film

3. Lyrics and meaning of the song The story of the song is about Emeli Sande’s first experiences in the music industry It mainly reflects her struggles to get signed, and also encounters she had with people in the industry Sande commented on the song by saying: “It’s about how I felt when I was trying to get signed, I was going for all these meetings and people were looking at me like ‘What do we do with you’? It’s about not allowing yourself to be judged by others or to be taken for an idiot. I feel the video reflects that.”

4. Camerawork The establishing shot is of an entrance to a room which has stairs around it and a cross at the back w all. There is a man in u niform pointing through the door After this main officer is seen to be pointing, 3 more male officers walk through the doorway into the somewhat ambiguous room

5. Camerawork The use of extreme close up’s are used repeatedly throughout the video There is a concentration on the contrast of the bright room with the soldiers, to the dark, intimate room with a dimmed spotlight The camera angle seems to be slightly low whilst filming in the dark room, however Sande’s position of her head changed slightly e.g. from facing down to facing up to the light In these shots the use of lip synching is used, whilst with the soliders in the bright room, Sande is acting as a character, except at the end when she signs the form, she starts singing in the room with the men

6. Camerawork The other part of the video when it is not Sande lip syncing in the dark room, she seems to be being scrutinized by a room of lots of male soldiers The first shot of Sande in contact with the soldiers is right at the beginning where she is seen to be brought into the room by two male guards. A medium-long shot is used

7. Camerawork When Sande is in the room with the soldiers, there are a close up shots of the soldiers which do not show their faces. This creates the fear factor, and makes the audience feel slightly uncomfortable, which mirrors the way Sande must be feeling These shots which do not show the soldiers faces are low angles, which adds to feel of the authority and power the soldiers attain

8. Camerawork There are lots of low-angled shots of the old soldiers, which triggers the idea that they are being patronizing towards her, as many have when she has approached people in the music industry in the past whilst trying to find someone to sign her

9. Camerawork This film was created to hold the style of a silent film The way in which this was created was by overhead shots of pieces of paper which had typed what that character was saying The video then shows the reaction of what is said by the expression of the character, then responses they give is shown This was extremely effective as it added authenticity to the video and the sense of fear and tension as to what the soldiers want from Sande .

10. Editing At the beginning of the video, when the soldiers are beckoned into the lit up room with the cross at the back, their walking seems quite static and sped up There are lots of cross cuts, from Sande singing in the darkened room, to her being interrogated by the male soldiers Another technique that is reoccurring in the video is the of different focuses e.g. many shots are focused on Sande , with characters and props in the background blurred out

11. Mise -en-Scene Costumes The soldiers are wearing appropriate army gear, such as full uniforms, big, black boots and belts. The guards seem to be wearing army hats Some of the soldiers are wearing gloves, with some others holding clipboards The uniform certifies the soldiers power, and allow the audience instantly to recognize the characters Emeli Sande is wearing the same outfit both when seen in the darkened room and with the soldiers She wears a black skirt, with a black blouse and a white scarf Sande looks very professional, as if going to a court hearing The dominant use of black helps to link with the videos theme, and shows that she is serious through her attire

12. Mise -en-Scene Location There are two locations within this video: the dark room where Emeli Sande is seen to be singing, and the bright ‘courtroom’ with the soldiers inside Emeli Sande seems to be more comfortable in her own company, which is where she is seen to be singing, and looking straight down the camera, compared to her self-conscious self, whilst with the soldiers, where she seems to be looking downwards most of the time

13. Lighting Due to the film being in black and white, the lighting is extremely important in this video In the room with the soldiers, the lighting is very bright, giving the impression of complete exposure, and interrogation like at a police station There are no shadows in the room with the soldiers, with nowhere to hide compare to the other location, which possibly enhances the feel of vulnerability for Emeli Sande Compared to…

14. Lighting In the darkened room, they use one spot light, which, at the beginning of the video, is placed to the right hand side of the camera This allows for shadowing to appear on Sande’s face, which shows her introvert character As the video progresses on, the spotlight seems to move to over Sande’s head, as there are shots with her looking up, and Sande’s face is lit up quite clearly, still however, with some shadows on the left side of her face These shadows could represent her insecurities about her music as she had been turned so many times

15. Theory present in the video E.A. Kaplan in Rocking around the Clock: Music Television, Postmodernism and Consumer Culture (1987 ): Kaplan describes the importance of referring back to a shot the singer/band’s repeatedly throughout the video He explains that the singer’s face act are a key anchoring motif, a visual hook In the Sande’s video of Clown , there are many intimate close up shots They vary from shots of Sande singing in the darkened room, to looking uncomfortable and being forced to sign the form by the soldiers

16. Theory present in the video ‘Course on General Linguistics’ (1916), Ferdinand de Saussure: Saussure describes the science of signs as semiology This refers to the deconstruction of the significance of imagines and words; the meaning of images; the associations the audience brings to the symbol. Through the use of incorporating soldiers in uniform, that is a symbolic sign The audience will connect the soldiers in uniform to punishments, authority and power