top of page
A2 MEDIA PORTFOLIO
CENTRE NUMBER: 22357
CANDIDATE NUMBER: 5290
Indie Music Video Analysis: Birdy 'People Help The People'
The video starts with a fade in effect which immediately includes the viewer into the narrative subtly. The song is very heavily lyrical, with the melody being mainly instrumental, so the visuals are also quite subtle and easy-flowing in terms of editing. The fade-in effect establishes the video's mood as well as setting as we see the skyline of the London Bridge appear. Editing, even though not used too frequently and too accentuating, is used in a relevant way because it helps the indie video to represent the artist and their interior meaning (it's all in our hands and we should all help each other!). Since the artist is still in her teens, the expectations of a teenage music video are subverted as we see a quite sophisticated music video promotion which perhaps suggests the nature of Birdy herself.
Close ups: the song is not necessarily a personal piece of work but rather a general concept; however, Birdy was able to include herself and her importance within the video through the use of close ups. After all, it's her percepion of the world that we see in the video as well as has thoughts and contemplations. The technical value of using close ups is that while the song and its meaning operate in the viewer's mind, the artist stays relevant. Since the video is in black and white, it also helps the audience to concentrate rather on the artist herself as opposed to her appearance etc.
Focus/depth of field: a lot of video's effects, such as focus/out of focus actually came from the actual filming and not post-production. Often in pop music videos, we see a lot of post-production added affects, such as CGI and green screens, while in an indie music video, a lot of interior meaning and technical competence is portrayed through actual production of the video. This effect when using camera lenses to choose what to put focus on allows the audience to indentify the significance of each individual portrayed in the music video; for instance, the man walking along the street is out of focus at first - which connotes he's just another face in the crowd; and then he's being focused on which in a way outsingles him and suggests the audience that perhaps he means more than it was given at first impression of him.
When it comes to our own indie music video, we're planning on relying less on the post-production and instead focus on the planning on our production of the music video and making sure that we create a good foundation for our music video promotion.
bottom of page