Wednesday, 9 July 2014

Pop music video analysis for Dear Darlin


Dear Darlin is a narrative and performance style music video as it shows Olly Murs thinking about when he and his girlfriend moved into their new house but later on she moves out.

At the beginning of the video we see him sat alone in an apartment thinking about his break up and remembering the times that they had together. These memories are shown in the video in a specific way. Whilst Olly Murs is singing the use of flashbacks are used as an editing technique to show Olly Murs and his girlfriend having fun and laughing. The mise en scene of their clothing is significant as they are bright and colourful showing happiness. In comparison, the other shots show Olly and the girl wearing dark and dull colours portraying sadness, this symbolises that they both must be sad because of their relationship and the fact that it hasn’t worked out.

I believe that Andrew Goodwins theory in relation to lyrics and visuals is adapted in this video. The lyrics ‘no one understands what we went through’ relates to the visuals because by him putting on headphones it accentuates that nobody has helped them therefore not understanding, so, instead he decides to cut them out by listening to music. Lyrics and visuals are also used in another scene when the girl is waking down the street and sees the words ‘I miss you’ written on a piece of cardboard. This links to what Olly Murs says at this point ‘I miss you’. This symbolises emotion as she is seeing messages that would remind her of him. We then see a mid shot of the girl sitting on a bench writing a letter. We assume she is writing to him which creates a sense of hope. However, she looks unhappy and upset so this conflicts the idea of the audiences expectations. After a cut to Olly Murs singing it then cuts back to the girl tearing up the piece of paper, similar to what he did at the start of video. This shows that they are both helpless and are obviously upset about their break up but the girl just can’t seem to write back to him.

In terms of iconography there are props in the music video that are conventional to the genre pop.  In one of the shots we see Olly Murs playing a guitar which is conventional to pop music. The cardboard boxes imply that they are moving in together showing that they have a committed relationship. However, in a later shot we see the words ‘I miss you’ written on a piece of cardboard which the girl looks at. This could relate to the cardboard boxes which were used when they moved in together. This creates a sense of emotion and depression. The setting in relation to mise en scene follow the conventions of a pop music video. The characters are seen walking through the streets alone in a long shot, it appears to be very tranquil and there doesn’t seem to be many people in the video apart from them. This gives a sense of isolation that both of the characters now have. This adapts onto the love story line that it is about them two and the sadness of their relationship.

There are a lot of close up shots of both of the characters highlighting their emotions and feelings. This is conventional for the genre of the music video because the narrative is about love so the close up shots express their feelings towards the audience.

The lighting throughout the video is fairly dim especially in his apartment, this accentuates the dark situation he is in. When the video shows shots when they are outside it appears to be late evening with sunset arising. This shows that it is going to be getting dark symbolising that their relationship could be getting darker, therefore weaker. This is highlighted by the girl tearing up the piece of paper and throwing it onto the floor which is shown in slow motion. This could show that there relationship is breaking down but slowly.

I feel that the music video is easily relatable due to the context of relationships and break ups so due to this I believe that the target audience is aimed at 12-30 year olds as they could be or have been going through the same situation.

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