Music Video Analysis: Settle Down by Kimbra

The above shows the music video for Settle Down by Kimbra, an alternative artist who featured in a song with Gotye.
In this video we can see the clear convention used, which is the performance based video. This convention shows the artist performing to the audience by singing to the camera. Kimbra also dances a little in this video which adds to the sense of the idea of performance.
Different ranges of shots are used in this video, such as close ups, mid shots, long shots and extreme close ups. The close ups used are shown at the start of the video, however are used throughout. The mid shots used again are shown throughout the video, however they are used mainly after or before a close up, so that it switches between the two. I've come to notice that these cuts between the two shots seem to be cut on the beat of the track, which works well and looks effective. The extreme close ups are used to show the lips singing the lyrics, and tends to cut then to a mid shot in a similar manner as the close ups cut to the mid shot. The long shots used are shown more towards the end, which allows the audience to see the full body of the artist and also the two girls, who all begin to dance. As the beat of the music becomes more upbeat, the cuts change more frequently and mostly on the beat of the track, which, if muted, would suggest that the song has picked up in pace and this is then matched with the on screen cutting and editing.
The Mise en Scene in this video is quite interesting and unusual. It is bright and colourful, which I find meets the usual conventions used in Pop videos, which also is linked by the fashionable clothing that the artist is wearing. The fashionable clothing is very important for that in a Pop music video as they are trying to appeal to a young audience. Also the setting throughout the video shows a link to the lyrics, for example, when the lyrics "we can settle at a table, a table for two" are heard, what appears on screen is a girl sitting at a table opposite a set place for another person, the camera looks at her as though it were the person sitting opposite her. This creates a story-like effect to the video and also can increase the appeal to the audience, giving them an interesting story to focus on.
The fire at the end of the video is a strong indication for setting a mood, in this case with the destruction going on around the artist, it is a case of  anger. This also links in with the lyrics of the song, as if you listen to them carefully, you can follow the story and can sense anger building towards the end.

Storyboard Planning

 

Contacting Our Artist

Me and Rafal had decided to try and get in contact with our artist to ask permission to use their copyrighted song for our music video. We used Facebook, twitter, sound cloud and also email. The images below are screen shots of our messages.

Email:

Facebook:

 Sound Cloud:

 Twitter:

After many attempts of getting in touch with Gotye, we finally received a reply from the artist's management team.