Clean Bandit - Rather Be feat. Jess Glynne -music video analysis

This track has reached number 1 in the Uk singles chart on the 26th of January 2014.
I really like this song, it's upbeat and the kind of song you could dance to but at the same time it's gentle and sort of romantic.
I like the strings, I like violins, viola's, cello's and instruments like that.
I also think the music video is pretty cool so I thought I  should try analyse it.
Is Clean Bandit a band? or more like a musical group? I'm going to alternate between the two.



As soon as the video starts it's clearly set in japan, there isn't any establishing shots to set the scene but they use shots of a koi pond and they use Asian characters (which I presume is Japanese) as typography.
Th lyrics mention the city of Kyoto located on Honshu island, japan.
Japan seems like the most likely location.

The first scene shows a young Japanese woman waking up in her bed who is greeted by a ginger tabby.
Her bed covers have an usual pattern.

This pattern features a lot in this video and it also features on a the groups album art.

I have no idea what the point of the symbol is but there is 4 shapes and 4 band member's so I guess the shapes represent the people but I don't really know.

The woman starts her day by playing the track on her phone/MP3 player and lip syncing the lyrics, The shapes appear as 3D paper shapesin the bottom right and as drawings in her diary.

At this point in the video the shapes are pretty subtle, they aren't the main focus of the scenes and if you weren't looking for them you might not notice them.

The young woman gets ready to leave whilst the cat and an older man (presumably her dad) sit and watch TV.
The woman still lip syncing rides her moped, she drives past a van with the image of a white mans face, she seems slightly confused by it, he is a member of the quartet.
The fact she seems confused would indicate that the group is personal to her and she wouldn't expect to see their image in public, in the next shot the image is that of a bowl of noodles so that would imply she is hallucinating.

She is now at a fish market, she goes to purchase a fish from an Asian women, in the next shot she is being served by the woman of the group.
Aside from the fact the cashier completely changed person the new woman is white and blonde, in this community she would be an ethnic minority and so she would seem really out of place.

The young Japanese woman looks concerned, this is the first time she has seen a member of the band in the flesh, their presence is becoming more obvious.

She get's back on her moped and rides it to work at a restaurant, the lyrics that play at this point are:
"If you gave me a chance I would take it
It's a shot in the dark but I'll make it"

these lyrics suggest a struggle of some sort, weather it's about relationships, careers, emotional ect is almost irrelevant. (although along with the rest of the lyrics it would suggest it's a relationship.)
Everyone can relate to a struggle, the girl in the video looks like she could be saving for something.

She is serving some grumpy businessmen sitting at the bar, when she looks away and then back to the men they are smiling, laughing and dancing at the bar.

The shapes are seen on a plate of food:

The shapes are becoming more obvious, the shapes are the main focus of the shot.

The young woman notices one of the members of Clean Bandit sitting at the bar with the business men.
There is an odd sequence where the blonde woman and the Japaneses woman are wearing school uniform, holding hands and spinning in the street.
She wakes up to reveal she was dreaming, I think this shows how much the group have started influencing her, if you dream about something it's usually because something is bothering you.
If you dream about celebrities or your favourite band it's supposedly because you are unsatisfied with your life and dream about people who you think lead more satisfying lives.
This could link to the theory that she is working hard to save up and she feels unsatisfied with how her life is shaping up.

Despite having woken up for a weird dream about the woman from Clean bandit the band is still very much a part of her life, it's not clear whether the whole video up until that point was also a dream but either way the band is still on her mind.

Inside the house her father and cat are seen watching the weather on the TV, a man from the group is the weather man. The presence of the band is a lot more obvious then it was to begin with and the woman isn't reacting to the man on the TV and neither is her dad.

I think her dad can't see the band so it's as if she were hallucinating, the way the group effects the woman is personal so her dad doesn't see it, she doesn't react to it possibly because she is aware of the effect they have on her.

In a way it is like joining a "fandom", on the internet there is always a group of people who really enjoy every book, TV show, Film, video game or whatever you can imagine.
Kind of like the girls who are big Justin Beiber or Onedirection fans, being a fan almost becomes their lives.
I think this girl has effectively became a big Clean Bandit fan, at first she didn't realise how much she liked the them, like the interest was unconscious or something and then she started thinking about them more and more.

She goes back to the fish market, as a man cuts into a big chunk of fish the shapes are seen.

The shapes are not the focus of the shot but they are much more obvious, unlike before they are out of place and natural looking, until know they have either been in the back ground or like the food shapes where relevant to working at the restaurant, these shapes are bright and in the middle of a lump of fish.
You wouldn't find bright coloured shapes in a fish, clearly.

The woman picks out a fish, she looks relaxed.
I think she is trying to not think about the band, it's not the main focus of the shot so she isn't trying to think consciously about it.
However she can't stop thinking about it and it still has a big effect on her.

She then sees a man playing the violin on the back of some sort of vehicle, the woman stares in shock at the violinist. She can't escape the band.

she leaves the fish market on her moped but then the band appear behind her also riding mopeds, she is aware of them because she looks back at them.
When she gets home she lays on her bed exhausted when she finally gets up off her  bed she finds herself in front of a stage where the band is performing.
A crowd appears in the next shot and she is lifted by the audience toward the stage.
She then runs away out of the venue and through the streets, she likes the band and most likely wants to see them live but they are taking over her life.

She see's a street performer playing the keyboard but when she looks into his eyes she can see the shapes.
I think this could be a metaphor of not being able to think of any thing but the group and can draw comparisons to them from other things.
Because the man is playing a keyboard it is connected to the group because they also perform ad play instruments.
The fact she can see the symbol in his eyes worry her, she see's her love of the band as an issue.
When the symbols were featured before they were very subtle, she wasn't really aware of them or saw them as an issue, they then became more and more obvious and it scares her.

The best way for me to describe how I think this girl feels by referring to her as a Clean Bandit fan, she learnt she liked them, she then realised she may have started liking them to much, her admiration started effecting her life (I.E she wasn't concentrating at work), and she's now trying to escape.

The woman runs through the streets at night, 3 shots of the woman running through streets are used to show the change in time.
She is seen running in the dark, during sun rise and in the sunlight, this would imply a lot of time has past and that she is far from home and has to travel a long distance.

She arrives at a train station in a bust city centre, she gets on the train.
The woman from Clean Bandit emerges through the door from another carriage and the people on the train break into dance and the woman passes out.

There is a short scene of people from Clean Bandit and people from earlier points in the video are dancing on a beach, I presume this a dream sequence of the woman having just passed out.

I'm not sure why they are on a beach if I'm honest, maybe it's because beaches are associated with holidays and fun so it could be a metaphor for escapism which could fit the on going theme, but I'm not overly sure why so many people are present and I don't understand why they are dancing.
If anyone has a better explanation I would love to hear it.

The woman is then seen in a hospital bed mouthing the lyrics, her body twists and turns in the bed.
This could imply either some sort of mental issue or discomfort, because she is signing that would imply that her poor health is due to the song.

Her father sits by her, he looks as if he is smirking which is a little unsettling.

Her father removes his face which is revealed to be a mask worn by a member of Clean Bandit, he smiles as the the shapes close in on his face like so:

I really don't understand what happened at the end of the video.
What does it mean? Does this mean her father really this man along? And why was he smiling?
Did he intend for this to happen to the girl?

If this video is about how obsessive fans can become and how badly it effects does that then mean that artists like it when that happens? I would like to think that isn't the message of the video.
Could the moral of the story be that you shouldn't let your self get distracted from things you should be doing? Or maybe it means that you should have some escapism sometimes, but you should know when to stop?

I don't really know what the video is trying to say, I would say the message of the song is about maintaining relationships and working hard to improve ones standard of living.

The lyrics:
"We're a thousand miles from comfort, we have traveled land and sea
But as long as you are with me, there's no place I rather be"
Would suggest that both people have worked really to be where they are today, but even then they are still miles away from where they saw them selves. However the person is happy because they are with the person they love, even if they aren't where they wanted to be yet.

The lyrics:
We staked out on a mission to find our inner peace
Make it everlasting so nothing's incomplete
It's easy being with you, sacred simplicity
As long as we're together, there's no place I rather be
The person would like to feel complete, they would like to be in a position where they no longer have anything to worry about but being with the person they love is enough to keep them happy.
It seems that without the person they love they would no longer be happy, so in away that person makes them feel complete even though they may not be where they wanted to be yet.

I would say both the song and the video have a theme about hard work and chasing dreams.
The voice in the song is working toward a goal and so is the woman in the video however the voice is content and doesn't mind that she has achieved what she set out to achieve yet, she is in love and she thinks that she can still achieve her dreams one day.

The woman in the video doesn't seem so content, I get the feeling that she is fed up with her life and so she uses music to escape.
She probably wants to earn more money and move out of her dad's house and she probably feels like she isn't getting any where or it's taking too long.
Her escapism is distracting her from her daily duties and it's effecting her work, she knows it's bad and that she should be working hard to reach her goals but she can't help feeling bored and unenthusiastic.

In the end she becomes ill and probably doesn't achieve her dreams. 

I think the moral of both the video and the song ( excluding the theme of love ) is to work hard and chase your dreams, don't feel too disheartened if you haven't achieved them yet or it takes a while because you'll regret not trying. And also try to enjoy yourself along the way. 

OneRepublic - Burning Bridges- the lyric video

Sometimes an artist will make a lyric video before the actual music video.
Sometimes it's to promote the single or the album, sometimes there is a hype or a demand for the single so occasionally a lyric video is released if the actual video hasn't yet been released.


I think that in this case it is to promote the single, lyric videos aren't usually all that interesting.
This lyric video is actually pretty interesting, it looks and feels like more effort went into it than "we need something fast and cheap to buy us some time."

I can't wait for the official music video.



The video starts with a city scape, an establishing shot to set the scene, a man is shown holding a TV.
The TV is small,old and box shaped, the image on the screen if of a rainbow coloured rocky texture.
The album in which this song is featured is almost rainbow coloured too.

Like also like the TV screen that shows a rocky background the album cover features things like nature animals and a sky background.

The album cover and promotional art and photo's feature in the videos for 2 singles from this album such as:

Something I Need

and If I Lose Myself

Counting Stars had a crocodile and Feel Again was set in a forest, they both feature a nature theme.

The lyrics start as the man walks with his TV, the TV reads the lyrics.
The screen occasionally splits to show shots of shop and street signs which also spell out the lyrics.
I think using shop signs is cool, it not only acts as text for the lyrics but it also shows the mans journey because each sign belongs to a different shop it's showing how he is passing so many shop fronts.

They even mange to sneak the album art in the video.

I wonder if they manged to locate an actual poster or if they put the poster on the wall and made it look damaged?
I also wonder if the actual video will have the poster/album art in it?

Please, correct me if I'm wrong  but Feel again and counting stars didn't feature the album art, Feel again was released before the album so it would make sense for the animals to not feature in the feel again video.
I'm not sure why they didn't appear in counting stars, but I would like to see if it appears in the official video for this song.

Whilst the man is still walking down the street he looks sad. That obviously means the man feels sad about something. Obviously.

The real mystery is why is he sad? 

The lyrics at this point are:
"I keep on running
I’m building bridges that I know you never wanted
Look for my heart
You stole it away
Now on every single road that I could take"

To me they don't really sound all that sad, to me it sounds like someone who is in love but maybe they let that person down and now they are trying to make it up to them, it's not so much sad as it is happy about being in love and determined/desperate to prove it.

Maybe it's a little bittersweet.

I would like to point out that the way in which the screen is cut is unusual, the first image has the line "that I could take" split into 4, the segments aren't lined up properly, not sure if this is just to make the video more interesting or whether it has a meaning.

I tend to think that things in music videos happen for a reason, because they are so short you need to get the message across quicker.

It could be split in 4 because of the line "now on every single road that I could take" he is chasing every opportunity to get this person to trust him again so he has 4 different options all at once, does that make sense?

I think the "listen" is repeated for emphasis, the second shot is closer so he really wants them to listen to him.

Also in the second image the man is now on a bridge. 

If you interpreted that different, please let me know, I would love to hear from you.

I think this shot in particular wants the audience to see his facial expression with the word "fire" so show how he feels about the word.

He might feel sad because his lover makes him feel a certain way, he might feel slightly torn.

The lyrics would suggest that he (I guess this would refer to lead singer Tedder) feels guilty for having so many people in his life and not spending enough time with his wife and he just wants to cut everyone else out for a while.

I guess this man wants to make more time for the people he loves but that would involve making sacrifices which he might not want to do, he looks determined but tired.

He wants to burn his bridges but it's harder to do than he thought, maybe?

The man is then seen crossing the bridge another bridge, I think I've seen this bridge before in the "YOLO" music video by lonely island but I don't know where this bridge is, if it is the same bridge that must means it's well known but I can't find out where it is.

Never mind.

My point is that the bridges used must have been picked for a reason, maybe they are landmarks? Or they have some kind of historical importance? or maybe they aren't significant at all?

The man has now left the city and is walking along a dirt track, The video does another odd screen split.

I don't really understand why they keep splitting the screen, maybe I'm thinking too much into it but I refuse to believe they would do something that big and obvious without reason.

I think the split in the TV might represent plural, as in he has multiple bridges to burn and then they show is neutral face to show he is neither happy or sad about burning his bridges.

That feels a little too complicated however but I can't think of anything else that sounds as logical, if you think this screen split has some kind of meaning please share it in the comments.

There is a establishing shot of the man walking through what looks like a drier place than the previous dirt track, like a dessert.

The man approaches a rocky outcrop and climbs it, he hoists the TV up above his head like in that scene from the lion king.

 Then  he throws the TV off the rock.

The TV smashes on a rock on the way down.

He then is seen picking up the smashed TV, that is still miraculously working and starts throwing it around to try and break it.

I didn't really question how the TV worked before, obviously there was no power lead for the TV but I thought that maybe there was an internal power source.

But now, seeing the screen broken into shards but the text still appearing on the glass makes me think the text on the TV was created with special effects the whole time.

The text in this part of the video is clearly created in After Effects or something, it would be impossible otherwise but if the text on the screen was done in After Effects through out the video it would be much easier to match the lyrics up.

The lit match sets up the next part of the video.

I'm not sure what happening
I think that either the man has decided to stay where he is and made a fire to keep warm or the man having carried the TV all day  he is now burning the Television by night.
It doesn't look like the TV is being burnt however, if he is burning a log that would imply that he can't go home yet, maybe he hasn't earned his lovers trust yet or something.

Fire is now used to spell out the lyrics, I wonder how they did that? I guess they spelt the lyrics using a flammable material but I think it's pretty impressive how clear the letter are.

The video ends as the fire burns out.

I know this isn't the official video (and honestly I will most likely analyse the official video when it's released) but this video does also have a meaning.

I think the meaning of this lyric video is that sometimes you have to make some scarifies in the name of love, this man spent all day carrying the TV to destroy it.

He physically scarified the TV but he also spent a lot of time and energy to destroy the TV.

Taking the TV away from the city to destroy it could be symbolism of getting away from people in order to spend more time with his lover.

The meaning of the song is the same.

Disney's Frozen "Let It Go"

I've fallen in love with Frozen, The animation was so pretty, The songs were so emotional, the characters were really lovable and it was laugh out loud funny.
  
It was so sad at times. And, I cried like a baby.
My friend laughed at me.

The sound track has been a chart success, it peaked at number 1 in the billboard 2000 , the american album chart, and it is currently (as of Sunday the 12 of January 2014) on the top of the american , Canadian and Australian I tunes album charts chart.
it also charts in the top 10 in the iTunes album in 7 other counties.
It also has 37,141,277 views on YouTube.

I've decided to analyse the Let It Go sequence in the film.  


The sequence starts off with an establishing shot of a snowy mountain, the camera zooms in and pans around to face the figure walking up the mountain.

I would hate to think how many frames and how much time went into that shot.

As the camera has reached a point where it is close enough for the audience to identify the figure is Elsa (the snow queen), the lyrics begin.

The vocal performance is amazing, you can really hear the emotion in her voice, I love the sigh on the "It looks like I'm the queen" and the "couldn't keep it in " line.

The way she holds her self would indicate she feel vulnerable, having ran away from home she would obviously feel uncomfortable, but it's also the fact that she has been made to hide her magic and herself away.

She doesn't know how to deal with people or their reactions to her powers so she left, but at the same she doesn't know how to be truly alone. She was so used to having he parents help her deal with it and locking her self in her room that she is slightly scared of her powers and doesn't know how to cope.

Her clothing is interesting at this point, because her clothing changes through out this sequence and what she wears seems to effect her mood.

She wears a lot of cold but dark colours, her clothes are heavy and almost cover her completely.

The given reason for that is that her powers come from her hands so she wears gloves, I also refers to the "conceal don't feel" phrase mentioned at various points in the film.

I also think it could show insecurities, She isn't happy being herself so she wears heavy clothing to hide away.

The lyrics:

"Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well now they know"

Seem reflective, as if she is reciting what her parents are saying and reflecting on it.

I think she is weighing the advice of her parents and trying to work out how it all went terribly wrong.

She pulls of her last remaining glove and the mood of the character and the mood of the song change instantly to that of a much more upbeat and happy song.

The lyrics are starting to look at the positives of being free and alone opposed to the sadness at the start of the song. 

The character looks so much happier now too, removing the glove was the catalyst for her happiness, because the gloves represented the years she spent locked away and hiding herself and her powers.

Removing them allowed her to not only use but also enjoy her magic.

She then makes Olaf the snow man, Olaf is an important part of the film.

Many people don't really understand why he is present, Olaf acts as comic relief in what would otherwise be a pretty intensely emotional film.

I think Olaf also represents Elsa and Anna's happy memories, he was present in their childhood during the first scene of the film but he was also created when Elsa was feeling happy.

I would say that Olaf also represents either the joy Elsa's powers bring her, or her happier self.

Olaf is a cheery character who helps Anna and Kristoff restore summer despite the fact it would mean he melts. 

This could a reference to another story by Hans Christian Andersen (the writer of the story The Snow Queen which this film is based.) The Snowman and The Stove, which is about a snowman who falls in love with a stove and melts.

At a later part in the film Elsa makes a snow man/golem to keep people away, He could represen her sadder self that pushes people away or the pain her powers give.

He is scary looking which is how she feels people will view her powers, he is also mute which could represent how she was made to stay away from people. The golem chases everyone away quickly and forcefully which is similar to how she treated the guests at the coronation.

he could also represent Elsa's sadder side.

Back to the video.

Elsa plays with her powers and makes sparkling swirling snow, For years she had to hide her powers, she was told how dangerous they were and not to use them and now she can enjoy it.

She takes off her cape and lets it fly away.

The feel of the song changes again, it's a lot more relaxed and slow but it's just as upbeat and maybe slightly happier.

the lyrics:

"It’s funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can’t get to me at all

It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I’m free"

These lyrics seem to embrace her powers, she no longer fears hurting anyone because she is alone and she now wants to see what her powers can do now she has the opportunity.

She makes an ice stair case to bridge the gap between 2 cliffs, the stairs start off frosty but as she steps on them she turns them smooth and icy.

This could show how she's improving, she wouldn't have been able to practice or perfect her magic at home so this is her opportunity to make really beautiful things.

The animation is also really pretty, I love the frost.

when she gets to the top of the mountain she starts to build her castle, the song changes again.

It's fast and without lyrics, I think the castle building sequence would be ruined with lyrics.

There is a big difference between the look of the castle and how the stairs looked originally.

 The castle starts off smooth and clear when she had to make the stairs smooth and clear, having made it frosty originally.

The fact she can create all the different pillars, walls and floors simultaneously is pretty impressive.

I Loves the way she dances as she starts singing and continues to build her castle, you can see how this film could translate into musical theatre.

 "My power flurries through the air into the ground

My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I'm never going back, the past is in the past."

By this point Elsa's lyrics completely embrace her powers, they even begin to to appreciate the beauty of it.

On the past is in the past line she removes her crown and throws it away, she lets down her hair.

The plait is informal and messier compared to the bun.

Being a princess you would be expected to dress more formally any way but because Elsa was also made to hide herself and powers, she would have had to control her feelings.(because they seem to manifest according to her emotions.)

I presume her outfit and hair style was chosen for her, if she had chosen it she couldn't want 

to change it.

 Her is attire is as much about trying to please others as hiding her powers.

One thing I find slightly weird is that her fringe disappears during the hair change.

Then her dress changes, it reminds me of Cinderella when the fairy godmother changes her dress. 

  I don't know if this was deliberate but it made me smile.

The new dress is a lot more revealing and light weight.

It is literally like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders.

She feels a lot more comfortable about herself now and the dress emphasises this. 

 It's interesting to note that the new dress shares similarities with the old dress.

Both have sleeves, cape, long skirt and they both feature icy colours, this dress however is lightweight, lighter in colour, sparkly and reveals more skin.

As the musical number comes to an end a shot of the castle is shown in the sunlight.

The sun has just risen over the mountain, usually mornings are seen as new beginnings, for Elsa this is a new beginning because she has left home and now can live without fear of hurting anyone, she can now do as she pleases without being judged.

The song ends with Elsa standing on the ice castle balcony and the line "the cold never bothered me anyway", Elsa then returns to her castle and closes the door behind her.

 It's interesting to note that she leaves home because she doesn't like how people reacted to her powers and that she doesn't want to hide her self away.

But then she runs away and effectively hides herself away making everyone react badly to her powers and so she doesn't solve her problems.

The fact her problems aren't solved by running away means that obviously later on in the film she is again faced with the same problem when faced with people again, I don't want to ruin the ending for anyone who hasn't watched the film yet so i'm going to finish this here.

I really loved this film, it's definitely a must see.