How the Music Video for Nothing Compares 2U Influenced My Music Video

The music video for Nothing Compares 2U by Sinéad O'Connor contains several shots and methods of editing that have directly influenced our music video. I will break everything down into these two sections.

The Shoot

      

Close-up shot of Sinéad O'Connor

 

Close-up shot of the main male
performer of my music video



The music video for Nothing Compares 2U focuses heavily on the artist, strongly marketing her without treating her in a voyeuristic way. This helped to improve our music video as in our first few shooting sessions, we recorded far too many medium shots. This music video is an example of why close up shots of the artist(s) and/or any other important people are essential - unlike medium shots, close up shots help you to engage with and relate to the person in question. As the artist is usually the major selling point of the music video, close up shots of them are very important. The images shown above are examples of close-up shots being used like this in the music videos for Nothing Compares 2U and Tonight I Let You Go (my music video).

In addition to my other research on montage, the montage used in the music video for Nothing Compares 2U is highly effective and the cross fades that are used so well in that montage are also used for the montage in my edit (read The Edit, below).

Also, the shots of symbolic statues and constructions used in the music video for Nothing Compares 2U have had an effect on our music video. We use similar shots but add a modern twist, with our versions of these shots containing graffiti in urban areas and shots of traffic and traffic lights. These things are iconic symbols of contemporary Britain, just like the graveyard in the music video for Nothing Compares 2U shows many traditional statues and figures.

Cultural signifiers - such as statues - are used in the
music video for Nothing Compares 2U

The postbox, texting teenager, roads, cars, traffic lights, and housing
estate are all signifiers of contemporary Britain

The Edit

 

A cross-fade effect used in the montage in the
music video for Nothing Compares 2U

An example of the cross-fade effect that I utilized in
the urban montage near the end of my music video



As aforementioned, the montage in the music video for Nothing Compares 2U influences our music video. In my edit, there is a montage of shots that show the main character, the boy, walking through the city to the girl's house. The focus on subtle yet striking transitions - heavily relying on cross fades - in the music video for Nothing Compares 2U is reflected in my edit of our music video, as I also use many cross fades to make my edit of our music video more interesting and absorbing.

Furthermore, the music video for Nothing Compares 2U matches the action and the lyrics seamlessly to emphasize both and make you feel the emotions that Sinéad O'Connor's character is feeling. I have tried to do this myself, with lyrics such as " I keep on running" being matched with action that contains the main character running (whether it is physically or mentally). In my edit of our music video, I have also matched the sequence containing lyric cards to the part of the track that is (at least partly) written on the lyric cards. This is obvious, but needs to be done well to maximise the effectiveness of the lyric cards.

Music Video Ratings

This post lists the music videos I have analysed and my personal rating of each of them. I will rate them out of ten on four main points:

Content - this concerns the narrative and/or structure of the music video
Visuals - the way in which the visuals are used to create different effects
Sound - how sound is implemented for various results - this can be matching the action to the lyrics, using other sounds, and more
Longevity - this is how well the music video stand the test of time. Is it long or absorbing enough to begin with, and will you want to watch it several times or come back to it in the future?

This will result in an overall score out of 40.

You will see that most of the music videos I have analysed are (at least partly) from the pop genre. This is due to the fact that pop is the primary genre of the track we have used for our music video, Tonight I Let You Go by The Colours.

List of Scores in order of Score (descending):

Nothing Compares 2U - 35.5/40
Afrika Shox - 32.5/40
What's a Girl to Do? - 29/40
Skyfall - 26/40
Paradise - 23.5/40

Separate Scores:

Afrika Shox:

Content - 9/10
Visuals - 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Longevity - 7.5/10

Total Score: 32.5/40





Skyfall:

Content - 5/10
Visuals - 7.5/10
Sound - 9.5/10
Longevity - 4/10

Total Score: 26/40







Paradise:

Content - 4.5/10
Visuals - 7/10
Sound - 6.5/10
Longevity - 5.5/10

Total Score: 23.5/40

What's a Girl to Do?:

Content - 7.5/10
Visuals - 7.5/10
Sound - 7/10
Longevity - 7/10

Total Score: 29/40

Nothing Compares 2U:

Content - 8.5/10

Visuals - 10/10

Sound - 9/10

Longevity - 8/10

Total Score: 35.5/40

Nothing Compares 2U - Music Video Analysis

Nothing Compare 2U by Sinéad O'Connor is a prime example of how to utilise one of the main attractions of a music video, the artist, without taking away from the track itself or treating the artist in a voyeuristic way (as described in Goodwin's Laws). Originally, the song was written and composed by the artist Prince, as one of his side projects - the band The Family. However, it did not become a worldwide hit until Sinéad O'Connor covered the song and released it as her second single in her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got -though this was not the version that made the song so popular. Sinéad O'Connor later recorded and produced the song alongside the artist Nellee Hooper, and this is the version that caused the success of the track. The music video created for this song (above) is now an iconic music video and was popular on channels such as MTV at the time.

The black costume and background manage to
remove voyeuristic treatment of the artist
and place the focus on her and what she is doing

The music video itself focuses massively on the artist herself - Sinéad O'Connor. This is done by using close up shots of Sinéad O'Connor that cause you to relate to the artist and emphasize with her emotions - and this is important in this music video, as you see her emotions progress drastically through the music video. Normally, when a female artist is focused upon it is in a voyeuristic way that exploits narcissism (the notion of looking). However, in this music video, this does not occur. The completely back background that appears whenever there shot of Sinéad O'Connor singing (which is most of the time) removes any part of the mise-en-scene which would be voyeuristic. Her costume is also completely black and means that the only visible part of her body is her head. This black costume blends into the black background and you are left with what can look like a floating head! The costume is normally the main source of voyeurism, and the way it is implemented here causes you to be completely focused on her face, her expressions, her emotion and her singing.

These factors progress as you watch the music video. At the beginning, she is composed and cold-looking, but as you watch the music video she becomes more emotional, to the point where you can visibly see tears rolling down her face at the end. These emotions emphasize the lyrics as well - this song describes the loss of a lover that she cannot bear to be without, as nothing compares to him. An example of this is when she sings about her doctor telling her to get out and have fun, she sings with anger in her voice and on her face.

You visibly see the emotions of
the artist progress through
the music video

At certain points of the song, the music video moves away from this type of shots and uses fading effects to create striking images of old statues and constructions. You occasionally see the artist herself walking through these angelic statues while looking like a black angel herself in her long, dark robe. The black costume makes her stand out and signifies her loss of a loved one - walking through a graveyard by herself emphasizes the feeling of isolation. These images are memorable and well-timed - they ensure that you do not get bored of the long close up shots of Sinéad O'Connor.

Cross fades are used well to
create an effective montage

Furthermore, these shots are used more at one point of the video than any other - around the middle point of the song, a montage is created using close up shots of Sinéad O'Connor's face and shots of the graveyard. This montage is vital in adding some variety to the music video and is subtle enough to fit into the music video without ruining the slow, reflective tone. This is done by using the symbolic statues and some different angle close up shots of the artist. The primary video transition used is a cross fade, and this creates a dynamic transition while keeping to aforementioned tone of the song - if a large, invasive transition was used it would ruin the pacing of the music video completely.

In addition, the genre of this song is alternative pop - it is slower and more meaningful, perhaps, than most pop songs. The more respectful nature of the song also sets it apart from the mainstream nature of traditional pop. The track still retains some aspects of the genre, though, such as a focus on the artist. In the pop genre, the artist is one of the main aspects of the track, the music video and how it is marketed.

Finding Pop/Dance/Alternative

Finding Pop/Dance/Alternative on Prezi

Montage

Montages are used in many different kinds of films - music videos, movies, and television programmes are just a few examples. They are used to express thoughts and ideas in a visual way, and often result in powerful and emotional sequences. Montages such as the one used in the opening of "This is England" are very striking. This particular montage does a brilliant job of creating a unique take on England and the famous moments - positive and negative - that are often associated with it.

The montage theory arose from Lev Kuleshov's work, which contained the a+b=c definition of montage. Lev Kuleshov found that having one image follow another image can produce a thought. His experiments supply us with some examples of this - he found that a picture of a silent, open mouth followed by a picture of a bird flying through the sky would make people think of the mouth singing. Also, when this image of a mouth was followed by a picture of food, people pictured a hungry mouth. The consumer sees the two pictures and combines them to create a result. These experiments were the basis for the development of the montage. A montage triangle can reflect the Kuleshov effect, as it is now usually called. Using the examples that I aforementioned, a montage triangle can be constructed with the image of the mouth at the top, and the images of the food and flying bird below it. This montage triangle results in two equations:

A montage triangle, which
shows the Kuleshov effect

Mouth+Bird=Singing

Mouth+Food=Hungry

A significant part of the art of montage is editing - the timing of the editing is particularly important. Rhythmic and metric editing are used for many reasons, such as to create as much tension as possible in a dramatic scene. Timing the beat of a soundtrack to the action can emphasize the emotions that are felt by the viewer. This would make the film become more interesting and absorbing. 

In addition, I think that seeing a montage where the beat of the soundtrack and the action are timed well is something people enjoy seeing. This makes the consumer want to watch the film more.

Sergei Eisenstein made The Battleship Potemkin (below), which contains an infamous montage. Eisenstein established five types of montage, which are:

Intellectual: Where the shots are put together in a way that creates an intellectual meaning based on the way they combine together.

Rhythmic: This contains cutting the shots together based on continuity, which creates visual continuity between each edit.

Metric: Where images are shown in a way that follows the beat and rhythm of the soundtrack. The focus is on the timing of the editing and what it conveys, rather than the connotations of the shots themselves.

Tonal: The focus is on the meaning of each shot - not how it is edited together. The timing of the editing and the continuity of the shots is less important.

Overtonal: A combination of rhythmic, metric, and tonal montage. The combination of these three different methods is used to construct more complicated and intricate forms of montage.

He said: "The idea of film-making as construction and montage as the putting together of parts of a machine (a machine for signifying, rather as Le Corbusier conceived of houses as machines for living in) had a strong appeal in modernist circles in the early years of the Russian Revolution."

Eisenstein is saying that montage is similar to combining many different parts of a machine to create a whole that conveys a certain meaning or emotion. Montages control what the viewer's response will be; they are used to make the viewer feel a certain emotion or picture something. 

In our music video, we may use montages at some points to create different effects - we may even combine a montage with other effects, such as lyric cards. A music video is, itself, a form of montage - a major part of music videos is conveying meaning through images and artistic editing.

The Mood Board for Our Music Video

One of the first things we did in the process of planning our music video was to construct a mood board that would supply us with inspiration for the following subjects:

General Information about The Colours
The Band
The Costume
The Similar Bands
The Genre
The Lyrics

This mood board was a vital part of our planning process - if we ever needed inspiration, we could look at it and we would come up with great ideas quickly.

The Mood Board

The Making of the Mood Board

Shooting Session #6

Our sixth shooting session was very short - it consists of a handful of shots of the main character (the boy) going through lyric cards in a similar fashion to the music video for Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan. We have used a cultural signifier to strengthen the intertextual link - the industrial area in the music video for Subterranean Homesick Blues is a cultural signifier of the industrial area in which the music video was made. In our music video, the cultural signifier is a red postbox - a classic, iconic item that is strongly associated with contemporary Britain. 

The main problem we found in our shoot was that the lyric cards were simply too small - we need to re-shoot some of these shoots with A3 lyric cards rather than A4 so that you can see the text on the lyric cards in longer shots. This would enable us to create a more faithful reproduction of Bob Dylan's music video for Subterranean Homesick Blues. However, cutting the long shots together with the close-up shots we filmed would also create a satisfying use of lyric cards in our music video.

The History of Lyric Cards in Music Videos

In our music video, we plan to use lyric cards - I have written about this in detail in another post. The inspiration for this idea has come through several music videos where lyric cards are used to make the music video stand out and appear different.

One of the first music videos to use the idea of lyric/cue cards is the music video for Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan. This black and white music video only put the most significant words from each line onto each card - this simplifies the lyric cards and stops them from becoming confusing. Because of this, we will try lyric cards with only the major parts of each line on them as well as the lyric cards with the whole line written on them that I have already made.

This music video is also set in an industrial location that connotes the position of the industry of the 1960s. In our music video, we plan to set the shot with the lyric cards next to a red Postbox that will act as a cultural signifier of Britain - this is similar to using the location of the music video for Subterranean Homesick Blues as a signifier of the position of the industry at that time.

This music video is so iconic that it has been copied and referenced many times - one example is the parody of the music video performed by Jake Humphrey and David Coulthard as the intro to the BBC's coverage of the 2012 Australian GP (a Formula 1 race).

In this video, the location is used as a cultural signifier again. The graffiti on the wall is a signifier of the modern age of creativity, art, and youth. The lyric cards are similar to the ones used in the original music video, in terms of the lyrics themselves, but there are many exceptions. These exceptions are there to make the song relevant to Formula 1 - as it is a Formula 1 TV show - but some of the exceptions are very similar to the actual lyrics used in the original music video. An example of this is when Jake Humphrey reveals a card with the word "off" written on it and "laid off" is heard in the background - a reference to when Sergio Pérez had to miss some races after a large crash in the third qualifying session for the previous years (2011) Monaco Grand Prix. This is similar to the point in the original music video where the lyric card with "laid off" is revealed and the same words are heard - these points in the two music videos are very similar, but also very different. This intelligent adaptation of the original music video produces what is, in my view, a worthy, high quality parody.

Furthermore, the montage of the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship that is placed onto the wall in the background of the parody not only strengthens the links to Formula 1, but supports the graffiti as another reference to the modern era that has embraced technology.

Idea for Music Video: Lyric Cards

After watching and analysing the music video for Paradise by Coldplay, I became interested in the lyric cards that are used in that music video (albeit in a slightly original way, by using them to also progress the narrative of the music video) and several other music videos and decided that we should try them in our music video for Tonight I Let You Go by The Colours. To put our own mark on the technique, I also thought that using different colours for the lyric cards could help to strengthen our use of colour in the mise-en-scene to connote different emotions and situations.

The lyric cards that I have made will be tested out in our next shooting session, where we plan to have the main character go through them while standing next to a red postbox - a cultural signifier of Britain.

The verse we have chosen to write onto the lyric cards is the chorus - this is due to the chorus often being the most striking part of a music video, and the part that is focused on most. In our chosen song, it also contains many emotional references that work well with the colours of the lyric cards - for example, the first lyric card talks about "heart break" and love is often associated with the colour red, so we used red card for this lyric card.

Shooting Session #5

After me and Joe had finished our fourth shooting session, we thought that we had the majority of the shots needed for the music video. However, on 23/10/12, there was a lot of mist around and we thought we could use that for creating a good atmosphere in our shots. As our tutor had given us the advice that we needed to film in urban areas away from the housing estates that had been used frequently in our shooting session, we decided to kill two birds with one stone and go into Norwich to film shots in an urban location while also using the mist to improve our shots.

Unfortunately, a significant amount of the mist had dissipated by the time we had got into the city - while it was still visible in some of our shots, it was not as visible as we had hoped. Despite this, we still gathered some valuable shots in the city that could improve our music video - these shots are shown below (uploaded in 360p rather than the 720p video quality that will be used when we edit our music video so that the video would not take a long time to upload):

What's a Girl to Do? - Bat for Lashes - Music Video Analysis

The music video for What's a Girl to Do? by Bat for Lashes focuses on the artist singing by using both music and visuals. The artist is visible for nearly the entire video, and she is always in the centre of the picture, as well as being at the front of the picture. This focuses on the artist, and this is a genre signifier and characteristic - in this genre of music (pop) the artist is often heavily marketed (sometimes more than the actual music).

While this music video appears very unique and original, it feels like a normal music video. The music video is surreal and dream-like, while focusing on the artist and the music. In this sense, the music video for What's a Girl to Do? is an example of modern music videos.

There is many examples of intertextuality in this music video. To begin with, it links to many old horror films - this may sound unlikely, but there are many examples of this. The crashed car and the eery smoke that is often used in films to build atmosphere and tension, the ghostly figures by the side of the crashed car that resemble death and loss, and the classic horror movie sounds used (e.g at the point when you see the crashed car) are all intertextual references to horror films of the past. Also, the masked figures riding behind the artist in this music video are another intertextual reference to horror films - many horror films contain terrifying masked figures. The location is also a reference to these horror films - there are many examples of horror films which are shot in dark, unsettling woods.

In addition, this music video has intertextual references to many children's stories - which constructs a great contrast between the horror film intertextuality and this. The three intertextual references to children's stories are to Red Riding Hood (a girl in the woods with a wolf close behind), Alice in Wonderland (a girl in the woods experiencing many unusual occurrences, such as odd creatures around her), and The Jungle Book (the tiger, the bear and the child in the woods). As aforementioned, the juxtaposition between the intertextual references to horror stories and the intertextual references to children's stories adds a unique appeal to this music video - it has an innocent, playful feel while also having a disturbing, menacing feel.

The BMX bikes used by the cycling characters in this music video represent popular culture in contemporary Britain - BMX bikes are especially popular among the youth of Britain. Connecting with the target audience and representing stylish items is a genre characteristic of the pop genre - pop music is possibly the most mainstream genre and therefore it is common for it to show the mainstream styles of the time. Fans of popular culture will often be persuaded to buy things, such as smartphones, if pop star are seen using them in a stylish way. The uniqueness added to the music video by the BMX bikes is also something worth noting - cycling is not often used in music videos.

The lighting in this shot from the lights at each side
of the shot adds to the dream-like feel of the music video.

Furthermore, the costume in this music video is another genre characteristic - if you observe the artist that is primarily focused on in this music video (Bat for Lashes), you will see a very mainstream look - often referred to as an "indie" look - that immediately tells us the genre of the song before we even hear the music. The young, attractive woman's groomed hair, colour eyeliner, t-shirt and bottoms create a very mainstream style that is associated with the pop genre and popular female pop artists. This style makes you think about how she looks over how she sings - this voyeuristic treatment of women commonly occurs in the pop genre.

Finally, the lyrics of the song used for this music video are yet another genre characteristic in this music video. In the pop genre, the theme of the lyrics is nearly always love and sex - this is another way that the pop genre both creates what is mainstream and conforms to the mainstream audience and what they want. The lyrics that talk about "When you love someone" are the kind of lyrics that are commonly featured in the pop genre.

Overall, while this music video appears very original and different when you first watch it, when you start to analyse it and go deeper into the music video, you will find a music video that contains many genre characteristics and intertextual references.

Shooting Session #4

Our fourth shooting session was carried out on 21/10/12. This shooting session was focused on the second half of the music video, which contains shots containing the girl. We also had to shoot shots of the main character walking through a different, more urban environment in comparison to the housing estate we shot him walking through for the first half of the music video.

The flashback shots are vital to the success of our music video, and while some were superb (in my opinion) - such as the bus stop shots and the shots of the main character walking past his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend - some were unsatisfactory. The happiness flashback shots were poor, as the main character and the girl did not show emotion for each other in that shot.

Once again, we uploaded the footage in 360p (rather than 720p) so that it would upload faster - that is why the footage is blurry and unfocused. This will not be the case in the finished music video. The footage had to be uploaded to YouTube in two parts, to get around the 15 minute upload limit for videos when your YouTube channel is new and/or does not upload footage regularly.

Part 1:



Part 2:

Shooting Session #3

In our third shooting session on 18/10/12, we primarily recorded supporting shots for the video - this contained shots of the crossroads by our school (CNS - City of Norwich School) - this shot will be sped up when we edit, to create the visually appealing effect of the cars and the changing traffic lights flashing past in a blur. We did this shot in several different ways, with tilts, shots containing the main character, and more.

When shooting, we noticed that we could get up a hill to a path next to a train track - while it took up a lot of time (we had to wait for three trains - which were about 20 minutes apart), we managed to shoot some very striking shots of the boy walking with the train in the background. We used the time in between trains to shoot extra shots in that location, where there was a very useful vanishing point. The shots of the train in the background connote life going against or with him, depending on the direction the train is travelling respective to the main character. This can be used to further emphasize the sense of progression we are trying to create in our music video.

We uploaded the footage in 360p instead of the standard 720p so that it would upload faster. That is why the shots look blurry and unfocused - they will look a lot better in the final music video.

As YouTube only accepts up to 15 minutes of footage for new and/or usually inactive channels, we have had to upload the footage from our third shooting session in two parts:

Part 1:



Part 2:

Paradise - Coldplay - Music Video Analysis

The music video for Paradise by Coldplay (genre: pop) can appear simple, but there are many connotations contained in it. These appear throughout the music video, and are often portrayed through contrast - such as the contrast of the man in an elephant suit and the everyday, contemporary world around him.

The first shot establishes the main character
and the first location immediately.

The music video starts with the man dressed up as an elephant escaping from captivity - this represents how animals are often mistreated and abused. The first shot of the main character shows him looking through bars sadly - this immediately establishes the location and the character, and makes you support this character immediately. This shot uses the bars to express the feeling of imprisonment - just like the prison-bar-like lighting in the into to the thriller Essex Boys. This music video demonstrates the will animals have to escape - and this is done by showing a stereotypical wildlife enclosure location. The shot that really strikes you is the shot of the real monkey chasing the dressed-up man - a surreal image of a fake animal and a real animal next to each other.

This contrast becomes even more apparent when this dressed-up man manages to escape from security on... a bicycle! The long shot of him riding away is a memorable image that draws you into the music video. The next shot, of the man riding his bike into London (next to the cultural signifiers of Britain in the mise-en-scene, a red postbox and an Underground sign - cultural signifiers are a common characteristic of the pop genre, so this helps to establish the genre early on) continues this trend of contrast. The cultural signifiers of Britain are extended upon when the main character is in the Underground - shots of the Underground, including the iconic escalators and trains, help to establish the location. A shot that stands out is the shot of the main character sitting in the train, mostly ignored by the other people - not only is this shot brilliantly framed by using the window of the train door as a frame, but it is an accurate representation of what would happen if someone dressed as an elephant was on the train. People would probably ignore it as they are usually concerned with their own problems, and would not be too interested by this figure - this shows how much people sometimes have to deal with in contemporary Britain. The type of shot used next is one which I would like to focus on.

This music video uses a variant
of lyric cards

The shot of someone showing cards with the lyrics of the song on has been used many times - it is an iconic and recognisable shot. This makes the viewer connect more with the music video, as they feel more familiar with it. This music video uses the lyric cards in the mise-en-scene to progress the story - the main character is trying to get money so that he can travel. The location of the main character is also changing every time he is begging for money - again showing the progression of the narrative.This is enough to set this variant of the lyric cards apart.

The lighting in this video is subtle but very effective - if you watch closely, you see that the lighting (along with the attractiveness of the location) becomes lighter and more visually appealing throughout the music video. The lighting that particularly stands out is when the main character is riding a unicycle and the sun is shining onto him. This gives the main character even more of an otherworldly feel - but then this surreal character is suddenly destroyed when the suspense is broken and you find out that the main character is indeed a member of Coldplay (the band which produced this song) inside an elephant suit. This unexpected twist keeps you absorbed in the music video.

The unexpected moment when the main character finally
reveals himself to be a member of the band - Chris Martin

When you see the man walk into the wilderness, colourful, visceral shots of the location are used to again establish the location. The lighting becomes lighter again when the main character meets the rest of his group - the rest of the band Coldplay, also dressed up in elephant suits. The meeting of the elephant and its natural habitat, and the band member and its fellow band members (which is emphasized in the shots of the band dressed as elephants, but on the "natural habitat" of the stage) are similar - they are both something returning to its natural habitat.

The shots of the band playing on the stage show the genre of the song - music videos for pop songs often show performances that include fans. Fans are a big part of the pop genre and its popularity - more so than other genres. The artists are often more important than the music in the pop genre in terms of marketing and the fanbase.

Shooting Session #2

Due to YouTube only accepting videos of maximum length 10 minutes when you are a small channel, Joe had to upload the footage from our second shooting session in three parts.

Due to the longer upload time for 720p videos, Joe uploaded the footage in 360p so that we can get a rough idea of what the footage would look like - when the music video is finished, the shots will be in 720p and will look much better - it will be sharper, have more vibrant colours, and will not be blurry like the videos below.

We tried to use the feedback from our tutor Ms Barton to make this shooting session as successful as possible.

Our more detailed shot list enabled us to get the shots done more efficiently - we know what we had to do for each shot.

Part 1:


Part 2:




Part 3:

Skyfall - Adele - Music Video Analysis

The recent track "Skyfall" by Adele is the official song for the upcoming James Bond movie of the same name, Skyfall. The music video for this song (genre: pop) is quite basic on the surface - but if you go into it, you realise that it ties in with the theme of the movie and its marketing very well.

This music video focuses primarily on the lyrics and what they connote. The most prominent lyric is "Skyfall", as you might expect, and this lyric is always enlarged and highlighted. This relates to the marketing of Skyfall - the main part of the film that is being advertised is the name and the brand (possibly due to it being James Bond's 50th Anniversary).

One of the bus advertisements for Skyfall

An example of this is the large advertisements on the sides of buses - I have seen these many times as I walk through the city to get to Sixth Form, and this means that people in the city are very likely to see this advertisement. The advertisement focuses on the name Skyfall, and the character of James Bond - and that is it. The title of the film and the brand are the two things focused on the most, just like in the music video for Skyfall.

The first major image of the music video immediately
establishes what the music video is about

The start of the music video shows both the main character, James Bond (in the iconic down-the-barrel-of-a-gun shot to immediately establish the genre, theme and purpose of the music video - this is also an intertextual reference to all of the Bond movies) and the artist, Adele. This is another example of the music video focusing on the main points of this song - James Bond and the artist Adele.

Whenever the chorus starts, it is started by the line "Let the Skyfall". This is usually emphasized by the background changing to a more vibrant, eye-catching colour - usually a red/orange fire colour. At one point, near the end, the chorus is also backed by an elegant blue/black/grey/silver colour arrangement. This reflects the deeper, richer part of the James Bond films - the shining effect of the lyrics also strengthens this connotation.

The beginning of the chorus in the music video -
notice the emphasized "Skyfall"

Overall, this music video successfully markets the music and the film it is promoting above everything else - if there was a narrative or something more than lyrics and background effects, the music video would take away from this. This simplistic method of making a music video for "Skyfall" would not be as effective if the song was poor - the fact that the song is high quality and is recognisable as a James Bond song extremely helps this music video.