Both videos have a performance element to them, in Adele's video she is simply lip-syncing to the camera, in Sam Smiths video, he is performing on a stage. In Adeles video, she is the woman, and in Sam Smiths video he is simply performing whilst actors show the narrative. Each video can be recognised by the audience as an alternative love song, as they have the typical conventions of a woman looking out the window, point of view shots of a man smiling and rain. Both videos differ because one is showing a story from the present and the other uses flashbacks of past events and also present day narrative.
Adele – Hello
Mise-en-scene
Most of the video is shot inside an old
house. Everything is very old looking and worn. There are dead flies around the
window sill which suggests that the house hasn’t been lived in for a long time.
We see Adele cleaning the house and removing dust sheets from furniture. This suggests, as the song does, that she is going back into the past to finish things not yet done. All of
the furniture and crockery is very old fashioned; the type you would find in an
old persons house. There is a lot of rain when it comes to the chorus, which
gives a melancholy feel. At one point, Adele is seen using a flip phone, which haven't been around for a while. This gives the video less of a real life verisimilitude, as most people nowadays use modern Android phones. Instead, this also gives a very ghostly and dream-like feel. It also supports the idea that she is looking back on the past. In the performance shots, she is dressed beautifully
in lots of makeup and a big fur coat, but she is stood in a corn field. There is a shot in which the young man walks away looking upset, and it is raining, which adds to the sadness of it. There is a telephone box in the middle of the forest that is covered in vines, which gives the impression that it is very old. This suggests, along with the lyrics of the song, that she is ringing somebody that she hasn't spoken to in a long time, hence the lyrics, "Hello, how are you?" and the telephone box that hasn't been used in a long while. There is a shot of Adele walking through a field in a beam of sunlight, juxtaposed with a shot of the young man walking in the rain. This suggests that she is in a better situation/a better place than him.
Editing
There is a sepia-coloured filter over the
entire music video. This gives a vintage feel, as though she is looking back on
past memories. I would like to use this edit on my music video because I would
like to give the audience the feeling that the narrative is set in the past. We
see Adele outside from the inside of the house, then a point-of-view shot of
her phone, then a close-up of her head turning around to face the house. This
is continuity editing. There are a lot of pull focus shots that add to the ghostly feel of the video.
Sound
There is a small acting sequence at the
start of the video with speech over the top. We can hear the sound of wind
whilst she is talking on the phone. The music starts on the first moment Adele
makes eye contact with the camera. We hear some dialogue over the top of the
music.
Cinematography
There is a pull focus from the inside of the house to the outside, so we can see a car coming up the driveway to the house. There is juxtaposition between shots that are set in the past and Adele smiling, suggesting she is rethinking about old memories. I would like to use this for my flashback sequences in my music video, as it gives a nice effect. There is a close up shot of her on the phone, her face is very dimly lit and the rest of the screen is dark. This gives a very melancholy feel to the video. There are lots of shots from behind furniture, looking at Adele, which gives the feeling of a presence inside the house. It is very ghostly.
Sam Smith - I'm Not The Only One
Mise-en-scene
The first shot is an establishing shot of a beautiful white family house with lots of green and trees around it. The sun is high in the sky and makes everywhere look beautiful. This contrasts drastically with the old house and furniture and flies in the Adele video. It also gives an immediately tranquil and peaceful feel to the video, so suggests everything is going to be nice and cheery in it. We see the husband and wife in the next shot, kissing and smiling at each other. He is in a smart suit which suggests he is going somewhere nice. She is also dressed up, and looks really happy. This adds to the peacefulness and happiness to the video. Outside, she waves her husband off in the car and as soon as he leaves, her smile turns to a frown and the melancholy music starts. This suggests she is not happy where her husband is going. She looks in a lot of pain and distress. She is seen to be drinking and removing her wedding ring, suggesting she isn't happy in the relationship. Her makeup around her eyes looks a lot darker also. There is a shot of the wife in a grocery store swigging alcohol from the bottle with her dress all scruffy and her hair falling out of it's style. She is also seen smoking in the video. This shows her deteriorating from the 'perfect wife' she was at the start to someone who is falling apart. We see her purchasing alcohol as well as bleach and lighter fluid; both of which can have negative connotations. She looks very upset and almost like she is going crazy, as the lyrics suggest; "you say I'm crazy, cause you don't think I know what you've done," which links to the cheating concept of the video. There is a shot of the husband undressing the girl. Typically scenes like this in movies and music videos would include a lot of red to symbolise lust and love. Instead, there is a blue light covering the shot. The colour blue typically connotates sadness, which is fitting as this is obviously causing sadness for his wife, but also loyalty and honesty, which is ironic as he is not being either of those things. As the husband walks up to he house, the wife greets him at the door in new clothes with her hair and makeup redone. This shows she doesn't want him to know that she has been upset. He kisses her and she smiles, but she still looks disgusted. She stares at the floor and looks distant, which shows she is thinking about what has happened.
As with the Adele video, there is a small amount of dialogue at the beginning. It is played over the shot of the house, so we hear voices before we see any people. The wife in the video talks about making breakfast and the husband replies that he's in a rush. He sounds fed up and she sounds hurt, but gives him a kiss anyway. This suggests she is trying for the relationship to work but he is just fed up with it. There is sounds of birds tweeting, which gives the stereotype of a perfect, happy world in a little suburban street. When the wife looks very upset later on in the video, she looks almost like she is going crazy, as the lyrics suggest; "you say I'm crazy, cause you don't think I know what you've done," which links to the cheating concept of the video.
Editing
The shot of the wife looking upset is juxtaposed with the husband walking into a dark corridor. The shot of her crying, drinking and removing her wedding ring is juxtaposed with him walking into a dimly lit bar. There is a shot of her panicking and trying to catch her breath as she cries, that is juxtaposed with him flirting with another girl. This implies that the wife knows what is going on. The shot of her crying in the car is juxtaposed with a shot of the husband drinking in a bar with the girl. The shot of the wife swigging alcohol in a shop is juxtaposed with the husband kissing the girl. Shots of the husband and the girl having sex are juxtaposed with the wife smiling and burning his clothes.
Cinematography
In the shot in which her mood changes as she realises where her husband is going, she begins by standing in the sunlight smiling. When her smile fades away, the shot turns as she turns around, and she is not shown in the darkness facing away from the sunlight. This shows her setting getting darker as her mood does. The camera follows her back into the dark house from the sunny outside, and she gets even more upset the further into the darkness she goes, showing the setting to reflect her mood. There is an extreme close up shot of her hand on a steering wheel followed by an extreme close up shot of her eyes with her makeup smudged down her face. This shows the extreme emotion she is feeling. When the husband is walking home whilst dressing himself after sleeping with the girl, he is walking in the darkness. The wife is now always seen in bright white light and still in her white dress. This connotates she is the pure and innocent one.
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