Analysis of a music video

Sia Furler- Breathe me


Sia Kate Isobelle Furler (born 18 December 1975), also known simply as Sia, is an Australian soulful jazz-styled pop singer and songwriter. At the 2009 Aria Awards, she won the award for Best Music DVD and Some People Have Real Problems was nominated for Best Breakthrough Artist Album. She is noted for her work with Zero 7 and her three major label solo albums. I have chosen to anaylis one of her music videos as Sia is one of Maxine Vauzelles influences.


As a solo artist a majority are the shots are based on her, the camera follows her around and they have used a clever composition technique of polariod shots being shown quickly to animate her movements.

At the beginning of the video there is a fade to white transition as the music begins. The mise en scene is old fashioned, suiting her unique style of voice. The colours within the shot are very dim, and the use of polariod pictures emphasize the vintage theme. This is a mid-shot, the camera is following her around the room, it effectivley makes the viewer feel like they are in the room with her.
The video is set in what appears to be an old victorian house, in London, we can tell that it is situated in London when she goes outside at the end of the video.

 The old fashioned theme is continued, with the vitage pattenered wallpaper and dull colours. This is an over the shoulder shot of her looking into the mirror, she looks unsettled.
The editing of the video is quite upbeat in comparison to the slow tempo of the song, however the video fits in well with the song, as it shows her alone and unhappy not knowing what to do, and the song is quite depressing including lyrics such as, 'hurt myself again today...', hence the dim lighting, which creates the atmosphere. The fast cuts between each polariod keeps the viewer intrested.

Throughout the video the artist has been dressed in a simple night gown, but as she looks in the mirror a shot of her with a strange mask on appears, this brings a sense of surrealism to the video, showing shes a unique artist, there is then another shot of her in a colourful fancy dress costume.
There are no instruments show in this video, as she only sings, it is therefore only focused on her.
The video follows the song structure well for example, when the lyrics are 'be my friend, wrap me up', it shows her on her own looking like she needs somebody, the lighting gives her an innocent yet sad appearance.

 Here is a high angled shot, looking down on her sad expression near the polariod pitctures. In the mise en scene everything is dark, even the wood. However, she is now wearing something abit more modern, casual and brighter. There is then a zoom in and extreme close up of the polariod pictures and the composition technique is continued.

 This panning shot shows all the polariod pictures used in the film, this is an effective shot as it shows the video was not computirised. They look jumbled, representing the lack of care for the artist has for herself within the song and video. The camera moves very fast past all of this and straight back to the artist.
 






In this video the artist is represented in a hurt, lonely and needy way, which is suited to the lyrics of the song. All of sias videos are quite simplistic, but effective, unlike other pretencious artists.