Detailed analysis of a music video

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene in the video ‘Someone Like You’ by Adele is shown as a place which you would expect to be busy and full of people but instead Adele is isolated and alone. This could infer that no one is around to feel sorry for her and feel her suffering – she is alone. This would infer the type of song that is being played and the meaning behind the lyrics that the artist is singing.

As you can see this shot like all of the others in the music video is black and white which could signify that everything in her life is either black or white (good or bad) – there’s no middle ground to her life. This could be due to past memories in her life which have gone badly wrong and from the lyrics it’s clear she is upset and missing someone dearly.

Also in the video Adele is wearing black which fits in with the genre of the video. For example, black has connotations of negativity and depression which is shown throughout her music video; everything is notably darker around her.

Narrative and performance

The music video ‘Someone Like You’ is mainly narrative as the only performance is Adele singing in different locations such as the pub or down the street.

The main reason for this is because the song itself is quite depressing and sad so a lot of performance in the video would lose the main reason behind the lyrics and what the songs about. Also, the song focuses on her – she is the main purpose and sole behind the video as the songs about her life so keeping the video simple and plain signifies her as a person.

For example, the lyrics;

‘I heard that you’re settled down

That you found a girl and you’re married now

I heard that your dreams came true

Guess she gave you things I didn’t give to you’

 

‘Never mind, I’ll find someone like you

I was nothing but the best for you, too’

When focusing and analysing these lyrics you can see that she has been left for another women - she still respects the man but there isn’t respect in return. She clearly thought that he was her ‘everything’ and when left alone she thought her whole world had been tipped upside down with no one there to take sympathy on her.

During the chorus of the song you can just hear it in her voice – it’s like she’s lying to herself (denial). It’s like she’s trying to convince herself that there’s someone just as good as her.

Also, the lyrics can be interpreted in how she’s seeing the man she used to love married or falling in love with someone else instead of her and realising she has to move on and find someone to fall in love with that makes her happy.

Genre (cinematic) 

This music video fits into the romance genre due to the love story behind the lyrics and how Adele is singing about a broken relationship

Typical romance conventions contain emotional feelings and this is shown through Adele’s lyrics as it shows she is suffering from the loss of the love of her life.

Also, her face expressions show how emotional she is and how much the lyrics mean to her sue to the song being based on her life.

Romantic genres are mainly aimed at a female audience and this is shown throughout due to a female artist singing and giving her opinion on her romantic drams falling apart.

Shot type and composition

There are many different shot types in the music video ‘Someone Like You’ by Adele such as a lot a close ups like the image below.

This is referred as a close up as it shows the emotion of the artist and what is her mind. This shot is shown at the end of the song where little music is played so her voice really stands out showing the emotion behind her voice.

Also, as you can see half her face is black due to the lighting and the way she is standing. This is effective as it could be shown to the audience that half of her you can see and the other half you can’t so could suggest she is a mystery person.

Also, the man in the background could infer to who she is singing about in her song. This could show him walking away from her and she is then left alone with no one.

There is also a pan shot used in the video showing the inside of a pub panning all the way round where you see Adele standing (the shot above).

This shot is used as a pan to show the location to where Adele is. You would normally suspect a pub to be full and packed with loads of people drinking or just having a laugh but when the pan is used the pub is empty – this is suggested she is alone and has no one to turn to.

Also, a pub is a typical location to where people go and drown their sorrows so could be a way of getting him off her mind – forgetting all the happy memories with him.

On the other hand, this could be the place the couple first met so she is going back there to remember that day as it made her happy and try to put it behind her.

This shot is an establishing shot as it establishes the setting in which Adele is.

For this shot it seems unconventional as it’s a setting in which you would normally see loads of people and hear lots of noise passing by but it seems quite and no one is around which could refer to her and she believes she is alone and isolated in an area where no one is there to comfort her.

As said before, it’s in black and white so would show how dull her life is now without the man she used to love.