Bruno Mars - Grenade
Mise-en-scene:
Grenade is a narrative based music video in the Pop genre. Due to this there are many conventions that the video has conformed to in terms of narrative. To begin the video all we can see is rain. This sets a dull tone for the video and pairs well with the sad tone of the music. Furthermore, we can gather from this that the poor weather reflects his emotions (pathetic fallacy) and prepares us for the overall tone and purpose of the music video - a heartfelt song used to express personal emotions. As we progress through the video we begin to be shown two different sides of Bruno Mars with regards to costume and surroundings. For example we see him to begin with in a potential homely environment where he is sitting on the edge of the bed in relatively casual clothing. This suggests that at this point he is very much himself and comfortable at that time. Also, this may represent how he is more himself without her. He is wearing an orange T-shirt, which connotes the idea of constant crime (prison outfits) in America which could represent his love for her as a crime. However, this changes once we see him walking in the middle of the road in a tunnel whilst dressed in a tux with his hair perfectly styled. This suggests to the audience that he is travelling somewhere important and the purpose of his outfit may be to impress someone (e.g. gathering from the romantic/relationship related lyrics, a woman may be who he is travelling to). With this setting comes a piano, however unlike what we would expect, he is not playing the piano but pulling it with a rope. This creates juxtaposition as we wouldn't usually take someone who is taking part in hard work (pulling the piano along) and dress them in a tux. Therefore we are being informed that Bruno is doing something that is pretty impressive whilst looking very smart which indicates, similarly to earlier, that he is doing this for someone in particular. Moreover, I would imagine that trying to pull a piano along for such a long distance would take a lot of strain as well as putting the person at risk, therefore the piano may be an extended metaphor that elaborates on the lengths he would go to for this woman when trying to impress her. Or, on the other hand, it may be symbolic for the weight that she creates in terms of stress for him and how the relationship is like a constant strain (considering the lyrics - explaining all of the bad things she does in return of his good things - "I would go through all this pain"). In the earlier stages of the video we see Bruno holding a photo frame and in time with the music the glass in the frame cracks. This may be a representation of the relationship as it suggests that there are noticeable cracks in their relationship that cannot be covered for much longer (it is out of his control). As we are drawn into the travels of Bruno and the extremities he will go to express his love, we are shown the different locations he passes on his way to his woman. Most of the locations tend to be dangerous or distressing for Bruno, which shows his determination to get to his love. One of these destinations is a bad neighbourhood. Bruno stands out from this shot as he is dressed well compared to the other males surrounding him who are either topless of wearing white vests. The connotations of being topless show that the males have a certain arrogance between them to feel like they can be half dressed and not be embarrassed about it, they feel like they have something to show off. This pairs well with all of the males' tattoos that are on display as tattoos are usually portrayed as something daring or dangerous as they aren't something you can change. We then know that they are aggressive as the potential leader of the group 'squares up' to Bruno and appears to be giving him some kind of verbal abuse. We also see a dog that conveys the idea of violence as it is big and slightly uncontrollable with a lead and barks loudly at Bruno. However, the males that are dressed in white vests create a contradictory idea in terms of the connotations we usually gather from the colour white (innocence, purity) it also connotes a unity between those in the gang. This idea is then extended to the end of the video as we see the woman he has travelled to see and she is also dressed in white. In this case, what the lyrics have been informing us of and the previous characters dressed in white show that she is also contradicting the idea of innocence, this is the shown a bit more when we finally see her being intimate with another man. In this same shot we know that she can see Bruno however she shows no shame, which works on our emotions in terms of how we feel for Bruno after we have witnessed everything he has done for her. There are also lyrical relations in "I would die for you baby" as we quite often view Bruno putting himself in extremely dangerous situations e.g. walking in the middle of a busy highway, getting himself involved with gangs and finally standing in front of an oncoming train.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Camera/Lighting
We begin with a close up that shows Bruno composed in the rule of thirds. The lighting is low key which causes a shadow on the side of his face making this a restricted shot whilst creating a darkness to Bruno's character. Pulled focus is used at the beginning (pulling the focus from the rainy background to Bruno. This makes us able to see all of the important features in the short that have meaning but by pulling the focus a pace is created in the video to match the song. Soon after this we view a medium close up of a photo frame that Bruno is holding and we see the glass crack. In this case a close up is used to emphasise how he feels in control yet the relationship is uncontrollable and that it as a whole is 'broken'. It also allows the audience to see a relationship between the tone and the visuals. Using a mid shot, Bruno's performance denotes him struggling. There is a lot of emphasis put on both his struggle and his determination. This is done by highlighting his facial expressions and the props (e.g. rope) which reinforces the struggle. Lighting is very low key which enables the audience to identify that he is struggling and we feel sympathy for him. Also, in this shot he is travelling through a tunnel and the lighting increases which may symbolise the phrase 'Light at the end of the tunnel' which could be the female he is singing about and how close he is to reaching her. We as an audience are informed of his star persona with a close up on his outfit. This close up shows the shoes in which Bruno is wearing. (He is wearing smart black and white shoes with his black tux). It is as if he is dressed for church and as Bruno Mars is a strong Christian, this attire represents his star persona as well as continuing the idea of his struggle. A close up of Bruno's face shows his determination and need to drag the prop of a piano to the girl in which he is in love with. Lighting is again low key in this shot which connotes to the audience that he won't complete him mission, no matter how determined he is. There is space between his face and the rest of the shot in which denotes his passion to get the piano to the girl. Using a long shot denotes Bruno in the rule of thirds. The lighting is extremely low key and he appears as a silhouette. The audience can see the difference between the piano and Bruno. The piano is almost his height and width, the background looks gloomy and creepy and the tunnel is completely empty which makes Bruno appear small in the frame and vulnerable. A long shot is used to show a homeless man watching Bruno as he pulls the piano along and questioning his actions. The man is composed slightly off the centre. It makes the audience wonder why he's there and what happened to him. It questions who we feel sorry for as well as putting emphasis on how crazy Bruno must be if 'even' a homeless person is questioning him. In this close up of a rear view mirror, we see Bruno dragging the piano with so much struggle. The rear view mirror is framed in the rule of thirds and is surrounded by darkness because of the use of low key lighting. This is a point of view of the driver for which moves the audience. This is a convention in narrative music videos. This mid shot denotes Bruno walking along the road in the tunnel. He is composed slightly off centre which makes him seem inferior. We see cars behind him travelling fast. The head lights of the car are shining in which causes a long line of light. This connotes the direction in which he needs to go in order to see the girl he is in love with. In a close up showing the gang slapped a picture of the girl that Bruno is in love with to the floor. Bruno's hand is composed in the rule of thirds in which connotes his important. Also, the audience can only see his actual flesh which has religious connotations as Jesus gave up his flesh and blood for everyone. There are shadows being shown of the gang in which connotes them being inferior as you cannot see them. This is a restricted shot of them. Overall the lighting throughout the video is dark and gloomy up until he reaches the girl he is potentially singing about. However, he is even at this point contradicting the visuals with the connotations as we associated high key lighting with the good and innocence and at this point we see her with another man.
Gloomy lighting to reflect the tone of the lyrics/his emotions.
(pathetic fallacy - what he is feeling is reflected in the nature.
Emphasis on his struggle using medium close up shot.
Again.
Small and silhouette-like in the frame
Small and vulnerable in the frame
Homeless person put emphasis on craziness
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editing
Throughout the video rhythmic editing is used to match the slow, meaningful pace of the song as well as reflecting the purpose of the lyrics. Furthermore, slow motion is used quite regularly throughout the video. This could reflect how his travels feel to him is terms of the length and the speed at which he is travelling. By cutting to close ups there is emphasis put on particular features that are relevant at that stage in order to make the video make sense. The pace of the video speeds up as the music gets more dramatic. This shows how intense his journey is as well as creating a build up to a anti/climax
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sound
There are many sounds used throughout 'Grenade' which are not part of the music, these are all used for many different reasons. Firstly we can hear the diegetic sound of rain. This captures our attention and adds to the effect of pathetic fallacy as we associate the sound of rain with dark and gloomy days that consist of poor weather. This reflects what we are seeing in the shot (e.g. low key lighting). Shortly after this we hear the cracking of the glass in the photo frame. This matches with the visuals when we see the frame crack (diegetic). At this point this is the only sound we here including the music. This put a lot of emphasis on the meaning/purpose of this shot and kick starts the narrative with is sharp, sudden sound. Also we associate these sounds with breaking and so it send out a negative tone. Next we hear cars racing past whilst Bruno walks in the middle of the road. We hear this almost like it's from his point of view. This highlights how close he is to the cars and the danger he is putting himself in as well as how many cars there are (vs) the only one of himself. This includes beeping of the horns in from the cars. Later on in the video we hear a deep dog bark (diegetic as we can see the dog). This fits the the dogs image as it is quite a large muscly dog that could usually have negative connotations from holding a bad reputation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Codes and Conventions of a Narrative Music Video
In terms of a narrative based music video this particular music video very much conforms to all of the expectations. Firstly, there is a storyline (Todrov's equilibrium Theory**). From the visuals we can understand that he is travelling to extreme lengths to meet his woman. Also, we are aware that the lyrics match the visuals in that he is singing about a broken relationship whereby he is the 'loser' in the relationship which matches with him reaching her and seeing her being intimate with another man.
**
No comments:
Post a Comment