Music video evaluation loyle carner ~ sun of jean

1. Music Video Evaluation
‘Sun Of Jean’~ by Loyle Carner
The music video ‘Sun of Jean’ by Loyle Carner was directed by Joao
Retora. The music video has elements of a typical narrative music
video but also has elements of
both performance and concept.
The video starts with a long
shot of the artist sat outside of
a house, with the artists name
across the middle of the
screen. The clip is shot in
square like old programmes and
films that used film cameras,
the director purposely did this
to straight away tell the
audience the general style of the video. A low camera angle was used
here so you are almost looking up at the house, which makes it appear
much bigger, but also a low camera angle was used so we are at the
same level as the artist who is sat down, which makes the audience
feel more connected with him straight away. The lighting of this clip
was carefully thought through, they used lights on the outside of the
house, the light was perfectly placed above his head to give him a
direct spotlight to make him the centre of attention, with darkness
surrounding to give the house an inviting feeling. The lights shining
through the window make the house appear more inviting and give a
homely comforting feeling to the audience. The artists name across the
screen fits in with the overall colour scheme in the shot so it almost
doesn’t look out of place. This shot then continues and the camera
slowly zooms towards the house, this give the audience the feeling of
walking towards the house, like they are there. The beat of the song
then picks up and fast pace editing is used to edited together lots of
short clips to the beat of the music. These short snippets of clips
straight away suggests that this is going to be a narrative video and
have some sort of storyline, we see shots of the artist alongside other
people interacting. In the sequence of short shots, we see the same
shot of the artist sat on the front door step several times amongst
others. However instead of a long shot, we see him in a medium close

2. up; this was done so that it felt like as the camera zoomed forward it
was almost as if we as an audience are getting closer to him to then
go inside. Those shots were either filmed on an old film camera to
match the square shots, colours and overall style of the video, or
affects were added in post-production to give that illusion and give the
video its own style.
When the beat of the song changes this
shot appears of a women sat at a table
which as the audience we can assume is
in the house that we just saw. Once again
the camera slowly zooms in, much like the
first shot of the house. The overall style
and colour scheme is carried on in this
shot aswell. The composition was thought
about so that the camera was perfectly
centred, to give the screen a semetrical look, but to also furtherlly
draw our eyes to the women at the table because it off balances the
order on the screen. Again the majority of the light is coming through a
window at the back which makes the shot quite dark and the women at
the table in almost a sillouette. The director purposley wanted the
camera to be zoomed in or walked forward to give the illution to the
audience of walking towards the room, which as an audience makes
you feel more involved in the video.
The next shot is once again edited to the
beat of the song and changes to a shot of
a different women ironing. The style of the
wallpaper and clothes she is wearing once
again adds to the overall old style of video.
In this shot we can see a square of light on
the wall next to her which suggests light
shining through a window, which is once
again using natural light. This shot again is
zoomed in at a slow pace to match the
beat. This shot is also quite grainy which could suggest that either an
affect has been added or was filmed on a film camera.

3. The next shot is where elements of a
performance video comes in. This shot is of
the artist rapping. Although he is lip
singing, this part challenges the
conventions of a traditional performance
music video as he is singing; however, it is
set up so it almost appears as though he
isn’t performing but as though he is singing
to himself in his house. I know this by his
body language because he is turned away from the camera and he
doesn’t make eye contact with the camera at any point, which is one
convention of a performance music video. Although in this shot a light
is visible at the top of the screen, it is not on, instead natural lighting is
being used through a window and is placed behind the artist so he is
also in darkness and almost silloutte. This being repeatedly done gives
the video quite a dark feeling, which almost contradicts the very first
shot of the house which was constructed to look homely and inviting.
This is the next shot in the video. A
long shot is used, so you can see the
whole room and the women sat at the
table. Once again natural light is a huge
part of this shot. This is where in the
video it feels more like a concept music
video rather than anything else
because even though we are seeing
various shots of different people, at the
moment there is no story or narrative to what we are seeing. From the
lyrics of the song the lyrics where purposely made to relate, we know
that he is singing about mothers, therefore we as an audience assume
all the women we are seeing are mothers however
there is still not a strong narrative at this point.
We then move onto this next shot of two photo
frames showing pictures of a child, this is where
we begin to assume that one of the women we
have seen is this child’s mother. Much like the first shot in the video
which gave a very homely welcoming feel, the video is made up of
shots from various homes, which gives a warm welcoming feel. Being

4. shown Pictures from around the houses gives the video a very personal
feel.
This shot is shown when the beat on the music
starts to pick up. A medium shot is used to show
another woman sat in a different location once
again. This is when we see a change in the shots of
the video. Instead of natural lighting being used, a
lamp is positioned next to the women, which makes
the shot a lot warmer than when natural lighting is
used. This starts to make the overall video feel a lot less dark and
dingy. On the right hand side of the shot another photo frame was put
there to add a personal feel to the video which makes the audience
feel more connected and comforted by the people on the screen.
Like the sequence at the start of the video
of the film camera clips, this sequence is
repeated with slightly different shots. During
the sequence, mainly close ups or extreme
close ups are used, which almost puts the
audience on edge because lots of close up
shots of people are edited together very
quickly, which creates and uneasy feeling.
Mainly in the film clips are shots of the artist himself, which gives him
his own style and iconography.
The next shots are all of the same women in the same location as
before however they are all now with their sons. Before when they
were on their own the mood of the video was quite down beat and felt

5. almost dark and lonely but in these series of shots they mood is a lot
more upbeat and happy. Throughout the video until this point the
camera zoomed into every shot so the audience felt like they were
going into the rooms with the women on their own however in these
shots the camera zooms out. This is done to give the opposite effect,
to feel as though you are leaving the room because now they have their
sons they don’t need comforting.
Another series of film clips is edited together, of all the mothers and
sons hugging. They are all smiling and joking around which gives the
video a very happy mood compared to at the start when the video felt
quite lonely.
The video then goes back to a
similar shot to the very first in the
video. We once again see the
artist sat outside the house, but
instead we see him go inside. In
the doorway there is a visible
shadow of person which suggest
when he goes inside he is going to
see his mother, we know this from
the lyrics of the song that suggest him spending time with his mother.
This shot is significant because it’s almost as if the video went in a
circle and we are back to the start. Finishing the video in this way
gives the whole video a narrative and lesson. He related the visuals to
match the lyrics of his song. He sings about loving and spending time
with his mother. Through the video we not only do we see the artists
relationship with his mother but we see the love between mother and
son through multiple narratives.