1. Sam Smith – ‘Stay with Me’
Media Language:
Editing-
The editing fits perfectly with the rhythm, structure and connotations of the song. It is
slow, steady, same length cuts with no quick, short dramatic cuts. This reflects the style
of the song. The steady pace on continuity editing as he walks down the street forces
the viewer to relate because it is so natural, making our eye follow.
Camera Shots-
The music video opens with an establishing shot of London, it showed everyday activity;
expressing how the world still goes on although he feels like his ‘world’ has stopped due
to the circumstances of his inner emotion and guilt.
The panning close-up shot o the bed sheets implies the ‘one night stand’. This continues
when we see a close of his clothes, and shoes on the floor, as he picks them up and
dresses to sneak out of the house evoking ‘role reversal’. Normally in typical sexualized
videos the man is not depicted as ‘sensitive’ and ‘vulnerable’ however in this specific
video these typical views are challenged by different shots and representation.
The extreme long shot of him leaving the house, finalizes what we already knew, as well
and showing him to be reflecting and regretting his decision to leave.
There is a tracking shot, following him down the road, exaggerating the fact he is caught
up in his emotion, completely oblivious to the world going on around him. The constant
and frequent close-ups and extreme close-ups of the facial expressions, cause us to feel
a great amount of empathy and feel sympathetic towards him as we see how troubled he
is. There is a shot of a mirror behind him as he is in his flat; to me this created a sense of
reflection upon himself, as he doubted and questioned how his behavior influenced who
he was.
Body language is a key factor in this video in portraying his feelings to us as an
audience; there are multiple medium shots, suggesting he cannot stand tall, holding
pride and greatness. The emphasis on the hand holding the chest shows he is self-conscience
and feeling vulnerable, almost physically torn apart from the stress of guilt
and upset. Although there is a contrast at the end of the video, when he is in the chapel,
signing with the choir. He seems to be standing under light, beaming through above the
choir, achieved by a tiled shot, showing superior and authority. This suggested that his
mind was freed from guilt and troubled emotion, possibly because he was voicing his
problems through music to be heard in a way that made him feel satisfied.
For me I think this is what making your own music, like singer-songwriters do is all about,
freeing your emotion through lyrics and not words.
I also think we can see his emotion has been freed at the
end because there is a long shot of just his face, showing
eye contact with the audience, making it personal,
allowing the viewer’s mind to be at rest as well.