M83 are an indie dance music band which have had an extremely successful year in 2012. The song behind this success is Midnight City, and having such a big impact upon its success is it's music video. Therefore in aiming to achieve this success that this band have had throughout this music video I will analyse it as part of my format research. Along with analysing the clip I will brake it down into different scene's to show the different aspects of each scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX3k_QDnzHE
Lyrics: http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858877943/
I believe the main meaning from the song (based on the video and lyrics) and by one particular lyric "the city is my church" he means that he lives by the city; its his way of life. it's probably his escape from reality/life, and he's faithful that it will bring him some sort of peace of mind, as a church would do all the above to someone religious.
SCENE 1
Mis-en-scene:
The first main scene is shot in a school of some sort for students with super powers which immediately creates shared knowledge. The picture below show's a highly manipulated part of the scene with a boy sitting with items floating round his head. The room is full of tables and chair's (just like a normal school) but as we watch the video we see that although the children are in a normal environment, them as individuals are not.
Lighting plays a big role throughout this scene as we see very little of it being used. This creates a gloomy and depressing atmosphere which i suppose contrasts against the supernatural powers of the children. It's if there is a foggy and misty atmosphere created throughout the scene which causes this mood of the unknown and mysterious theme. Along with this, it actually makes the air which surrounds the scene look dirty which could link in with the fact that all the children are inside creating a sad and trapped mode to the clip. We see the windows shining light in however the frame which surrounds them acts as an cage locking them inside.
Costume as well plays a part on this video as we see them all in a blue top which could act as uniform or even so like hospital clothes. The emotions on the children's faces don't look remotely happy at all - sad in fact which links in with the idea of blue tops representing sadness as blue is portrayed as this.
Camera Shots/Angles & Movement:
Throughout the scene we see a lot of slow zoom in's and zoom out's used as the movement which creates this impact of drawing the viewer in as the camera gets closer to an object. I believe it has worked well at the start, but then it is overused and in a sense becomes not as captivating therefore it should have only been used limited times. Along with the success of the cleverly used tracking shots used multiple shots following into a new room or action its a pathway which leads you into something new. Mid shots and long shots are also used occasionally but the scene is more about camera angles and movements rather than shots. These shots however show the detail of the children's eyes drawing the viewer in which then goes into either a tracking shot or zoom in.
Sound:
Considering the music video is abstract not a lot of the actual video goes with the sound throughout the video. There's a few shots where it links in with the music as it fits in with the beat however as such the lyrics to the song don't actually fit into the video itself, which in my opinion is a unique approach to a video and it works really well here!
Editing:
The editing in this scene and throughout is very minimlistic when we are talking about transitions. Its just simple fade out's into black to start a new scene. However what works really well in this particular part in the clip is the high manipulation of the editing used to create the supernatural powers such as the floating objects which realistically are out of place but somehow have been edited to look natural. I believe this is down to the successful edit to the filter of the clip by having a low saturation and placing the filter above the edit allows it to work well. Along with the classic dysfunctional computer not working and this bright and broken screen is also cleverly edited and is something I am inspired by and somehow would like to incorporate into my own work. But the main editing aspect I personally believe is the middle of the attention is the edited eyes, by having these brighten glaring eyes contrasting against the misty location makes them the centre of attention and this is how we really realise that these children are supernatural.
SCENE 2
Mis-en-scene:
This scene is set in the heart of a woods at dusk where we see the children escaping and running away. Being set in the woods near night hardly any lighting is used again in this scene which means it isn't that clear as only a selective amount of colour is shown (dark greens, black, navy and the baby blue tops) this means the children stand out in their tops which could represent they stand out because of there powers. The scene then develops into dawn where a shot of the first artificial lighting is seen (torches) shining upon the children which then we see a girl using her eyes to put them out. This acts as a bounce between artificial lighting of the torch then the eyes drawing attention to the dark clip. The night then ends and its daylight where even though the sun is shining we see the same desaturated foggy filter. I like the use of natural effects within this clip to, with the wind blowing upon the girls hair something which inspires me acts as the freedom that the children now have after escaping. The shot then goes into the mix between rural and urban where the children come from the countryside into the urban building which creates a contrast which again is something I like.
(below is the part of the clip which shows the contrast between rural and urban)
Camera Shots/Angles & Movement:
The same shots are used throughout this scene as they did in the first scene. More tracking shots have been used to show the transition from the building into the open and show the freedom of the children running.
Sound:
As the beat picks up throughout the song and the pitch gets higher the clips and transitions seem to pick up as we see an element of adrenaline from the running in the woods which again links in with the fast paced beat and rhythm in the song. Throughout this scene we see the video actually matching the beat more however still an abstract theme is consistent throughout.
Editing:
Compared to the first scene minimal editing has been used except the consistent filter and the eyes again which were made to stand out more due to the darker background. The use of slow motion has been used to really emphasise the running and tension along with adrenaline rush from both the music and scene.
SCENE 3
Mis-en-scene:
The last main scene of this music video and as the sunset rises in this scene we see the eyes of the children become brighter and brighter which leads onto the extremely bright and colourful part of the scene where light is traveling in behind the children which creates a silhouette which is a lighting aspect which works really well with all the light from the eyes and the variation of colours.
Same costume used throughout the clip in all of the 3 main scenes. The costume isn't as noticed as much as the story is more essential of the 'city being home' which we see from the location of the clip.
Camera Angles/Shots & Movement:
An amazing 360 shot is used as the sun is going down at the start of the scene, this shot works extremely well as it shows the surrounding location as well as fit in with the meaning of the song 'city being home' showing a 360 shot of buildings and the city which is something that I love and want to include in my own work.
Sound:
The sound links in with the rhythm of the video as the beat slows the clip of the eyes pupil getting bigger links with the rhythm. As well as at the end the lyrics for once in the song matching the visual's 'the city is my church' showing the clip of the city is an example of diegetic music.
Editing:
Excellent use of editing to show the end of the song by using bright filters and highly saturated colours to really emphasise the happiness of these children being in the city along with the brightened eyes to again emphasise their super powers. The use of lens flare's as you can see below are extremely successful and create this contrast of brightness compared to the dull mystical theme throughout the other two scene's.
From analysing the clip I can gather that in my own music video I would like to develop more of the use of lighting compared to this clip. All though throughout the clip there is a gloomy and depressing mood created because of the lack of lighting and then finally at the end it gets really bright and colourful which builds this idea of tension then releasing at the end works well in this case, I believe if this would be repeated it could become more or less boring and not as affective so a variation of methods used in lighting is something I can take forward from analysing this music video. Along with the repetition of some camera movement I believe this is something the director of the video should have considered more, and something I aim to do better than this video however the amazing experimentation of camera angles has led me to inspiration from this clip and is something I wish to pursue in my video including angles such as birds eye. I also like how in this clip the video is abstract which is what I want to do after analysing this video. As we see in the second clip of the children in the woods I liked the adreline rush of the woodland scene of them all running and hiding which again is something I would like to incorporate into my own work.
