Ellie Goulding 'Your Song' video analysis

I have decided to create a music video for Fleetwood Mac's song 'Songbird', as by having no original video, ideas are more open to inspiration and I am not tempted to essentially follow what has already been created before me.

'Your Song' by Ellie Goulding is one of the biggest inspirations for my own video, as I plan to follow the same sort of concept but with a slightly larger focus on the more emotional aspects of the song. However, this video is of a different genre to 'Songbird' as it is pop, means that it caters to other genre conventions than a Fleetwood Mac video would.

This video contains many element of Goodwins thesis on music videos, such as the consistent use of the Close-Up, whilst conveying the emotions on the artists face in relation to the lyrics of the song, also emphasises the concept of the 'star persona' that Ellie Goulding is creating. Within this video, she presents to the audience this idea that she is a pop singer with this softer, emotional and 'normal' side to her. She doesn't need to have a high concept video full of major performance in order to get herself noticed in the music scene and it is in this aspect that Ellie Goulding can set herself away from the mainstream pop. This idea of a highly dramatised video that is very popular amongst current mainstream music would also not work very well in relation to the song itself and so allows the song and video to coincide effectively. This more natural effect of the artist created is also presented to the viewer by the everyday clothing and informal settings that are easily associable to the audience, such as a train. To add to this, close-ups of various objects such as a train ticket and leaves on the ground, whilst also flicking between high-key and natural lighting, enhances this representation of 'normal' in regards to Goulding.

A sense of voyeurism (a concept devised by Foucault) is very strong within this video, with the concept of a home video being at the forefront of her video. The video follows Goulding with cinematic concepts such as hand-held camera being used to make this sense of voyeurism seem more real to the viewer. Added to this is the use of soft focus and depth of focus which not only enhances the emotion being portrayed but also contributes to this idea of the 'Your Song' video being created along the lines of a home video.

There are elements of linking the lyrics with the visuals in regards to the lines "I'd buy a big house where we both could live" in which the shot is of Ellie and a male character in a house playing a piano, a difference to the earlier shots of her being outside. In addition to this evidence is the line "I'm not one of those who can easily hide" in which Ellie is in full show, contradicting with the line sung.

The link between the music and visuals is another element of Goodwin's theory that is present within the 'Your Song' video, especially in terms of the editing. Most edits occur on the beat of the music, making the video flow seamlessly and whilst also making the change in edits less obvious for the viewer.

This video does converse to some of the typical pop conventions, such as the artist shot in close-ups whilst singing towards the camera, whilst also conforming to most of Goodwin's ideas about music videos. However, by presenting the artist in a more natural and realistic light, whilst also using different styles of camera work such as the consistent fade and hand-held camera, contradicts with some of the pop video conventions.