Analysis of Music Videos

• The music video to the song 'Next to me' by Emeli Sande is very minimalistic and simple, this reflects the ballad genre of the song. The music video shows the artist playing on the piano, this portrays a good image of the artist, and shows them to be talented, and a credible star. It also shows the artists lack of need for big productions as a support.

• The music video is set in a big empty warehouse. The emptiness and space in the warehouse emphasises her big, strong vocals, as her voice fills the space. This makes her more credible to her audience, and makes her more likeable. The use of a large warehouse is also very minimalistic and one would not link with money, fame and stardom- this could suggest that the artist wanted to be represented as down to earth, and wanted the audience to relate to the realism in the video and song.

• In the video the lights are on at the beginning, this reflects the big vocals of the song, and the lighting works well with withe audio, because as the sound is louder and bigger, the lights seem to reflect and co-inside and seem stronger. However the lights then gradually all switch off, and a spotlight is put on the artist and her drummer. This emphasises the artists talent on the piano, and also shows the purity, realism and raw nature of the song. 

• The camera cuts to the Artist Emeli Sande on a white background of newspaper clippings. The white background contrasts to the darkness shown in the video in the previous shots. The newspaper clippings could be media coverage of the artist herself, thus expressing her popularity to the audience. It also shows simplicity, and represents her as a pure, innocent character against a pure white background. The artists image is quite quirky in this shot- with her unusual, retro style of haircut, and her blue roll neck jumper, it does not reflect a stereotypical feminine picture. The different shots in the various settings in the video could have been used to express different aspects of her personality, that have also been expressed in the lyrics of he song.

I have noticed in the video that all the cross cuts are gentle fades, which represents the ballad genre of the song, and fits with the lyrics. 

The camera shots are varied throughout, but primarily aim to show the artist Emeli Sande, and reveal her talents singing alone in a big warehouse, and playing the piano. The camera shots also emphasise the space and emptiness of the warehouse to perhaps make the audience admire the artists ability to fill a big space with her vocals. 

The lighting is used effectively to represent different aspects of the song, and the lighting is well linked with the audio aspect of the song.