Music Video Analysis – ‘Another Love’ by Tom Odell

‘Another Love’ by Tom Odell

This music video is performance of the artist lip syncing to his song, the video is an illustration of visuals with the music and the lyrics. Initially the message of this song is describing the pain that the singer is going through by not being able to love the woman due to his past relationship, this is demonstrated in the music video where the singer stays put on his chair neglecting the woman desiring affection. The beginning and the ending of the music video uses same shot creating a circular loop video suggesting to the audience that this behaviour cycles on and he continually neglects the woman over another love.

Analysis of the Music Video
The position of the camera remains noticeably still in this music video, mainly POV shots, cutaways shots, and tracking shots are used in this music video. There is also variation of the camera shots e.g. two shots, medium shots, medium-long shots, close ups, and also extreme close ups, these shots were used in order to enhance focus on what the artist is singing about. There were also variations of camerawork for example panning shots and also slow zooming in and out, this helped to hide and reveal settings also change ups which made the music video more exciting due to the enigma.

Throughout the video the artist stares straight at the camera for the duration of the video, he does not take a second to glimpse at his girlfriend showing him affection and aggression, and this illustrates to the audience how he is so caught up in his past relationship. The first shot in the music video is an extreme close up of the singer Tom Odell’s face; this reveals to the audience straight away the lack emotion of the singer this reinforced by the icy blue saturation suggesting his cold heart.

The use of two shot is common as it helps us to see both of their characters expression which is important when portraying emotion. In the first scenes we see him dominating the screen, the camera does not move to let the woman be seen more and almost neglects her presence, and this amplifies the emotion and also the behaviour of the artist. The video gradually and slowly zooms out to show more of the location, the woman is seen being affectionate to Tom Odell’s however he takes no notice; here the woman is seen being happy and loving however as the video progresses the emotion later turns to hostility and aggression, this is portrays in the lyrics “won’t flower like they did last year” which is indication that their relationship is not working out.

The shot gradually continues to distance itself from the characters; we then see the woman leaving the frame however her presence is reflected on the mirror, this is quite interesting as it allows the viewer to see the event from a different angle. The woman is seen changing her clothing therefore the costume transition is visible, which could be an indication of her revealing her true self in which case Tom Odell is uninterested, the woman confronts Odell and holds his hand however the woman is then edited out in dissolve transition as this takes place the music begins to get louder.

As the artist sings the second verse his facial expression becomes much more aggressive, the woman reappears with her reflection on the mirror wearing a new outfit, she is seen to be much more hostile and aggressive. A focal blur is used to centralise the singer, and the camera begins to move forward, this gives the impression that even with hostility or affection Tom Odell will continue his behaviour because of how much his past relationship has affected him. We see the woman holding a suitcase and placing it down to sit and confront Odell, this suitcase could be connotation of the relationship ending, and even though we cannot here the woman we can clearly tell she is shouting at Odell and once she’s had enough we undoubtedly see her shout explicit language.

The piano and the lyrics being sung becomes louder and the song starts to become more powerful with visual relation to this the woman is seen shouting and being inimical, the camera shot is edited to become shaky and chaotic which reflects the conflict between the two characters. The video intensifies with the lyrics of the song; the setting becomes distressing and the lighting becomes dim with an orange tinge, the narrative also becomes much more dramatic with the girl showing extreme aggression and ruining the set while the singer remains still on his chair.

The final part of the music video, after the powerful instruments and lyrics are over we return to a dark setting with the main character alone in a chaotic room which could establishes the idea of him after a hostile relationship. The camera zooms further out showing more of the room then gradually zooms out of the room where the door shuts and we return to the beginning shot of the music video which could be an indication of another relationship happening with the same cycle taking place.

Editing
During the first and a half of the music video there is no use of obvious editing due to the fact there being no cut in the video, the continuous editing is used to convey the day in his life, this is also reinforced with the lighting for example it foes from dim, to slight orange and finishes’ with a low-key lighting which could connote the cycle of a day. There is the use of fade in and out of props and also the characters which symbolise the idea of their relationship deteriorating, fades were also used when the background came in. The use of this fade editing is quite subtle and does not overpower your attention to the artist, even the shaky editing of the chaotic camerawork did not overpower the viewers attention.

Mise En Scene
The mise en scene of this music video is quite different to those within the pop genre, throughout the video the lighting is quite dark, his clothing does not stand out and blends in with the background as well this character facial expression is also very mute as well this the woman is also wearing subtle and mute colours. Tom Odell is seen wearing a casual jumper and trouser, however the female is seen wearing different outfits which could be to impress the singer and grab his attention however he is not interested. An interesting prop that has been used in this music video is the mirror which gave us a two point perspective, this prop enabled the viewer to see something else while the artist is still seen singing. In the first part of the video we see that the flower was the only ounce of colour, however these flowers were not red or vibrant in colour like the ones you would give as a gesture of love. This gives the impression that that these flowers may symbolise Odell’s plain, unfeeling emotion towards the woman. Towards the end of the music video there is a prop change, the transition of these props fade in which could give the idea of time passing or false commitment being made to the woman, at the of the video the setting is destroyed.

The Artist’s Connection
Tom Odell is centralised throughout the duration of his music video, he refuses to break eye contact with the audience making it seem that we are part of his struggle, even with the discord taking place in the background he remains the connection between him and the audience. Instead of showing natural occurrence of conflict between the two characters the narrative becomes much more dramatic which is a common convention for the pop genre; this genre is also usually about relationships which this video also demonstrates. There is a relation between the music/ lyrics and the visuals in and illustrative way and we see the song being fully portrayed in this video.