Dance Music Video Analysis

Sigala - Lullaby 

Mise en scene - 

The beginning of the video features quite an angelic feel to it when looking at Paloma Faith. She is viewed through a gap between two translucent cloths. The colours in this shot are very plain and muted, it is almost as if she is in a dream; linking with the title of the song 'Lullaby'

The costumes used in this video focus highly on colour and stand out against the background, which is quite plain and a beach location. The colours are used to stand out against the sand coloured background and draw attention to the actors dancing and highlight the dance element of the music and video.

The colours draw attention to, usually, the centre of the frame and show a real emphasis on dance throughout the video.

Not many props are used in the video, a bed is the main featured prop as it links with the song title: 'Lullaby' The bed is used in many different locations, each with a different dancer wearing a different colour. The typically feminine colours (yellow and red) are worn by the two female dancers and the typical masculine colours |(blue and green) are worn by the male dancer. 

The lighting used in the video appears quite natural and as if the shits were filmed during the day. Although the first shot of Faith, which creates an angelic effect, is over lit and overexposed to create this effect of brightness. The lighting in the rest of the shots appears very natural and the sun is used as key lighting in the shots with the girl in red.

The locations in the shot appear different as some are clearly beach locations and one of the scenes has large storage containers in the background. However, they could all be relatively similar in location as storage containers are normally seen near a dock so they are all likely filmed around a beach.

The body language and facial expressions from the dancers is all very positive and happy. The dancers are usually smiling and appear to be enjoying themselves in their dance movements. This is contrasted with Paloma Faith's more serious expression. However this is because she is singing and telling the story of the song so is more serious.

Camerawork - 

Steadicam is used in most of the shots in the video. There are also a lot of wide angle shots and a few close ups when facial expression is important and necessary to the narrative, such as when the dancers open their eyes when lying on the bad. The rest of the time wide shots are used to capture the dynamic movements that the dancers are doing.

Editing - 

The editing used is fast-paced and commonly cuts between shots on the beat of the music. The editing appears to be continuity as the different scenes appear to continue from roughly where they left off when they are cut back to. Cross-Cutting is used to create the effect of simultaneity between Paloma Faith singing, and the four dancers which all appear at different locations but seem to be dancing at the same time. Slo-mo is another editing technique that is heavily used in the video to emphasise specific dance moves which, again, bring focus primarily onto the dance element of the music video.

Sound - 

Non-diegetic sound is used as it is a music video. The sound is the song that the video is for and there is not other dialogue. Although because the singer is featured in the video lip-syncing the words to the song, the sound appears to be diegetic rather then non-diegetic, even though it isn't.

Narrative Conventions - 

Because this is a dance music video, there doesn't appear to be much of a story behind the lyrics. However, the way the video has been put together it appears to follow a story. The dancers appear to be in a sort of dream where they are having fun and dancing. The begin by waking up and the video ends with them going back to sleep. 

Representation of Gender -

Gender is fairly equally represented in the video as there are four dancers, two female and two male so there is no inequality in the quantity of each gender. In dance music videos, females are also normally represented quite sexually. However, this convention is subverted, somewhat, as there is no obvious sexualisation of women. The female dancers outfits are shorter than the males'. One of the women has a crop top and the other has shorts, whereas the males both have trousers and shirts. 

Jax Jones - Breathe

Mise en scene - 

This video only features two people wearing bright colours. The female is wearing a bright yellow jackets with dark trousers and a pink/purple sports bra. The man is wearing a bright orange tracksuit with a black jacket and a red bag. There is a real focus on bright colours in the costumes to contrast with the bland background.

There is no obvious use of props in the video only the male's bag which is part of his outfit. 

The use of lighting is quite minimal as it is filmed at night. The lighting appears quite natural and there is no attempt to create a sense of unnatural lighting. Shots outside are kept dark to an extent, there is obviously a use of artificial light in these shots but it is not over the top or extreme as to a point where it doesn't look natural. In the outside scenes there is a use of shadows created by only having lights on one side of the shot. This creates the effect that the light is coming form a building or something similar and is naturally casting a shadow. If three point lighting was used then it would be very noticeable that artificial light was used. 

The location for this video is urban and begins in a museum. It is filmed around London as shown by the red bus at the end. This is not usual for dance music videos because a lot of them are set on beaches and in the sun, whereas this is at night in a city. 

The facial expressions in this video are quite simple. Most of the time the dancers are straight faced but sometimes the woman in yellow has quite a shocked expression on her face as if she is grasping for breath. 

Camerawork -

The video begins with an ariel establishing shot. The rest of the video is shot with a lot of close ups and two shots, as well as a few low-angle shots. Most of the shots either have one or both of the dancers whole bodies but sometimes it is just the torso and head in the shot.

Editing -

There are a lot of jump cuts in this video. However, it appears to be continuity editing because the movements of the dancers are continued through a number of the scenes even though the location changes, giving the effect that what is happening is continuous. The editing is fast-paced and the movements and cuts happen on the beat of the song.

Sound -

Non-diegetic as it is a music video and there is no dialogue. 

Narrative conventions -

There appears to be narrative because the dancers interact with each other and appear to try and tell a story through their movements and facial expressions. 

Representation of gender -

Because there is a male and female in the video, these genders are represented equally, however in the dance, the male appears to have more power because he is often responsible for her movements which shows he is in control. This represents men as having more power. 

Sigma - Changing

Mise en scene -

This video features very widely around bright colours. This is seen in the outfits and the location that the video is filmed in. There is bright graffiti in most of the shots as well as Paloma Faith wearing bright colours in her her as well as her clothes. The buildings seen in the background are often colourful as well. 

The main props in this video is a vintage car: an old Chevrolet that Paloma is seen in and sitting on the bonnet of. A sofa not he side of the road is also used in the background and Paloma along with the two members of Sigma sit on it at the end of the video. 

The video is set in an urban landscape, however it seems quite run down and simple. This allows the focus to be placed on Paloma as well as other actors dancing in the video. 

The lighting appears quite natural and daylight appears to be the main source of light in the majority of the shots. 

The facial expressions and body language in the shots from Paloma and the other actors convey a sense of passion for what they are doing and a large feeling of enjoyment. They appear to be in the 'summer spirit' - a mood that is used in a lot of dance videos. They all appear to be happy and having fun.

Camerawork -

There are a lot of close ups used at the beginning of the video, a few are taken with a canted angle. There are also some wider shots of both the torso and head as well as the whole body of the actor being filmed. Most of the shots in the video are one shots of Paloma Faith.

Editing -

This video uses fast-paced editing with a lot of jump cuts that are placed on the beat of the song. the editing is non-continuous as it regularly jumps back to the same location but that words being lip synced by Paloma don't jump around like the locations of the shots. Slo-mo is a big editing technique that has been employed extremely frequently, this creates the impression that people want the summer to last longer as everything is done slowly in the video.

Sound - 

The sound is non-diegetic as the music would have been added in post-production and not been sung live by Paloma Faith. However, because she is lip synching in the video it creates the impression of diegetic sound. 

Narrative Conventions -

The video does not appear to follow a narrative, other than having a good time. It appears to have more of an abstract element focusing around dance rather than the telling of a story. 

Representation of gender -

There does not seem to be importance placed on the representation of gender int he video. The main featured person is Paloma Faith and she is wearing a short skirt with a vest mid-riff. This is very different to when Sigma are present in the video wearing trousers, t-shirts and jackets. There is a clear difference in the way women are represented through choice of costume for the differing genders. 

Shared Conventions of dance music videos -

• Most have an ethos about summer and having fun.
• They focus majorly around dance and exaggerated movements. 
• They usually have fast-paced editing that cuts not he beat of the song.
• They feature heavily around bright colours to contrast plain backgrounds.
• They usually follow a narrative or have an abstract element.