Sam Smith; I'm Not The Only One analysis

Sam Smith; I'm Not The Only One



GENRE

The genre of this music video is pop whereas the genre of Sam Smith (the artist) is soul/r&b. There is a narrative to this music video; There is a husband and a wife who you can tell straight away are going through a rough patch. You can tell this because the wife is saying she "made him breakfast" and he's giving "cold" replies. The man goes off to "work" when in reality he goes to a pub and cheats on his wife with another woman. The wife is at home crying and getting drunk as if she already knew what he is up to. He then comes home and she acts as if everything is fine and she doesn't know. From the song title "I'm Not The Only One" it is expected that there will be something to do with two women or men within the video. What is unexpected is that the wife knew he was cheating on her rather than her finding out in the video.

NARRATIVE

The storyline of this video is about a couple who are having an obvious rough patch. The wife seems to be trying to make things better (e.g. she made him breakfast) whereas the husband seems to be acting distant and when he goes off to "work" he is actually going to a bar/pub and cheating on his wife with another woman. What surprises us is as soon as he walks out the door, his wife's face drops as if she knows what he is doing. We then see her crying and going to the store with mascara

smudged all over her face to buy things to create a fire with. She then gets some of his clothes and throws them in the fire. An while all this is happening we see clips of the husband with another woman which almost fuels her anger even more. There is a running theme of heartbreak; the wife seems crushed about the whole situation and when she realises what he is actually up to.


There is a recognisable structure from Toderov's 5 narrative theories;

• EQUALIBRIUM - everything is calm when the couple are getting ready for the day. 
• DISTRUPTION - when the husband walks out the door and the wife understands what is happening, it upsets the calm. 
• RECOGNITION - when the wife is playing with the wedding ring on her finger and crying her eyes out, that is when reality hits her. 

There are some recognisable characters in this music video. There is the male who goes off to "work". There is a female protagonist (wife) who is one of the main parts of the narrative and finally there is a female antagonist (one night stand) who creates trouble between the man and wife. The lyrics of the song reflect what is happening in the video, e.g. "But when you call me baby i know i'm not the only one". When these lyrics are being sung the clips show the husband kissing another woman. 

REPRESENTATION

There is a main representation of gender, the husband is shown in a negative light which is stereotypical for men. The wife is also stereotypical because it seems like she is a 'stay at home' wife whilst she cries over her husband who clearly doesn't care about her. Sam Smith is shown briefly in the video singing his song which makes me think he is there as a celebrity.

AUDIENCE

The target audience for this music video is woman aged 20-27. This is because the narrative is about cheating which, i think, this age group can probably relate to the most. There is also a location of a bar which is popular with people in their 20s. This audience will mostly access the video through YouTube and Twitter. The fans can promote this video through social media and itunes which will spread the word about Sam Smith.

VISUAL CODES

It looks like the video is set in America in modern times. There are shots of the wife in the house and they are always light and pure which connotes her innocence in this situation whereas the husband is shown in a bar and the lighting is dark which connotes what a bad person he is. I wouldn't say there is a specific dominant colour as the scenes swap between the light of the wife and the dark of the

husband, it is balanced. The body language of the husband at the very beginning is dismissive which connotes that he is unhappy. However her body language shows that she is trying to act like everything is normal and that she doesn't know that he is cheating on her. There is no typography in this music video, i think this is because the clips shown are enough to show the story better than words could.

TECHNICAL CODES

There are a lot of close ups of the wife crying which lets the audience know the pain she is feeling. The cuts are slow to reflect the pace of the song and it also lets the audience concentrate on the images reflecting the lyrics and how the wife is feeling. Most of the shots used are mid-shots which show a clear indication of what the husband is doing. When the husband is walking down the street before getting to his house is actually looks guilty which makes the whole situation even worse and
when he is walking up to the door the camera is moving with him, as if the audience is walking with him to the door and feeling as guilty as the husband does for watching him cheat on his wife.

ORGANISATION

Sam Smith is signed to Capitol Records. They help to promote Sam, in this video, through the use of actors and a good narrative. He is distributed through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, CD, TV, Music Videos, Newspapers, Magazines, Chat Shows and many more.

Analysing this music video will help  me with creating my own because it allows me to see what works well and what doesn't work well within a mainstream artists' video. I can take some ideas or colour schemes throughout the video and adapt them to mine.

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Analysing this music video has helped me notice the good and bad things within a mainstream video.  It has also helped me to see different shot types that can be used and how every detail is thought about.