As part of my research into the music industry, I have chosen to analyse a variety of music videos in order to gain some key knowledge into how they promote certain themes and ideas, and how they are constructed through a variety of camera shots, editing techniques, mise-en-scene and sound. For my second music video analysis I have chosen Something Big by Shawn Mendes. Something Big is a song from his debut studio album Handwritten, which was released in 2015. This particular song was released on the 6th November 2014 as the second official single from the album. The music video for Something Big was released on the 11th November 2014 on Vevo and YouTube. This song belongs to the pop genre, and is a good example for a teenage pop-star's music video as it primarily revolves around him and illustrates the artist as a fun and lively male star.
The video begins with Shawn Mendes waking up in the morning, and leads on through his morning routine before he meets his friends and continues on to walk down the street until a lively crowd is following him. This portrays the star as a normal popular teenage boy, which relates to Dyer's theory of stardom. He states that the star must appear both ordinary and extraordinary, which Shawn portrays perfectly throughout this music video as the narrative follows him living ordinary, every-day lifestyle however his singing and instrumental ability shows that he has lots of talent which sets him apart from the rest.
This music video contains a wide range of close-up shots on Shawn Mendes throughout the music video, which emphasises that he is the main focus of attention and that the audience should pay all of their attention to him. The video also contains a few long shots to show the large crowds that are attracted to him and follow him through the video, and a few mid-shots which show of his costume which consists of a grey t-shirt, a green plaid shirt, black jeans and trainers. This costume helps to reinforce that he is an ordinary teenage boy, as he is not featured in particularly eye-catching or majorly fashionable clothes unlike many other male artists, for example like Justin Bieber.
The lyrics in the song state that 'something big' is going to happen, which is then emphasised in the music video as the video builds and builds, reflecting the music and tempo of the song. As the song climaxes, the video mirrors this as Shawn Mendes is featured singing with a guitar to a large crowd of people, which implies that this is the big event that he's singing about in the song. This music video is both performance and narrative based, as the video follows a story of Shawn's life in a stereotypical American neighbourhood, however his performance at the end with his guitar in front of a large crowd highlights his talent and ability.
Something Big music video:
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