Music Video Analysis: Gotye

This music video is for the song "Bronte" by Gotye. This video is entirely animated and the animation style is inspired by Japanese anime and has resonance of the style of Japanese Studio Ghibli anime films. The music video has a narrative following a main character throughout and overall it goes very well with the melancholy sound and lyrics of the song.

Camerawork:

• wide establishing shots display the scene and surroundings to the audience, set the scene, set the calming mood of the forest

• tracking shot follows the characters as they run across the scene, keeps the focus on the characters and helps the audience not to lose them in their surroundings

• low angle shots from underneath water, interactive with the scene and involves audience in the music video

• tracking low angle shot follows the girl's feet as she runs across the grass, keeps he attention on her hurry, adds a sense of worry and anticipation

Editing:

• most of the video has a slow motion sort of look to add elegance and suit the calm setting in the forest
• range of transitions used: cut-to, fade, fade to white, fade to black
• edited in chronological order with the girl growing up throughout, helps the audience make sense of the video's timeline, gives a visual effect of time passing
• long cuts are used to keep the video moving at a slow pace the keep with the slow pace of the song, keeps the calm melancholy mood through the video

Mise En Scene:

• colour palette consists of lots of neutral and pastel colours, neutral colours emphasise the natural theme of the music video and fit in with the forest setting

• nighttime is portrayed through the darkness in the scene with minimal lighting, fireflies and used to add some lighting onto the face of the characters during the night

• lighting reflects the lighting in a forest in real life, portrayed through beams of light coming down diagonally through the leaves of the trees, reinforces the look of nature and natural light, also looks very attractive