Title: Dog Days Are Over
Director: Legs
Florence's Dog Days Are Over initial music video relies heavily on Mise-En-Scene and is largely lead by narrative and concept. The factor that struck me first about this video is the production quality; the video has a dominantly 'home-made' amateur feel to it which I actually really like. This makes me, as the audience, feel like the artist is quite indie and very accessible and approachable; quite unique.
The video opens in a forest where we are introduced to the set, followed by a strange looking character what appears to be a wedding dress. As this shot progresses, we see Florence, the artist, lying down with a bottle in the forest. Once blindfolded, she is lead to the main location deeper in the forest. Here, the mise-en-scene is properly displayed. The extras in the video are extremely obscure in appearance with a heavily carnival theme regarding costume and make-up. Their mannerism leads us to believe they're quite tribal by the way they appear confused as they reluctantly peer around trees, catching a glimpse of Florence, surrounded by scattered carnival flags, ribbons and old fashioned bird cages, all draped from trees in the forest clearing. As florence pulls of her sequined blindfold, members of this circus-like tribe of all ages emerge slowly from trees and lanterns as a dramatic chase begins. Florence then trips and appears to be 'tribalised' by her chasers.
After, we see a dramatic increase in the slew of ribbons, fairy lights, glitter, colourful bold all-in-one costumes and over-the-top, teased hair and make-up. Now night-time, the following shot fades from black and shows a mid-shot of Florence; hair and face covered in golden glitter, heavily artistic make-up and carnival-themed clothing and a primal look on her face as the previous tribe begins dancing wildly as the music picks up again. We see extras splashing glitter over their faces and others', wild group dancing, angry expressions and overwhelming amounts of colour flashing before us.
This use of mise-en-scene gives a really creative visual to the song that audiences wouldn't otherwise associate with either the mood or lyrics. The heavy use of colour and props give audiences a welcoming, safe feel mixed with the obscurity and threatening behavior of the extras. The fact that the opening is the artist being woken up with a bottle in her hand leaves us with an unexplained stigma of why she was in a forest, why was she drinking and why is she alone? Above all though, who is this tribe?
In terms of cinematography, the hand-held feel gives the audience quite a uneasy view of the events which is intentional, particularly as the narrative unfolds. Close-ups are also shown to evoke question as these close-ups don't show us key images that we need to piece together the story, providing us with a really nice sense of ambiguity. Further into the promo, close-ups are used on characters faces, especially the artist herself to distinguish who they are and in terms of Florence, to build a star image and recognisable face to fans. A variation of angles are used throughout the piece and are rarely perfectly straight, again, giving us this lurking, onlooker feel which makes us feel rather unsafe but steadier shots are displayed towards the end where we are supposed to feel more secure which is expressed with the cinematography. I really like and appreciate how although the video is clearly not a large production with an endless budget that the simplicity of the cinematography can provoke so much emotion and feeling through basic though clever technique. This is the reason I chose this video to analyse because this is something that's important for me to explore and learn from when thinking about producing my own pop promo (music video). As well as the cinematography, there are a few good editing techniques that further the cinematographic brilliance. The mix of slow motion and fast cuts give a fast and slow pace at the same time which is hard to explain but goes excellently with the mood of the song and the narrative. In faster paced parts of the song, the mix of shots cut quickly provide the sense of confusedness and awe too which is important and I'm sure, by the look of it that colour enhancing has been used to give a cohesive quality to the video overall though this cannot be proved.
Furthermore, this relationship between the music and visuals is displayed through the artist miming the song frequently, dancing and the tribe playing basic instruments such as wooden blocks, bells and bits of nature! This again enhances the natural, quite primal theme of the video but also sets it apart from being an entirely narrative based video nicely, making us feel that the music is partially diegetic. As far as lyrics go, I don't think these are displayed effectively through visuals which is the negative about this video although I'm not sure this factor was important to the director. Loosely, the dominant theme of celebration throughout the video displays the lyrics "The dog days are over" which may reflect the end of complicated modern living which again is only speculation. Though saying this, I do think that more visual representation of lyrics in Dog Days would have seemed forced and taken many positive, clever elements of this video away.
The music video promotes Florence + The Machine quite well, as well as displaying characteristics of the musical style. It's evident through listening to her music that the sound is quite raw and natural, isn't heavily produced and is powerful yet calm. This is the image that is pushed to audiences about this artist and frankly, this video delivers it extremely well. Close-ups of Florence, as previously mentioned, build up a profile of the artist and ensure that the audience have a visual of her and the fact this video is filmed in a forest also connects extremely well to the album artwork where Florence is positioned before a similar setting which sub-consciously connects the video and album.
The audience for Florence + The Machine, from this video would on first thought be artistic types who appreciate the quality of the video and music. On further observation, the video can be viewed mindlessly by most. Adults will appreciate the music and image of Florence + The Machine, children will relate the video to circuses fantasy films and teenagers will both appreciate a mix of previous points but also aspire to her fashion. The video represents all ages, all sexes and all races and the diversity in this music video makes it appealing to all demographics.
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