Case Study 1

Naughty Boy- La La La ft. Sam Smith  

Produced/ Made By- Ian Pons Jewell  

Music video by Naughty Boy Performing La La La. © 2013 Naughty Boy Recordings Ltd, under exclusive licence to Virgin Records Ltd.  

Date Made- Apr 18, 2013 

 Synopsis

A little kid goes around different parts of the country to reach out to different backgrounds and makes people join him in his journey by making them say ignore people who try to stop them. Hence the video is narrative as it tells a story through the video and lyrics of the child going on the journey and finding people from different backgrounds. When the artist, naughty boy, is saying the lyrics, the little kid's actions and in cohesion therefore it shows as if it was a story and everything which is said and done is in chronological order.  Throughout the music video, there was a high camera angle over the little kid to represent that he is inferior to his parent and his facial expressions show that he feels intimidated. However, as he goes around and meets his new friends, the camera angle begins to get lower when he is talking to them to show that he feels comfortable with them and also visa versa. As the music video goes on, the lighting of the day the video is set changes, at the start it is set at night time to represent the little kid being alone and feeling upset, however when he finds people to talk to, the video change to being in the day and it is more brighter to represent hope. 

The use of La La La in the song represents the fact that the kid and the people who join him do not care what other people say.  At the end of the video the child and the people who joined him end up in the desert which represents freedom and resembles  the fact that he ran away from home and is now in a place where he enjoys. The story is both narrative and performance based because throughout the music video, the kid is moving around to different scenes and backgrounds which is a sign of narrative and telling a story, however when the kid, and some of the other characters were lip syncing, it shows that a slight part of the music video is performance based.  

Themes & Motifs

Adventure and love is the two main themes and motifs in my opinion. As the young boy ran away from home it represents how if there is not love between children and the parents matters can get as bad as seperation, similar to what happened in the music video. The adventure theme came from the fact that the little boy went to random parts of the area a met a wide range of different people on his journey away.

Post-Modern Elements

Throughout the music video there was post-modern elements due to the fact that nowadays there is a lot of stories about how young children who have been left by their parents. Although the storyline in this music video is not exactly like how modern life can be, it has a similar idea whereby the boy does not feel comfortable in the environment that he is living in, (his home).

Camera Angles  

Close Up- This was mainly to represent the emotion of the young boy throughout the music video in order to make the audience understand completely what the actor was going through.    

 

   Point Of View- This was to show the audience what the actor was looking at through their eyes, therefore the camera angle was lowered to the actors eye level. This represented what type of effect the other actors had on the boy's emotions and thoughts.  

High Angle- Throughout the music video there was high angles over the young child which resembled the other characters who were much bigger than him. This represented the fact that he may feel intimidated by them however as they joined him on his journey the angles began to gradually decrease to resemble that they are now his friends and part of his group.  

Establishing Shot- This shot was used in the music video in order to show the surrounding of the new scene and to make it clear to the target audience that the young boy is travelling across different parts of the world.  

Zooming Shot- At the beginning of the music video there was zoom effect on the camera through the door and onto the first actor. Immediately after the camera hit the actor, he immediately got up angrily which shows his temperament from the start and gives the audience an idea of what the young child is experiencing.  

  

Mise-En-Scene 

  

The clothing of the young boy in the music video represented majority of modern young british kids in the modern era. However the choice of colours represented his personality and showed the audience what type of child he was.  Colourful= Outgoing, Adventurous. 

  

Also his clothes look second hand which suggests that his family has a poor income and he does not have a lot of friends in his area; Hence the boy feeling so close to his dog. 

  

 

Target Audience 

  

The kid is wearing colourful clothes in order to represent youth and can involve targeting a younger audience to the music video and the lyrics being said. Due to the fact that the child seems so alone and scared of his parent, it could be a morale meaning behind the song to those who are of a similar circumstance to this young kid. 

  

Editing 

Cut Scenes- There was cut scenes at the beginning of the video to show the situation of the little boy running away from home to him meeting the dog he then went on to travel with. This was to show the audience what was going on through quick cut scenes. 

  

Transitions- When the man put the meat into the boys pocket there was a transition of the screen moving quickly and then stopping at the man dancing in the middle of the road. 

  

Lip Syncing- There is lip syncing involved within the music video when the little kid says 'La La La' which is a performance based action whereby the words of the song produce more meaning towards the audience and the people watching the music video.  

  

Ideas for Main Video 

 In the music video naughty boy- La La La ft. Sam Smith, i would want to incorporate several of the techniques used in this music video into my own main idea. For example, one of the main ideas from this music video which i want to include is how to little boy's costume created a sense of his personality to the target audience so that they can understand more on what he is going through. For my own music video, i want to try and aim to make my main character wear a costume which will reflect what the lyrics are about and the personality of the person in the music video. I think that this is a really effective way of making the target audience understand what the lyrics are about and if so, helps them to identify any resemblance to their own life, if there is, through the music video. Also, some of the transitions used in this music video i found very effective and i believe that i could use some for my own music video in order to create an intended effect on the audience.