Textual Analysis

"Blame It on Me" by George Ezra

Mise-en-scene: Set on a regular street with no cars around. It mainly focuses on the singer walking down the middle of the street, drawing your attention towards him to show the song may be about him. However it occasionally focusses on other people in the same setting. Either side of him are shops, and it is a sunny day. The red cup that he drinks out of near the beginning could represent death and what is going to become of him.

Shots: Mainly medium to medium long shots of the singer. Extreme long shot near beginning when the two men are talking by the side of the street to show the size of their surroundings. As one of them is the singer, it shows that he choses wrong after he is asked "are you sure you want to follow the yellow brick road?" Then it goes to tracking with the singer as he walks down the street.

There is a bird's eye angle when the bird dropping lands on him from above. It uses a long shot when he meets the dog and then also when the car drives over his guitar to show the whole of the person or objects used and draw attention to them. There is a close up of the driver in the car as this happens so we know who is doing it and that she does it intentionally.

The lighting is mostly very bright with the exception of one part, and uses soft lighting to get a clear view of what is happening. This is also appropriate as it goes with the song which is mainly uplifting rather than a sad or slow song. There are some longer shot durations such as when he is walking along the street and some montages throughout such as the ending gun fight between the police and the robber.

As it is a music video, the music is non-diegetic but at times he is also singing out loud. However when the rain comes, that is diegetic and is the only time in the song, that it appears darker. The guns at the end use diegetic sound as the police and robber are actually firing guns it is happening on screen. At the beginning there are simple sounds like birds and the car driving past to represent the quiet setting.

There is a serious close up at the end when the gun fight takes place of the singer when he is walking through the middle of the scene. Then there is an extreme long shot of him walking away while in the mise-en-scene, we see the damage of the gun fight and there is smoke in the sky to show that time has passed and he is moving on.

This then starts an avalanche of bad luck for him such as getting bit by the dog and having his guitar ran over as a result of the decision he makes at the beginning. "Blame It on Me" is supposed to represent when he walks through the police without getting shot, it shows that he caused it.

Margin Call - First 10 Minutes

At the beginning we hear non-diegetic voices talking while the screen is black. For the miss-en-scene, we then see tall skyscrapers in a city. The lighting is very dark to begin with, then as the day goes on, it becomes brighter. A high angle who is used to the show the buildings and the city skyline. There is a mix of hard and soft lighting on the buildings and streets. 

Over the top is played quite mysterious music showing uncertainty and then we hear a big bell ring off screen at the end of the opening credits. It then cuts to a hallway inside one of the buildings where it is a bright, sunny day. The miss-en-scene is people walking in a line through the corridors and quickly through very modern looking offices with computers and other modern day technology. Quite slow and sad music is played over the top and is non-diegetic. 

The camera pans along while the woman is walking with the man. We can hear a lot of the diegetic sounds in the office like telephones, computers, typing and talking. The non-diegetic music matches the character's emotions and feelings and gives the sense that they are worried or do not know what is going to happen. It then cuts to i the office where the boss is being fired and the music stops. There is close ups and medium shots used of the man and two women, just to show the top half of their bodies. There is no music here to draw the audience's attention to what the characters are saying.

A medium long shot is used as he leaves the office after being fired. As he does so, the lighting on him is hard, while in the office next to him it is brighter. This represents that he has lost hope and has been shut out from everyone else. A low show is then used to look up at the boss, possibly to show how low he has gotten, with serious non-diegetic music over the top. It then goes quiet again as he is told more important information by a colleague. 

It is mainly edited very slowly using long duration shots, to show the the scale of the office building and the work that is going on which attracting attention to the main character/s on screen. As the boss moves on through the building, a tracking shot is used to follow in front of him and draw attention to his face with a close up, again to show his emotions and that he is very disappointed to leave. It is also quite dimly lit in the corridor to represent the change in his emotions and that things are very unclear going forward into the future. 

He gets to the end, where the light is now more consistently brightly lit, where he meets two of his younger colleagues. This could show their future being brighter and containing more hope. He then leaves through another door, separating him from them, and boards a dimly lit elevator, which could represent that he is going down in the world and losing all that he has now that he has lost his job.

Construction and Mediation

The X Factor

The first contestant on The X Factor is Michael Marouli. However the clip is very short, lasting just 46 seconds. This suggests that his performance is not very important along with the fact that he is dressed in a sparkly costume. As he begins to sing it seems obvious to anyone that he is not very good and this is highlighted by the rest of the audience laughing as well. 

After he finishes singing, they decide to play funny music over the top to emphasise how bad he is. But if you were watching it on TV you would have no idea what his name is because it does not say. Nor does it say his occupation suggesting he knows he is really bad at singing and is just out to get attention and be on TV. This is he opposite to a good singer because they would get more time and attention.

The second contestant was Jay James. This audition was completely different as he was a good singer and got through to the next round. This is why the clip lasts longer than 5 minutes because he is worth watching. There are also a lot more close ups used by the cameraman to show Jay's emotions and get the viewer to feel emotion for him. 

Also included is a back-story which informs us that he is an ex-soldier and had to leave due to injury. This immediately makes us feel sorry for him and as he sings well it seems like he has achieved his dreams which is why we show more emotion towards him than others like Michael Marouli. We also hear very slow and emotional music over the top and a shot of Jay's family to show that he has a family to provide for and his music means everything to him.