Track: I’m YoursArtist: Jason MrazDirector: Darren DoaneGenre: pop rock, pop soul and alternative rock.

The song I am analysing is ‘I’m Yours’ which is our chosen song we are going to be using for our A2 project. This is by an American pop/rock/soul singer-songwriter and is directed by Darren Doane.

Jason Mraz (artist) style is very laid back, independent and is there to basically have fun, in which the use of jump cuts of him laughing and joking help convey this. He is wearing shorts, t-shirt, sun glasses and hat. This is conventional for pop/soul artist to dress casual, yet smart because even though it isn’t up to date fashion, it immediately creates a lovable and charming image. Additionally, his style is bright and colourful, e.g. blue t-shirt which helps with the typical conventions of pop/soul music video.

This is a mixed styled music video incorporating both narrative and performance which is typical for a pop/soul singer; however there is a strong narrative which is more powerful than the performance. He is singing throughout the narrative and there is a small element of performance towards the end of the video. The shots of the clips are short paced which is in sync with the tempo of the music. The narrative is based upon romance and how he wants to get away from it and seek adventure. The target audience is both male and female ranging from teenagers to middle aged adults. This may be because it is a cheerful, yet playful song, targeting it at women due to the romantic narrative, yet men because of his chilled and happy-go-lucky type of personality. I loved how the music video simply focused on Jason having a good time, laughing and joking; I found this very powerful because it created a joyful, playful and humours atmosphere.

During the build up to the song there are frequent jump cuts of various things such Jason Mraz himself (artist), close ups of road signs and waterfalls, showing the exotic place he is going to, therefore, allows the audience to start getting an idea of where the music video is set, however it is a mystery to them. I love how Jason emphasized when we simply threw the key onto the table when we walks out the house, suggesting that he is not intending on coming back. I thought this was very effectual because it gives the audience an insight to his personality. Mainly medium and close up shots are used during the build up of the music video whilst he is getting to his final destination. I liked this mainly because it kept not only the location but his personality secret until he was in the place he was most happy. Whist Jason is sitting in the dark room, shallow depth of field was created which was really effective because as the room was so dark it was difficult to see him, until the camera finally focused on him, making the audience hooked onto the storyline. In addition, the indoor scene at the beginning juxtaposes against the bright and harsh colours of the outdoor scene, immediately suggesting that he isn’t as happy as he was in the indoor scene, than in the outdoor scene. Throughout the music video, a lot of close ups are shown creating shallow depth of field. This happened quite frequently during the external location which I admired because it added a new element to the video that wasn’t shown during the internal locations. Following this is a travel montage of the artist in a taxi, on the plane, hitch-hiking and jumping into the back of a truck to get to his final destination. I like the way the director has used a montage and found it effective because it shows the audience what he will go through to get there. In result, I would love to experiment with a travel montage in my own music video because it is a good way of showing a long sequence within seconds.

Moreover, a black silhouette is shown several times in the video which I thought looked efficient because it added an element of summertime and holiday atmosphere to the video. During the narrative, establishing shots are witnessed of rivers and a waterfall which shows the audience where he is heading to, I admire this and found it effectual because the beautiful scenery helps portray the ‘holiday’ moment. During the performance, jump cuts from Jason to his friends are shown being playful, laughing and having fun. I enjoyed watching these jump cuts because it made the music video happy and enjoyable to watch which fell perfectly in time with the editing. Therefore, I would like to experiment with this for my music video and I believe it will be easy to do. Additionally, even though it’s very simple, I admired the medium shots of Jason while he was sitting on the beach and a wave splashed him unexpectedly. I liked this because it sets the scene and adds humour to the music video which out of the music videos I have analysed beforehand hasn’t happened yet. Therefore because it is so different I admire it. This is effective because it keeps the audience hooked onto the image.

Applying Andrew Goodwin’s theory:

Relationship between lyrics and visuals:

As the lyrics are ‘we are love love love love love’, the camera focuses on the external locations with Jason’s silhouette against the sun creating a heart shape with his hands, the juxtaposition between his

dark silhouette and blue sky makes it clearer to see. This immediately suggests he is happy and chilled in this location.

Here is another good example of there being relationship between lyrics and visuals, as the lyrics are ‘I drew a new face and I laughed’ the camera shows Jason drawing a smiley face on the windows of

both the plane and the bus. This shows he is getting over his past relationship.

Relationship between music and visuals:

When the song comes to an end, clips are shown of him heading home; we can see this from the flights departing at the airport. The tempo of the song then begins to slow down and we can visually see Jason is not as happy as beforehand which fits in with the song, this is surrounded by dark and

dull colours which help portray the sad moment.

Particular music videos have their own music style and iconography (codes and conventions):

Mainly pop and pop/soul music videos usually are based on a colour scheme of bright colours to create a joyful and happy atmosphere and as we can see clearly from this music video that Jason has stuck to the typical conventions. In addition to this, the bright colours are from the exotic location (beach) with friends having a fun time which is tradition of a pop video. Typical pop and pop soul

music videos generally base their narrative of romance; therefore he used these codes and conventions to appeal to the right target audience.

Often due to the demands of the record label, artists videos will include many close ups of the artist and will often develop motifs that repeat throughout the video this allows the band to

promote their image:

Here are a few close up shots from the music video in various angles of the artist, this emphasising the artist’s happy emotions due to the strong narrative.

A frequently notion of looking:

There is a frequent notion of looking while the camera shows Jason looking at the scenery while on his travels to his destination. There is also no voyeuristic treatment of the female body as it doesn’t fit

within this genre of music.

Intertextual reference from other forms of media e.g. films, television, series, music videos etc:

The song is untimely about giving yourself or your time to someone or something else and in this case, there are no Intertextual references from other Medias, only inspiration from reggae artist – Bob

Marley.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, analysing my chosen song and studying the music video has helped to give me an insight to atmosphere the music sets. Beforehand I listened to the song without the music video and I instantly imagined it would be a beach setting and Jason having fun with his friends. After watching

the music video and almost being correct, I knew that the use of laughing and joking with friends was essential in our music video. In addition, applying Andrew Goodwin’s theory to the video has really helped me understand and apply the theory in the future to my own music video easily. This analysis

has been very successful because I have generated various ideas and experiments for my project.