TOM ODELL- 'Another Love'
LYRICS
I wanna take you somewhere so you know I care
But it's so cold and I don't know where
I brought you daffodils in a pretty string
But they won't flower like they did last spring
And I wanna kiss you, make you feel alright
I'm just so tired to share my nights
I wanna cry and I wanna love
But all my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
And if somebody hurts you, I wanna fight
But my hands been broken, one too many times
So I'll use my voice, I'll be so fucking rude
Words they always win, but I know I'll lose
And I'd sing a song, that'd be just ours
But I sang 'em all to another heart
And I wanna cry I wanna learn to love
But all my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
I wanna sing a song, that'd be just ours
But I sang 'em all to another heart
And I wanna cry, I wanna fall in love
But all my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
On another love, another love
All my tears have been used up
I am analysing Tom Odell’s, Another Love. The song peaked at number 10 on the UK single charts and has also been charted in Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands. In the music video, you can see Tom Odell sitting in an armchair in front of the camera as the actress or woman in the video attempts to get his attention. It ends with the actress seemingly leaving Tom. The music belongs to the indie pop genre and this is easily shown by the filter – it is less saturated. This is a natural occurrence in indie pop music videos. We can see this by Bombay Bicycle Club’s song called Luna as they also have a filter on their music video. Indie pop’s broad characteristics consist of typically structured songs and they often following typical pop patterns. Keyboards are mainly used to play chords in a lo-fi style. Lo-fi means the lower quality of sound recordings than the usual standard for modern music. We know this is correct because in Another Love, we can hear the piano playing the melody in the background.
The music video is directed by Jamie Thraves, who is a British film writer and director. He has also directed other famous music videos such as Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" as well as "Money On My Mind."
CAMERA:
At the beginning of the music video, we can see a close up of Tom Odell (the artist) starting to sing the lyrics. The fact that there is a close up suggests there is so much more to offer throughout the music video. It suggests there is a story behind this song and the lighting on his face shows that it may not be positive. We know this is the case because of the lyrics when he starts to sing "I wanna take you somewhere so you know I care, But it's so cold and I don't know where". The beginning contrasts to the end of the music video, where there is another close up shot. Tom is looking directly towards the camera showing a gloomy emotion. Due to a close up at the beginning and end of the music video, the story is linked together in one loop. This enables the audience to engage in the artists emotion.
The music video is a linear narrative, which means there is a story at the beginning, goes on through the middle and ends at the end. We know this is the case because throughout the song, Tom is sitting in a chair, whilst other things are going on around him. The song is about having a particular relationship, getting into a new one, but being unable to stop thinking about the last one.
MIS EN SCENE:
I have also noticed that Tom blinks when a chord on the piano is played. This is effective because it makes the music video come to life. If he randomly blinked and was not in time with the music, it would look unprofessional and would not give the audience the same emotion that connects the audience to the music video.
Throughout the music video, Tom Odell's lip sync matches to the lyrics of the song. This creates the feel that the music video is live and that the song is actually be sung by the artist in the video. If the lip sync was out of time, it could have messed up the whole music video and would not be appealing to the audience.
At 0:12 in the YouTube clip, the lighting becomes more bright, which makes you focus on the artist. One side of his face seems to be darker than the other, creating different views; drawing the views attention. He continues to stare at the camera, making it seem like he wants the audience to listen.
"And I wanna kiss you, make you feel alright" are lyrics that he sings; this reflects on the visuals that we see. For example, we see the actress show signs of affection whilst he is singing. She is doing exactly what he is singing, which contrasts to the lyrics because he is the one that wants to kiss her. This is effective because the music video is relating to the lyrics. Without this effect, the audience would not be able to gain a better understanding of what the song is about.
EDITING:
Throughout the video, the camera is zooming out to create a long shot so we are able to gather a sense of the surroundings (camera zoom). The mise en sceneshows that they are in an old, untidy room, which looks vintage and unique. This represents the genre of the song: indie pop. We can tell this room is vintage because of an old mirror, unfurnished walls and a worn-out suitcase. We can see a brown, antique chair near the middle of the room, as well as a little table with a bouquet of flowers on top. This gives an edge to the music video and makes it stand out from other music videos.
At 1:35 in the YouTube video, the actress is shown disappearing after packing her bags. At the same time, Tom Odell is singing "another love, all my tears have been used up". Giving the idea that he is spending his emotions and feelings to someone else. Due to this, she is leaving because she has given up trying to love him. The opacity has changed when she starts to disappear, which is very effective than her just walking out of the scene. The audience eyes are on her because she is fading out and she is a big part of the music video.
At 1:56, the camera starts to zoom in towards the scene. This is effective because this is when the tempo starts to get quicker and the volume starts to get louder. Due to the camera zooming in, we can slowly start to see what affect the relationships and drama are impacting on the man (artist) by his facial expressions and his body language.
SOUND:
Regarding to the tempo and volume getting faster and louder, the visuals that we see must also change to keep up with the beats and rhythm. Therefore, we are shown at 2:26 the actress shouting at Tom sitting in the chair. The actress had returned from disappearing as soon as Tom started to sing again. He is seen to be ignoring her due to his heart being broken so many times that he feels emotionally simply too weak and to love and fight for someone again, so he has simply given up on her.
The music video is based on a narrative story. In this case, it has a protagonist,which is the lead singer (Tom Odell) and he has a specific persona. This music video has an objective character where only one character's story is shown. We know this is the case because we can only see things from Tom's perspective.
Towards the end of the video, the actress starts to sign shows of anger and aggression as she smashes up the room they are in, suggesting that she is upset with the artist. When this is happening, the saturation of the clip is increased, which creates a gloomy and dark effect. This could represent his mood: heart broken, distressed, devastated and resentful.
Throughout the whole music video, Tom Odell does not move from his chair. If he was not stationary and moved around all the time, we could not see the progression of his emotions on his face.
Overall, the music video is very effective due to using only two actors, which makes the audience focus on them without too many people overloading the story. I believe this music video will relate to my music video as the genre is the same and my group could use many of their features such as the interesting storyline and camera work.
