Ellie Goulding's "Your Song" Textual Analysis

Camerawork
As with most music videos, "Your Song" has lots of close-up shots of Ellie Goulding lip-synching. The major close up shots create an intimacy with the artist which is furthered by the intimate nature of the song.

                

These close ups also "[emphasise] half of the commodity on sale (not just the song, but the artist, and particularly the voice)" as Pete Fraser states in his book "Teaching Music Video". (BFI, 2004)

The static close-ups are only one part of the video. The other part is made up of various shots of Ellie Goulding having fun with friends. All of the shots include her and they fit into her "sweet girl" image which has been "constructed from a range of materials" (Richard Dyer, 1979) and culminates in this video.

The handheld camera shots have been used to look like the videos are home-made or amateurish to make Ellie feel more real and attainable than the more cinematic videos of Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. They also amplify the song's message and including the audience. The home-made styling makes the audience feel as if they filmed those shots and it really makes it seem like Ellie Goulding is singing the song to them and not to someone else.

Editing
Despite being a slow paced acoustic song, the music video contains many shots that are little more than a second long and with the longest shot barely reaching five seconds in length. This fits in with Steve Archer's thoughts on the technical aspects of music video in his "How to Study Music Videos" article (Media Magazine, February 2004)by having a certain speed to the editing with fast cutting and montage editing which "creates a visually decentred experience necessary for music video consumption." The speed of the editing could also represent how fast life flows by; after all, the lyrics do talk about "how wonderful life is, now you're in the world."

The video also cuts directly to the beat and this is something else that Steve Archer believes to be an "essential part of music video". By doing this, the video has a wonderful flow which never feels jarring and this also adds to the image of life that the fast-cut editing produces.

Mise-en-scene
One of the most obvious features of the video is the bright light on Ellie Goulding's face during the close ups.

This particular effect of the lighting makes her seem angelic and really adds to her 'star image' of the 'sweet girl' which is furthered by her sensible clothing. She seems both realistic and out of most peoples' league through the juxtaposition of the bright angelic light and her very normal costume.

The light also casts a romantic glow which really amplifies the intimacy of the song and depicts
the authenticity within the song which is exactly what music video directors strive for as emphasises the star image and the realness of the message in the song.