Jack Penate - Be The One video analysis

‘Be the One’ is a video with a performance based narrative that I have decided to focus on so as to better understand what filming techniques work successfully in shooting performance.
The video begins with an out of focus wide angle shot of the church-like location and pans down to reveal a bright light containing distorted black figures in the centre third of the shot, this draws the viewer in by plotting an enigma; for the unfocussed camera work creates a supernatural effect forcing the viewer to ask what or who these silhouettes are and their reason for being. Within no more than two seconds it cuts to an extreme close up of one half of Penate’s face looking down with his hair covering his eyes creating wonder as the viewer cannot place his expression or emotion. After a quick two shot of girls with trumpets, it cuts back to a close up of Penate’s eyes looking directly at the camera. With the light coming from behind him it is not a flattering shot, it reveals the dark circles under his eyes and bags, areas of his face are in darkness and he appears to be in anguish. It then cuts to a close up of his feet with one tapping conservatively but the tight black trousers and scuffed dull shoes seem to be repressing the movement they wish to make. Another quick cut back to the girls with trumpets and it becomes clear that there tears drawn in glitter on their faces, this further emphasises the idea of repression and sadness.The video cuts back to another shot of his eyes. At this point all shots but the establishing shot have been extreme close ups but as the music kicks in the video cuts to a low angle extreme long shot, in this shot the lighting is warmer and less harsh, and the revealed unconfined space gives Penate the freedom to move and to mirror this the camera now moves more freely, it pans up from his feet in a medium close up to capture the movement of his whole body.
Once this new idea of movement and freedom is introduced to the audience this message is further strengthened by the iconic extreme close up of the symbol reverberating with glitter flying off – this incorporates a sense of magic with the positive connotation of hope.
The camera cuts back to a long shot of the band, it then zooms in giving the effect that the audience is being pulled closer towards the band. The lighting is used here to make each member appear angelic as each individual head is framed in light which is ironic as it reflects the window art found in churches of biblical characters such as the Virgin Mary, and the location of the video is also set inside a church. The use of lighting in this way carries on throughout the video.
At this point the song is at the chorus, during which the camera never takes still shots of the action, the camera is always moving whether it be panning, tracking or zooming. This creates a sense of chaos reflecting Penates state of mind; it also adds creates variation throughout the video to help successfully maintain the audiences attention and reflect the speed of the song. But once the chorus ends and verse begins the camera alternates back to a combination of still shots and shots with little movement, the lighting also becomes a lot less bright and more controlled. During the verse a use of close ups are used on Penates face especially his eyes much like the shots at the beginning of the video, there are also long shots of the band but it mainly focuses on the lead singer.
As the chorus kicks in once again a parallel narrative is introduced which consists medium close ups of people dancing in slow motion, all dressed in black in front of big white flood lights, they have little relevance to the song, but they are there to represent freedom of expression and the idea of magic or religion giving you the opportunity to free yourself. These shots interweave between the performance narrative; cutting back and forth between the two narratives every few seconds.
At 2:42 in the song a chaotic mess of clips is used to reflect the chaotic music, this consists of very quick shots of close ups of the glittered symbol being smashed, a medium close up of Penate in the parallel narrative convulsing, very shaky close ups of Penate dancing in the performance narrative with the camera pulling left and right. This further entices the viewer as they try to understand what has just happened, why has this character suddenly just lost control like that?
It then cuts back to a medium shot of Penate and the band looking around and catching their breath, with this the video resumes to its previous state of cutting between the two narratives. Toward the end of the song the second narrative is focussed on more, as it focuses on different dancers but slowly more dancers appear to be in shot until it seems as though it is simply a night club. With that the final shot pans across all these dancers in front of the white lights with Penate left at the end alone beside the crowd out of the light looking like he doesn’t belong. It finishes with a fade to black.