Video Analysis of Jessie J - Who You Are.

Who You Are - Jessie J.

Jessie J is a fairly new recording artist who has had chart success since 2009, and is signed to Island Records, although she was previously signed to an independent record label. She is known for writing most of her songs, having strong lyrical meanings; which comes across strongly in this song/video. The genre of her music is categorized under Pop music, with several of her songs being dance/ electro-pop tracks.

‘Who you are’ was written by Jessie and produced by Tony Gad, the lyrical meaning of the song is based on a trip she had to Los Angeles when she was sent by her record label  to many different producers and song writers and lost some control over her own music. The lyrics ‘don’t lose who you are in the blur of the stars’ relates to her feeling of not wanting to loose he own style and who she is through success of her music; wanting to remain grounded.

 The first shot of the video is a medium close up shot of the artist; it is also an establishing shot of the bedroom, the only location used for all of the shots in the video. The gesture of the performer is looking down, expressing a sad mood, which straight away conveys the tone and mood of the song and lyrics.

The pace and editing of the video starts slow, keeping the same pace as the song with longer time between shot changes; The focus of the camera is still, and the shot size stays on a mid-shot of the performer- where she is communicating the emotion of the song through direct eye contact with the camera. The artist uses lip synching for the majority of shots throughout the video, matching it with the slow pace of the song: The movement of the performer is also edited with slow motion effect on several shots. However, as the pace and beat gradually builds up in the song, the wind starts creating activity in the background, that has been still for the previous duration of the video. The Artist continues singing with the shot size remaining on a medium close up, as there is movement in the background of the shot.

The shot then changes to a long shot of the artist sat on the bed cross legged; this gesture/posture conveys the vulnerability in the song even from a long distance. The lighting throughout the video is a dim, light that conveys a calm atmosphere; the source of the light appears to be from a bedside lamp, as this the only light source in the long shot. The shot then cuts back to a mid-shot, with the artist back at the desk. There is no continuity editing and as the pace of the song increases fast pace editing is used with several reverse shots; from mid-shot to close up and reversing shots, which continues for the chorus. As the pace of the song reaches it height, the camera cuts to several long shots of the artist sat at different places in the location (the bedroom), the camera cuts from a close up of the artist to a pan slowly left to a long shot of the artist sat against a worktop/shelf, again not using any continuity editing.

The way in which the concept of the video is very simple and uses mostly medium close ups, is an idea that has influenced my own ideas, as it enables the video to convey the tone of the song well.