EG6: Bruno Mars - Locked out of Heaven

album art

ACT: Bruno Mars
TRACK: Locked Out Of Heaven
YEAR: 2012
DIRECTOR: Cameron Duddy
GENRE: New wave, funk and reggae rock
MAIN AUDIENCE: 15-25
LYRICS

performance

Relationship between Visuals and Lyrics

There isn't much relation between the lyrics and visuals as the majority of the video is performance footage. The singer is the main character throughout, but in the performance he seems to be playing himself.

narrative section

Performance and Narrative

The first minute and a half of the video is all performance footage, and after that some narrative is cut in but constantly returning back to the performance. The performance and narrative sections don't seem related as he seems to be in a gang situation. In the performance the full band is there with all instruments and microphones. There isn't dancing but there is a lot of movement on stage. There are a lot of shots of the audience who are dancing. But nothing seems set. The narrative doesn't seem linear as there isn't a clear storyline it just looks like different situations. However, with multiple viewings the story and concept of the narrative may be more apparent. 

audience

Audience 

The audience are shown a lot in the video in the performance sections. They are shown dancing and enjoying the music. There are a lot of girls shown which shows a clear indication of the male gaze being used. The video will become more appealing to men because there are a lot of girls dancing and things in the video. 

male gaze

Representations

Everyone seen in the video looks below the age of 30 which shows the target audience for the video. For young people it would be unrelateable if the video only had older people in it. There are mixed representations of race and sexuality. This also widens the target audience and who the video will appeal too. 

Pace and Shots

effects

The pace of the video is quite fast throughout as it is a very upbeat song. The editing is fast also, especially in the performance sections. There is also a lot of slow motion in the video when people are jumping around which works effectively and makes shots look very different.

The video also experiments a lot with different effects. There seems to be a dark coloured filter in the performance and the camera work is very jittery. The picture is edited to move about the screen and look like it is being shown on a bad quality screen.

Locations

There are a number of locations in the narrative sections. The performance location looks like a dark club or bar and doesn't look very upmarket or posh. They may have chosen to do this to look more down to earth and relateable with fans when in reality they may never gig somewhere like this. 

Relevant Links
Wikipedia
Website (UK)
Song Wikipedia