Adele – Chasing Pavements

This was very well received song and the music video was revered for its originality and its uniqueness, the video takes on a narrative and also has performance in the mix, the video depicts a story of a budding romance being broken up by a car accident and relives the lives of the dead couple and ponders on the thought, if they should have lived their lives differently? This is done through dance and theatrics by the dead couple.

An unusual opening shot is used – a long shot taken from the low angle to be in line with the horizontal body position of the women who has obviously just been hit by the car in the background, this is probably used to shock the audience and catch their attention, it also feels like we have dropped into the end of a film/music video, but ironically its the start of a song this follows with the theme of the song which I feel is that you should not have any regrets in life because you don’t know when life will end.

This high angle shot which tilts down is one that sets up the narrative as we see the protagonists of the narrative who are the people who have been hit by the car, the high angle give the sense of looking down upon the victim as if they are looking back at the scene of their own death which creates a sense of reflection and also gives the music video almost cinematic qualities

This high angle shot almost a bird’s eye view shot also gives this feel of looking down upon and given the nature of the song the audience gets a strong feeling that this is two people or even one person looking upon themselves at the scene of their own death or death’s, at this point the dead characters come back to life and start to move and seem to be rein acting their normal lives but on this pavement where their lives have ended this gives the video which refers to the title of the song “chasing pavements”. Given the nature of the pavement it almost seems to be suggesting that this scene is taking place on a film role or even on a cinema screen which gives it more of a cinematic feel.

This shot is a long shot from a low angle which is slightly tilted up to Adele maybe conveying a sense of power, I feel that the use of a long shot which gives the audience the chance to see the background is a very good way of putting across the idea that this park setting with natural beauty is a place of reflection and when watch Adele walking you get this sense of contemplation and this gives the music video a retrospective feel as the dead characters are looking back on their lives and contemplating if they lived their lives to the fullest.