Music Video Deconstruction and Analysis: Avicii - Wake Me Up

Performer and Record Label:

Avicii, (real name Tim Bergling) is a Swedish electronic musician, DJ, remixer and record producer.He debuted in 2006 and signed with Dejfitts Plays label in 2007. In October 2010, Avicii signed with the European A&R team with EMI Music Publishing. He is originally from Sweden but works all around the world touring and collaborating with a variety of artists. 

"Wake Me Up"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcrbM1l_BoI

Lyrics:

Feeling my way through the darkness

Guided by a beating heart

I can't tell where the journey will end

But I know where to start

They tell me I'm too young to understand

They say I'm caught up in a dream

Well life will pass me by if I don't open up my eyes

Well that's fine by me

So wake me up when it's all over

When I'm wiser and I'm older

All this time I was finding myself

And I didn't know I was lost

So wake me up when it's all over

When I'm wiser and I'm older

All this time I was finding myself

And I didn't know I was lost

I tried carrying the weight of the world

But I only have two hands

I hope I get the chance to travel the world

And I don't have any plans

I wish that I could stay forever this young

Not afraid to close my eyes

Life's a game made for everyone

And love is a prize

So wake me up when it's all over

When I'm wiser and I'm older

All this time I was finding myself

And I didn't know I was lost

So wake me up when it's all over

When I'm wiser and I'm older

All this time I was finding myself

And I didn't know I was lost

I didn't know I was lost

I didn't know I was lost

I didn't know I was lost

I didn't know I was lost

Lyrics Analysis:

Narrative:

The video is about two girls, living in an outdated city where they don't belong. They are a lot more modern than those living amongst them. The eldest one goes on a journey and discovers a place where she and the other girl (presumed to be her sister) belong. Upon her return she tells her sister to get up and pack because they're moving on to the place where they belong and will be happy. After another sequence of shots based at the concert the visuals cut to the house in the village and the bed which was previously occupied by the girls empty, the vineyard is also empty as the girls are not making a return journey. The video ends with a girl, who is dressed in the old fashioned attire staring in the direction the girls went in, she then turns around and walks towards the village before the video ends and fades to the credits. 

Shot Analysis:

Total Time = 4:32

Total Shots = 143

Total Cuts = 140

Close-Up Shots = 64

Mid Shot = 56

Long Shot = 20

POV Shot = 6

Over-the-Shoulder Shot = 3

There is a mixture of combination shots which were counted in individual tallies and sometime a fade was used by the editor and not a straight cut so it wasn't counted in the tally.

Mise en Scene

Setting:

The setting starts off in what seems to be an old fashioned American town. It is in the outskirts and doesn't seem to have any major geographical features so the location of the village is unknown. When the girls speak they have accents which appear both European and American, however I stand by the thought that the video is filmed in America. The older girl leaves on a horse and rides through a vineyard and American countryside before reaching the outskirts of a city, she then enters the city. The city itself seems to be a lot more modern than the first location. The next setting is a concert hosted by Avicii. What appears to be the next day the older girl rides back to her village through the same settings previously shown.  The settings go between the old fashioned village and the new, modern city.

 

Costume, makeup and props:

There are two different types of costumes in this music video. Old fashioned, period pieces worn by the people living in the old fashioned village, they are wearing old style dresses and shirts with over coats. Cloth hats are worn as well as suspenders. This is a huge contrast to what the girls who live in the village and star in the video are wearing. They are wearing denim jeans, t-shirts, jackets, modern shoes and the older one is wearing a beanie. They are very incongruous to their setting and draw attention to themselves because of their outfits. The people in the city are also wearing modern clothes and are congruous to the concert setting. They are very casual and are wearing clothes which are appropriate to what the modern 21st century teenager wears. There are props such as mobile phones which are used and the camera focuses on them because of the endorsements deals made previously to the video being shot.

 

Lighting and Colour:

Like the costume there is two different types of lighting. Natural and light colours and lighting when the girls are outside and in the village compared to a darker vibe with artificial coloured lasers in the concert. There are dark and light contrasts and lighting is manipulated in order to create silhouettes of the audience with their hands in the air. The colours in the concert are very important because of the effect they have on the audience. They add to the excitement of the show and help create an atmosphere.

 

Camera and Editing:

Camera work is very natural and not intrusive when filming the village and the girls. A wide variety of shots are used such as birds-eye-view and wide shots. Also tracking and panning are very popular. Whilst in the concert the camera work is very closeup and seems to be very 'in your face' especially when filming specific audience members and avicii himself. Most of the time though the go to shot is a mid shot. Editing is a mixture between slow and fast paced cuts. It depends on the setting which editing pace is used. Mostly though, the faced paced cuts happen in the concert and the slow in the village. The editing mainly follows the typical EDM structure; the cuts happen when the beat drops or changes. 

Focus Group Opinions:

"At fast I didn't really understand the video's narrative but now i get that its a journey of like self discovery and figuring out where we as individuals belong in the world."

"I love the song but I feel like the video is same old same old, nothing new or special. The camera work and editing structure is very similar to every other EDM genre music video. It's not unique."

"This video was published in 2013 but still holds the same morals and values which are so prominent in 2016, the self confidence and finding who we are as people is as important today as it was three years ago. I like how this video is so far standing the test of time."

"It's the same as all the EDM videos, have a random narrative and then when the beat drops show a concert or club scene and some jumpy dancing. I think it is unoriginal and nothing special"