Kimbra- Settle DownMusic video analysis.

Narrative of the lyricsThe lyrics tell a story of a woman who wants to settle down with her husband, meaning she wants to perhaps get married, have children and live her life. We are perhaps taking an insight into Kimbra’s childhood and her desire to be in a relationship. This view of what life and love is supposed to mean is also very childlike.

The lyric ‘We’ll call her Nebraska’ shows she has already planned out her child's name and that she has a clear plan of what her life is supposed to be like.

The lyric ‘Run from Angela Vickers’ has taken influence from A place in the sun which is a 1950’s like show, this song also has a clear link to the 1950’s as this idea of a relationship suited that time era.

The lyrics ‘Star so light and star so bright keep him by my side’ also reinforces the idea that this is a child's view on love as this lyric has intertextuality from twinkle twinkle little star, this also shows her wishing for love which is unrealistic as love should be real.

As she repeats ‘I wanna settle down’ throughout the video it is like she is demanding love and she has to get her own way when infact love should be natural.

Narrative of the videoThe video mainly matches the video, we see a story of a girl and a boy being in a relationship but the boy meets another girl and leaves his relationship to run away with her. We also see Kimbra dancing throughout whilst narrating the video standing in front of loads of dolls.

The people acting in the story are very young girls which also reinforces the idea of a child's view of love.

The man is in fact a mannequin which shows that he has no control in this situation.

Kimbra is narrating the video.

Camera

Presents the actors as dolls. They look very beautiful and natural and are in a clean home which resembles a doll house, also Kimbra never moves from the spot she is standing on which makes her seem like a doll and she dances with her arms which makes it look like someone is controlling her.

Is the camera used in any unusual ways?

Before the viewer is aware of who the camera is focused on the camera shot is a close up of a women. At this point the viewer does not know that she is a little girl or what she looks like. This gives the shot a sense of mystery and anticipation.

This shot is used twice but is changes slightly to show the change in the story. In one shot a man is asleep in bed with the girl getting ready to do the same. In the second shot the man is not in bed and the girl as though she is getting ready to go out. She is trying to look like the girl he left her for with the pearls and the hair style.

In this camera shot none of the objects in view are in focus. This gives the scene a sense of ambiguity. This is backed by the narrative as this girl is confused as to why her man doesn’t love her any more.

These camera shots are a sort of rule of three, with three shots of different dolls.

Camera angle and movement.The girl he is cheating with looks deep into the camera then around at her boyfriend. Which can make us feel uncomfortable and also allows us to see that it is a different girl as we may not have realised.

Camera movement is static the whole way through it is still and the story is told by the actor's movement only. This relates to the doll's house as a doll's house is also still, it can't move. The angles are always straight and close, making it seem claustrophobic and puts the focus solely on different objects quite a lot for example

What influenced the shots? The way the high angle shot is used gives off the impression of them being in a dollhouse and the audience is looking down on them. Not only that but the composition of the shot is very tight which also gives off the dollhouse effect.

There are a lot of close ups of Kimbra which shows us how she is the one telling us the story of what is happening throughout the music video.

How is the camera used to present the artist?Throughout the video we see her in between the various scenes. She is the narrator. She also stands out due to her black dress. She doesn’t move from the middle of the camera shot at all. This makes her seem stuck, like a doll.

At the end she is still in front of the two girls that acted in the story, and the dolls are behind. In this scene all main aspects from the video come together and by her still being in front it shows that she is the principal actor.

She is known for wearing statement dresses. Make up is quite natural she only ever has one product e.g. eye makeup in this video.

The dancers here and in most of the dance are pointing towards her.

Editing

Cuts are on the beat of the song.

There is an acoustic of Kimbra clapping on her own at the start which shows us she is a main feature in the video.

The beat and the pace of the song is constant throughout.

The cuts are quick and simple.

The story and clips are in chronological order.

Most of the video is lip-synched and not only is Kimbra singing to it and narrating at the start the young girl is also, which shows the story can relate to many people.

Voyeurism

In this video we have an insight into a quite personal view on relationships which is perhaps Kimbra’s own, we see the life of a young girl and the story she is telling and we are always looking down on her which makes us feel in control.

Kimbra is wearing a quite short dress could be seen as quite voyeuristic.

Star image

Kimbra’s is known for her statement dresses, short black hair and usually red lips.

She falls under several genres: pop, jazz, indie, rock

She has a very vintage look and her music is very distinctive

She is shown throughout 70% of the video as it is her song and she is selling it to the audience.