Emeli Sande's music video for "Clown" tells the story of her struggles in the music industry through symbolic imagery and settings. It alternates between close-up shots of Sande singing in a dimly lit room and scenes where she is scrutinized by uniformed soldiers in a brightly lit room, representing her feelings of vulnerability during meetings with people in the industry who were judging her. The black and white silent film style and use of lighting enhance the tension and power dynamics between Sande and the soldiers.

1. Music Video
Analysis 2
Emeli Sande - Clown

2. Background Information
O ‘Clown’ is a song by Scottish singer-songwriter Emeli
Sande
O Sande’s genre of music can be classified as RnB and
Soul
O It was written by Emeli Sande, Sahid Khan and Grant
Mitchell
O It was produced by Khan, whose stage name is
Naughty Boy
O It was released February 3rd 2013 as a digital
download
O Sande is under the label Virgin Records
O The video was directed by WIZ
O The video is set in the style of a silent film

3. Lyrics and meaning of the
song
O The story of the song is about Emeli Sande’s first
experiences in the music industry
O It mainly reflects her struggles to get signed, and
also encounters she had with people in the industry
O Sande commented on the song by saying:
“It‟s about how I felt when I was trying to get signed, I was
going for all these meetings and people were looking at me
like „What do we do with you‟? It‟s about not allowing
yourself to be judged by others or to be taken for an idiot. I
feel the video reflects that.”

4. Camerawork
O The establishing shot is
of an entrance to a room
which has stairs around it
and a cross at the back
wall. There is a man in
uniform pointing through
the door
O After this main officer is seen to be pointing, 3 more
male officers walk through the doorway into the
somewhat ambiguous room

5. Camerawork
O The use of extreme close up’s are used repeatedly
throughout the video
O There is a concentration on the contrast of the bright room
with the soldiers, to the dark, intimate room with a dimmed
spotlight
O The camera angle seems to be slightly low whilst filming in
the dark room, however Sande’s position of her head
changed slightly e.g. from facing down to facing up to the
light
O In these shots the use of lip synching is used, whilst with the
soliders in the bright room, Sande is acting as a character,
except at the end when she signs the form, she starts singing
in the room with the men

6. Camerawork
O The other part of the video when it is not Sande lip
syncing in the dark room, she seems to be being
scrutinized by a room of lots of male soldiers
O The first shot of Sande in contact with the soldiers
is right at the beginning where she is seen to be
brought into the room by two male guards. A
medium-long shot is used

7. Camerawork
O When Sande is in the room with the soldiers, there are
a close up shots of the soldiers which do not show their
faces. This creates the fear factor, and makes the
audience feel slightly uncomfortable, which mirrors the
way Sande must be feeling
O These shots which do not show the soldiers faces are
low angles, which adds to feel of the authority and
power the soldiers attain

8. Camerawork
O There are lots of low-angled shots of the old
soldiers, which triggers the idea that they are being
patronizing towards her, as many have when she has
approached people in the music industry in the past
whilst trying to find someone to sign her

9. Camerawork
O This film was created to hold the style of a silent film
O The way in which this was created was by overhead
shots of pieces of paper which had typed what that
character was saying
O The video then shows the reaction of what is said by the
expression of the character, then responses they give is
shown
O This was extremely effective as it added authenticity to
the video and the sense of fear and tension as to what
the soldiers want from Sande.

10. Editing
O At the beginning of the video, when the soldiers are
beckoned into the lit up room with the cross at the
back, their walking seems quite static and sped up
O There are lots of cross cuts, from Sande singing in
the darkened room, to her being interrogated by the
male soldiers
O Another technique that is reoccurring in the video is
the of different focuses e.g. many shots are focused
on Sande, with characters and props in the
background blurred out

11. Mise-en-Scene
Costumes
O The soldiers are wearing appropriate army gear, such as full
uniforms, big, black boots and belts. The guards seem to be
wearing army hats
O Some of the soldiers are wearing gloves, with some others
holding clipboards
O The uniform certifies the soldiers power, and allow the
audience instantly to recognize the characters
O Emeli Sande is wearing the same outfit both when seen in
the darkened room and with the soldiers
O She wears a black skirt, with a black blouse and a white scarf
O Sande looks very professional, as if going to a court hearing
O The dominant use of black helps to link with the videos
theme, and shows that she is serious through her attire

12. Mise-en-Scene
Location
O There are two locations within this video: the dark room
where Emeli Sande is seen to be singing, and the bright
‘courtroom’ with the soldiers inside
O Emeli Sande seems to be more comfortable in her own
company, which is where she is seen to be singing, and
looking straight down the camera, compared to her self-
conscious self, whilst with the soldiers, where she seems
to be looking downwards most of the time

13. Lighting
O Due to the film being in black and white, the lighting is
extremely important in this video
O In the room with the soldiers, the lighting is very
bright, giving the impression of complete exposure, and
interrogation like at a police station
O There are no shadows in the room with the
soldiers, with nowhere to hide compare to the other
location, which possibly enhances the feel of
vulnerability for Emeli Sande
Compared
to…

14. Lighting
O In the darkened room, they use one spot
light, which, at the beginning of the video, is placed to
the right hand side of the camera
O This allows for shadowing to appear on Sande’s
face, which shows her introvert character
O As the video progresses on, the spotlight seems to
move to over Sande’s head, as there are shots with
her looking up, and Sande’s face is lit up quite
clearly, still however, with some shadows on the left
side of her face
O These shadows could represent her insecurities about
her music as she had been turned so many times

15. Theory present in the video
E.A. Kaplan in Rocking around the Clock: Music Television,
Postmodernism and Consumer Culture (1987):
O Kaplan describes the importance of referring back to a
shot the singer/band’s repeatedly throughout the video
O He explains that the singer’s face act are a key
anchoring motif, a visual hook
O In the Sande’s video of Clown, there are many intimate
close up shots
O They vary from shots of Sande singing in the darkened
room, to looking uncomfortable and being forced to sign
the form by the soldiers

16. Theory present in the video
‘Course on General Linguistics’ (1916), Ferdinand
de Saussure:
O Saussure describes the science of signs as
semiology
O This refers to the deconstruction of the significance
of imagines and words; the meaning of images; the
associations the audience brings to the symbol.
O Through the use of incorporating soldiers in uniform,
that is a symbolic sign
O The audience will connect the soldiers in uniform to
punishments, authority and power