1. The video for "Boom Clap" by Charli XCX uses cinematography and editing to connect the song to the film The Fault in Our Stars. It features locations and scenes from the movie through archive footage. 2. The lighting and costumes in the video also reflect the changing tone of the song, with darker lighting and edgier costumes used for the alternative portions of the song. 3. Cinematography techniques like shot types, location shots, and effects are used intentionally to match the mood and genre of the different parts of the song.

1. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 3
Charli XCX – “Boom Clap”

2. CINEMATOGRAPHY
The video opens with a long shot that acts as an establishing shot to establish
the location of the video. This is a common theme seen in all media texts as
an audience like to know the location that the text they are watching is taking
place. The first shot of Charli is a close-up that only lasts for about one
second on screen. This gives us a quick introduction to the artist but even
then her face is covered by writing on the screen. This is because it is more
important what movie the song it is representing than it is who’s singing it. We
then get close-up shots of both the protagonists from ‘The Fault in Our
Stars’, which is archive footage taken from the movie. This is to introduce the
audience to the movie that the song is representing. It also introduces the
characters of the movie for those who have not been to see it.

3. CINEMATOGRAPHY
Throughout the clip, a lot of shots are used to show off the setting of the video.
Example's include a medium close-up which shows that Charli is on the same boat
that the two characters go on in the movie. There is then a clip showing off the
two characters on the boat, establishing a connecting between the performance
and the narrative of the movie. Through this we can also find that the video is
being set in Amsterdam, the same location an important portion portion of the
movie was set. When the music changes style and begins to move slower, there is a
change in the mood of the cinematography. Charli is shot close-up looking away
from the camera, as opposed to towards the camera as she was before. Also it is
harder to make her out because of the effects used. This was all done to reflect
the change in the song which has become more alternative, meaning the video had
to too.

4. CINEMATOGRAPHY
Before she enters the bus, there is a long shot that establishes Charli sat outside of
it, effectively establishing the location. However, instead of immediately cutting to
the scenes inside the bus as it usually does, we don’t return to the bus for a while,
and even then we don’t know it’s the same location until we later see a portion of
the inside of the bus while on the outside of it. This breaks the conventions
found in typical media pieces of having the location established and then
following with a scene in that location, instead we have the location established
and then a scene in there later on. There is a close-up shot of her hands clapping
as she says the word clap. This creates a cohesion between the lyrics of the song
and the action that is taking place on screen. The final shot is a long shot of
Charli walking away. This signifies the end of the video.

5. MISE EN SCENE
(SETTING/LIGHTING)
The setting for this video is on the streets of Amsterdam, the same place a
portion of the movie ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ was set, creating a link between the
two pieces. One of the settings predominantly featured in both the performance
of the piece and the archive footage from the movie is on a river boat, which
again creates a link between the movie and the video as Charli is taking the same
adventure the two characters from the movie did.
The lighting throughout the video is relatively light but has a slightly darker tone
to it because of the theme of the movie it is representing. This sees a change
when the tone of the music also changes. The lighting during this section of the
video is darker and features lasers appearing over the screen. This is to represent
the alternative nature of this portion of the song.

6. They show off the genre of music Charli makes as they are not very typical
clothing, being edgier than clothes most girls wear. She wears short and tight
clothing at points of the video and then is shot in a way to show off the
curves of her body, specifically when she is shot from behind. This is an
example of Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory. There is a contrast between the
clothing and the lighting in this video. During the scenes when the lighting is
brighter she is seen in more pop artist like clothes that are in brighter and
more girly colours and patterns. However, during the scenes when the lighting
in darker, she is seen wearing more edgy clothes that show off her alternative
style of music. This done to create cohesion between the two areas of mise-en-
scene.
MISE EN SCENE
(COSTUMES)

7. EDITING
The editing in this video fits the pattern found in most other music videos,
that it is in time with the beat of the song. This creates a cohesion between
the song and the video as the beat fits to the editing speed. The part of the
video with the fastest editing is during the chorus when many shots are cut
together one after the other. This is typical for the chorus of a music video as
the chorus of the song tends to be the part of the music video when the song
is at it’s fastest beat. Each of these shots usually change location and costume,
suggesting the video is more about the performance of Charli than about a
narrative which would have a few cuts in the same location follow after each
other. During all this the editing used is jump cuts which is the typical form of
editing. In the third verse of the song the editing changes to a dissolves as
opposed to the conventional cut. This is because of the third verse of the
song being more alternative than the others and the use of dissolve is
something that is conventional in alternative music videos.

8. EDITING
Another type of editing used in the video is text and images appearing on the
screen. The text that appears looks hand drawn but it will have been added
through a computer software. By doing this more references to ‘The Fault in
Our Stars’ has been added because the style and font of the text is the same as
the text featured in the film. Also some of the text used relates directly to the
film such as the use of ‘Okay? Okay.’ which is a slogan for the film. Text
appears in many music videos, usually at the beginning to tell the audience the
name of the track and the artist. In this case the text appears throughout the
video as opposed to just at the beginning. Another form of editing featured in
the video is the use of special effects appearing over the top of the video. A
colourful spotlight effect appears over the top of the more alternative part of
the video, again fitting in with the genre by creating a weird atmosphere. This
is also helped by the lights that appear on Charli’s face during this bit.

9. SOUND
Other than the song playing in the video, there is no sound featured in the
video. The song is used both a diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound. In the
portions of the video when Charli is lip-syncing the words of the song, it is
diegetic sound but both when the song is being played and Charli is not lip-syncing
and when it is played over the archive footage from the movie, it is
non-diegetic. It can also be said to be synchronous and asynchronous sound as
at points in the we can see the source of the sound (when she is lip-syncing)
but at over points we can’t (when she isn’t). Other than this there is little use
of sound in the video.