Influential Music Video I

  David Guetta - She Wolf (Falling To Pieces) Ft Sia

This is a music video for David Guetta and Sia's song - She Wolf,  its directed by Hiro Murai, who is a currently working as a music video and commercial director. The video doesnt feature any of the performers and is heavily influenced by the music and in some aspect the lyrics. The video focuses mainly on the narrative and it feels very cinematic and film like.

The first opening image is a wide shot of a naked lady, it is an establishing shot that tells us about the location, theme and narrative that we will see in the video. This particular shot was chosen to be used as the first thing the viewer sees because it is quite controversial, even in todays decade nudity in film and TV and on screen is used with caution as it can be upsetting or offensive to some viewers, the director chose to make it look artistic and because it relates to the narrative (we see how as the video progresses) it is done in a tasteful way, it also establishes the mood of the video, the viewer gets a very natural and earthy feeling from the scene and the colours and the slow and steady zoom creates a calm atmosphere. This is also a good opening shot because it is intriguing and makes the viewer wonder about the story behind it, it makes them ask questions like 'Why is she standing there?' and 'Why is she naked?' and 'How does this relate to the music and the story' thus making the viewer more likely to stay tuned to the whole song/video.

The sequence that follows is an introduction to the narrative. The story is set in an ice desert, it features wolfs, cutthroat hunters in fur, bows and arrows. The visuals match the lyrical content to an extent, the general theme and idea of the song can fit with the story because its about hunters and the hunted, while the lyrics may be metaphorical when saying: ''You hunted me down
Like a wolf, a predator'' we see a literal interpretation of that in the video and it adds more meaning to the song.
(below are the first two verses of the song, just as an example)

A shot in the dark
A past, lost in space
Where do I start
The past and the chase
You hunted me down
Like a wolf, a predator
I feel like deer in your lights

You love me, and I froze in time
Hungry for that flesh of mine
But I can't compete
With the she-wolf who has brought me to my knees
What do you see in those yellow eyes
As I'm falling to pieces

Plus the song is called 'She Wolf' and the story features a woman who transforms into a wolf so its fitting.




The video presents a battle that changes the natural into digital. The attacks take the form of digitalized seismic disturbances that dangerously radiate across the icy landscape. The gifs below show these digitally produced effects.I really like the use of digital software to create these illusions. They appear on every 'breakdown' in the song (when the music goes electronic) and it really matches the tone of the music making it seem more supernatural and mathematical.

An example of how slow motion was used

The video features an array of different things that set it apart from normal music videos. Things like panoramic sweeping shots and the use slow motion create and an epic atmosphere transforming the music video into a cinematic experience. I really like the use of this because its different and more like a film with cool music instead of an actual music video.



These are some of the other things that I thought made the video brilliant:
-Quite simplistic, minimal and it had a calming effect.
-Cleverly broken up by the special effects during the chorus, making it original and surprising.
-Beautiful  scenery and location.
-Great costumes and props made the narrative more believable.
-Matches the song , theme, lyrics, music.
-Like a movie - pulls you in - realistic
-Intriguing narrative - keeps you on edge the whole video - amplified by the music.
-Nice colouring and tones - very lomo -cyan colourig.
 -Very artsy.

Collage I made of images and camera shots I really liked form the video.

The video has received mixed reviews, many praise the directors ingenuity while others claim it to be promoting animal abuse, but for me the video is a great artistic piece that accompanies the music well and makes it very epic, its inspirational because its different than other music videos in the sense that it doesn't feature the main artist and is heavily set around the narrative and the cinematics and the look and feel of it.

'How can you not be blown away by the video's creativity and elegance?'                                    - Perez Hilton (Celebrity blogger)