Ellie Goulding - "Burn" Music Video Analysis...
The interpretation of this song “Burn” is very much linked in with the concept of having a light inside of you; a talent, skill, ability to do something. The lyrics in which I am getting from this is trying to imply that we should recognise our light within us and not fear anything in which we do, instead make a use of what we have within ourselves. The song is defiantly aimed to show power of youth and motivate people to be passionate about themselves and who they really are. She is equating love to the light and fire that burns inside of us all and describes it as a strength that can make everyone lose sleep. This motivating song is all about love, light and life, this is what I am gaining from looking at this music video, giving it that narrative based performance.
The overall locations within this music video are all empty forests, parks and roads, which may symbolise the earth. These locations are effectively used as contrasts between the meaning of the song; using the light inside you and being the stars of earth.
The use of lighting in this video is very significant as the meaning of the song itself is about light and life. There is a natural looking filter, which seems to be caused by sunlight throughout the entire main video, which connotes the burning light which is within the lyrics. We are shown the scorching sun in many scenes being contrasted amongst the dark setting, which shows the dominance of light and fire. Also there are sparklers, which are used to light up dark scene which also represents the idea of fire.
There are various long shots to show location set up within this video and the people being together in recognising the light. There has also been an aerial shot near the end of the video to show the earth lit up which gradually forms the logo of Ellie Goulding.
However, when looking at the costumes within the video, we can see casual clothing that are being worn by young people, such as jeans, shorts, T-Shirts, trainers and hoodies. This shows the target audience within the video itself. It then enables us to illustrate the concept of all normal people having a spark in them, whoever they are. Furthermore, there are different types of colour clothing, mostly dark colours are visible in this excluding bright colours completely, this was possibly done to fit in with the dark scenes and to reflect the light on the clothing.