Laura Marling - Night Terror

Song lyrics :
I woke up and he was screaming
I'd left him dreaming
I roll over and shake him tightly
And whisper "if they want you
Oh they're gonna have to fight me"
Oh fight me

I woke up on a bench on Shepherds Bush green
Oh a candle at my chest and a hand on his knee
I got up it was dark
There is no one in the park at this hour
Why do I keep finding myself here?
Oh find me

The above is the first two verses of 'Night Terror' by Laura Marling - a currently popular singer/songwriter. The following verses aren't identical to the above two, but are similar. As I'm analysing the video, I chose to research the lyrics to understand more why she chose to perform in this way. Marling took more of a thematic, atmospheric approach to creating her video - the lyrics of the song and the video don't follow the same narrative, though the atmospheres of both are sinister and ghoulish.

Laura Marling was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize, showing her audience is more sophisticated and appreciative of her style of music. She adheres to the conventions of acoustic singer/songwriter music videos - most videos of this genre involve the artist singing and playing instruments towards the camera. She is the main focus of the majority of her videos (singing towards the camera) yet she aims to subvert this convention by involving more to the videos (for example; the clowns in 'Night Terror' and the shadows in 'New Romantic').

KT Tunstall - Suddenly I See


KT Tunstall has taken a very conventional approach to acoustic singer/songwriter music videos. The video 'Suddenly I see' focuses on her and her band performing - playing instruments and singing, demonstrating the genre characteristics. Many acoustic artists do this - it shows a sense of simplicity yet depth to the video as it's simple, clearly focusing on the lyrics and music being played. This video conveys a strong impression that Tunstall aims to receive the recognition for her music - in the video a photographer is following her around, implying this. In the introduction of the song, the video is edited to the beat of the song, showing sillhouettes playing instruments (see image to right) - this however focuses on the idea that image is not important, it is simply music. The lighting in the video is very dark and mysterious, with sudden flashes of light on the performers - this imitates the lyrics of the song ('suddenly i see'). The video is medium budget - it's set in a kind of warehouse , and is very simple (nothing extraordinary is being filmed), though the lighting shows extravagance and effort. The stripped back mise-en-scene imitates the stripped back singer/songwriter genre. It's clear that this medium budget was created with an aim to keep up her singer/songwriter image, after this was released she also released a second video for the song - which is of a higher budget, with lots of animation and planning. This implies that the first video was partially pushed by her record label, demanding lots of close ups of the artist aiming to be recognised and remembered.