Lyric Analysis - Miss Miller

Lyric Analysis

The purpose of analysing the lyrics of our chosen song is extremely important in order to create a successful and conventional artist image and narrative style music video. By understanding the hidden meanings and underlying connotations that the artist is portraying through the lyrics of the song will ultimately help us to create a conventional yet relatable video for the target audience.

Our planning and analysis of the lyrics can help us in various ways with different planning methods such as colour and lighting, cinematography, mise-en-scene and editing techniques as the lyrics give us detailed ideas into how the artist may be feeling and also their personality. The lyrics also helped us to develop ideas on different things we could include for the five different mise-en-scene elements as some of the lyrics enhanced our ideas. For example, the lyrics "sunlight comes creeping in", we created this effect to match the visuals to the lyrics and used a long shot of the forest to show the sun creeping through the trees.

Our chosen song "Wings" by Birdy is a song written and performed by the artist herself. The song symbolises personal situations that the artist has experienced that could be relatable for people in her target audience aged between 15-25. The immediate indication that the song lyrics gives to the audience is the theme of love, relationships and as the lyrics have parts of negativity this is portraying a theme of heartbreak and breakdowns of relationships which is a common issue for the majority of Birdy's target audience. However this is conventional to the indie genre as indie artists most commonly write material on subjects that they feel most strongly about so that the lyrics have an honest meaning and are completely relatable to how the artist is feeling. Me and my group decided to annotate our lyrics in four different sections; hidden meanings, artists representation, mise-en-scene/ narrative/ style and target audience relationship. We used a different colour highlighter to elaborate on these different elements and wrote our ideas and inspirations for this line in our video. We used the colour yellow for hidden messages, the colour orange for artists representation, the colour green for mise-en-scene/ narrative and style and finally the colour blue for target audience relationship.

The first lines we annotated were "sunlight comes creeping in, illuminates our skin" as these were the opening lines of the song. As a group we believed that these lyrics held a hidden message and instead represented two people from the plural "our", we decided that to fit in with our narrative of one girl who is unable to express herself in a lesbian relationship, that this line could represent the two of them together. Also with this being the introducing line at the start of the song it could portray the happy times at the start of the relationship when they "illuminated" as a couple. This is conventional to the indie genre as the narrative style of music video matches the codes and conventions of the indie genre. This is because indie artists usually portray their situations through a narrative style music video. The reason for this being because it will have a connection with the lyrics and also make it more relatable for the audience as they can physically witness and understand what the artist went through. This may also be conventional as the target audience may have also experienced similar issues themselves as they are of a similar age to the artist and have the same interests as her due to them both enjoying the indie genre. If this is the case then it further helps to promote the artist as the audience are more likely to want to watch the artists material if they mentally understand and connect with them on the situations that the artist writes about and how they represent themselves.

We also recognised as a group what lyrics we felt would suit best with a specific piece of cinematography. We decided that the lyrics "we'd remember tonight, for the rest of our lives" which feature as the last lyrics in the song would be beneficial to play alongside a close up shot of the two girls hands slowly parting and moving in different directions. We felt as though a close up shot of this image would work well as a lasting image for our video and give the audience an indication of the end of the video but also the end of the relationship in the narrative which is almost leaving the music video on a cliff-hanger as we have this image followed by a fade to black effect. This piece of cinematography is usually conventional to the indie genre as it captures sentimental moments that need to be focused on by the target audience. These shots are usually used in order to capture the artists facial expressions to help relay the narrative to the audience and make it more relatable for them. This will help for the audience to be more intrigued by the narrative and may also have an impact on them as they may have experienced a similar situation and will therefore look up to the artist as someone to aspire to for advice and comfort. The lyrics may also be an element that the audience could relate to. The lyrics may help the audience to think of a time which they have struggled with forgetting for example a past partner who they had a heartbreak with and this may help them to think about this situation as they watch the music video as this will help them to remember a very personal experience for them and this is finding comfort for themselves in material from my chosen artist which is further promoting her as an artist and providing comfort and entertainment for the audience. This is because they will want to be reminded of the experience they feel when they listen to the artist's music.


We also analysed the lyrics "It made me think of you" for a cinematography technique. We decided that we could use a close up shot for these lyrics of the artist looking at a photograph of the couple together. We felt as though by using a close up shot for this lyric it would support Goodwin's theory which states that one of the elements portrayed in most music videos are links between lyrics and visuals. It would also help for the audience to understand that when the artist sings these lyrics that she is referring to herself and her partner and this would give the audience the indication that the music video will follow a narrative of the common issue of heart break and isolation for the target audience of teenagers to young adults. The use of iconography of a photograph also represents a sense of realism as the audience would be able to imagine this scenario as most people have photographs and reminisce on memories from photos as it takes them back to a time when they were enjoying themselves and a positive time in their life. A close up shot is also a conventional piece of cinematography as it portrays the artist facial expressions which allows the audience to understand how they are feeling and how the situation has an effect on them. This is where the audience are able to build a relationship with the audience because they may have also experienced similar situations and this is where they can form a connection with the artist and build a relationship with them as they feel as though they can rely on the artist as she is also suffering from the same situation as them. This will also make the artist someone who the audience can look up to and aspire to be like because they are strong enough to get through the heartbreak in the music video which is something the target audience can strongly relate to.

Another element we analysed our lyrics for was editing techniques. We analysed what editing techniques we felt would best suit the lyrics in the song. One example that we analysed was "my words are leaving me, they caught an aeroplane". We felt as though these lyrics portrayed a sense of letting go and being alone. We felt that to portray this element we could use a slow editing technique of feathers and flower petals blowing in the wind in our field setting. We felt that this image with this editing technique would work really well alongside these lyrics as they would correspond and represent this physical image of items blowing and flying away like what the lyrics say. We also felt that this was conventional to the indie genre as it shows a slow and gentle movement which represents the characteristics of the artist in this part of the song. Also by using the objects of white feathers this represents an angelic and pure feeling which tells the audience that although the artist is letting go and is standing on her own that everything is going to be alright and she will succeed. The pink flower petals also represents admiration and respect which is also conventional to the indie genre and the specific narrative that we have chosen. The admiration could represent the admiration 0ur artist has for her partner and the respect could represent the respect she has for herself as a person to let go as her partner is unable to express her true self in the lesbian relationship.


Another editing technique we have chosen to use in our music video is montage editing. We will use this technique for our market scene when the two girls in the relationship are portraying the good times in their relationship. The lyrics we analysed for this technique are "I'm in a foreign state, my thoughts they slip away". We have chosen these lyrics as they represent that the artist feels in her element when she is with her loved pone. It represents her as being blinded by love as she doesn't see, feel or think about anything when she is with her loved one. Therefore we decided to portray the good times in their relationship with these lyrics to physically show that the good times in the relationship made the artist so blinded by love which ultimately made it much harder for her when the relationship started to fall apart. By showing the audience the good times they can follow the journey with the couple and almost relate to them as they feel they known them on a personal level as they have seen everything that they have been through. This is conventional to the indie genre because it gives the audience a personal feel which is the aim of the artists. They want to make the audience feel special and almost like a friend so they feel emotions towards them and want to follow them in their career and follow their new material.

The next element we analysed our lyrics for was lighting which is part of mise-en-scene. We analysed the lyrics " we watch the day go by". We had the idea to use a day to night time lapse of the sky in a field for these lyrics and the beginning of our music video. We thought that this would work really well as it connotes the lyrics but also gives our music video a professional look as it makes it look colourful, intriguing and mysterious. We also felt that the time lapse is physically explaining the words in the lyrics as it is showing an exact moving image of the day going by which makes it easy for the audience to understand the lyrics and also the emotions of the artist. This could represent many different emotions to the artist including loneliness, grief and sadness which could help the audience to sympathise with the artist further and build a relationship with them.
We also analysed the lyrics for the element of positioning of characters which is another part of mise-en-scene. For the lyrics "I just want to be by your side, if these wings could fly" we have decided to use two ballerina dancers representing the two girls in the failed relationship dancing behind a screen to show a silhouette effect. We felt that the two dancers could appear at every chorus to represent the different stages of the relationship throughout the song and perform dance moves that would represent the current situation that the two girls were experiencing in their relationship. We felt as though this was conventional to the indie genre as it helps the audience to understand further the relationship of the two girls and also the narrative. However it is also another way that helps the audience understand the artists emotions which is conventional to the genre as indie artists usually write and perform material that are about real life situations and experiences that they feel strongly about. Therefore this helps the audience to believe and understand the artist more in order to build a relationship with them.


The next element we analysed our lyrics for was iconography which is another element of mise-en-scene. The lyrics we analysed was "how you told me after it all, we'd remember tonight, for the rest of our lives". These lines appear multiple times in the song at the end of every chorus however we analysed these lyrics as the final end chorus. The iconography we chose to use for these lyrics was two sparklers that the two girls are seen using on a camping night earlier in the music video. However we felt that by using these sparklers again at the end of the music video we could have the sparklers fading out to represent not only the end of the video but also the end of the relationship. We felt as though the sparklers could represent many things to the audience. For example, the faded sparkler could represent the loss of spark in the relationship or the failure one of the girls felt as she couldn't express herself as her true self as a lesbian. The light from the sparkler could represent her as a lesbian and the faded out sparkler could represent how she hasn't let herself be true and honest and therefore has lost out on her relationship and someone who loves her. This is conventional to the indie genre as it is ultimately portraying the feelings the artist felt when this happened to her and she is portraying to the audience her honest opinion which the audience can respect her for and build a relationship with her.
The next element we analysed was setting which is another element of mise-en-scene. We analysed the setting with the lyrics "oh lights go down, in the moment were lost and found". We discussed that the setting we would use for these lyrics would be a normal female bedroom. We decided to use this setting because we felt that it would give our artist and music video a sense of realism and that it would make the artist more relatable to the audience because of this as they could imagine themselves in this situation. We came up with the idea that these lyrics could demonstrate one of the underlying problems in the relationship. The lyrics symbolise that they relationship is at its highest point when the lights go down and no one can see them. This may represent how one of the girls doesn't want to represent her true self as a lesbian which is why the relationship is falling apart. By using a dark bedroom which most of the target audience could imagine will create a sense of realism as they can physically imagine how the artist may be feeling when she is being neglected. This is because the target audience may be able to relate to this as a common cause of failed relationships is when one person neglects the other. This is conventional to the indie genre as the artist usually perform material that they have experienced personally and want to express their emotions about it in a song. The audience could then build a relationship with the artist because of this as they can relate to how they feel.


The final element of mise-en-scene that we analysed our lyrics for was costume. We decided that in our bonfire scene our artist would be wearing black tights, black boots, a grey dress , a denim jacket and a hat. This is because these pieces of clothing represent grunge and indie as they are unique and out of the ordinary. The lyrics we want to show our artist in this costume is "under a trillion stars, we danced on top of cars". We believe that these lyrics give a visualisation of a camp night in a field with an indie feel as this shows isolation other than the two girls together happy in their relationship. This scene will show a positive period in their relationship which will help for the audience to understand the pain that the artist feels when the relationship begins to break apart. This is conventional to the indie genre as the audience can emphasise with the artist because of this and build a relationship with them as they want to follow them and see them enter a positive state again.

The style of music video that we want our video to follow is a narrative based music video with elements of performance. I believe that having our video mainly narrative based is conventional to the indie genre as indie artists usually have actors recreate their own personal experiences which gives the video a sense of realism and makes it more personal to the audience. However I also believe that by having performance elements of our artist singing also helps to portray emotion if the audience can clearly see the emotion of their faces. My group also analysed the lyrics for facial expressions and body language which is another part of mise-en-scene. When the lyrics "oh damn these walls, in the moment were ten feet tall" which is part of the chorus is played we are going to have the image of our artist singing to the character. She will be looking into the character which is conventional to the indie genre as it is as if she is looking straight at the audience and telling them the personally which also makes the video seem more personal to the audience. Her body language will be passionate and will show that she feels strongly about the situation. This will include things like singing with her hands and lifting her arms up to show she feels really deeply about this subject. This will portray to the audience how hurt she is and this will make them feel empathy towards her if they have experienced similar feelings before.

I will use my annotations in order to create a professional and conventional storyboard. I will specifically take ideas from my cinematography and editing points as they have given me a clear visualisation of the look we will create in our music video and I want my storyboard to have a strong resemblance with this. I will use our ideas we have discussed as a group to create a unique yet intriguing look that will attract an audience and create an interesting atmosphere to watch. I think this planning has really helped me to understand the hidden meanings and messages in the song and the true emotions that Birdy felt when writing and performing the song. I believe that this has given me inspiration to create an emotional and conventional indie music video as it gives a sense of professionalism and realism.