Deconstruction 2 - Frank Ocean

Song: 'At your best' By Frank Ocean 

Lyric Analysis:  

 

Timeline: 

00:00-00:04: Fade in from black screen to a close up shot of artist. Scene is based outside
00:04-00:10: Music fades in, close up of flowers- mis en scene to show its based outside
00:10-00:15: Mid shot of singer standing on  some stairs in a suit looking at the camera. He is walking down the stairs getting closer to the camera.
00:15-00:18: close up shot of the singers face to show his emotions of being upset and sad
00:18-00:25: Blurred out shot of the singer laying down on the staircase looking front on in the camera, tracking shot
00:25-1:40: In this long period of time, there are different set locations of the singer lip syncing but not to the music playing. These shots have been filmed before at his recent live shows. The different shots have been shown in the change of outfit and venue he is in, they are all consistent of close up and mid shots to show the singers face and to make it clear of the mis en scene. 
1:40- 1:52 This then changes to the singer walking into a building and being interviewed. These shots have been taken before the music video and have been inserted inside. Therefore there is no narrative or performance based video. 
1:52-2:00 This shot goes back to the same previous shots of the singer singing to a different song which is muted and is placed in front of this song, meaning the lip syncing does not go with the song playing in the background. 
2:00-2:22 This shot was previously recorded at the Grammy awards showing the artist collecting his Grammy award. 
2:22-3:00 The shots end on previous videos being taken of the artist.

I have found, that from producing this timeline, this music video is very different to the others i have watched in my genre. This is because instead of the music video being shot on one set day and location, clips have been inserted taken from the artist in different location and places therefore does not follow a narrative or performance based video. Instead it seems muddled up and all over the place but does fit with the song as its to do with 'doing your best' and these clips showed how successful the artist - frank ocean was to be where he is now.

Synopsis: 

Originally released under the title “You Are Luhh,” “At Your Best (You Are Love)” was released on what would’ve been Aaliyah’s 36th birthday. The song ended up being on Frank Ocean’s visual album.

Mis en Scene: 

The Music video opens up with a mid shot of the singer on a staircase lip syncing. Then there is a close up shot of the artists face showing hi emotions and feelings. Throughout the video, there were many different shot locations including, mid shots of scenes of him at a gig as well. The shots varied from different places. This included the video scene where he collected his Grammy award. These settings differ from one another but also flow easily at the same time as well.  

Costume and Makeup: 

The artist in the music video, is wearing a suit, however this changes during the different set locations where he would be wearing casual clothing in some parts and a formal suit in the other, for example the scene where he goes to collect his Grammy award. No makeup is used in any of the scenes, it it all natural. One other thing the artist wears in every scene is the bandana, in different colors.

Album Digipak: 

 
The front side of the digipak is very plain and has an orange background. There are no images or pictures, it is very plain and has minimal information on it apart from the album name. The album name is small and is centered in the digipak. The word 'Channel' is in a bright white colour and the ORANGE is in capitalized letters. At the bottom right there is a parental advisory notice as the music contains explicit material. 
On the back of the cover it follows the same principal as the front cover. It however, has a bar code on the right bottom side so the item can purchased. There is a blue strip that goes down the right side of the digipak there is a logo and important terms and conditions.

Magazine Advertisement: 

On the magazine advertisement, There is the album name at the top of the cover in a white big font to stand out. The album name ' boys do not cry' is very stereotypical and is shown in the image background of the singer with his hand in front of his face which looks as if he is crying.  He is featured in his advertisement which is the same as his digipak. At the bottom of the album name, there is the release date. This is important for users to know when the album is being released. At the bottom there is repetition of the same text that is above to get into the readers head.