Like I can - Sam Smith
16/10/2015
"Like I Can" is a song by English recording artist Sam Smith. It was released as a digital download on 5 December 2014 as the fifth single from his debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour (2014). The song was written by Smith and Matt Prime and produced by Steve Fitzmaurice, Jimmy Napes and Mojam. It debuted and peaked at number 9 in the United Kingdom, becoming Smith's fifth UK top 10 single. The song is clearly of narrative typology as the audience can follow what is going on due to the story that is going on. We presume that the characters within the video are on a stag do as they travel around America. This shows us that Sam Smith is ordinary yet extraordinary due to the beautiful American location fit for a celebrity, an aspect which Dyer's 1st paradox includes. To fit in with the theme, the group of men within the stag do are all wearing tuxedos which yet again shows how extraordinary Smith is (Dyer).Due to the filter it is hard to sight whether the lighting is high or low key, but due to how clear the characters are, the lighting is high key which implies that Smith is God like and angelic (Star theory). The only props held by the characters within the video are flowers and glasses (presumably full of alcohol). Flowers represent beauty, which hints that there is a stereotypical damsel whom is the subject of the song which sets the scene for Propp's stereotypical characters within media film. While the alcohol in the bar simply shows the men having a good time as normal beings in a normal setting (Dyer's 2nd paradox). The first shot we see is of the beautiful city via an aerial shot. This reminds us of how small we are when compared with celebrities who take these rare cities for granted (Star theory). We then see the men from behind through a panning shot, but as we can only see their backs, as an audience, we are left guessing who the dark, mysterious men are for ourselves and whether they are good or evil (Barthes) due to the mixed messages of the dark filter. We then see a series of long shots and we see the characters' faces smiling, informing us of the good nature. These long shots continue to make the group of men important as they walk next to beautiful scenery of New York. The low angle shot at 1:43 makes the person on the ladder seem as if he is climbing to heaven, which, yet again, reminds us of how God-like celebrities are in this day and age. But before that at 1:21, we see long and mid shots of the stag do performing a synchronised dance routine, which shows essence of a performance piece, and therefore matching the majority of pop conventions. We also see Smith singing the song which shows his talents as a singer, another stereotypical convention of pop music videos. We see many slow motion scenes within the video like the final bar scene. While they are taking shots the speed slows to show the audience how they are prolonging their fun times with their friend group. It also slows down to make the audience think of how far they have come since the beginning of the music video as they are now having an action-packed evening, while they were having a slow, peaceful day at the beginning (Todorov's new equilibrium). A way in which the audience can see that their evening is action-packed is due to the fast cuts that are present near the end of the video. These fast cuts represent havoc as well as what the stag do are seeing due to their intoxication. The greyscale filter that is present throughout the whole video also reminds the audience of how classy the evening is, as we have been told through various media types that black and white = old cinema. And therefore, we presume that the stag do being seen will also go down in history for the people taking part. The lyrics do not correspond with what is being seen which could argue that the video is contradictory until we see slight amplification at places such as 1:36 where Smith says "There may be lovers who hold out their hands" while he holds out his hand. There is also no ambient or diegetic sound which is becoming quite a convention of pop videos as there has not been many researched videos that do feature and additional song other than the track itself. I think that we will feature little or no ambient sound in our music video because I like the idea of focusing completely on the song itself (Goodwin's promotional theory). I also like the use of filters to set a consistent mood throughout the music video, an aspect which may be incorporated within our final video also.