Music Video Analysis

Jason Mraz - I’m Yours



This music video can be found on Jason Mrazs’ website, but not on you tube.

The song I’m Yours is about giving into love and life and the music video reflects this. The video does conform with the conventions of an acoustic artist, for example the clothes that are worn and the locations the video is shot in. The clothes are baggy, casual and have a beach-look to them, this shows a laid back feel to the style of music and the video. The locations are mainly on beaches, or on cliffs showing freedom and natural beauty of settings and scenery for example a close up shot of a puddle on the ground and him stepping in it, or a flower blowing in the wind with a high angle shot from the ground of him singing sitting next to it, or the establishing shots of the landscape to show the vastness of the setting and the freedom it represents. A shot of him and some friends jumping into a river from the top of a waterfall/cliff shows him letting all his inhibitions go and being free. The setting of his home in this video and the way he travels in the video is generally not an upper class or rich way to travel, and he lives in a block of flats and travels in the back of trucks and on buses, this differs from music videos within the genre of RnB for example where limos and private jets may be used as a form of travel in this genre. The director may have done this for appeal to fans because it uses conventions that are familiar and that audiences know goes with the genre of the song. I also think the album cover, as shown above fits in the with genre of this song and video as it is simple, but effective and stands out as it does not look like your everyday album cover because the self portrait is an interesting way to portray yourself on your album.

The video is narrative and performance based. Although Jason is singing the lyrics throughout the video it is mainly narrative based apart from one shot with him singing and playing the guitar as a performer. The narrative structure in this video is mainly linear. This type of narrative structure is appealing because it is telling a story and grips you throughout to find out the ending. The lyrics and the visuals in this song link because the images are about freedom and being with the people you love and living life, and the lyrics in this song relate to this, for example “but I wont hesitate no more, no more. It cannot wait, I’m yours” or “open up your mind and see like me, open up your plans and damn you’re free look into your heart and you’ll find love love love, listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing, we’re just one big family and it’s our god forsaken right to be loved”. these lyrics show the feeling of him as wanting to be free and love/be loved, which is a convention of the genre as it has a laid back theme of only singing about feelings and not wanting to be rich or famous in genres such as hip hop.

The video cuts to beat at the beginning by changing shot in time with the acoustic guitar changing chords/notes. There is a focus on the guitar instrument as this is generally the only instrument played and is constantly played throughout the song. The shots generally stay in time to the music throughout the video.

The editing in this video is fairly quick as the video never really focuses on one shot, I think this is to keep you intrigued as to exactly what it is in the shot, as there are also many close up in this video. There are no special effects or CGI’s in the video as the song is about being free and is all set in a natural location rather then a stage set so this would not be in keeping with the theme and I think this is why they were not used.

The lyrics music video relates to other music in this genre such as “Better together - Jack Johnson”. Some of the settings in the music video “Wasting Time - Jack Johnson” are similar to those of Jason Mraz, for example travelling in the back of a truck and being on the beach, with your acoustic guitar playing and singing. Although there is no video very similar to this, there are plenty of aspects from this video used in other videos in this genre, especially by the artist Jack Johnson. Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz are also similar about their lyrics as they both often involve lyrics about love/relationships, and freedom. This adds to the appeal of this video because if other artists in this genre are like this, it is likely the same kind of audience will like your song and the video that goes with it.

The representation of the locations in this video are recognisable and realistic to some, and in my opinion exciting and unpredictable. But I do not think the life showed in this video is safe or stable. The world shown is a working class world which maybe shows a slight vulnerability of the character and his life.