The music video of “Life on Mars” focuses on David Bowie
singing throughout with close ups on his face as well as long shots of him. The
camera was over-exposed with high key lighting and the editing mostly consisted
of cuts with the occasional pan. As for the mise-en-scene, Bowie was dressed in
a suit with make up on against a white background throughout the whole video.
As a result, the focus was mainly on David Bowie as the video is used to
promote the song and the artist as well as idea of being different and
expressing yourself. Therefore, the moments which stood out were still close
ups on parts of David Bowie’s face as the rest of video is mainly him singing
from the start, so it brings attention to those shots.
The music video of “I Want to Break Free” takes place in
three different sets, which are a house, stage and a cave. Throughout the house
scene, the members of Queen are seen dressed as women and behaving like them,
which is presented through a range of pans and cuts with close ups on
individual members, as it could be seen that it is promoting trans-sexuality and
cross-dressing. The stage scene was a visual spectacle, featuring a long shot
which zooms in on the members, while they are surrounded in a dark room by
people holding up lights, thus drawing attention to the band and thus promoting
them. The other scene was a cave which featured backup dancers dressed in
strange costumes as they performed an unusual type of dance and acrobatics,
which faded into the next shot and had a slow motion effect, which promotes the
idea of being different.
The music video of “Always” begins in a building with a man
who is staring at a picture of a woman and is then followed by a montage of the
two people doing things. This consists of driving recklessly on the road and
taking pictures of each other, in which it cuts to shots of the band singing.
Therefore, the shots of the band is used to promote them and the song, while
the music video attempts to tell a story where a moment that stood out was when
an apartment was set on fire. As a result, there is a range of camera shots and
pans to present the story-line and therefore, it aims to add a level of
entertainment to the song to help promote it and thus enhance the song.
