Contextual Analysis 1- Maniac (Conan Gray)

 

This music video for Conan Gray's "Maniac" has similar use of lighting and camerawork to that I would like to do within my own music video. There is a strong set narrative following Conan and his friend Jess as her zombie exes show up to the movie theatre they work at, throughout they end up 'defeating' all of them resulting in a resolved ending to the video. The use of powerful colourful lighting is something I wish to incorporate into my own video as well as the use of both lighting and camerawork to create effecting shots.

Mise-en-scene: There are three main settings throughout the whole video, starting with the American movie theatre, established through a long shot with the old-style writing of 'Maniac- Conan Gray's1 written across allowing audiences into the main area of the video. This is then followed by the inside of the theatre, where Conan and Jess were working and later encountering Jess' 'zombie' exes. Keeping within close proximity the next few scenes are shot behind the theatre with the rubbish bins, the lighting at this point has darkened and camera shots are lower to enhance the 'darkness' of the scene. From this point onwards the mise-en-scene switches with the pace of the song, between both characters and in and

around the movie theatre. Conan is now taking on more of a performance aspect within the theatre which I will discuss more when talking about performance and camerawork. After more characters are introduced the 'exes' Conan extends his performance into one of the empty movie screens with an old-school SubZero SZ-V1 vintage microphone to reflect the 80s theme of the video as a whole as well as the 80s-based movie theatre. About 3/4 of the way through the video the pace of the music gets quicker which is then reflected in the pace of the switches in scenes, Conan and Jess are 'reunited' to formulate the resolved ending to the video together. The performance aspect is further enhanced nearing the end of the video with props such as broken glass, an 80s LED clock and an old sweet jar to solidify the narrative. 

Camerawork: There is a variety of different camera shot types throughout Conan Gray's 'Maniac', starting with a long establishing shot of the initial mise-en-scene, being the 80s American movie theatre as seen above. This is then followed by zoomed in mid shots of both main characters, Conan and Jess, I would like to adopt this convention into my music video as I feel like it an effective way of establishing characters etc. Throughout the video the producers have used numerous mid shots from behind the artist and accompanying characters in order to enhance the alternative lighting as well as adding dimension to the video. During the scenes of Conan's 'performance' where he is using the broomstick as a makeshift microphone and breaking the 'fourth wall' through eye contact and a direct mode of address, the camera shots used are either mid or mid-long shots switching between all of Conan's profiles. For example, shot moved from one of his side profile to a straight on mid shot with direct eye contact, this is also an effective method of adding dimension to the

video. From the middle to the end of the video the lighting and camerawork is used cohesively to create a 'shadowing' effect with a bright coloured light boarder. The rest of the video is filled with similar shot types, close ups to establish new characters as well as continuous mid shots of Conan dancing to match the pace of the music itself (Goodwin).

Narrative: The strong set narrative of the video of two friends working together at the movie theatre late at night and later met by Jess' 'zombie' exes. The narrative follows the conventional path of 'status quo', 'inciting incident', 'rising action', 'all-is-lost' and a final resolution. This will be familiar to audiences and create a positive sense of expectedness and

comfort. I haven't yet decided on how cohesive and 'strong-set' I wand my narrative to be in my video but admire the effectiveness a strong narrative has on a video and an audience. This sense of familiarity is contused through a humorous side to the incident, portrayed through action-movie like typography, animated to make it seem less serious and sincere. 

Performance: The performance aspects are reflected throughout the video, mainly through the artist himself. The singing and dancing with use of props from the old-school movie theatre not only breaks the fourth wall through eye-contact with the audience but distances itself from the main set narrative in order to

add dimension to the video. This may have also been done to connect the audience further with the artist, Conan's 'star persona' is shone through within these performance scenes, possibly making his fans feel more connected to him. When moving into one of the movie screen the broomstick 'microphone' is replaced with an old-school 80s mic to add realism to the video whilst also keeping within the theme and mise-en-scene of the main narrative.