'Breathe Me' by Sia is an extremely cleverly-done stop motion type video which features a polaroid photo-like framing which gives the whole video a very authentic, vintage feel. In terms of genre, I would say that it falls under a collaboration of pop, indie and soft rock which makes it rather unique and unusual in it's style.
There is a strong link between parts of the visuals and the lyrics within this music video. It has quite emotive lyrics and if I had been given just the track to make a music video to, I think I would have found it quite difficult to convey the thoughts and feelings of the writer through the visuals. However they have been very clever wth the concept of piling photos up as it gives a feeling of stress/emotion piling up and it becoming too much, which connotes more to the meaning of the song as a whole rather than the lyrics as such, but a successful one nonetheless. Another example would be tht at many points througgout the usic video, Sia is shown curled up in a ball, hugging her legs "unfold me, I am small, and needy", and in contrast, at other times is shown walking around and sitting down. One large factor I noticed was the fact that with the exception of the last section, the video is set entirely in the confines of a house. I thought that this could link to the lyrics, "lost myself and I'm nowhere to be found" in that she feels trapped and isolated within her own body. We see evidence of her leaving e/g shots of her going up and down the stairs, at which at some points she changes clothing momentarily which arguably furter relates to the fact she has lost herself, and doesn't know who she is. However, the video seems to have a happy ending as she manages to escape her house and runs free in the streets outside. Her happiness is shown through the contrast of lighting - it is much brighter outside which suggests freedom and happiness.
The visuals also link to the music as the rate at which the photos are being placed down is generally sycronised with the beat of the song, although there are notable exceptions such as when it is held on a certain photo for effect, or when a tracking zoom shot is used and we are absorbed into that scene. This gives the video quite a jolted, broken-record type feel to it but it works really well, and perhaps connotes to the lyrics - it's not going too smoothly at the moment?
The character in the video is the artist themselves so there are a number of close ups of Sia within the video. This is similar to a lot of her other content where she features again, such as in, "clap your hands" and, "You've Changed". I think it makes her videos more personal and intimate, and also means she can continue her creative vision, seeing as she writes the majority of her songs herself.
Breathe Me contains aspects of concept, narrative and performance within it; the concept surrounds finding yourself and/or someone to help you do so, the narrative follows on from this concept whereby we see her journey to escapism and there is performance intertwined within the former elements. In reference to the notion of looking, I think a large factor would be perhaps her looking through old photos and wanting the audience to feel the same - she wants to evoke emotion within the audience where they can somehow relate to the lyrics, music, video or all.
Overall I think that this is a really clever video and I absolutely love the song - it suits the visuals perfectly and is exactly what I would have wanted to see when listening to it.
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