Titanium video analysis

Titanium

Context:

·      By David Guetta, vocals by Sia.

·      Released August 2011.

·      Released with an album in December.

·      Genre – house and urban dance.

·      Supernatural scene, suburban setting.

·      Song lyrics about inner strength.

·      No performances by either artists in the video.

·      Focuses on a young boy with supernatural powers.

·      Song was pulled from US radios in December 2012 after a shooting – lyrics were seen as incentive.

·      Filmed outdoors and in a school in Canada.

·      About being Bulletproof, standing strong, getting back up.

·      Titanium – strong metal.

Themes – inner strength, standing up for what is right, adults vs children.

DISTINCT:

Settings: (80s)

School – destroyed.

Riding bike – suburban street in America

Gets home – messy, living alone – kitchen messy.

Into the woods – sun setting. Time passed from when he was at school.

Icons – Beanie, bike, keys, teddy, torches, TV.

Narrative – realising what he has done, running home to pack, running away from the police.

Characters – teacher – scared of him – makes us suspicious of what he has done, who he is.

Child – age 10/11

Police

Two women running.

Camera, Mise en Scene:

Frame, angle, movement:

Close up to long shot, tracking out as he stands up and realises what he has done – has his face in his hands – trying to protect himself.

long shot wide angle in the woods – shows he is alone and vulnerable.

Start of video he was on the floor face down alone – close up into long shot, at the end he was also on the floor face down, this time he can’t get up as he is surrounded.

Tracking mid shot with the child as he walks out the school, shows how alone he is, has to figure out where to go.

Long shot tracking out of him in school sitting down, shows him alone and shows the destruction he has caused. Dull colouring.

Mid shot level angle, from behind him as he is throwing away his teddy bears – he is throwing away his childhood as he needs to fend for himself now.

Mid shot of him looking at the tv, then cuts to a close up on the TV which shows the event that he caused at the school.

Door locked, front door knocked down, he has to escape, close up on the keys moving – he is using his powers to help himself.

Sound and editing:

Sound – GILE – Genre, Instruments, Lyrics, Emotion.

Editing – STOPS – Screen time, Transitions, Order of narrative, Pace, Sfx

As the pace of the song increases he gets up and walks out – song starts slow when he is on the floor, tempo increases as he gets up.

Most shots in slow-mo, when he first gets on bike it is sped up with the song.

Slow mo on the teacher running out to see her facial expressions.

Lyrics – fire away, fire away – as he throws his teddy bears away.