Third Music Video Analysis

For my final music video analysis, I have chosen to look at U2's Sweetest Thing, which was originally a B-side on The Unforgettable Fire single in 1987. The song was later re-recorded and released as a single for The Best Of 1980-1990 album in 1998. The song was written by Bono as an apology to his wife, Ali Hewson, after missing her birthday whilst working on The Joshua Tree album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WybiA263bw

The video begins with a medium shot of Ali getting into a carriage. She looks directly at the camera and there is an eyeline match to see who she is looking at, as we get a cut to see Bono sat opposite her, dressed in a grey suit and hat with sunglasses and holding a CD player. He presses the play button and puts the CD player down on the floor as the song begins to play. He looks directly at the camera, engaging with the audience and also with Ali as we know she is in the place of the camera. In other words, this is a point of view shot from Ali's perspective.

The interesting thing about this video is that it is just one long clip, apart from the beginning shot of Ali. After this, the camera stays fixed in the same position throughout the video, staying mostly on Bono and panning left and right and also tilting up at times to view his variety of apologies. First we see him produce a bouquet of flowers, and then Boyzone appear, dressed in white suits, and gather around behind him to sing for Ali. Up above them appears a white banner with the text "I'm....sorry" written on it. Bono looks upset, maybe because Ali isn't impressed by his efforts so far, and gestures the group to leave.

Next, the camera pans to the left to see Larry driving a silver car alongside the carriage with Edge and Adam sat in the back playing their guitars, all three of them looking directly at the camera. The camera pans back to Bono who looks rather upset again, then has an idea, clicking his fingers and leaning forward, as the camera pans away from him to the right, where we see a marching band come into view. As the camera pans back to Bono, the band continue to march behind the carriage.

A man in a green checked shirt enters the frame, transforming Bono into a boxer with a white towel around his shoulders and a mouth guard coloured green, white and orange representing the Irish flag. After the man leaves, Bono leans into the camera so that he is now in a close up as a fire engine comes in to the right of him, with firemen dancing on the top. As Bono leans out again, he looks over to his left whilst producing a dog puppet on his right hand. The puppet is holding a white flag, used to surrender in battles. At this point we see a second banner reading "I'm really sorry".

The camera then pans to the right as the U2 bobble heads come in dancing, with another vehicle driving up behind them. The camera pans back to Bono who removes his hat and pretends to play the violin. The camera pans right again as the vehicle draws up alongside them with a group of children on board playing violins. The camera pans back to Bono, who's hat is back on now, with the bobble heads and firemen (now topless) dancing behind him. Bono leans forward and looks down at the floor, then sits up and looks up into the sky. The camera tilts up to follow his gaze to see another banner with the text "I'm really really sorry...." written on it with a heart shaped cloud in sky. The camera tilts back down and pans to the right as a group of Irish dancers enter the frame.

The camera pans back to Bono, who is now singing along with the song and removes his glasses as Larry, Edge and Adam gather behind him. The camera pans to the left where a chef holds out a plate of food, whilst Bono covers his face with his hand in embarrassment. The chef leaves and the camera pans back to the band and then pans slightly to the left again where we see an elephant walking along, bearing the text "Sorry" on its head. The camera pans back to the band, and we see that Bono is looking upset again. He removes his hat, and Larry holds a silver hoop above his head, representing a halo. Bono looks directly at the camera, mouthing "I'm sorry" with a slight smile and the video fades out.

I think this video is very creative and cleverly done, and must have taken a lot of effort to film with all the different things included in the background. The fact that almost the full video was done in one shot must have made it quite hard to set up and would have needed a lot of planning. I like the video and the variety of methods used as the apology. Bono stays mainly in a medium shot throughout the video with some close ups, and the way most of the featured people interact directly with the camera is a good technique to involve the audience.