Sugar - Maroon 5 full textual analysis

Sugar - Maroon 5

Cinematography/camera work:

•       High definition but made to look handheld like a vlog

•       Cameras can be seen filming to, it’s very natural, no editing to change appearance 

•       Some lower quality cameras to allow for subtle/hidden ones. 

•       Mix of real footage and some lip syncing of Adam Levine in a solid colour background

•       Pan behind/around Levine to emphasise long notes in song. Long shot to capture confetti and whole crowd of guests dancing together

Editing: 

•       Camera (video camera) filter added at the beginning

•       Mixed shot durations

•       Being able to still see the cameras adds to the idea that it’s all real and filmed at real weddings

Sound:

•       The wedding guest’s surprised reactions are heard by the audience 

•       You can hear the background

•       A lot of natural sound to increase the atmosphere of it all being unplanned and spontaneous. 

•       Can hear plugging in of instruments

Mise-en-scène:

•       Weddings around LA. 

•       Free to crash wedding (and couples/guests get a band playing at wedding). 

•       All looks very real. 

•       The wedding guests are all dressed smartly, all tables have flowers (filmed at real weddings).

•       Physicality - they have people filmed in LA, so they are mostly white couples, but they have one black couple and one Asian couple. Good cultural representation.

•       Guest’s confusion at the start adds to the excitement. All guests are happy and smiling which makes the audience feel happy and warm hearted.

•       Happiness in the video reflects the lyrics of the song. 

•       All brides have a typical white dress. 

•       Bright lighting makes it optimistic