Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack: Analysis

Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack: Analysis

Mise En Scene

 How is 'street life' represented in Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack?

- Camera shots / angles:

The video is filmed in one continuous take as when the women is walking down the street, it is in the form of a tracking shot so you, the audience, feel as if you are walking down the street with her. If you were to have multiple shots, the audience would not feel as if they were walking down the street themselves, and by having the continuous take, it means the audience get to have a wide view of the different people who are on the street. 

- Lighting:

The lighting in the video is natural light, which is due to the fact that the video is supposed to convey a realistic setting, so if they had studio lights like there are in other music videos, they would look out of place.

- Settings:

The shops in the background are mainly independent and not chain shops, which shows the fact that some of the people that live on the street are business men and also represents the street as individual as it is not taken up by big businesses. 

- Locations:

The video is set on the street, and not in a studio as it makes the fact that the video is meant to represent street life more realistic, as if it was in a studio it would look fake, and would struggle to portray the diversity that the video actually does.

- Costume:

The fact that she is wearing black is to make the background stand out more than the foreground. This is done because the focus of the video is supposed to be the street, so to make the background stand out and be the focus of the video, they had to make the foreground (i.e the woman) blend in and not take away the focus point of the video. 

- Props:
The dog is used as it is the breed that most people would assume is aggressive. This is done because the fact that the dog looks harmful,makes the people it is around look 'sketchy' in a way. This represents street life as varied though, as there are other props use such as an American Indian statue, which shows that not only are the people varied in this area,but also their cultures etc. There is an empty shopping trolley in the street, which can be seen as saying that the street is rundown, which you could infer that it shows that street life there is not very nice. 

- Makeup:

The woman who the camera is focused on has a very natural make up look, as she is supposed to blend in and not be as noticeable as the background. This is so the audience is more focused on the background and the people in it, as it gives a real insight into street life, and what it is like. There is then a few other women in the video, whose makeup is much heavier, as it shows the contrast of the people who are on the street, yet also how varied the inhabitants of the street are.

- Editing:

There is not as much editing in this video as others, as to maintain the realistic view of street life, they editors could not change a lot as it would have made the video unrealistic.

- Sound:

There is hardly any digetic sound in the video as you can only hear the non digetic  sound whilst the song is playing. However, there is digetic sound at the beginning and the end of the song, for example,at the beginning you can hear the dog barking, and at the end of the video you can hear cars as the women walks around the corner. This is done so that the song is the main focus point, yet the street is also included and made to feel realistic, as in the street it would have lots of sounds. They editors included the sounds at the beginning and the end to show a realistic representation of street life.