Perspective and Point Of View

Some music videos decide to explore the possibilities of perspectives and point of views in order to captivate the audience and leave them fascinated and enticed by the video due to not only how unique the music video is, as it is a niche technique seen in the industry, but also because of how immersed attached the audience felt with the video, regardless of if they are engrossed by the characters in the video, the scenery or even the events etc.

Music videos such as Kanye West’s ‘All Falls Down’ were produced in the first person angle and therefore this allows the viewers to feel much more attached to his character as we see everything through his eyes and only his eyes. By using this point of view we are almost forced to sympathise and feel involved with the character(s) due to how close we seem to them and so we are bound to feel even more upset for and connected to Kanye West when he has to depart from his spouse in the video because we are thrown right into the scene and are experiencing it just how he is.




This isn't the only feeling that a first person video can endorse, as The Prodigy's - 'Smack My Bitch Up' doesnt allow the audience to really sympathise with the main character, since they are more so an antagonist than protagonist. The video creates great immersion as we feel we are directly following this character through their journey and we see to a very insightful extent the amount of chaos and carnage they cause through their path.



The first person perspective isn’t the only point of view used however. In this video, ‘A Long Walk’ by the Soul artist Jill Scott, we are introduced to a second person’s perspective as we are not experiencing any events through the eyes of the main character; instead we are viewing it through the eyes of her lover. This technique is also used effectively as we get to live through the bond that her and her partner share for each other therefore we feel emotionally closer to them.



Some videos do not possess the strongest concepts of different perspectives and point of views, however many still incorporate it vaguely into their music videos in order to attain certain desired effects. (In John Legend’s ‘Ordinary People’ music video, we are thrown into a third person perspective of a fly which I believe symbolises just how significant everything is in life and therefore not to take the little things for granted. To “take it slow” and truly appreciate all of these things for what they are.)