Music Video Analysis

I think one of the best music videos of the past few years is Cee Lo Green’s video for ‘Forget You’.

It is based around the story told in the lyrics, which is about Cee Lo being rejected by the same girl throughout his life. The video illustrates the story of the lyrics clearly, and also uses titles to indicate the characters (different actors are used to play Cee Lo at different ages) and different parts of his life, as time is compressed to show the parts of his life in 3 minutes. There are also a lot of obvious transitions (wipes) which show the time lapses.

The video is set in one location all the way through to the end, which is made to look different when Cee Lo is performing there by changing the lighting to dark blue, rather than the natural light used in the verses/acting parts. 

There is quite a lot of performance in the video, both with the artist himself performing the lyrics and the actors, as the lyrics are in first person and are almost like dialogue. 

Most of the camera shots are tracking shots, which makes the video look more dynamic. Also, the dancers in the background add energy and show that the song is quite upbeat. 

Towards the end (around 3:10) there is a lot of special effects/editing used to take the video to a new location and the song from the bridge to the final chorus.