Owl City - Fireflies

The music video that I will be analysing is Fireflies by the Indie rock artist called Owl City. The song is 3:54 seconds long, and is shot as a performance music video.

The music video takes place in what appears to be his room, which has many toys and contraptions scattered around his room as he plays the piano. The very begining of the video, we see a hand turning on several things on the piano include the start button. As soon as he presses the start button, the music begins to play whilst he also plays the piano.


We see him playing the piano for approximately 10 seconds in different shots and angles before he presses another button on the keyboard which says, 'Magic. As the artist presses this magic button, the lights around his room begin to turn themselves on, which is shown in different cuts from about 1 second each. When the magic button is pressed, the sounds become more futuristic as thought coming from a spaceship.

The animations used thoughout the video are very creative and illustrate the lyrics of the artist. For example, just before the lyrical content comes into place, a type and speak toy spells for the audience saying, "Hello". As soon as this has been spelled out, the artist begins to sing.

When the music does start, the pace of the music begins to fasten and an added futuristic beat is also put into place highlighting the magic being created in the song. "cause they fill the open air, and leave teardrops everywhere". When he sings these lyrics, the toys and televisions in his room switch themselves on. After the first 46 seconds of the video, the artist presses another button on his Piano which displays 'downbeat'. The downbeat is the impulse that occurs at the beginning of a bar in measured music. This downbeat is used to great affect in this music video, as the artist manages to make the atmosphere in the room seem more calm and relaxed which is reinforced by he images we see in the video. When the downbeat is switched on, the cuts into different images take longer to change showing the slowed and calm nature of the song. The downbeat last for 1 minute and 2 seconds. "I'd like to make myself believe, that planet Earth turns slowly. It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep. 'Cause everything is never as it seems" These are the lyrics which are sung during the time the downbeat is switched on. These lyrics also happen to be the chorus of the song.


When the downbeat is no longer in effect, the second verse of the song begins. When singing the second verse of the songs, the rhythm picks itself up again and becomes faster. In the video, more lights and toys begin to switch themselves on. The pace of the music drives the editing as the different cuts are displayed according to the rhythm of the music. "disco ball is just hanging by a thread". These lyrics are accompanied by the image of a disco ball in his room, which illustrates the video matching the lyrics.




When the chorus is begin sung, the rhythm of the music increases again with more instruments being played. In addition to this, we see the image of a button on the piano flashing red which says, "Rhythm". The time in between cuts becomes quicker as the chorus is being sung. The cuts we do see are of more toys becoming active and moving in accordance to the pace of the music.

As we move to the final verse of the music video, the opening line in the verse is, "leave my door open just a crack". As he says this, we are shown an image of his room door being opened allowing us to see the monkey toy playing the Glockenspiel which can be heard during this moment in time. Again, this shows that the video illustrates the lyrics in music videos.




The video continues as it did for the last two verses, whereby he continues playing the piano with the toys around his room being active and moving around. "'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar". The name of the song is called 'Fireflies', which can only mean we should expect to see a number of fireflies in it. We see this image of fireflies in a jar which he says he has kept.
The final chorus comes on and the artist presses the 'FX' button and ALL the toys in his room come out, including a remote control blimp from his wardrobe. Some lights begin to flicker in sync with the pace of the music. The atmosphere created in the video is that of excitement with all the toys flying, dancing and walking around the room. There are a variety of quick cuts throughout the final chorus of the song.

The magic button pn the artists piano is turnt off, making all the toys, lights and televisions turn off. This also causes the rhythm of the music to become slower than usual. The atmosphere in the room becomes slow and dull as everything is returning to its original form in that they become stationary.


Finally, the lights begin to turn off making the room dark again. The type and speak toy comes on again displaying the word "Goodbye", just like it did in the begining of the video the toy said hello.The start/stop button is then pressed, which turns off the piano and ends the song.
This is the video to:

Owl City-Fireflies

Click the image to view the video!!!