Research: Music video (Ansel Elgort - Thief) and Codes and Conventions

Thief
https://youtu.be/U4gsAS8h3p0

The music video opens with Ansel walking to his living room couch to watch what appears to homemade video projected onto his wall as he sighs and rests his head on his hand. These two medium long and long shots imply to the audience that this is Ansel after the events we will see and that he is missing what he had although it is unclear as to what it is as the video is covered by the wall. The medium long shot is slightly angled at a worm's eye view making Ansel appear more important and manly. The rainbow effect from the projector is also a nice way of creating texture in the video as well as to add a shadow over Ansel's face to make him appear more mysterious.

The video then uses fast cuts of Ansel in red lighting as it cuts to him walking into his house. He views himself in the mirror before he walks into the next room but before we see him walk into it there is again cuts to Ansel in different studio lightings. These cuts are very fast and create a more interesting visual for the audience.

The verse then starts as Ansel is backlit by red lights casting a red shadow over his face as he sings into the camera. This could represent love and lust or possibly even danger. The red lighting is also a nice visual texture which makes the video more interesting to look at. 

The video then matches the lyrics of the song with 'I've been living in the darkness, Shadows in my apartment, heartless' as he watches out of his window in a dark room with many shadows cast across his body. These lyrics suggest he is cold-hearted and hasn't been able to express love. 

The video then cuts to Ansel singing into the camera and dancing in a range of medium long, long and close-up shots which cut on the beat to create a coherent and visually pleasing video. The studio lighting is well done with blue and red lighting contrasting against one another creating interesting visual effects. The lens flare that blurs out Ansel's face is a great way to transition him into the next set of studio cuts.

This is the first time we get any context of why he feels so 'coldhearted' with a cut to a girl in her underwear undressing. Her face is hidden but it is implied that they were in a relationship and he may have hurt her emotionally. The lyrics that follow with these scenes of the girl are 'skin on my skin, what a wonderful sin' match effortlessly and help to transition to the 'studio shots' of Ansel singing as he is half naked showing his skin in red lighting.

The next following sequence of events shows Ansel and the girl enjoying themselves in candlelit lighting in the bedroom. Stereotypically this is a romantic type of scenery, however, the lyrics and the way he is on top of her suggest it isn't the stereotypical love many perceive the imagery to come with. The lyrics again match the imagery very well with 'All I know is if my skin bled like the ink dripped from my pen... and drown in all my mistakes'. The bathtub 'water' links to both the 'liquid' blood imagery as well as 'drowning'.

Ansel is then shown getting dressed into an all-black suit as the house appears to be empty. Later on in a couple of cuts though we see Ansel leaving the girl in his bed presuming she is asleep and won't see him leave. However, as walks out the door her eyes open suggesting she waiting for him to go as if he has done this multiple times before. This is again matched to the lyrics of 'I left with her heart Tore it apart Made no apologies Just call me a thief' The lyrics now make sense to the audience as its clear that he was just using the girl for pleasure meanwhile the girl probably invested her heart more into a relationship with him.

The music video then ends with Ansel finishing telling the audience of what he had done by singing into the camera with some last shots of him on the roof of his house at night looking into the city.