Adele - Hello Analysis

The Equilibrium is the two characters in this video are shown to the audience as a happy couple through the use of flashbacks. The disruption of the Equilibrium is whatever caused the couple to break up their relationship. The recognition of the disruption is when Adele drives out of the isolated house due to the sorrow she has from breaking up. The resolution of the damage is when Adele attempts to phone her ex-boyfriend so they can solve the problem between them. The new Equilibrium is not explicitly shown to the audience by being depicted in the video, the ending is left to interpretation of the viewer. However it could be assumed that the new equilibrium is the couple reuniting which is probably unlikely, or the couple moving on in separate directions unaffected by the attempt to repair the damage caused via the phone call.

In terms of Barthes' Enigma Code, the codes in the media text 'Hello' are: what caused the relationship to be broken and the two characters to separate, will those two characters unite, is the isolated house a physical metaphor for the emotions that are felt after the break-up and who is Adele speaking to on the phone at all times. In terms of Semantic Code, the codes in the media text 'Hello' are: The dead ladybirds on the window-seal at the beginning, the ticking clock before the music begins, the dust sheets being removed, the opening of the door to another room, the pathetic fallacy of the rain in certain flashbacks, the overgrown telephone box, the bars on the staircase which Adele sits behind, the pathetic fallacy of the strong wind, the pond/lake which Adele stands on one side of, the isolated house in the countryside.

There are a lot of close ups in the music video of Adele's face which is done to show her facial expressions and her facial expressions connoted pain, sadness and heart break. There are many two shots used to show the relationship between Adele and her ex-boyfriend. For editing, there are flashbacks to show to happy memories Adele had with the ex-boyfriend. The flashbacks were more washed out and more vintage looking and not as clear. There is also lots of depth of field and shallow focus used to move focus from one object to another. E.g. from Adele to the ex-boyfriend. The footage is in sepia, a black and white filter, to depict nostalgia like old photographs exemplifying how the memories of love feel so distant and untouchable as they are simply stuck in a 'photograph' which is a captured moment of the past.