Sam Smith - Lay Me Down (music video)

I was scrolling through YouTube when I came across Sam Smith's new music video for his song 'Lay Me Down'. I knew he wanted to make a song/video celebrating being with the person you love regardless of who they are, and wondered how the director of the video would get Sam's message across within the length of a song.

The video is shot in one continuous take. The camera seems to be handheld but steadied to reduce shaking but allowing a lot of movement. The entire video is shot in the one location, the church, but after showing the original setup the camera tracks down the left side of the aisle, panning in on some of the people, showing their emotions. Whilst this is happening the right-hand side change clothes/positions, changing the church from a funeral setting to a wedding setting. As the camera pans onto some of the wedding guests Sam then re-positions himself for a third and final setup of him sitting alone in the church, as if gay-marriage acceptance is his prayer.

I like how you get full view of the emotions in all three settings, the sadness and heart-ache from the funeral. The happiness and acceptance at the wedding. The frustrations as people wait for LGBT marriage to accepted by everyone, regardless of faith or race. I think this is an important message to be putting our there and I'm glad that they're more videos highlighting the importance of LGBT acceptance, such as 'Hoizer -Take Me To Church' and 'Macklemore - Same Love'