“One Day” is a powerful song written by Bruno Mars, Ari Levine, Matthew Miller and Philip Lawrence and sung by Matisyahu. The song’s up beat tempo and powerful message have the ability to make a listener nod their head and open their mind and heart simultaneously. The music video produced for this song uses many elements that enhance the message of the song. Matisyahu’s song “One Day,” conveys that the people of the world can achieve world peace by working together to end war. Through the use of specific video elements, the producers of the music video successfully delivered the message that world peace is achievable by the common people. 

The first three-second shot of the music video shows the sun shining over top of a bridge, down to the viewer. The sun is generally a symbol for strength. In this scene the sun’s positioning toward the viewer is symbolizing that all humans need to find the strength to rise above conflict and find peace with each other. The sun rising above the bridge parallels the strength a person needs to rise above the societal norm that is to support war. The producer emphasizes the importance of this beginning three-second scene by focusing the entirety of the shot on this one image.

The intro into the song talks about the negativity that surrounds a person in this world of constant wars. Then the song speaks in a more positive note about the ability that people have to stand up for world peace. There is a switch from a negative to a positive tone in the lyrics and also in the music video. The beginning shots, in black and white, are of people viewing Matisyhau on digital posters throughout the city in which they are traveling. Their viewing of the posters, rather than contributing to the distribution of the posters, shows that they are not fully uninvolved in the change that is possible. They are not part of the movement yet. Then, once the lyrics change to the positive view that people have the ability to change the world, the video begins showing shots of people hanging these now colorful digital floating posters. This reveals to the viewer that the people of the world are now supporting the message Matisyhau is spreading by hanging these posters.

The floating posters are used as a pattern throughout this music video to emphasize their importance. As these posters show a moving image of Matisyhau as he sings, they draw attention to the importance of the lyrics. The producers of this video use this pattern to emphasize how propaganda is used to persuade people in their every day lives. Propaganda is generally used to support a common leader, cause or government. The use of these posters as propaganda tools for Matisyhau spreads the message about people’s ability to acquire world peace, which juxtaposes their usual use. These floating digital posters, which are located in areas of high population such as the subway, are used in almost every shot throughout the music video. This emphasizes the power of propaganda to reach individuals as it impacts a population as a whole. These posters are a positive use of propaganda to spread the message that the people of the world can work towards peaceful existence.

When the video moves from shot to shot, the main focal point is what is in the foreground, which in this case are the posters. Many of the posters are colored and in shallow focus which draws the attention of the viewer. Many objects are located in the foreground, such as the people hanging the posters throughout the video. In this case, the foreground is the shallow focus that emphasizes this image. As people place the colored posters in the shallow focus on the white and black background, the viewer focuses in on them.

Point of view is used to focus the viewer on what an average person would view. This music video is occasionally in the perspective of a person walking down the street who sees Matisyhau’s singing on posters. The end shot, along with multiple shots throughout this music video, uses a visual first person point of view. The closing shot is in first person point of view and shows a hand holding up the number one, meaning that one-day world peace will be achieved. This is crucial to the entire music video because it ties all the main elements used throughout the video. The poster becomes the focal point, not only because of the use of color to draw the viewer’s attention, but also by making the poster the only object in the foreground. This end shot also closes the entire music video with the same pattern, the use of posters, used throughout.

The video is in black and white in the gloomier beginning and color is only added when the inspirational floating posters of Matisyahu are introduced. The posters begin to be colored when he speaks of the people’s ability to create change, which highlights that the posters as used as a positive propaganda tool. Red is majority of the color used in the posters, which symbolizes the passion and determination that Matisyahu has for changing the world’s violent way. This makes the viewer feel passionate about the message conveyed by the posters and Matisyahu’s passion to make a difference.

The song “One Day” has a powerful up beat tempo and message that makes a listener open their mind, however the music video makes the listener pay attention to the message even more. The listener now has a visual that helps convey the message that world peace can be achieved by awareness and support. This message is conveyed in the music video through the use of various video elements. Matisyahu speaks to encourage people to realize that they have the power to change the world step by step.