       “One Day” is a powerful song written by Bruno Mars, Ari Levine, Matthew Miller and Philip Lawrence and sung by Matisyahu. The song’s upbeat tempo and powerful message have the ability to make a listener nod their head and open their mind and heart to a message of hope simultaneously. The music video produced for this song uses many elements that enhance this message: the people of the world can achieve world peace by working together to end war. The use of specific video elements develop point of view and symbolism, which assist the producers of the music video in successfully delivering 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 on the viewer. The sun is generally a symbol of strength and hope, which is shining toward the viewer in this scene. This symbolizes that all humans need to find within themselves their ability to rise above conflict and find peace with each other. Additionally, the shot of the sun climbing 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 introduction into the song talks about the negativity that surrounds a person in this world of constant wars. As the song progresses, it speaks in a more positive way about the ability that people have to stand up for world peace. This queue causes a switch from a negative to positive tone in the lyrics and the music video. After the view of the sunrise over the bridge, the focus of the video pans to black and white shots of people viewing Matisyhau on digital posters throughout the city in which they are traveling. Their viewing of the posters, rather than helping with the distribution of the posters, shows that they are not fully involved in the change that is possible because they do not physically contribute to the objective of spreading the idea of world peace. These individuals are not part of the movement yet. However, once the lyrics change to the positive message that people have the ability to change the world, the video begins showing shots of people hanging these now colorful digital floating posters. These posters are a physical representation of Matisyhau’s main goal, which is to encourage others to strive for world peace. The hanging of these representative posters reveals to the viewer that the people of the world are also trying to achieve his objective of world peace. 

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 the main color used in the posters, which symbolizes the passion and determination that Matisyahu has for changing the world’s violent ways. Additionally, red is the most prominent color that attracts the eye. This causes the viewer to focus on the posters and feel passionate about the message conveyed and Matisyahu’s drive to make a difference.

       The floating posters are used as a pattern throughout this music video to emphasize their importance. Because these posters show a moving image of Matisyhau as he sings, they draw attention to the importance of the lyrics through their focus on the words coming out of his mouth. The producers of this video use this pattern to emphasize how propaganda is used to persuade people in their everyday lives. Propaganda is generally a negative term used to describe an effort to support a common leader, cause, or government. However, 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. This juxtaposition makes Matisyhau’s message all the more powerful because of its negative counterpart. Additionally, 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. Overall, the pattern of these posters is a positive use of propaganda to spread the message that the people of the world can work towards peaceful existence through repetition.

       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. In this case, the foreground is the shallow focus, which helps to emphasize images. One of these images is the posters, which are displayed in color and shallow focus to draw the attention of the viewer. Additionally, other objects are also located in the foreground, such as the people hanging the posters throughout the video. Because this shallow focus is what the viewer sees without the distraction of a busy background, he or she is able to concentrate on Matisyhau’s words, a call for obtainable world peace.

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 singing on posters. This makes the viewer feel as if they were actually present to see these posters in real life. The end shot, along with multiple shots throughout this music video, uses a visual first person point of view. It 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 together. 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 song “One Day” has a powerful upbeat tempo and message that makes a listener open his or her 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.