Contextual

Style – This is a performance and surrealism based music video, meaning there is not a clear story line however also shows the band performing in front of the camera. Unfortunately the music video doesn’t show a clear story and is very hard to understand. This music video also has some quite deep symbolism to it. For example a lot of this music video is shot with snowy backgrounds and cold weather, symbolising the characters cold heart. There are very few characters in this music video, symbolising how alone she feels. This makes the audience feel sympathy for her and portrays the music video even stronger. The song is about the main character becoming depressed and is struggling to keep herself together. It’s happened before and keeps happening as shown by this quote “Time stood still, the way it did before.” The ending shows that a weight can be lifted eventually. This gives the audience hope for the character, which is what I’ll be doing for my music video.

Storyline – There isn’t a clear storyline. The purpose is to add more meaning to the song and make the audience feel as if there’s more to the lyrics than there actually is. It focuses much more on the symbolic emotional state of the character.

Camerawork – A fair bit of this music is just wavy, slow, mid shots this adds to the surreal effect throughout the video. This is to create more emotions between the character and the audience as there is more time to clearly see the character and different shots. They have filmed with quite a shallow depth of field throughout this music video to emphasise the dreamy, “time standing still” effect. For example at 2:30, 

this is a close up of the girls face to show emotions with the background and foreground out of focus. Most of this music video is mid shots/angles which after a while gets a bit boring, however there are some interesting shot angles. For example the long shot at 1:01.

This is not only an establishing shot, as it shows her surroundings but looks like it’s also filmed on another bike or some kind of vehicle creating a smooth, fast tracking shot. This effect has also been established at 1:40 on the beach, however it’s a handheld tracking shot to show emotions and that the girls quickly and rapidly running away from something.

Editing – This music video isn’t as fast paced as what you’d expect from this type of genre. It is purposely slow paced to create more emotions between the characters and the audience. They have created a colour filter in post production, making the scenes more white and dreamy looking. This was created to emphasise that shes alone and is very cold hearted.

The editors of this music video haven’t changed anything to extravagant in post production and have kept it more natural looking rather than adding loads of effects. This is to keep in mind that what the band is singing about actually happens and isn’t something to be taken lightly. However they have changed the saturation of the video to add more symbolism to the music video.

Another thing they have done is created some quite interesting reverse shots, for example at 3:31. This is to make the music video even more mysterious and interesting.

Lighting – The lighting in this music video is high key to start with, then changes to low key, as the girl gets more our of control. The high key is to show innocence and that depression can happen to anyone. In the scenes with the bands performance there has been a disco mirror ball used, to create more madness. This makes the audience feel sorry for the band members and that it’s stressful being in that state of depression. This mirror ball has been cleverly used as it also creates some nice lens flares throughout the music video.  There has been a flare or a fire used during some dark scenes.

I think this is a clever way to light a dark scene as it flickers and creates a small strobe effect.

Prop / costume – As said previously they have gone for quite a natural look, therefore haven’t gone overboard with crazy props or costumes. The main prop in this music video is a pebble and is such a simple, creative use of the prop.  

The costume for the main character is just casual winter clothing. This represents that any normal, casual person can get depression and struggle with it.

Locations – I think they have used some very smart locations. For example the band and a lot of the scenes is filmed in a pub. A pub is  a place known for getting drunk and ‘drowning your sorrows’.

This is a clever location to use as that’s probably what you’d want to do if  your were in that state. They have used a second clever location, the beach. The seaside is usually a happy place, however the sea can be very dangerous as depression can be.

Impact of song and music video – The impact of this song and music video is having on the  audience is showing that this could happen to anyone and that it’s not  an easy thing to deal with.  This music video creates a lot of emotions between the main character and the audience, making the audience feel sorry for her and upset that it happens to innocent people.

Style – This music video is also performance and narrative based. This style is commonly used in rock music videos as it gives an understanding of how the bands members are/have been feeling.  However with this music video the storyline is easier to follow and has a lot more lyrical interpretation. For example this whole music video is in a house/rooms because someones room is a very common place to have suicidal thoughts, as there is no one there to see it happen. The song is about, the girls sadness has built up to an overwhelming point to where she is contemplating suicide. She feels alone and as if no one cares or listens to her. as said from this quote “Did you hear a word I said Hear a word I said?”

Storyline – The storyline of the music video is made to look like a horror movie. “Better off dead” has been interpreted to be I’m better dead than to be in this scary place. Rather than I’m better dead than to deal with these thoughts.

Camerawork – The camerawork for this music video is quite fast paced tracking shots, panning around the band members and the main character. A fair few high angled shots have been used, to make the audience feel as if shes not cared about by anyone.  A few slow motion shots have been introduced during the music video to show certain parts in more detail. For example 0:58 with the slow motion drumming.

There are many close up/mid shots of the girl to show emotion in her face and to make the audience want to help her. Towards the end of the music video the camera gets quite shaky to show that shes losing control. This creates suspense for the audience. A clever use of the camera angle at 0:54.

Using the mirror to show something more is going on.

Editing – This music video is very fast paced as are most of the music videos by this band. A lot of this music video is sped up to show how quickly things can escalate. There are a lot of jump cuts on beats, usually cutting to the performance. For example at 1:31 it cuts to the drummer hitting the symbols in slow motion. This is to add suspense and make the audience wonder whats going to happen next.

At 1:46 there is a great cut to the beat of the drums, with the main singer sort of floating, as the word “dead” is being sung. 

A colour filter has been included to add more effect and concentration to the middle of the frame.

Lighting – Most of the music video is low key lighting, to match the sort of lighting that would be in a lonely dark room. A clever thing director has done is  used key lighting from windows and added a haze, to create awesome looking rays of light. For example at 1:25 the light rays casts a visible haze of light round the band member singing.

Most shots of the band are more back-lit than front lit to show a hidden identity as no one takes any notice of her. This makes the audience wonder why no one takes any notice of her and why she feels the way she does.

Prop / costume – One major costume they have used is the main characters dress. The dress is white, symbolising purity and innocence. This makes the audience feel bad for the girl and wonders how she got so bad. The only other prop they have used is a newspaper at 0:39. This is to add more suspense and to make the audience wonder why it as condemned.

Locations – I think they have used a very good location. The location is an abandoned house, possibly hers. They have very cleverly done this as all the rooms are empty and run down which symbolises how shes feeling. This suggests that she is also condemned as is the house.

Impact of song and music video – The impact this song and music video has on the audience is that Anyone can have suicidal thought and no one would know about it, because it always happens when no ones around to see it. It makes the audience feel bad for the girl and people that have had or are having experiences like that.

Style – This music video is performance and narrative based. This music video and song is conventional to the genre of the band, as they’re talking about a relationship and past relationships. Many artists tend to reflect about experiences like this. The main storyline  is a couple arguing. A young women met a guy who she liked. They got together with time the guys ego grew more and more. He thought she would never leave him, so he stopped being nice to her. She has enough of how he’s treating her so she leaves. Everything’s so different to her and she doesn’t know what to do. In the end she sees her light again.

Storyline – Couples arguing due to the lack of common ground.  The women goes through a portal and feels empowered due to not be restricted to the relationship. Once the girls left the guy feels regret for the mistakes hes made.

Camerawork – The camerawork is mostly fast paced tracking shots and long shots, to show the characters emotions clearly. A lot of the music video is shot hand held to to emphasize the unsteadiness of the relationship. Their are also many wide angle shots to show the distance that is forming between them. When  the words “We built these walls” 2:07 are said, there are three of the same actions but different shot types and locations. For example 2:08 is a mid shot the 2:09 is a close up. At 0:43 they have cleverly time lapsed, to show how long they’ve been arguing for and to show how long shes been unhappy. 

At 1:26 and at other parts of the music video, the main characters is at a desert and is silhouetted by the sun to create a hidden identity to emphasize that shes lost and doesn’t know what to do next. What emphasize this even more is the scene being a long shot. This makes the main character appear lonely, which makes the audience feel sorry for her.

At 2:00 the camerawork gets more shaky and out of control to show they’re relationship is getting worse and worse.

Editing – The editing is very fast paced on the chorus but slower on the verses, leaving more time to reveal storyline, making it easier to understand. There are a lot of cuts on beats. For example 2:44 and 2:51. However there is one change they have made that stands out. At 1:44, they have created the illusion that she has walked through this light door and has traveled to somewhere else. Symbolizing her way out.

The transitions between the performance and the story are quick fast cuts.  They have created a slight glow on the fluorescent lights in the performance shots and no glow in the storyline to add surrealism.

Lighting – There have been a lot of lights used to light the band members and to add a unique effect, however it still creates shadows over them. The lights also flicker on and off to make the effect even stronger. The lighting for the storyline is quite dark and grimy showing that the women spends a lot of time unhappy. At 2:27 The lighting turns quite low key on the women symbolizing- the impact the change is having on her.

Towards the end at 3:22 the lights on the floor are very bright showing the girls finding her way to better life. They have used white lights to show purity  and innocence on the girl.

They have smartly used a street light from outside the building at 0:41 to create a different colour of light. This gives the audience hope as more colour usually symbolizes a better life. They have added water/puddles to the floor to create reflection from the overhead lighting. For example at 0:53 the reflections are very clear and adds a more 3D effect to the scene. The florescent  light bulbs is a clever link between the performance and the characters. The lights could represent energy, purity and power, as the women is feeling empowered that shes leaving him.

Towards the end the guy sits down with regret as a light from outside shines in. This is clever as the bars on the window and the shadows the bars on the window is creating on him, as it makes it seem like hes in prison and shes free. At 1:48 the camerawork gets quite jumpy and fast moving to show the guys frustration when she leaves him. This makes it clear to the audience how he feels through the excessive jump cuts which could represent the guys realization.

Prop / costume – This music video also haven’t used many props or fancy costumes. The costumes the band and the actors are wearing is casual teenage clothing making the music video culturally relevant to the audience. The main prop that they have used is something so simple as lights, however they have used it in so many clever ways. For a start it gives out light so it’ll create unique shadows on the characters but they have also simply used it as her way out. Symbolizing ‘There’s a light at the end of the tunnel’ They have used this twice, once at 1:43

and once at 3:30

Locations – They have used some clever locations in this music video. The first location is an abandoned empty room and is a clever place to film a music video about a relationship breaking up. Every location used in this music video is a lonely place. symbolizing that they have to deal with this alone and there’s no one there to help them through the relationship. They have done this to make the audience want to help her get out of the relationship. Another location they have used is a Desert. This could symbolize the isolation and loneliness she could be feeling because of the lack of life around her.