A-Level Media Studies
Mise En Scene:
Non verbal communication is one of the most important aspects of this music video, this technical element demonstrates the various emotions that each character is feeling throughout the music video. We see many scenes where the mother and father characters are seen arguing in front of their children. The non verbal communication of the parents display aggressive emotions in the form of tense body language, harsh facial expressions and harsh body movements. This is a technique that we will be using in our music video during the argument scenes between Abbie and Ryan, this will make the breakdown of the relationship more apparent and easier for the audience to understand. Low key lighting is used frequently throughout the video, mainly in the argument scenes and the scenes in which is singer is remembering different memories from his childhood. The use of low key lighting demonstrates the mood of the characters really clearly and allows the audience to experience the same emotion . Low key lighting will be used in our product during the tense and sadder moments within our music video in order to make the message and emotions that we are trying to portray more clear. The costumes used in this music video keep a consistent theme of being minimalistic, casual and muted. Following a simple route of browns, blues, blacks and whites the colours schemes of the costumes are very conventional of the Indie genre.
James TW- When You Love Someone
This music video follows Todorovs theory of disequilibrium and equilibriums. The music video follows a sad narrative based around the breakdown of a relationship, from a sons point of view. The main message being sent in this video is that its okay for relationships breakdown but you wont understand it until it happens to you. The video starts off with a happy family scene, throughout the video it develops to a disequilibrium and then works its way back up to an equilibrium where the parents separate and the children get to spend time with both of them.
Camerawork;
Extreme close ups are used frequently throughout the music video to showcase emotion between the different characters. During an argument scene between the mother and father we see the brother comforting his sister by placing his hand on her shoulder. We see this moment through an extreme close up, the use of this shot demonstrates the characters connection and personal relationship, we will be using extreme close ups in our music video when we are demonstrating the relationship between our two main characters. During the scenes in which we see the performance elements of the music video close up pans are used to demonstrate the breakdown of his life in the form of an old derelict house. The use of these pans provide a smooth yet saddening transition between each shot of a ruined part of his family home. Handheld camera movements are used in scenes where there are aggressive emotions being portrayed for example when the father drives off to leave we see very shaky hand held camera work whilst his son is running after him. The use of this tecnique showcases unhappy emotions and allows the audience to feel it too, thus making them more active. Over the shoulder shots are used to demonstrate relationships in this music video, at the end of the video we see the son and father reunited through an over the shoulder shot. The use of this shot shows the reconstruction of their relationship.
Editing;
Shot reverse shot is used during parts of the music video to show reactions to different events. For example during an argument scene between his parents, there is a line of shots where we see the parents then the sons reactions then the parents again. Previously I stated that non verbal communication was key in this music video, the use of this editing technique allows us as an audience to see the exact emotions and reactions towards each other easily. Quick cuts are consistently used during the high emotion scenes, this is to create added feelings of distress and sadness for the audience. We will be using the same editing techniques in our music video in order to excentuate the breakdown of our main characters and allow the audience to get personally invested in the story line (Personal Relationships Gratification). At the beginning of the music video we see graphics which introduces the performer and the song itself. The typography itself is very minimalistic which follows the conventions of the indie genre, the artists name is a lot larger than the title of the song which demonstrates that he is more valued than the music in this case. The font style is white and sans serif which is very simple and allows the audiences to easily see exactly what they are intended to.
Soundtrack;
Other than the actual score and lyrics we hear some diegetic sound in the scenes where the parents are arguing. The use of this sound makes the whole concept more realistic and allows the audience to see what exactly started the breakdown of their relationship. The lyrics in this soundtrack are based around how kids will cope if their parents split up, one of the key lyrics in the song are ' Sometimes moms and dads fall out of love, sometimes two homes are better than one'. This lyric allows younger people to understand why parents may split up and how there are positives to it. The soundtrack is very synchronous to the music video, when the track gets more fast paced so does the video and the narrative of the video is very suitable for the soundtrack. This allows the audience to feel relaxed and comfortable whilst watching the video.