Deconstructing a Music Video

Me and Rach are very inspired by this music video, directed by Roman White, as it is close to our own ideas, thus we have screen shot key moments of the video to help us gain a deeper understanding of the conventions of a romantic music video.

1. Extreme close up of male protagonist.    

There are extreme close ups of both the male and female protagonists, and edited to jump cut several times in this opening sequence. This establishes the relationship, and the audience can read the attraction that both male and female protagonists hold for each other. It is also in a subtle sepia tone, connoting warmth and comfort, something that one feels in a happy relationship too. Me and Rach want to experiment with tones when editing our work, to achieve a sense of nostalgia for our target audience.

 2. Thread of photos.

I really like the idea of hanging threads of photographs, so me and Rach are very happy we found this video! It relates to the previous post about the connotations of photographs, and creating memories. This has given us the green light to use photos as a visual motif, as this video is successful. The tone has also shifted as it is now brighter, and in higher contrast.


3. Two shot - beach location

This has inspired us to use the beach as a key location. It connotes romance and natural love, something that we want to portray. The clothing and makeup is very neutral, and this had made us think about our costume in advance. The proxemics of the shot clearly demonstrate the romance between the couple as she is laughing - connoting happiness, and he has his arms around her.


4. Walking along the beach

I noticed a darkened haze framing the shot. We liked this idea, as it gives the impression of a fairytale story. We will experiment with this during the editing process. The female's dress is white, and she has a flower in her hair, connoting innocence and purity - we want to create a similar image to this, thus we will experiment with various costumes. Interestingly, the male is dressed in black and has a tattoo on his forearm, contrasting with her delicate portrayal. We like the location shot again, especially the sea in the background connoting peace and harmony.                                    
                                                      
5. Dancing silhouette

Me and Rach really liked this shot! The use of lighting is really effective, creating a silhouette of the happy couple. We find this shot to be a powerful shot because it's so simple, yet riddled with hidden meaning. If it is possible to explore lighting when we are shooting we would like to try this out.


  6. Hug
This shows the unity of the couple, and we realise that love is growing. We also understand the importance of non-verbal communication between the actors as this screen shot itself tells a story.



7. Close up hands - Jewellery
This clearly demonstrates the genre of romance, with the ring and the touching of the hands being obvious signifiers. Hands, again could be a recurring visual motif, because of the meaning it holds: love. Rather than a ring, we are thinking of using a necklace as a prop to symbolise the couples' love, so when it is taken off the love that they once shared  is over.


8. Over the shoulder shot

We are planning to have many over the shoulder shots, as they give the audience a POV perspective, so they can empathise more with the charaters.




   9. Fighting

Here we see tones of blue, connoting sadness. These shots are also edited to be in slow motion, which is an extended metaphor for a relationship slowing down, and coming to an end. This is something we wish the explore. Again the non-verbal communication is strong, again highlighting the importance of choosing our actors carefully.


10. Extreme close up/two shot

Throughout this video, these shots are often used. Reasons for this are because of the audience reading: establishing the mood, and understanding the relationship between the characters. This is an intense shot of the couple - you can almost see fear in her eyes, showing that she is scared to lose him, whereas his stare is more reassuring, conveying the intensity of the love at this specific point.

By deconstructing this video, we have learnt to think carefully about each individual shot as if it were a photograph because each shot has meaning, and the meaning needs to be conveyed with ease to the audience.