Cast List

Main character- The main character in the music video is a young female. She remains unnamed throughout the video and appears lonely, sad and pitiful in most parts. During the chorus her character becomes a complete contrast as she spontaneously becomes loud, active and violent.

Extras- During the chorus scenes other people will be in the video. They are friends of the main character and their presence changes her mood and behaviour. They are dressed in clothing suitable for the weather and provide action for the chorus sequences.

The Band- My music video includes three male characters who represent the band. They are dressed differently to the others and do not interact with the other characters.

Cameraperson- I filmed the scenes but do not appear in the video.

Props List

• Clothing- different clothing in some scenes to identify a shift in time.e.g. for a memory, dream.
• Clothes, costumes and bags.
• Pen.
• Make-up.
• Word Document- Paper/Microsoft Word/Open Office.
• Folder to store work/drafts.
• Umbrella.

Locations List

• The central location will be a field covered in snow.
• Another location will be filmed in the blue-room.

Analysis of Music Video #3

The next Music Video I will analyse is for the song '16 Military Wives' by The Decemberists.
The song is 4:45 long (seconds) and was published on 17/02/05
For the purpose of this analysis I will use italics to show which words are presented as text in the Music Video.'

The initial shot used, which is the case for many videos, is an establishing shot. The shot shows a tall building with a few trees around it. The trees do not have leaves suggesting the scene is set in Winter, relating back to the bands name 'The Decemberists.' Subtitles then appear in white font at the bottom of the screen, centrally placed in the middle. The text reads 'The Barger Rothery Academy'. The next shot introduces our first character, showing a long shot of a man wearing a suit walking up stairs leading into a building, presumably the building the establishing shot presented us with. The man opens the door and walks inside. The camera shot that follows introduces more characters as the same man walks down a corridor, accompanied by two people behind him both female and wearing skirts, ties, shirts and jumpers. The mise en scene in this video, after only 9 seconds, clearly illustrates that the characters are at a school. This is achieved by a combination of the text, giving us the name of the academy, the costumes used and the scenery. The people in the video however all appear middle-aged, therefore are not of school age. For the purpose of this video the viewer must assume that adults were used rather than children for practicality, effect and potential humour.

The man, who is actually the lead singer of The Decemberists, continues to walk forward. Text appears at the bottom of the screen providing the viewer with the characters name in the Music Video 'Henry Stowecroft'. A woman, also dressed as a student, walks towards him however he raises his hand to her face to show he is ignoring her and walks past. The woman looks disappointed. A medium shot is then used to show the man stop in the entrance to a classroom and adjust a badge of the American flag pinned to his chest. 'He represented the United States of America in the Schools Model United Nations'

A long shot shows most of the classroom, showing middle-aged students sat at desks as well as one young girl. The man, Henry Stowecroft, sits at the front of the desk in the traditional teacher's desk. Another long shot then shows us that there are 13 people sat at desks looking towards the front of the classroom. Henry looks towards one side of the classroom. A point of view shot shows that he was looking at a man. A medium shot, which slowly zooms in to become a close up, shows a blonde male sat at a desk with a female stroking his arm. 'Jude represented France.' A long shot is used as the scene briefly changes to a racing track. Jude and several students run past, Jude in front. 'Jude excelled in athletics'. The scene returns to the classroom as a bearded man points towards Jude as he seems to answer a question correctly. 'And trounsed Henry in academics.'

Henry is once again seated at the front of the classroom and appears angry and serious. A medium shot showing his shoulders and facial features is used. and follows his movement as he stands up. Shot reverse shot shows us his audience as they place headphones on and the camera returns to Henry as he bangs a judges mallet on the table. The close up shot then effectively and swiftly zooms out to become a long shot as the camera shows the classes reaction. A man seated at the front presumably a spokesperson, speaks into a microphone. Writing at the bottom says ' I declare war.' He is dressed similarly to the others however his grey hair, glasses and expression combine to create an ordinary appearance to him. This is perhaps intentional as he does not represent any nation in the story and is merely a spokesperson for a more important character in the video.

A medium shot portrays one class members reaction to this statement made by Henry. Molly represents the neutral Republic of Ireland.' The woman is sat at her desk. Surrounding her is a name plate that reads 'Ireland'. On her desk are stereotypical objects such as a book on Ireland and an Irish flag, as well as the headphones she used earlier. This reinforces the feeling of nationality within the video and individualism. The scene changes to what appears to be a music room in which Molly is playing a piano. The plain wallpaper and flooring means that the viewer focuses on the objects inside the room e.g. the musical instruments and Molly on the piano. In her spare time she wrote musicals.' This text is another example of how the writing supports what the clips are showing. I believe it acts as non-verbal dialogue. As the song is playing it would be inappropriate to interupt the song with a speaker talking over the singer, therefore the written subtitles are used instead. Once again the same long shot is used to show the running track outside. Molly is now dressed in a cheerleaders outfit and jumps up and down. 'And she was the schools only cheerleader.' We again notice that the weather is typically winter weather and assists in creating a certain mood to the video. Dark clouds connotate for sadness and seriousness, therefore the weather is potentially fitting as the video is tackling serious political and social issues, even if it is in a humorous manner.

'Jack wanted to be a reporter'. A long shot establishes a new room showing a man sat cross-legged on the floor. The scene quickly reverses back to the classroom. The man is stood in front of the class with a microphone, as though a reporter and begins singing part of the song however is interrupted by the Antagonist of the video, Henry. Stylistically, Jack the reporters scene starts at 1:20 in the song as the lyrics say 'And the anchorperson on T.v...' This is obviously intentional as it relates to the character wanting to be a reporter for television. It is also an example of how editing of the clips was carefully arranged to ensure that the onscreen imagery matches to auditory lyrics of the song.

The audience are then introduced to more characters. Close-ups show us the representatives of the Republic of Korea, Maurilius and Poland.

A close-up is then used to introduce Karl, the Republic of Luxembourg. Two previously introduced characters, (Korea and Polands representatives) are now dressed as security guards and chase Karl out of the classroom. Several sequences show how the Republic of USA and his friends are violating Karls human rights. Humour is seen as they throw balls of paper at Karl and the subtitles 'A bombing campaign was started.' are shown.

The actions of the characters closely match the lyrics in the song. For example, the lyrics 'America can say no' are heard as the American character shakes his fists and mimes along. His friends, who are dressed as security guards, seated at either side of him also move their batons up and down in synchronisation with the beat of the song.

Colour is important as it helps create stereotypes for each nationality. For example, colour is used to portray different flags for each person. Furthermore, colour is used to portray identity and unity. The school dress code is blue, red and black and each person wears these colours. However the Republic of France wears a multi-coloured scarf and the Republic of Korea wears a lighter shade of blue. With regards to the scenery and props the main colour used is white. The walls, floor, corridors and lockers are all white giving connotations for purity, cleanliness and blankness. It also visually means the audience focuses more on objects in the rooms.

The video continues to show Molly giving out instruments to others as they prepare to stand up to Henry. The last chorus of the video shows some characters with instruments playing them individually as they stand up from their desks and play towards Henry. The camera slowly zooms in as each person stands up and sings part of the song. The close-up shots are used to easily create recognisability between the characters and to represent expressions in more detail.

The video ends with the Antagonist being attacked with paper and sat on the floor surrounded with paper balls. His glasses are lopsided and the other characters are walking away, proving that the music video is reaching a conclusion. The last shot is a long shot showing him sat on the floor and a young girl leant against the wall near him confirming the video and song have reached a conclusion. The video is possibly addressing certain political and social issues, suggesting that nationality and political representations are childish and that the 'superpower' country, in this video America, can be defeated if other countries join together- .suggesting equality.

Here is a link to the video-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK3Ce9md96g

Analysis of Music Video #2

The music video I will look at next is the song 'Karma Police' by Radiohead.

A wide range of shots are used in this video including long shots, medium shots, close-up shots and cutaways.

Firstly, the video initially shows a brown sofa. The sofa is in a medium shot, allowing us to see most of the object but not its surroundings. A panning shot is then used as the camera pans across showing the viewer that the sofa is inside a car, as the passenger seats. The camera halts as it reaches the front of the car showing the bonnet, which is also brown. The consistent use of the colour brown connotes a lack of modernisation and a sense of old-fashioned taste in cars and less vibrancy. Now that the camera has panned across we are now able to see outside the car windows. It is late at night. This is supported by a moth buzzing around the car headlights. Lighting is used effectively in this video. The timing of day is essential as it creates an eerie and frightening feeling. The car headlights are off at the start of the video and as the song starts they switch on, accompanied by the diegetic sound of a car door opening. Then the lights switch off as the door closes. At 0:27 seconds the song reaches a change in tempo and the lights come back on. As the car lights illuminate it reveals an empty road. The car is parked stationary in the central of the road connotating a disregard for law and safety. The car then starts moving forward as the vocals start. The car drives forward at a consistent speed and passes muddy grass and a lamppost. As the chorus starts the camera shows a white figure far away in the background. As the car drives nearer the viewer can now distinguish the white shape as a man wearing a white top. The shot used is a long shot. We see that the man is running, seemingly away from the car. The camera then pans back slowly, revealing the car bonnet, wing mirror, the front passenger seat which is empty and then the back passenger seats. A man is now sitting in the sofa-seat. Fans of Radiohead will recognise the man as Thom Yorke, lead singer of the band. He is looking down at the floor of the car, wearing a black leather jacket and plain green top. The shot used is a medium shot. The camera stops panning as it reaches Thom Yorke. The producers of this video decided that Thom should lip-sing in synchronisation with the song, giving the impression that he is singing the song during the music video. He then sings 'This is what you get' and looks up towards the direction in which the man is running. The camera pans forward revealing the man in white to be nearer than previously. The viewer of this video is made to believe that they are inside the car themselves, driving forward. The consistent view over the car bonnet suggests the majority of the clip appears to be a point of view shot, as we see the events through the eyes of the driver of the vehicle. When the camera pans back it seems to me that a point of view shot is once again used to show the driver looking back at his passenger. The over-the-bonnet shot is used again and we see the running man again. This time we see more detail and can distinguish more of the mans features. He is frantically running and repeatedly looks over his shoulder towards the car, as though scared. He is bald, obese and wearing unfashionable clothing. Overall, it appears this is not an instinctively likeable character, supported by the lyrics 'This is what you get, when you mess with us', suggesting that this man may in fact deserve being chased by a mysterious driver and seemingly sad and empty man. However his scared behaviour and situation he is in evokes sympathy. The man in the car, lead singer of Radiohead, seems tired and weary as he pursues the man. The man in the white shirt is seen running from a close up shot of his face. This is the first time in the video that the camera leaves the car. The camera is now positioned in front the man as he runs, filming straight on at him as he stumbles forward. The lighting is effective as, from this type of shot, we can see the car headlights beaming across distorting the viewers vision slightly. The lights flicker on and off repeatedly, perhaps to symbolise warning lights which connotate for danger. The camera then returns back to film from inside the car and we see a long shot, establishing the distance between car and man. The man staggers and then collapses from exhaustion. As he does so the car slows down and stops just before it reaches him. The camera changes to a medium shot, filming from outside the car, showing the man slowly rise to his feet and turn to face the stopped car. The car reverses and as it pulls back we see a trail of petrol. A close up shot of the petrol is used, suggesting it is important. The car pulls fully back as though it is about to drive into him. Another close up shot is used, now from behind the man's back showing him frantically search his pocket for something. Then he pulls a small object out of his pocket, however we as a viewer, do not see what it is. A close up shows us it is a box of matches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uYWYWPc9HU&feature=fvst