This mid shot is taken from Arcade Fire’s music video for The Suburbs we see

a group of teenagers standing against a barbed wired fence. I felt this image

represented the lyrics well as we see that the teenagers are separated from

another place which could be interpreted as an “opposite shore”. As well as

this the mise-en-scene of the barbed wire gives connotations of the conflict

mentioned in the lyrics (e.g “Town against mine”).

“Your part of town against mine

I saw you standing on the opposite shore”

This long shot is taken from Taylor Swift’s music video for Everything has

changed. In the shot we see Taylor, dressed in white embracing a young girl.

I felt if her record company wanted to represent her as a role model to young

girls this shot would be typical of how they would do so. Taylor looks radiant

and angelic due to the white dress reflecting light as well she being placed in

front of the darker yellow bus allows for her to stand out more in the centre of

the frame.

This mid-close up shot is taken from Jake Bugg’s music video for Broken.

Here we see Jake Bugg playing his acoustic guitar whilst wearing a leather

jacket in a rowdy bar. The acoustic guitar is an instrument heavily used in

the indy folk genre that Jake Bugg belongs to. As well as this the leather

jacket helps to establish Jake Bugg as an indie folk artist as dark clothing

including leather jackets are synonymous with indie folk artists such as

Noah and the Whale and Bon Iver.

This close-mid shot is taken from Taylor Swift’s music video for Everything has

changed. In the shot we see a young boy reading The Notebook . This

intertextual reference is used in a satirical manner to poke fun at the

seemingly grown up relationship the two children have whilst in school

throughout the video. Adult viewers would recognise the book, finding it

amusing that the boy is reading the book. This is due to the boy most likely not

understanding it’s adult themes and tragic ending.

This tracking long shot is taken from Arcade Fire’s music video for The

Suburbs. In this shot we see three teenage friends running through a field,

backlit by the city streets. As the teenagers run through the field the camera

tracks alongside them, just about keeping up with their sprinting strides. This

gives the impression that they are running towards something and gives and

the blurring blades of grass give a panicked tone to the situation.

This close up shot is taken from Jake Bugg’s music video Broken. We see him

being backlit slightly by the four lights in the background giving his hair a

glowing hazy outline. By making the lights visible we get the impression of

the naturalistic setting that the artist is in. As well as this, the lights give Jake

Bugg a glowing outline making him stand out in the dark setting. The

lighting also adds to the tone of the piece contrasting the dark blacks with

hazy whites to show the imbalance within in the bar and within the artist

performing.

This long/extreme long shot is taken from Arcade Fire’s music video for The Suburbs. In this shot we a group of boys from various distances away from the lens riding bicycles through a suburban setting. The setting gives a jovial and light hearted impression along with the tank tops and shorts worn by the boys. The atmosphere is warm and gives connotations of summer and free spirited friends. The lush green trees act as a back border for the shot again adding to idea that the narrative takes place during summer. As well as this the mise-en-scene creates a false sense of security in the audience as the later stages of the video contrast with this peaceful imagery and becomes quite unsettling. The false sense of security create here through the mise-en-scene creates a greater emotional response in the later stages of the video.

Outside of our genre of music we watched several music videos with similar

narratives involving couples. Two videos we watched were “Taylor Swift ft Ed

Sheeran – Everything has changed” and “Arcade Fire – The suburbs”. In the

Taylor Swift video we see a young boy serenading a young girl with an

acoustic guitar whilst in the Arcade Fire video we see a young couple in each

other’s arms. We wanted to merge the two ideas and thought that this close up

in a dimly lit setting as the camera slowly pans downwards shows how we were

inspired by the two videos to create this intimate shot.

Two music videos we watched from an artist within the Indy Folk genre was Jake Bugg’s “Broken” and “Two fingers”. In both videos the viewer sees Jake Bugg walking with his guitar. In “Two fingers” it is strapped to his back and he is walking in a lit urban setting with a hoody, whilst in “Broken” the guitar is in a case as he walks through a rowdy bar’s car park blanketed by night wearing a leather jacket. We chose to incorporate the walking with the guitar in our video, borrowing an aspect of Jake Bugg’s image from the video to “Broken” in the form of the leather jacket and cased guitar whilst being inspired by the urban setting in his video for “Two fingers”. This tracking mid shot allows the audience to see the guitar case, the leather jacket and the lighter urban setting, allowing them to recognise our artist as a part of the Indy Folk genre and pertains to certain elements found in Jake Bugg’s videos.