Group Research Post: Establishing shot

Music videos are the main form of representing the story behind the song. The video created is the thing that brings the lyrics to life and gives them a physical representation. The lyrics of songs are meant to entertain and connect but the music video makes it a lot more real and relatable, for example, in the song 'When You're Gone'' by Avril Lavigne, the song is highly emotive and people can relate through a range of different situations be it a break-up, the loss of a loved one and so on, yet the video shows real people experiencing the pain that the intended audience are or have been feeling.


The settings are used in a way in which allows various different view points to be covered, these include...

• A very pink and girly bedroom in which a heartbroken girl has been parted from her roughed up boyfriend. The setting here really brings their story together, the typical yet forever romantic poor boy and rich girl who's parents will do anything to keep them apart. Her room and clothing suggest a sheltered and privileged upbringing but the tidiness shows a firm control. This scene leads to the wood area in which the girl and her boyfriend carved their initials into a tree.

• A dark and tired room, clearly representative of the feelings of this man, the story line surrounding him is that his wife has passed away. In this shot the dark colours and half made bed shows how he feels darkened and in disarray through the loss of the woman he loves, he looks at photos of her and cries and looks through all her clothes finding mementos of her to remember her. This scene leads to a graveyard at the end in which he stands wearing his suit, visiting his wife.

• This scene represents the military families that are missing a part of their lives due to fighting in wars. This is represented by a simple family home with a husband and a very pregnant wife. He is leaving for duty and therefore is wearing his combat gear, but the wife is wearing a white flowing dress maybe to highlight the innocence of her love and unborn child. There is questionable moments which could lead to the husbands death but the ending shows a text saying 'I'm OK, I miss you'.

These are just everyday scenarios that are so relatable to so many people and that's why its so hard hitting and emotional.
(There wasn't any costume changes really in this video so I will analyse costume from another video)

How this research has influenced my planning...
I feel like in our music video, we should use various locations which can portray a vary of different experiences but that also work together.
A list of possible locations we could use is...

• The old train tunnel in Brigg

• Woodlands

• Pebble Beach ft abandoned fishing hut

• the Humber Bridge

• Thornton Abbey

• Graveyard

I agree with what Caity said about the setting for a music video. Settings can be used to express multiple different thing's, what ends up being shown from the setting depends on how you're actors act and are dressed. A bedroom for example can be a symbol of youth and can be a symbol or romance.



Having multiple settings in a music video can keep the video interesting and vibrant, the average video if it is not performance based can have upwards of eight locations.

How this influenced my planning
This influenced my planning as it made me aware about the importance of locations, a step moving forward for mine and Caity's project here would be to start planning out our locations we want to use so we don't fall behind. When we have our locations we can also plan our narrative around them.