Research: Analysing a music video - Marianas Trench 'Cross my heart'

This music video is by Mariana's Trench, a band which originated from Canada. This band covers a range of genre's such as Pop punk, Pop rock, Emo pop and Punk rock.

All of Marianas trench music videos are performance and narrative based, they are all very unique and offer something I believe is different to what any other band I know of do.
This video in particular is one of my many favourites from this band because I love the style and how it has been set out e.g. the story and setup.

The video starts out with a girl, in a long shot, walking through a street as the camera pans next to her. As the camera tracks back following the girl, the lead singer (Josh ramsey) comes into centre frame from behind a wall, Josh walks fast into the frame and chases after the girl as he sings a long to the song in a close up shot of both their heads. The girl Josh is chasing is oblivious to what is happening around her, this may link to what she is like towards Josh e.g. not listening, taking him for granted.

A slow motioned, high angle shot introduces the people dancing in the background, I believe these people are there to emphasise all the thoughts and feelings that are being thrown around in this video.

As the chorus begins and the camera tracks back you suddenly see hundreds of people, dancing, singing, participating in a live band and even cheerleading through the street.

The lyrics say ''I will run to you, till I can't stand on my own any more I.. cross my heart and hope to die'' I love this line as it suggests that the boy cannot live without the girl and will not give up chasing her until he physically cannot stand anymore, the part saying 'Cross my heart and hope too die' suggests a stereotypical cute relationship where they make big promises to each other that they promise never to break.

The main girl picks up a newspaper in a medium close up. As the camera pans around her Josh comes up behind her a whispers into her ear 'Take me with you I start to miss you' repeatedly, from this shot it makes me think that Josh could be her conscience, all what is being said in this video could be what has been said previously in the relationship and the girl is going over it all in her head as she walks through the street.

In the end of this video the girl takes out her headphones and turns around to see the massive parade and Josh showing his undying love for her, I think the end of this video shows the girls realisation that she misses her boyfriend. She then, in a medium close up and over-the-shoulder shot, grabs Josh's tie and pulls him into her house.

How has this music video influenced my planning and creativity?

What have I learned?

• The rate at which cuts are used can emphasise mood and can suggest movement.
• Costume is very important and can suggest a lot about the characters e.g. mood/wealth
•  The mis-en-scene suggests their location and should fit well with where they are situated e.g. the newspaper the girl picks up and newspaper stand.
• The way in which a person stands or walks can also suggest/emphasise mood

From what I have learnt this has all inspired me to try different approaches when it comes to filming. For example, comparing a slow motion shot with an average shot of the same thing to see what works best, or even trying different shots with different people to see who suits the role better.

When filming, we will make sure that the props we use work/fit with the setting e.g. if we were filming on a street and needed an animal we would use a dog or cat as that is what you would expect to see, unless of course we wanted to do something different, that the audience wouldn't expect and if so, we could use an animal such as a sheep (something out of the ordinary)

Something else we could experiment with is hair and makeup, we could change someones hair and makeup to see what looks more appropriate with particular scenes.
We will also experiment with different shot types, such as high angle, low angle, medium/extreme close up - since our music video is 'Pop Punk' I believe that there should be many close ups of the band faces and instruments, we would do this to make sure that we are following convention, as that is what we have seen many other bands do such as You, Me at six, Marianas Trench and Neck Deep.