Ex Student Music Video Analysis

The music video that I am going to analyse from one of the students who has done it before is When You're Gone by Avril Lavigne. This is because they have relationship/heartbroken theme which is the same as our music video and I can compare it to see if there are improvements needed we could add in our music video. 

Things I like: 
The use of connotations on the clothing throughout the music video is excellent as it reflects on the theme of the song and the role of the characters. For example, the female character was wearing white and black clothing which black connotes as sadness because her boyfriend died and also white connotes as innocence which links back to the lyrics of "When You're Gone". It also portrays that her life is boring because she lost her boyfriend.

The male and female actors were very good at performing which made it look professional. The female actor is good at expressing emotions of breaking up and sadness which makes the audience feel the same way as them. The image below is the scene where the female accidentally runs over into each other and then she dropped the books on her hands. The accidental of the male character holding onto the female's hands implies that he likes her and this is what a stereotypical boy can be when they like a person. 

They have used variety of shots and techniques such as close-up shots, mid shots, different angles and framing which keeps the audience watch their music video. However, they are mainly using close up shots/ mid shots to show the characters happy and sad expressions within different scenes. For example, the image below makes the audience to focus on her melancholic and depressed face which makes them to sympathise on her.

They have used variety techniques of editing which is effective on most parts of the music video. For example, I like their concept of fades/dissolves when the male is sat next to hear whispering some words which makes her feel that he is beside her but when she looks on her side, the male character suddenly disappears. This would make the audience think that she must have missed the male character so much and they will be able to identify the situation of the male character is not with her any more. 

Also the black and white effect of the past memories with her ex makes it look old which helps the audience to identify the scene. 

In 3:53, it shows a contrasts of what is her imagination and what is in reality because it shows the female stood on her own, hugging herself but the reflection she sees in the mirror is showing her ex hugging her. This makes the audience think that she must have been missing him so much and it matches the mood of the song.

I like how they made the audience clearly that their music video is going to be performance and narrative based. As we can see at the start of the music video, the female actor is walking through the woods on her own and then as soon as the music starts, the girls started to sing. They have used natural key lighting which implies to the audience that it's part of daily life.

Some of the actions and locations matches the lyrics of the song like in 2:08, the words she sang were "And the clothes you left, they lie on the floor" and we can see the female was getting the male's top from the floor. 

Also the use of different locations such as park and school for the past memories matches the romance conventions as this is a place where the couple would go for a date. 

Also the editing at the end is very effective of showing that the female actor needs to move on by forgetting her past memories. As we can see they have used black and white effect for the flashbacks of different locations with her ex, then they use dissolve transitions which shows that the memories are fading away away and it comes up with a close up shot of the female's face which implies to the audience that she has to forget about it and move on. 

Things I don't like:
I don't like some of the camera shots and movements because their are some parts that are shaky which ruins the atmosphere of the music video. They could improve it by changing it into steady one. Also the tree scene at the start of the video where she was touching something, they could have used a close up shot of what she was doing so the audience would see what it is. 

I think they have used the same locations throughout the music video which makes it look boring to look at. For example, the image below is the location that we always see and it is quite repetitive which makes it look uninteresting video. 

They don't have continuity because the female actor had a straight hairstyle in the beginning but she had curly/wavy hairstyle through the rest of the music video. This will make the audience think if it was the same girl performing throughout the video.


Before

After

Overall, I like how they composed their music video because it looks professionally done and the actors were really good at performing. The use different conventions and connotations is excellent as this is what you would expect to see in a real music video. Also I like how they made the female character wore dark eye liner which looks the same as the real Avril Lavigne. In my opinion, they need to improve on the locations as this makes the audience feel uninterested with their music video.