2. Synopsis
The song starts off with a couple driving in a car, they begin to argue
and the car crashes, due to the lack of concentration by the driver who
was arguing with his partner. The video moves to the waiting room of
a hospital, the audience are aware that time has moved on and
forwarded to when the family are waiting in the hospital to see the
fate of the family member. The boyfriend, who was responsible for
crashing the car is sitting away from the rest of the family. The song
mostly covers the families waiting time, we see family members
crying, getting up leaving the waiting room, praying ect. There are
also flashbacks of the scene where the couple are arguing in the car.
The song often flashes back to Monica where we see some lip
synching, Monica is shot in a variety of different ways, majority of the
video is shot in monochrome however when the camera feature her
singing colour was changed to a red, sepia type effect. We then see
the doctor come out and speak to the family, from the response to the
news, which included a women breaking down in tears and the
boyfriend of the victim who was driving the car running out of the
waiting room; its assumed that the women had died as a result of the
accident.
3. Analysis
I picked this video because it explores monochrome and
standard in the same video which was something our group was
thinking of doing, this video is also quite different from the Lana
del rey one, but i feel its important to explore as many ideas as
possible. This video is more narrative and tells a story with a
beginning middle and end. The narrative starts at the beginning
were the audience hear a couple having an argument, then they
crash the car and the song starts. After the song starts we see the
family in the waiting room of a hospital, waiting to see the fate of
the women in the car accident.
Unlike the lana del rye video there is continuous lip synching, the
lip synching is also in time with the song, something that is very
important when doing a music video and when doing my music
video i will ensure the same thing.
4. ….Further analysis
“Lip synching”
The video is a very emotional video, so the use of camera angles is key, again something to take
on board when filing my video; close-up shots to portray emotion and long and establishing
shots to set scene. The close up shots are used to during the waiting period to show the
anticipation of family in waiting to see whether there family is going to die or not. Close up
shots were also used to show the singer, Monica, her frustration with the male character that
was arguing with the women who is hospital, saying that ‘you never know what you have until
its gone. This is the main message the song portrays so these close up shots were very
important. The close up shots are also essential in portraying the sadness the characters are
feeling after they realise who they’ve been waiting for is dead, these shots help to amplify the
lyrics, that they really ‘didn’t know what they had until it was gone’. All these shots help to
make the video powerful and emotional like the song intends to be, the close up shots of the
anticipating family help to make the crying/sad scenes more effective because its a build up of
emotion, the anticipation then the death, it’s a journey.
5. ….Further analysis
“Close up shots, showing emotion”↑
There are also medium and wide shots which show the women they’re all for in
her hospital bed, the scene where they’re arguing and the hospital waiting room.
This helps to build the scenes and the story
6. ….Further analysis
Medium and wide shots
In terms of the editing there are not many special effects, however the editor does
blur the background during certain scenes in order for the target audience to focus
on the desired aspect or character in the video. The target audience for Monica
ranges from around age 15-50, Monica is a well known artist amongst the black
African American community and has a huge fan base, not just young people, unlike
my other case studies, lana del ray and Rihanna who tend to appeal to the younger
generation. This also might indicate why the video is quite simple as it has to appeal
to everyone. During the video Monica is dressed quite conservatively, still
fashionable just covered up, she wears jeans and a jacket and a long sleeve maxi
dress showing very little skin.
7. ….Further analysis
“Two scenes where the cameras blurred part of the scene to make sure the audience
focus on main characters”
In terms of what i would use when making my video; i like the idea of monochrome and
standard to portray different moods and settings. Also the frequency of which the close shots
were used to portray the emotion of the actors is something i would like to consider when
doing mine. However i don’t like the basic editing, as lana del ray is the singer for our music
video i think we should cater t her target audience wants and expectations, lana del ray
doesn’t usually play it safe in he r videos so i don’t think we should either
