The music video tells the story of a woman who goes on two unsuccessful dates but then meets a new man. He Is We, the band singing the song, narrate the story. Though the first two dates go poorly, indicated by changing facial expressions, the video ends with the woman smiling while gazing into her new partner's eyes, implying she may have found her "happily ever after."
2. Shot 1
0:00-0:09
This is the shot used at the beginning of the
music video, it shows you the main characters
in the video, starting with a female then 2
males, this gives you a brief idea of what the
song is about as usually with a video with a girl
and a boy they talk about love and emotions.
Her sad facial expression shows that it is a song
about love and affection for someone along with
the males faces also looking sad which gives an
idea that this is going to be a sad slow song.
From that you get the idea that the singer must
be a girl as talking about love, emotion and
feelings for someone is their strong point.
3. Shot 2
0:10
At this point we are introduced to the
singer, Rachel Taylor, she begins to
sing with a smile on her face which tells
the beginning of the story that
everything started off perfect. With it
being set in the same setting as the
beginning shot we get the impression
that she is telling the story with them
there which shows she must know
them in some sort of way, therefore
showing a close relationship with them
so you get an idea of the background of
the characters in the story .
4. Shot 3
0:13
This shot shows the Rachel with her
obvious singing partner, Trevor Kelly
playing an acoustic guitar. This now
shows the type of genre of music they
usually play which is mainly acoustic with
a few backing instruments such as a
piano. Listeners can then decide if they
are still keen on listening to the song
depending on their type of music genre.
The way she is sat facing him whilst
singing shows they have a close
relationship with each other which links
with the name of the song, ‘Happily Ever
After’ as the body language and scene
around them shows that they are happy
to be around each other and enjoy each
others company so their friendship with
each other has been close for a long
time.
5. Shot 4
0:16
In this shot it is set in the same scene where
Rachel and Trevor are telling the beginning of the
story of a boy and girl which are resembled by the
man and woman sat in the park having a picnic.
This shot narrates the story well as going for a
picnic in the park with someone is known as a
classic idea for a date, which is what the song is
about from what we know so far. Everything seems
fine and the image is still linking with the song title
as their facial
expressions look happy, body language makes them look close to each other and feel comfortable with
each other by how they are laying down gazing at each others faces, looking like everything is going well
and the ideal image of a first date is still shown. The bright colors of the picnic blanket and food along
with how she has presented herself with a red dress, which is usually a color linked with passion and
romance, shows a sense of happiness and a cheerful atmosphere.
6. Shot 5
0:48
This shot soon changes the viewers thought of
the video so far as the womans face has
changed from a smile of happiness to a frown of
feeling guilt whilst the man has his hand on his
head not looking too well. This is where the
storyline soon changes and things are starting to
go downhill for the couple. The scene now only
has a limited range of bright colors to represent
the date going downhill and emotions changing
from happiness to guilt and anger. A shallow
focus blurring out the man and background,
showing the girls reaction makes you focus more
on how her feeling of guilt is expressed.The red
in her dress looks dull as if to say her hopes of a
successful date are now dull and unlikely, which
then makes you have second thoughts of the
meaning of the song title and instead of thinking
things will actually turn out Happily Ever After, it
was used as sarcasm as if to say Happily Ever
After doesn’t exist.
7. Shot 6
1:11
In this shot we are introduced to the same
woman with a new man who are having a
dinner date. The eye contact with each
other shows they are interested in each
other and what they have to say. The dim
lighting with bright colors on the table gives
a tense feeling of romance in the shot. The
bright colors also represent a feeling of
happiness and closeness without feeling
like things are going too fast with colors of
red to represent romance. With the shot
being filmed on a late evening it is as if the
story is being told on the same day, from
morning till night. It also gives you an idea
of what people usually link a date to, with a
candle light dinner, nice outfits and close
body language.
8. Shot 7
1:12
Again here you see Rachel and Trevor in
the same setting of the dinner date telling
the story of the new event. It looks like
they are singing directly to the camera
and to the couple having the dinner date.
However from a viewers perspective we
think that Rachel and Trevor are not seen
by the couple and are just an imagination
to those but viewable to us as they tell the
story. The red lighting in the background,
again resembling the theme of romance,
tells you that they are singing about the
couples feelings and affections towards
each other so far whilst also showing a
close relationship between the band
members. With Trevor sat behind Rachel
and the soft glow on his face, it looks like
he is serenading her whilst she is
expressing her thoughts and feelings on
the couple.
9. Shot 8
2:02
In this scene the man has left the woman after
a bad dinner date. This shot shows the
woman with a face of guilt and sadness after
what went wrong. With He Is We in the
background it puts them in the story more so
as they tell the story, they are getting a full
sight on what is going on so as they tell the
rest of the story we can understand why they
are saying what they are. With them standing
behind her, again it puts the thought across
that they are both oblivious to the girl in the
scene and like only us viewers can see them.
With their faces also frowning it shows that
they both also feel upset for her due to what
has happened. It is also at this point in the
song where the beat slows down and sets the
mood to feeling sad instead of happy.
10. Shot 9
2:27
This scene shows the woman laid on the floor
listening to music with the band laid behind
her. The music is still building up at this point
and the unhappy atmosphere is continued.
Whilst the female still looks unhappy and is
focusing on listening to music to put her mind
off things, Rachel has a smile on her face as
she sings, this could mean two different
things. One theory could be that she is happy
with the outcome of what has happened to the
woman, or she can see her luck is going to change in the future, and due to the build up starting to
come to an end and gain a faster pace that’s what the viewers are more likely to think just before the
chorus comes back on which is talking about happily ever after. Again with the band members seeming
oblivious to the woman, she has no idea what is coming in the future. With the woman listening to music
and the band being there singing, it could also be that she is listening to He Is We playing this song and
is taking in what they are saying in the lyrics.
11. Shot 10
2:33
This shot comes near the end of the
music video, the cameras main focus
is on the laptop screen, which shows
the woman ordering a book called
Dating for the Happily Ever After
which links to the song title and the
storyline. The fact that she is ordering
the book makes us realise that she
hasnt had much experience with
dating in the past which could be why
the two dates that were shown earlier
became such a failure for her. It also
gives us a more in-depth idea on
what the girl is like, a typical woman
who just wants to be happy, which is
what the lyrics in the song are
describing.
12. Shot 11
3:55
This is the shot used at the very end of
the video and defines what the whole
story was about. The brightly colored
flowers and grass in the background
along with sunlight represent that once
again happy feeling. The way they are
gazing into each others eyes shows
they are interested in each other and
gives the audience that whole fantasy
feeling of fate. The smile on the
woman's face now tells the
audience that she may have found her
happily ever after, which once again
links back to the storyline and title of
the video.
