1. Jordan Shillings
City and Colour; The Girl.
The albums from City and Color claim to have over 15 years of work in them. The music
videos for his songs are often simple which is rare amongst other alternative rock videos.
They also feature a lot of shots of Dallas himself, making the viewer focus more on the song
than the video.
The video I will analyze by ‘City & Colour’ is ‘The Girl’. This song features two distinct parts
that differ greatly to each other. The first part focuses on the slow paced, emotional side of
the song, before the second part that jumps to a faster paced, happier tempo.
Camerawork.
One of the first key areas camerawork is used is in the opening
scene when the camera performs a tracking shot of surrounding
woods to establish the location of the video to the audience. The
camera slowly pans from right to left to give the audience the
time to establish their surroundings and also to connote how
alone Dallas Green is in the video. This sense of loneliness is a common convention of the
alternative rock/folk genre as most songs have stories of broken hearts or loss to accompany
them. This also adds a lot more emotion to the music video, which the audience might not of
felt before with only the lyrics.
Another Key area of camerawork that plays
a significant role is the extreme close up of
Dallas’s face when he first starts to sing the
song. This initial close-up of Dallas shows
the audience the amount of emotion he
sings with. This connotes to the audience a
clear convention of the alternative rock
genre, where there is meaning and a story
by the song and it’s lyrics. Within the close-
up Dallas is also framed to the far left of the
shot. This again can be seen to connote the
loneliness first expressed by first tracking shot of the video, as the rest of the shot is just
empty, again adding more emotion and meaning to the song.
One last area camerawork plays a key role is in the scene where Dallas Green is seen sat
inside a room, playing guitar to himself. In this scene the camera goes from an extreme close
up on his face while he sings, to
an outwards zoom to show him
sitting in the room by himself. The
slow but steady movement of the
camera fits in well with the music
as it’s not a violent or jittery
movement. As the camera starts
in a close up on Dallas, it again
shows the emotion he sings with. This is a clear connotation of Alternative Rock as most
songs within the genre are developed with a motive or story behind them. As the camera
slowly zooms out it establishes Dallas’ surroundings to the audience. This establishment also
again shows Dallas alone. This common theme displayed by the video is very conventional of
the ‘Alternative Rock’ genre.

2. Mise-en-scene
Within the music video, ‘Mise-en-scene’ is used effectively in several areas. In the opening
cut of the video the camera zooms out from Dallas’ guitar, showing how the song is played.
This shot shows Dallas’ hands and
tattoos. The shot also shows that Dallas
is wearing fingerless gloves. The iconic
tattoo on fingers is something that is a
common convention of any rock music.
The rebellious and individual style of the
tattoos gives clear connotations to his
genre as soon as the music starts. The
fingerless gloves can also be seen as to
give connotations of the genre and the
sad situation the song expressed. The
fingerless gloves can connote the same
rebellious attitude that is expressed by
the tattoos, making Dallas even more conventional of his genre.
Another key area of Mise-en-scene in the video is the type of lighting that is used throughout
the video. A common theme of the video seems to be a use of low-key lighting, even when
outside when the light would be brighter. This use of low-key lighting connotes the sad feeling
the video wants to get across. The low-key lighting also highlights the emotion within the
song. This low-key lighting effect is also a common convention among the alternative rock
genre. This goes hand in hand with the idea of emotion within Alternative Rock songs. The
dark theme displayed by the light
gives the audience added
immersion that most Alternative
Rock songs try to achieve.
One last key area of Mise-en-
scene that is the used is props.
In the majority of the video, the
camera shows the audience
Dallas singing and playing his
guitar. The use of the guitar prop
give the audience a clear connotation of what Dallas’ genre is. As he is playing the guitar it
represents him as a multi-talented musician who can sing and play at the same time. This
level of skill is also displayed a lot by other Alternative Rock bands making Dallas green very
conventional.
Sound
As there is no other sound within the first part of the
video, other than the song, the video focuses around
Dallas and him singing/playing the song. The Video
is matched in synchronization with the music, which
give the video a professional and realistic feel. The
flawless synchronization also adds emotion to the

3. video, which is easily displayed to the audience as they can see Dallas’ face as he sings it.
Another area of sound is the asynchronous parts that are played when the camera doesn’t
display Dallas singing the song. In the sections between the different scenes the camera has
often faded to black or panned to a different area to the one Dallas is in. This Overlay of
music is not synchronized with anything and is merely played over the top. This effect is good
as it gives more life to the scenes that don’t have sound themselves, it also provides fluency
for the video as the song never stops.
Editing
Throughout the extract several editing techniques contribute to the overall feel of the video.
After nearly every cut, the shot fades to black while panning left, right, up or down. This fade
to black effect gives the video a darker and easier flowing feel. As black is often related to
misery and sadness, this fade to black technique also connotes emotion to the audience,
which is common convention of the alternative rock genre.
Another key are of effect within editing is the slow pace editing style of the video itself. This
slow paced editing sets the mood to the audience with a calm and controlled feel, compared
to fast passed editing that excites the audience. This slow paced editing style is also common
convention of the alternative rock genre as most songs try to convey their songs messages in
a controlled and easy to understand way.