The Script 'Nothing'

The music videos that The Script create have a specific mode of address and have a regular house style. Mostly all of their music videos are set in a busy town or city such as London where you can clearly see the lead singer (Danny O'Donoghue) walking down the streets lip syncing to the lyrics. The videos are always based on boy and girl situations for example 'The man who can't be moved' consists of the male sitting on a corner waiting where he last saw the girl and staying there until he sees her again. The Script incorporate narratives and performances in their videos; you will always find that the lead singer is filmed the most whilst the other band members can be seen as the 'friends' or during the performance. This creates a brand image for the group and those watching the video will be able to distinguish the lead singer. This is typical of a music video which singles out and focuses on the lead singer. The location of the music videos are exactly what we are looking to create and therefore analysing one of their videos should help to get some ideas and inspire us for camera angles, movement, lighting, sound and mise en scene.

We decided to Analise 'Nothing' because this video represents how some people can turn to drink after a break up. This is similar to the music video we are trying to create but with a drug addiction instead. Although the music is much slower we still feel that the story line will fit into our fast paced song.

The song begins with a guitar introduction, the tone of this is calm which is complimented with an image of someone under water with harsh lighting reflecting on the water. The next shot is set in a club, artificial lighting is used to create the stereotypical club setting. The camera is placed behind the bar where we can see the lead singer Danny and his band mates drinking. The lighting behind them really defines the facial expressions of the band and so the audience watching can easily see the type of emotion being created . The typical music you would hear in a club is not apparent in this video; they silence it and add in the melody of there song creating a calmer atmosphere, the lyrics begin and the first few lines say 'am I better off dead, am I better off a quitter, they say im better off now, then I ever was with her' this is met with an image of a alchol, automatically we realise that the lyrics represent a break up and he is getting drunk to forget about the girl. This video uses a lot of close ups to isolate the facial expressions of Danny, and also means the audience can clearly see how his speech matches up with the lyrics making the video more realistic. The video uses a shallow focuses in order to draw attention to the lead singer, I really like this effect and think it would be effective in our music video. Straight cuts are used to change scenes and a to a certain extent continuity editing is used which makes the cuts un obvious to the audience. After a few more drinks the band make there way out of the club and onto the street, here the lyrics say "'cause im shouting your name all over town" . As you can see the image shows Danny shouting on the street, this is a typical convention of a music video that matches the lyrics up with the visual, which again creates realism. At 1:50 of the music video it incorporates the performance side into it . The image at the beginning of the song (underwater) is referenced throughout the song unobviously. It was only after watching the music video serveral times that I noticed the links to water throughout. When images of performance are shown the lighting behind the band looks like the reflections of the water. This ambient lighting creates helps to draw attention to what the band members are doing. When using close ups the relfection of the water also helps to brighten up the lead singers face contrasting the dark background, this really emphasizes the emotion being portrayed .The next image is of the band walking over the bridge, I really like the lighting used here as you can clearly see where they are and what they are doing, as well as creating a mysterious atmosphere. The two other band members walk off and Danny is left on the bridge by himself; the audience here begin to worry as he is drunk and leaning over the edge. After a few lines have been sung the inevitable happens and Danny gets ready to jump. This shows how much he is depressed about the girl he is willing to take his own life. This is similar to what we as a group are trying to create as the boy will turn to drugs because of the girl. As he jumps into the water the line says 'sometimes loves intoxicating' showing that love can be like a drug and can make people lose control of their faculties or behavior. The music seems to be calmer as they drag Danny out of the water; here the first verse is repeated. The line 'am I better off dead' is emphasized here as the audience know that he tried to kill himself. This image is contrasted with one of Danny walking in the street singing directly to the camera. This is an important feature of a music video which really included the audience and gives the appearence that they are singing to the person watching. It is also easier to see mouth movements and actions when they are facing the camera . The last image of the video is the same as the starting image creating a cyclical structure .