More To A Video

Before studying film this semester, I would have never known that there is so much more to a music video than just the music playing with a video that somewhat goes with it.  Turns out just about each and every part of the video can be analyzed and has a meaning.  Besides the artist of the song, there is a director.  A director has their own impact on the video which is called "Auteur."  Most videos also include diegesis which is when something that is not presented clearly throughout the film, but is inferred by the audience.  Editing is evident throughout each and every video and refers to how one shot transitions to another.  Some videos include a flashback or flashforward which is a jump either forward or backwards in time.  In just about every video, many different types of focus are used.  Focus is the degree of light that is coming through on the shot which creates shots that are blurry, have outlines, or textures.  Each video is a certain genre.  The genre of many music videos is either narrative or stylistic.  A narrative video is one that tells a story, where as stylistic is random clips put together to make a video.  Most narrative videos also include a story/plot which refers to the events that occur in the video.  Throughout a video there are many different instances where mise-en-scene occurs.  Mise-en-scene is a place in the video in which you can pause it an be able to analyze the different parts such as costume, lighting, etc.  Scene/sequence is why different segments of film are placed together.  Finally, the shot of a film refers to a single stream of images.  There is so much more to a music video than one would think.

Analyzing Gone, Gone, Gone by Phillip Phillips

Auteur-  The director of this video, Joseph Toman, said he wanted the video to feel generational, not just about the present, but about the people before us that paved the way.  He wanted it to be a celebration of life and a piece everyone could find something to relate to.
Flashback-  Throughout this video, there are many flashbacks, many of which are home video from Phillip Phillips' childhood.
Genre-  This video is both stylistic and narrative.  It is telling the story of the people that paved the way for Phillip Phillips, but the clips are not pieced together exactly to where this could be inferred.
Plot-  This video is telling the story of love and family and the human experience.
Diegesis-  From the lyrics it can be inferred that he is remembering the memories of a loved one he has lost.  It can also be inferred that he is telling the story of love, family, and the human experience.
Focus-  The video begins with blurry images and then is in focus as he is looking back on his past.
Editing-  Throughout the video, the scenes are placed so they are going back and forth between the past and the present as he is remembering the memories of his past and how he got to where he is.
Scene/Sequence-  There is a certain section of the video (from 1:31 to 1:52) where he is remembering the memories from when he was a kid.
Shot-  At the very end of the video (from 3:28-3:30) it shows a shot of Phillip Phillips reflecting on his past as well as the present.
Mise-en-scene- This image represents the celebration of memories of Phillip Phillips as well as a celebration of life.