Construction: Director's Techniques Used In The Video

Throughout the video the director (Jack) attempted to use a number of techniques to encapsulate the mood we were trying to put across to the target audience. The mood in general that we were trying to deliver was one of disparity and sadness. I feel that in general from watching the film back, the majority of scenes do portray this effect.


Furthermore we used many aspects of mise en scene to evoke the mood and a certain example was the use of clothing, which comes under costume, to show how the character (myself) was feeling in the video. Throughout the video we made sure the actor in the video wore the same clothes throughout, as his clothes gave off the sense of disparity we were looking to obtain. The costume included a pair of ripped jeans and battered shoes, and a grey top which evokes dullness/dark feelings. We used these particular costumes to show how long he has been waiting for the girl to "come back to the corner" and evoke the sense of disparity and sadness, in the fact that the girl has not returned to find him. The costumes show how long he has been waiting, through their scruffy appearance, as shown in the following images:

Moreover Jack's technique of positioning and movement of characters on the set evokes further use of mise en scene. This mise en scene is cleverly used i feel because he positioned myself on the bench, with him standing up next to me. The director's technique of positioning myself (the actor) on the bench, with himself, acting, standing up next to me (see the picture below), gets across the mood of disparity due to myself being in a lower down position in the shot and therefore creates the sense of sadness and disparity, that was pivotal in the video's message, due to the theme of the song.

Another technique used by the director in the creation of our music video was the use of props to a great effect. A key prop in the video was the picture (see below) held by the main character of the girl he was waiting for throughout the video. The prop was key, as it let the audience know where the emotion portrayed by the main character was coming from and the reasoning behind him waiting on the corner, and the fact that it is black and white shows that it is something of the past he is reminiscing/becoming nostalgic about. As well as this, the prop was key in evoking the main bit of emotion in the video. When the girl finally returns and finds that the guy has left the corner and left nothing but a picture of her, it is an emotional, but fitting end to the story being told in the music video. Other props that were used are cardboard, which we used to match the lyrics "got some words on cardboard", and a bag (see below also). The bag is important as it shows that the man plans to be there for some time, and matches the lyrics "gonna camp in my sleeping bag, i'm not gonna move."

Written by Sid.