Promotional Package Analysis

Initially, I wanted my music video to appear mainly narrative based but as I have further developed it I feel as though it is more of a abstract piece which is quite unconventional of the indie folk genre. However it still appeals to the target audience. The plot of the narrative depends on how the audience subjectively interprets the video and could be seen as the actress 'losing herself' which is connoted through the use of the black and white shots and the various shots of smoking falling freely. The music video could also be interpreted at the protagonist longing for something greater and feels as though she is suffocating to be free. Towards the end of the video, the tempo of the song increases

The opening medium shot conflicts with typical indie folk conventions as these type of music videos often relate more to nature then my music video does and instead opens with a vocal piece from the actress playing the artist. The dark black clothing and eye-liner worn by the actress has connotations of darkness and perhaps loneliness. The use of the smoke in the shots, connotes rebellion as smoking is often seen as quite controversial in indie folk music however generally it is seen as a stress relief or trying to be free. 

Throughout my music video, I have tried to use straight cut edits between scenes with the actress to reinforce the erratic behaviour of the actress and to perhaps show that this is all happening within her mind. I have used this to show a non-linear plot with the structure of the abstract piece to make the audience view the nature scenes/performance scenes in no particular order so that they can decide for themselves how and when the scenes actually occur. For example, the a ctress is seen smoking and then looking at the camera and then the shots of the ocean moving are used showing there is no exact structure to the music video. This is also quite unconventional of indie folk music videos are they are often very structured and are in chronological order of clips.

The edits within the music video are also quite slow and match the mood of the track with the occasional edit to the beat. By doing this it is quite conventional of most music videos. In terms of cinematography I have used quite a lot of medium close ups and extreme close ups of the actresses eyes and lips to show deep emotion that she is experiencing. Also by using these it creates a 'moody' atmosphere for the audience to follow. The use of lighting also reinforces this idea as black and white often symbolises misery and depression showing how the actress wants freedom with the smoke and ink flowing around her in the over-layered shots.  By having the smoke and ink flowing around the artist, it may also connote like a metaphor that she is always surrounded by this feeling of loss and vulnerability  The dark coloured shots paired with the miss en scene of the scull on the actresses clothing also has connotations of death which matches the non diegetic music 'we're choking, we're dying in a smoke filled room'. 

The artists clothing are typically quite dark which have connotations of darkness and rebellion, these contrast with the innocence displayed on the digipak and website showing that when the artist is in this mental state of losing she does not come across as naive or innocent  As well as this in some of the shots the artist wears white to reinforce the original idea of her innocence which could portray hat these were the artists before she 'started losing again' which is stated in the song. By using a close up of the hand against the white background it shows the artists need to be helped which is reinforced with the close ups of the actresses face showing her vulnerability.

Throughout the video, the non-diegetic sound of the music is played to abstract piece and the repetition of the 'smoke filled room' echoes towards the end of the video give a ghostly haunting effect which is why I included blurred shots to give it non-stable connotations in the video. During the lines 'And a woman she screams' I decided to use a close up of the actresses face and applied a 'noise' distort effect to further reinforce the instability displayed in the video.