How is meaning created and conveyed within a music video?

When studying how meaning is conveyed within music videos, I looked into analysing "You and Me by "Lifehouse" as a way of portraying how meaning is created through the footage in the music video. I considered aspects such as mise en scene, camerawork and editing to highlight the important elements that make up a successful music video.


Mise En Scene:

Within this video, there is separate footage of the band performing, and a narrative story being played out, and therefore the mise en scene conveyed lots of meaning.

Location and Setting: There are two main locations in the video, the location used for the band performing and the location used to perform the narrative based part of the video. There is a clear divide between them, the band performs on a hill top surrounded by hills and blue skies, whilst the narrative footage is filmed in a busy train station. By using two completely opposite locations, it shows that the band is not performing within the narrative.

Lighting and Colour: Again, a clear divide between both the performance based and the narrative based footage is illustrated through lighting and colour. The band performs with very neutral colouring, with blues and greys, showing that they are neutral to the storyline, whereas the narrative story for the song is made up of very warm yellows and oranges, which also matches the lyrics as it shows the warmth and love this man feels for the woman.

Character Blocking: The band is performing within some of the song, however it is clear that they are separate from the narrative, as the story is performed by actors and not the band. In the shots of the band performing, the lead singer and guitarist of the band is standing in the foreground, with the other members standing fairly far into the background, which makes him seem more important, and his lyrics are more heard. In the story, the two characters are never in the same shot at any time, as the man searches for the woman he is afraid to lose, and towards the very end of the track, they finally come together in the same shot, to show they are reunited again.

Costume and Props: The band are generally wearing quite neutral colours within the video, which usually blend into the background, which shows that they want their lyrics to be heard and are not part of the narrative. When performing against the blue background, the singer wears blues and greys, and when performing in the station, he wears browns and yellows, to match the colouring for the station scenes. The characters are actually wearing fairly similar clothing, both wearing black and white on their tops and blue denim jeans, showing that they are similar and meant to be.

Camerawork: 

Within this music video, the use of camera work and shots has been used effectively to illustrate the man in the narrative’s desire to be reunited with his true love. The use of close up shots are used to convey the emotion felt by the characters, and there are many tracking shots of the male searching for the woman. One particularly good shot is a tracking shot of the woman walking through the station, and the camera passes a pillar and we see the man taking the same route, suggesting both that he is going to find her, and that they are meant to be, as he knows which direction she is going.

Editing: The editing within this video, with the choice of both colour and shot length/transitions plays a big role in this video. The colours are necessary to define which part of the video is performance based and narrative based, with the neutral blues showing the performance based, as it is disconnected from the narrative. Within the narrative based performance, the editing is quite fast pace, to demonstrate the urgency this man feels for finding his love, with fairly slow pace editing on the performance, again showing the divide between both types of footage.

How is meaning conveyed?
Having studied the different aspects within this music video, I have found that mood and meaning is dependent on how the video made. This video conveys the anxiety felt that this man will lose his love forever, displayed with fast cut editing and close up shots to show emotion. These are all aspects we must consider when planning and shooting our own music video.