​Jordan Scott A2 Media 

 

 

Mise en scene 

 

The first thing I noticed about the mise en scene was the clothing of the man who is the central character throughout the video. He is dressed in plain clothes, with grey hoody and t shirt and dark trousers. The clothes used suggest that the man is from a lower class background as his clothes look reasonabley well used and not very expensive. In this opening section the man is shown to have his hood up over his head which has connotations with young boys, anit social behaviour and crime. So having his hood over his head suggests that he may be involved with these types of things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The camera then cuts to what looks like a police interview, this is clear as due to the type of room with the chair and table in the middle as well as cabinets and drawers aroun the edge of the room. Here the audience can see the comparison between the policemen in suits and the main character in the hoody and jeans, this suggests a difference in backgrounds and their current status. Next you see around six boys, all in hoodys, physically assaulting someone up in the middle of the street. This supports my previous point that youths in hoodys are often connected with anti social behaviour and crime. The next shot is an old man looking down at the incident from his window, the look of shock on his face shows the difference in views on incidents like this from youths and people from older generations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next shot is a dark tunnell with graffitti covering the walls, this setting is used on purpose as this sort of place is often connected with youths, as they may use this sort of place to hang out. A man then enters the tunnell covered in blood which is shocking for the audience as at this point they do not know what has happened to him but it does indicate that it was some sort of crime by the amount of blood on his body. One of the last scenes in the video is of the main character surrounded by dead bodies, indicating to the audience that the "youth in a hoody" has in fact conformed to the sterotype held by society. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camera Angle, Position And Movement 

 

One of the first shots is a close up of the main characters face this intial shot is used to allow the audience to get familiar with the main person they are going to be seeing throughout the video. Also through this shot you can see the mans true expression becuase the camera is so close, the man in the hoody is clearly distressed as you can see the sweat on his forehead and he is looking away from the camera implying he is quite distant. This is also a high angle shot as it is taken from above him, this creates a sense of "looking down' upon the man, implying the observers sense of superiority to the subject being videoed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later, a point of view shot is used when the old man is looking down from his window at the fighting on the street which allows the auidence to see it through his eyes. A close up shot is then used to focus on the old mans face, this allows the audience to see the expession on the mans face, the old mans mouth is half open suggesting he is in shock due to what he is seeing and he has not seen anything like this before. His age here may come in to play, because often people of older generations are shocked by people from younger generations behaviour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The high angle shot I spoke about at the beggining is constantly reffered back to with the man still lying on the ground singing the words, this shot is used over and over because it wants to remind the audience of the mans importance in the video. When the shot of a person hitting the widnscreen is used, the audience then sees a quick sucession of extremely quick cuts this creates a fast pace sequence of shots which will in turn enagage the audience further. The close up shot is then used again as it flicks repeatedley between the young man who is still lying on the floor and the old man who is in hopsital with an oxygen mask around his mouth, these shots are shocking for the audience as the young man looks reasonabley normal compared to the old man who looks in a critical condition. The cuts increase in speed towards the end of the video to convey the sense of chaos and panic when we see the people rebelling against the police, the pace also increases the urgency for the audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editing

 

Throughout the video the young man seen at the beginning is given prevalance all the way through, this is because the more time we see them on screen the more important their role and as this man is the main character throughout the video he is given the most screen time. At the beginning of the video slow motion is used as the man drops to pavement, the way he falling slowly gives the audience a chance to realise how high he is dropping from making it more shocking that if he fell at a fast pace, as it is empahised to the audience. The slow motion effect is very effective when the young man makes contact with the floor as you can see the force in which he hits the ground as the vibration is highlighted due to the slow motion effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The editing speeds up when the gun shots are fired in the tunnell this is because the editing must reflect what is happening in the scene, so each time the gun is fired there is a cut and the audience sees a flicker of something else. This causes the audience to feel the sense of danger and the pace of the video changing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special effects are also used when the body of the young man is seen to lift up off the pavement and into the air, this could be a reference to death and the body going up to heaven. But what I would say is that it sticks out from the rest of the video. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sound 

 

Non diegetic sound is used in the video when the police sirens are heard by the audience, but no police cars are in the picture. Police have connotations with crime and the law so it creates a dramatic effect when they are played in the background. Diegetic sound is also used throughout, firstly the audience sees this when a character covered in blood says, "have you got a gun", becuase speech is not used much throughout the music video it catches the audiences attention as it breaks up the singing. The way the man is character is covered in blood makes what ever he is saying that much more shocking and dramatic. Secondly, when the flames from the fire smash open the windows, the sound of the windows is emphasised and very sudden shocking the reader and giving across an element of danger. Thirdly the sound of the gun shots is emphasised also to scare the audience and due to them going off in a quick sequence it adds pace to video.