Construction of the mise-en-scene in the music video

Mise-en-scene

How are we going to utilise mise-en-scene in our music video?

Lighting is often overlooked when talking about mise-en-scene but we want to use lighting to create an atmosphere as well as captivating the audience. One idea would be to use flares combined with lens flares to create a streak of light across the screen. This is a powerful image and something that isn’t done often; it will set our music video apart from others and it is also an interesting and creative technique.

The lead singer plays an important role in our music video because we are following his story and the video revolves around him. However, we also want to make him look vulnerable and make the audience empathise with the character. The use of props and lighting will reflect heavily on the character, as will their surroundings. For example, looking in a mirror in a rundown bathroom will give connotations of his emotions or rundown life.

For costume, as the theme of our song is ‘rebirth’ we feel it would be important to change the costume of the lead singer. Binary opposites of black and white are likely to be used for the costume with changes throughout the song to indicate progression which leads back again to the connotations of change and- with white, for example- innocence.

To communicate the rock/indie genre it is typical of other bands to use instruments as props in their videos so we are likely to do the same as it is a reference to the genre to show we understand different conventions. This can also be said for costume as there seems to be a ‘dress code’ for indie bands with certain clothes being worn and certain clothes being avoided.

The message of our song is the change in life so we can show that through a variety of locations to once again reflect the change in character but it also is an effective way of telling the audience what is going on without explicitly stating it.

To attract, appeal and entertain our audience a lot of unique techniques and elements may need to be used. We are considering unique lighting effects as well as abstract ways of delivering our message and also a unique take on the song through the video. The twists in the narrative are also good examples. The non-linear structure of the video would appeal to the audience. This is similar to other videos in the genre including The Killers’ video for ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’

By Connor Sleet, Bradley Russell, Ryan Almond, Jacob Caria-Preen