Student Video Analysis #1

Mise-en-scene:
Costume -
The costume in this video is casual and smart as the start of it is in a school. The casual dress is used a lot in videos of this genre. It shows everyday life of a group of people that suffer with abuse from their partners. It shows that the people involved in the video are the kind of people who go out and socialise with other people.

Actors -
The actors in the video are well used in connection of the genre. This is shown by the main characters as they portray the domestic abuse in relationships really well. The way they show the domestic abuse in the video is by showing the couples arguing and then one of each couple either beating the other, or one of them breaking up and then the other retaliates in a violent manor.

Make-up -
The make-up used in this video is used primarily for the bruising and blood that the victims get when being beaten. You can clearly see that in one scene when the girl is looking in the mirror, that she has been beaten due to the positioning of the make-up around her eyes and fake blood coming out of her nose. I like this use of make-up because it shows the signs of domestic abuse within a relationship.

Props -
I think that there could be more use of props in the video, as the only prop used in the video is a mobile phone when someone has broken up with their partner which tells the storyline and leads up to the domestic abuse.

Setting -
The setting of this video is in a school for parts of the beginning and the end. The rest of it is filmed in houses or on the street. This setting almost copies the original video because it is set in a hotel. It is an appropriate setting for the storyline because not much domestic violence happens in a school, but more at their home.

Editing -
The editing in this video isn't far off from matching the pace of the song, but it is a little bit out. Some of the shots are a bit long for the pace of the song as this is quite a quick song so the editing should be a little bit quicker. There are times in the video when the editing pace matches the song but overall, I think that it could be a bit quicker, especially because of the genre it is in. I like the use of the quick editing just after the breakdown and I also like the use of black and white when the girl is emerging from the bath. The clip right at the end with the reversed shot of the girl  is good as it show her going back to the start of the storyline, like she's setting out to change things during her day. The lip synching in some of the shots is out of time but some of it is in time.

Lighting -
The lighting in the video is appropriate for the time of day it is. It also fits the story of the video as it is light when the couples are having fun, and it is low key when they are fighting/arguing/being abusive. The lighting of the dancers at the start reflects their life as being dull because they are in an abusive relationship.

Camera -
There is a wide range of camera shots used in this video. The majority of them are still shots which doesn't add any movement to the video. The shots that are handheld such as the one of the girl running up the stairs is effective because it suggests that she is scared due to the shakiness of the camera and the fact that her boyfriend is chasing her. There are a lot of close-up shot of the actors to show their emotions and make-up. They are used to show the bruising and bloodiness of the actors after their domestic abuse. They are also used to show the lip synching in a lot of the shots.