Media 1.2
Meg Doughty
• The music video I have chosen to examine is ‘Simple Song’ by The Shins. This
song is from their album ‘Port of Morrow’ and was released on the 10th of
January 2012. In Belgium it was fourth on the charts and in US Alternative
songs it was 10th.
• I chose this music video because of the strong narrative and clear portrayal
of the character’s back stories and experiences. The directors have utilised a
number of film language features such as flashback, costume, lighting, colour
and camera work to emphasise areas of significance such as memories.
‘Could be there’s nothing else in our lives so critical
As this little home.’ These lyrics take on a literal meaning due to the subject
matter of the music video being a family home. The artist also sings about when
life is difficult and you feel like you’re alone, it’s important to let yourself deal
with it in a way that is beneficial to you. You don’t need to be staunch and stoic,
‘And bleed like a stone’.
‘My life in an upturned boat, marooned on cliff… you gave me a lift, girl what
a gift’ These lyrics talk about what it is like having a relationship with someone
who supports you, and contributes to making an otherwise arduous load lighter.
Also that love can be a delicate affair, this is likened to a bracelet with a
charm on it.
The genre of this song is indie rock, with a relatively fast-paced rhythm. It
matches the lyrics as it is not overwhelming or too slow.
• The video starts with a shot of a man on a TV (the lead singer of the band),
the camera moves to the same man deceased in a coffin with his family
surrounding him. By way of the video on the TV screen we are introduced to
the dead man’s son, daughter and other son. The home video playing
announces that the deed to the family home is somewhere in the house and
that the first to find it gets the house. The three children race off, we see
shots follow each character individually as the rummage through the house
revealing memories under sheets as they go. With each memory there is
often a clip from a home video, the subject of which is a birthday party
where the children are also rummaging through the house. Something
upsetting happens and the wife and children leave the father alone in the
home. The deed turns out to be a fake and the wrecking balls destroys the
house.
• The music video adds to the impact of the lyrics as they directly reference
the home in which events are occurring. These events happen in time with the
music, and slow motion scenes highlight reminiscences of the dead man’s
children.
Effect: Various time altering conventions such as slow motion, parallel action
and flashbacks have been used in this video to draw attention to central
happenings. These build up each character’s experiences and journeys through
the family home. The viewer is taken into the past as memories are unearthed in
various rooms in the house.
Definition: Manipulation of time is essential in the telling of a music video.
Because music videos or extremely short films, the reality of time needs to be
altered to either speed up or slow down the action. The use of editing to
compress long periods of time such as days or weeks can allow for many more
options of storytelling. Likewise, the slowing down of time through slow motion
or prolonged shots allows for contemplation and a deeper meaning to be
attached to a moment or realisation.
• An element of Manipulation of time frequently used in the video is flashback,
often into the memories of the children. Below is an example of a flashback
moving from a grainy home video quality into a clear picture.
• In the ‘Simple Song’ music video by The Shins the conventions used are
Expansion of time- slow motion- parallel action and, flashback. These
elements help to establish a link between the children of the dead man and
their past selves. The first of these elements used is a flashback in the form of
an old home video clip from a birthday party in the house.
• The director uses the same length of clip from the same home video to
introduce the key characters in the video; firstly the older son, then the
daughter and finally the youngest son. These flashbacks of unpleasant
memories for the children are used in tandem with a zoom-in shot of each
character as their adult selves at the funeral. This ensures that the audience
knows which adult character is which child equivalent in the flashbacks. This
means that they can follow the story both in the past and present in which the
video is set.
• The director repeats the use of flashback throughout the video to emphasise
the echoing of events. For example the viewer is shown the children running
up from the stairs into a hallway, the children are followed by the
corresponding adults. The reoccurring use of flashback enables the audience
to follow the backstory and specific characteristics of each of the children
and how those traits have stayed with the grown up versions.
• The amount of flashbacks don’t decrease, but instead of setting up
characters they established events that make sense of the present day
situation at the funeral. In doing so, building the background story of the
characters involved. 1:13 to 1:17 in the video is an example of one of the
earlier flashbacks.
• Another element of manipulation of time is slow motion scenes. The below
shot is when the wrecking ball hits the house and we see the sequence in slow
motion for greater effect and detail.
• As dusty sheets are ripped off old furniture, what is underneath lights up into
a past scene where the younger versions of the children are the subject. This
process is distinctly articulated by slow motion. If this same process had been
depicted in normal time it would have been confusing and unclear.
• Slow motion is used in this video multiple times to bring to light details, like
when the wrecking ball hits the house, we see the characters diving for cover,
the shards of window and wall fly across the room. But most importantly we
see what the characters have left when the one thing they were all
competing for doesn’t exist anymore, their loved ones. As they are escaping
the crumbling house of bad memories the slow motion shots allow the
audience to take note of the fact that, as they leave, the characters are
smiling.
Another element
of Manipulation of
Time is Parallel
Action, an
example of this is
when as one of
the sons abruptly
swings open a
door his sister
bursts into another
room in the house.
• Parallel action is utilised in this video to make the audience feel like a lot is
going on at the same time. An example of this is when one of the sons opens
a door and almost immediately after the viewer is shown the sister running
into a room with an open door.
• This element is very efficient in terms of delivering each of the characters’
experiences as they run through the house with an added sense of urgency.
Quick cuts between shots communicates the desperation of the children.
Everything happening at once, shown by parallel action, leads nicely to a
meeting point in the house as we see when familiar landmarks in the house
are being passed, such as the staircase and attic.
Effect: Elements of character that have been used are costume, character
placement and symbolism, these conventions contribute to the characters in the
music video who build the story. The audience is shown a narrative through the
experiences of the characters, these experiences are detailed and concise
which gives the viewer a stronger plotline than in most music videos.
Definition: A character is a person on screen that is created by different
cinematic elements such as costume, make-up, casting, performance, stereotype
and dialogue. This construction is intended to help the audience quickly
understand who this person is and the role they will play in the narrative.
• Costume is used in this video to make it clear who is who’s child equivalent.
Below is an example of how costume has been used to show one of the
children as their past self.
• In this music video the director has chosen to show similarities in costume
between the children in the past and present, to divulge a likeness in
personality in the characters. For example we see the younger son in a
respectable jersey and shirt, as his older self he is wearing a jersey, shirt and
tie with a formal jacket over top. The older son in a checked, short sleeved
shirt and jeans is seen wearing the same as an adult. This is helpful to the
audience in identifying traits in the characters and their attitude towards
their father. The younger son dresses appropriately, showing an amount of
respect and decency. The other dresses very casually displaying his clear
distaste for the deceased man.
• To establish background characters at the funeral they have been dressed in
neutral colours or a monochrome outfit, such as the partners of the older son
and the daughter. The partner of the older son is dressed in a slightly
brighter colour, but not overpowering, this suggests that she will have a minor
role in the video too. Main characters are set apart by bolts of colour, the
daughter is seen in a bright red scarf, the colour of anger.
• How the characters have been placed in various settings obviously defines
who is a main character in the narrative and who is not. One of the first wide
shots of the funeral creates a focal point in the older son, drawing the eye to
the bright red on his right and the lone figure to his left.
• Throughout the video the characters separate through the house but in all the
chaos the younger son and the older son’s partner wind up together. The
director places them beside each other in the establishing shot of the funeral,
where they exchange longing looks, then again in a doorframe together. The
same pair is revealed to be together in a memory, the director echoes this by
placing the characters in the same spot at the top of the stairs in the present.
These shots suggest that the two characters end up together romantically like
the almost did in the past. At the end of the video this is proven true when
the last shot is of them kissing with a dust cloud and debris from the house
behind them.
• Through character placement we can see the relationship between two
people. The daughter in the red scarf is with her partner on the right, a little
girl who appears to be their daughter has her hand on her fathers shoulder.
The oldest son is flanked by his partner in the green coat who has her arm on
his. The fact that the youngest son is alone and angled towards the woman in
green proposes lingering feelings towards her.
• Character props play a minor but meaningful role in the music
video.
Past
Present
• The prop bracelet with the heart shaped charm on it is made significant by
the lyrics when the artist talks about love being a delicate affair. The fact
that the youngest son gives the bracelet to the girl in green and that she
accepts it implies a degree of affection between the two. Later on in the
video the audience sees that she still wears the same bracelet, therefore this
prop is instrumental in informing the audience of the two characters being in
love.
• Another prop that is frequently seen in the video is the hand held camera
which the home video is filmed on. This prop more often than not is mounted
on the shoulder of the deceased man. The father is shown filming the child’s
birthday party, this footage is used to pull the audience into the past. The
camera shows a distancing between the father and the children, he isn’t
actually being a part of occurring events, he is watching it through a lens
and limited frame. This suggests a closed mind and emotional distancing from
his children which feeds into their distinct dislike for their father.
Effect: Elements of atmosphere in this video are of great importance, the
location, lighting and colour all add to the general storyline of the music video.
The director has built a story around the house and contrast through lighting
and colour ensure a distinct difference between the past and present.
Definition: Each scene in a music video has a mood or tone that is constructed
by the combined elements of style-lighting/colour, character placement, setting
and costume.
This atmosphere communicates to the audience what they are expected to feel
or think about what they are seeing on screen.
• The location plays a key role in the music video, the family home is the main
object which the plotline evolves around. It is the thing that all the children
want and compete for. It is the place where their unpleasant memories were
lived out. Below is a shot from the family’s video camera after a harmful
event where the wife is blaming the father.
• The shot on the previous slide is an example of the instability of the family.
The parents are fighting in what looks to be a crooked house, the
crookedness of the house and the bareness of the wooden structure implies a
damaged or instable home. The fact that the director is showcasing the
skeleton of the house suggests that the issue is incurable, the problem is in the
very heart or foundation of the family. The home is the prize which blinds the
characters to the things that are really important to them, their loved ones.
• The rooms have all been left as they were, nothing has been touched, the
sheets are there to preserve the furniture, and the memories. So when the
characters rip off these sheets the home is opened up into it’s lived in self
and the setting changes from present to past. As opposed to the barren,
unused, lonely and solemn appearance of the house now, which makes the
audience feel the large empty shell of the characters old lives.
• Lighting is used to display a difference from the past, present and also the
transitions. The flashbacks are illuminated into a brighter place.
As sheets are pulled off furniture memories are lit up.
• The lighting used in the video is symbolic in the sense of illuminating the past.
As memories are rediscovered the scenes light up into a brighter time, a
happier time. A lack of light casts the present-day house into a dark, blue
and, washed out environment. Echoing the feelings of the characters.
• Natural light from windows also seeps into scenes and spreads again a bluegrey hue. The white sheets draped over furniture to protect and preserve it
in rooms make a fantastic canvas for light to bounce of off, this suggests a
reflective state in the characters that includes the audience. When there is a
scarcely lit room, dark and monochrome, the audience is drawn into the mind
of the character in thinking how bland and unpleasant the room is until the
character remembers something. The glad memories are lit warmly which
immediately has positive connotations for the viewer, but it also suggests a
state of enlightenment for the character, that their associations to the house
weren’t always hostile.
• Colour is important for the audience to make connections between characters
and their past selves and also their emotions towards something.
• Colour in costume also helps to identify which character is which child in the
past. The woman in the green coat is the girl in the green skirt, the daughter
in the red scarf is the girl in the red shirt, the son in the dark blue jacket is
the boy in the dark blue sweater. It also adds a level of symbolism, red
representing anger, but also the little girl wearing red suggests that her and
the woman in the red scarf are related by blood.
• Colour is crucial in the messages and underlying emotions attached to events
and locations. In the past the colours are bolder, brighter and lit up. This
provokes a happier emotion in the audience, the characters share in this
happiness as their earlier childhood contains more enjoyable experiences.
The darker palate of blues and shadows in the present day house lets the
viewer tap into the sort of emotions felt by the characters returning to their
once pleasant home. The blue symbolises sadness, despair and boredom. The
shadows hint at something darker: rivalry, hate, and death. The colours are
an apt portrayal of the situation, the funeral of a man they didn’t really like.
This brings my exploration of the music video ‘Simple Song’ by The
Shins to a close. Below is the link to the music video itself for
reference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoL
TPcD1S4Q
Thank you.