The light house family video

light house family


As a class we watched the Light house family's video 'i wish i knew' and wrote notes on mise en scene, editing, camera work and other aspects of the video.

Aspects of performance/mode of address:
The video uses a direct mode of address, its simlpy a nab adressing the audeince on a train, he is walking up and down the train looking into the other passengers lives. There are no dance routines or performances in this video which sets the mood of a laid back atmoshpere to match the tempo the song.

Narrative:
This video is a non linear narrative as there are many flashbacks, the flashbacks in the video are of the passengers on the train who the lead singer is passing by. The narrative is also quite simple as there is a clear begining; the passengers getting on the train, middle; the passengers sat on the train and end; the pasenges leaving the train or subway.

how does the video create an image for the artist/band:
The video is very calm, therefor the band are presented in a laid back sense. They come across as every day postive people, the songs lyrics mirror this. As a whole the music blends in very well with thier sense of style. They are dressed casual, nothing too fancy nothing to cheap.

How do the visual elements add to the song:
The music video amplifies the song by allowing them to be metaphorically free. They are wondering round a train able to go anywhere they like, the destination is not reviled which adds to the idea of them being free as a bird.

Mise en scene:
this video is set in a subway this gives connatations of either a busy down town newyork area or just a busy city area. Therefore the people would be stressed, which is shown through thier facial expressons. the lighting of the video matches the mood of the people, its quite dark and only close ups of peoples faces seem to be lighted which could be hinting that there could be hope towards the end. All the costume is very dark and working class, the lead singer is wearing a hat this is the only peice of costume which seperates him from the rest of the train, however half way through he takes his hat off and becomes just the average passenger. Apart from one girl who is set aside by wearing a light coloured coat, her blonde hair is also very eye catching along with her pale skin which contrasts with her dark lipstick.

Use of camera:
the video begings with a long shot of the train pulling into the subway, this is then followed by a seris of close ups and extreme close ups, these are used so that we can see thier emoitions and we are able to get a good look into thier eyes and the metahphoric soul. There are also alot of over shoulder shots which may be used to show that there is always someone behind you to give you the support you need.

Editing:
The music video has alot of cuts from the train to flashbacks, which disolve. There is one ery noticable match on action when the blonde pale girl stands up and leads him through the train in an angelic order.

Represntation:
With the whole video being shot with normal every day people its very working class. There is one status didvide in the whole video, the lead singer is wearing a hat. This is the only thing that singles him out from the other pasengers, later on he takes the hat of and is in harmony with the rest of the passengers. The only other person to stand out is the girl, who comes across slightly angelic, her light coat with fur resembles an angelic costume and her pale skin and long flowing dark hair also mirror this theory. To continue on the religious theme, there could be connoations of hell in the subway as it is underground, dark and miserable, yet when the pasengers go upstairs out of the subway it is like they are on the 'stairway to heaven' which is emphasised by the light they are following.

Special effects:
this video uses alot of transistuions which are used with the flash backs. The flashbacks show how everyone on the train has been in pain or are hurting as they all shown images of jails, strip clubs, hospitals and waiting rooms.

audeince and genre:
The genre of this video is soul music, anybody with a favourtism to this style would like this music. Also it could be stereotyped that middle aged women who are quite stressed from work and homelife would enjoy to play this song after a hard days work as it is very uplifting. If any music channel was to play this video it would most proberbly be channels like magic and vh1, they play the chilled out classics for a middle aged generation.