John Mayer - Half of My Heart
Genre - The genre of the piece of music and the artist who has created the piece of music is acoustic pop rock. However the genre of the video the music is played with is a drama, the storyline featured in the video is one which the viewer would expect to see in a soap or in a drama film. The video features themes of love, heartbreak and family. Considering the genre something like a wedding is expected and also the fact that there was something wrong with the wedding. However an unexpected element of the video is the fact that the grooms location is actually known by the end of the video and not just left to never be solved.
Narrative - the main storyline of the video is the fact that there is a wedding about to happen between a man and a woman, however the man doesn't show up to the wedding, leaving the bride and the rest of the family to clean up the wedding and locate the groom, while the groom is sat in a bar with a guitar singing about why he didn't turn up. The main themes of the video are Love, Family, Heartbreak and Relationships. TODOROV's 5 stages is seen in this video, 4 stages are seen in this video, the stages being equilibrium, disruption, recognition and attempted repair. The only main recognisable character is the artist who is playing the groom. The lyrics of the song link in well to the fact he is walking away from love for example 'I can't keep loving you, with half of my heart'.
Representation - Men are shown very stereotypically in this video, for example, the fact that the man is the one that has walked away re-enforces the stereotype that men are bad at handling their feelings and run away from issues instead of confronting them. Also the male protagonist of the video is shown to have a lot of power as all he does for most of the video is sit in a bar but he has managed to cause a large amount of damage to peoples days and lives. The artist is constructed as being someone who has trouble with their love life, which links back to their actual personal life in the stop light, as John Mayer is well known for having a lot of and trouble with women.
Visual Codes - The video is set partly in a church, which has connotations of Love, and also commitment, for some people this can be very comforting, but for others this can be very scary, both of there feelings are shown in this video. The other place the video is set is in a Bar, this is a stereotypical setting in music videos as somewhere someone would go when they are having troubles or want an escape from what is going on in their life, which is what John Mayer is going in the video. There are no obvious uses of block colour, but the lighting is used effectively, in the church it is very bright and well light, showing connotations of happiness however in the bar it is very very dark and dull, showing connotations of sadness and confusion.
Technical Codes - The camera angles used on the male in the video show how he has a lot of power but is also feeling very vulnerable and confused, this is because a range of shots are used on him, such as high and low angles through out, this connotes a sense of confusion across to the viewer. The male is also shot from a distance many times throughout the video, showing how he is confused and also how he feels pressure and overwhelmed as to the viewer, the camera angle makes it seem like he is being watched or followed. The cuts in the video are going at a steady pace, not too fast or too slow, showing how despite the terrible situation that is going on, it may not be a shock or disaster to some people present, especially the groom.
Audience - The audience of this video could be either males or females as the video doesn't contain anything that swings toward any particular gender, however the video is probably best suited to be watched by people over the age of 16 the video and the song both contain strong themes about love and heartbreak which you probably need experience in either area to full relate to or understand.
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