Review of a Previous Student Video

I wanted to review this video as I thought it was well made and I know it got a high mark and personally it was my favourite of the ones I saw. I liked it more than some of the other higher scoring videos because I thought it had a nice story line and wasn't pretentious or trying too hard like some other videos.

I liked the mise en scene used in this video, especially the pink filter over the top of all the footage as it made the colours pop out and gave the video a vintage type feel. The colours were very effective and were framed well such as the shots by the houses and by the colourful walls. These shots reflected and matched the up beat positive nature of the song and although in the video the couple aren't together for most of it, shots like these help keep the video feeling positive and matching the song.

My only criticism of the video was that the performance was somewhat stilted which could occasionally in some of the more close up and stable shots against the wall feel a little awkward. However, I realise this is a bit harsh and not something that you are really marked on.

In the video they seem to be following Goodwin's theory and using amplification as the song seems to be about love which the video is connected to but it doesn't illustrate the lyrics specifically. The video also used most of the features Vernallis found which resulted in a music video that looked a lot like a typical music video and could not be confused with anything else. Mulvey's theory is also addressed in that the female in this video challenges the stereotypical representation of women as she is not sexualised in any way and gets to wear all her clothes. The groups use of these theories is one of the reasons the video is so successful.

The main reason I liked the video though was the narrative as I thought it was sweet and the ending especially was a nice touch and leaves the video with a happy ending that is satisfying to the audience. Another good feature was the use of effects on the location where they would show a black and white picture then pull the picture away to reveal the film in colour in the same location, this tied in with the videos narrative and themes of memories along with the tied up frames in the tree and was also a nice visual making the video seem less basic.