Research into Technical Aspects... Mise-en-Scene

Mise-en-Scene is going to be massive to my music video for the use of intertextuality, allusions and to get the genre across to audiences. 2 Example videos of what I think about the importance Mise-en-Scene are Kill Your Heroes by Awolnation and the previously seen Save World Get Girl by I Fight Dragons. I decided to re-use the second video because I believe it is similar to ideas I want to include in my own video.
The video begins with a very pale, slightly desaturated setting using more pastille-y colours. Awol is dressed in a grey shirt with a pale red while the decor is full of pastille blues and greens and a nearby lamp is a soft yellow colour. This is combined with the music which is rather soft and childish aimed - which is later shown to be Awol on a children's show. The whole video seems to set "Awol and the milkmen" in a 70's home, but this is subverted by the body language of the children head-banging and Awol's censored language. This could also represent the entry of rock in the 70's, the children would symbolise the first generation of rock and also an introduction is the beginning of something, much like how the children are young and being introduced to world at the time. Awol's message could be to rebel from society and become the first rockers. The instruments used establish this setting further - there are no electronic instruments besides the Moog Synthesiser and the Microphone, the guitarists use acoustic guitars and so the rebellious nature is subverted to the acoustic instruments because they are not traditionally rock instruments.


Now, Save World Get Girl, on the other hand is very very similar to the kind of mise-en-scene I want to include, now I don't mean filming on a cheap 80's sci-fi set, the way that intertexuality is used to establish the genre (through games consoles, cheap tacky - yet awesome - looking aliens, rhythm game instruments, glasses, etc!) is fantastic!

These two images to the left represent just how proxemics have been used to create effect. In the first case the laptop is shown so we can see what "Dr Romulus" is reacting to, the goggles are also used to exaggerate his shock. The second image on the other hand shows the hierarchy of the band starting with the singer and guitarists closely followed. The drummer and keyboardist/midi controller are shown last which conforms to conventions of star image even though the electronic sound is arguably the defining aspect of the genre.

~ Jack ~