Case Study 3- EVANESCENSE 'MY IMMORTAL'

The music video for "My Immortal" begins with Lee sitting on a fountain. Her legs and arms are covered with bandage as she puts them in the water. She is wearing a long white dress and is seen walking around the fountain, surrounded by children and other people. Shots of Moody follow and he is wearing a suit and his feet are bare. His head slumps forward as he delicately plays piano, and he later picks up his jacket as if he is about to leave. When the bridge starts, the band is shot performing in one room while Moody is in another, playing on the piano. Throughout the video, Lee is never filmed on ground level. She walks along the ledge of a fountain, sits in a tree and sings lying on top of a building to show that she is basically dead but alive singing a song. It's her spirit that is alive that never dies because she never hits the ground.

The music video is black and white throughout the whole video which relates to the song because it is a very sad and emotional song. The cutting rates are very slow as it is not an energetic song. There are many extreme close ups to show Lee's facial expressions and her hand that is wrapped with a bandage and many other things. Extreme close ups are usually used to show emotion and add tension to specific areas and this video does this very well. The black and white video does not have a strong contrast it is always washed out grey which makes the video look effortless and it does not have a focal point. It is almost how you would see something after crying so much. 

There is no eye-contact which I usually think is important to have in music videos. Lee never looks straight into the camera as if she is hiding/ running away from something "Your presence still lingers here, and it won't leave me alone". Almost as if she does not want to face what is waiting for her. In this case she is running away from herself as she is the spirit in the video( it makes sense after watching the video). 

The song is performance based and narrative too because in some scenes we can see Lee lip syncing however in other scenes we can see Moody who is the man playing a piano and doing other things. Also the kids playing outside all tells a story.

There any many shallow depth of fields used focusing on one part and blurring other parts. For example focusing on Lee and blurring out the background.