Analysis of music video, Theory of a Deadman - not meant to be, directed by Tony Petrossian.

The first shot we see of this video is a medium close-up of a wine rack hitting the floor and a couple of wine bottles breaking and wine pouring all over the floor. This doesn’t really tell us much about the style of the video or about the song but the next shot is a lot more revealing. The next shot we see is a close up of a glass table with a few glasses on it and a plant, but in the background we can see Tyler Connolly, the lead singer from theory of a deadman. He is out of focus and is clearly not the main focus of the shot. A glass of drink is then thrown into the centre of the table, we can see it smash, and all of the objects on the table fall through the broken table. I think the director has decided to use inanimate objects to try to show the emotion that the person in question is feeling. I think the table represents that his relationship is falling through and its something that cant be undone. I think the next show is a good representation of the man in question falling to pieces and that when his relationship started to break he started to break to, as the next shot is a close up of a small mirror landing on the ground and the glass shattering into lots of pieces and in the reflection of the mirrors we see Tyler. It seems as though before fully introducing the character the director shows his emotion using inanimate objects whilst Tyler (the character) makes small appearances in the background and mirror as it is almost like he is being slowly eased into the story. The next shot is of Tyler and a woman standing in what is clearly their apartment and Tyler is being pushed backwards by the woman. I think the main use of this shot was to make sure that the audience understand the video is about the breakdown of a relationship by actually showing a couple arguing. Although it does tell us more about the couple as the apartment they are in is very tall and very large so we know they are going to be quite a well off couple which could either mean that one of them depends on the other and uses a lot of their money or it could mean that they are both independent people and need a lot of space. I would say its the space thing as the apartment is not only very big but very open as well with loads and loads of windows, although these could just be so that the audience can see the amazing view to make the piece look nice. The apartment is also completely white, the windows, walls, floor, everything is white, and white is a very dull, plain, boring colour, so this colour could be used to describe the couples relationship. The next shot is of what appears to be a fish tank possibly at the top of a flight of stairs. The fish tank is full of water and is seen falling down the stairs and smashing as all of the water pours out of the fish tank. This seems to me as though it represents the emotions of the couple, it represents the lack of communication and keeping your feelings bottled up about how you really feel about the relationship, so the smashing of the fish tank is representative of the couple arguing and letting all of their emotions out and maybe telling each other how they really feel about the relationship. The next shot is an over the shoulder shot of the woman standing in front of the man and tearing off a beaded necklace she is wearing, causing it to break and leading to the next shot of an extreme close-up of the beads from the necklace hitting the floor. We can assume that the necklace was a gift from Tyler. Then we go back to the over the shoulder shot as we see the woman tilt her head towards the floor with an expression of extreme sadness. The next shot we see is an extreme close up of a drop of liquid hitting the floor of the apartment. We can assume that this drop is a teardrop from the woman, which is a representation of sadness and the pain she must be feeling from the relationship. The next few shots are just of the band playing their instruments in the same apartment. The main focus is on the Lead singer (Tyler Connolly) although he is positioned in the right hand side of the frame, but this is just to show the audience the view from the apartment to set the background and having a few of the other band members in view but still having Tyler in the foreground. The next shot we see is a long shot of the woman walking away from Tyler and Tyler standing watching her walk away. This makes it seem as though she is the one who is leaving him and he may not want her to leave. Then there is a quick shot of the broken mirror again just to remind the audience of how her leaving is making him fall to pieces and then we go back to the band playing instruments. Again, Tyler starts in the right of the frame but he soon reaches centre frame as the camera pans around him in a close-up of his face. Then there are two shots of guitar close-ups from the other band members and then we go back to the initial shot we had of Tyler’s face, before we go back to the shot of the woman walking away from Tyler again. We then cut to a wide shot of Tyler sitting on the floor in his apartment surrounded by loads of broken objects, as Tyler looks and the camera and lip syncs the words. Tyler is centre framed in this shot and is the main focus but he is not the foreground of the shot. There are a few broken objects on the floor in the foreground of the shot, the main one of those being the mirror from earlier that was used to represent his emotion of falling to pieces. This tells the audience that he is kind of giving up hope and he surrounded by all his broken objects (emotions). A close-up of his face in the next shot shows his emotions as he is shot with a look of despair on his face. Then we have an extreme close-up on the broken pieces of mirror, glass and other broken objects on the floor, before we cut to another close up of the mirror laying broken on the floor, this is because the mirror is the main focus throughout the video as this is the biggest representation of Tyler’s emotions and how he is falling to pieces. We then have a long shot of the woman driving out of the driveway of her house. I think this shot has been used purely to show that she is leaving. Then we go back to another shot of Tyler singing, which is basically identical to the other close-up of his face used whilst he was singing. The next shot is a mid shot of the woman in the car, it is shot from the passenger seat. After another panning, mid shot of Tyler singing we have an interesting over the shoulder shot of Tyler sitting in front of the fireplace. In this shot we see Tyler holding a picture and throwing it into the fire. We cant see what it is a picture of but its quite clear that it must be a picture of him and the woman, or just of the woman. Tyler throwing this picture into the fire is symbolic of his feelings towards his relationship with the woman, it says that he realises that it’s not going to work and there isn’t anything he can do about it. Fire is used to show a strong feeling of despair as when something is burnt it cannot be undone, fire is very representative of destruction as something that has been destroyed in a fire cannot be fixed. So this is being applied to his relationship with the woman and he feels that’s it is beyond repair. This is when something interesting happens and as the picture is about to land in the fire the shot is paused and an effect is added to make it look like it is being watched on a video or something as the blurry lines you get on videos appear on the screen. Then the shot is rewound and the picture starts to go back towards Tyler’s hand, but before the picture lands back into Tyler’s hand the shot is fast forwarded and rewound a few times to make the picture go further towards the fire and then back towards his hand. I think this is the most important shot used in the music video, as this is the point where everything turns around. This is a very representative and symbolic shot with the picture being representative of Tyler and the woman’s relationship, the fire being representative of their relationship being ended and Tyler’s hand being representative of making the relationship work. From the way the shot has the blurry video lines going across the shot says to me that it is representative of being watched, as if Tyler has the controller and it is his choice as to whether the relationship works or not. The fact that the pictures ends up in Tyler’s hand at the end of the shot shows that he chose to try and make it work. This is the point where the whole tone of the video is changed. This is shown by having a shot of the wine rack with all the bottles on that we saw in the first shot laying on the floor broken, only the shot is played backwards and the bits of glass that came from the wine bottles starts to piece back together. The wine rack is symbolic of the breakdown of their relationship, and when it smashed, it was representative of their relationship falling to pieces and being destroyed. So by playing this shot backwards and making it appear that the pieces are putting themselves back together, it is representative of the couple overcoming their problems and wanting to make it work. This ideology is carried on throughout a lot of other shots used in the video such as when we saw the mid shot of the woman driving in her car, we then see the car moving backwards, giving the audience the idea that the woman is going back to Tyler. The same representations are used with the shot of the glass table being smashed being played backwards and making it look as though the table is piecing itself back together. The next few shots are made up of switching between close-ups of objects we he saw breaking piecing themselves back together, and close-ups and mid shots of the band playing their instruments. Although a few of the shots that are of the band playing their instruments use a different style of cinematography, they are filmed using a handheld camera which we haven’t seen yet in the video. The use of a handheld is that it gives the shot that real point of view aspect and gives the piece a much stronger element of realism, which makes the audience feel more involved and feel like they are being brought into the action. The rest of the video is just what we have already seen but being played backwards so we see the woman driving backwards in the car, and instead of her walking out of the house we see her going back to the house. The video ends with everything that was broken being back to its original condition. The reason everything was breaking and falling apart in the first place was because it was representative of the breakdown of their relationship. So when everything starts to piece itself back together it represents the couple building back up their relationship. The shot that we saw earlier with Tyler being pushed away by the woman is the shot that we end up on, but as everything is going backwards it means the ending could be different, and instead of the woman going back and pushing Tyler again she goes back and wraps her arms around him instead of using them to push him away.

Ideology
The above analysis is written for the music video ‘not meant to be’ by the band ‘theory of a deadman’. The main ideology of this music video is the breakdown and build-up of a relationship. Looking at the narrative structure of this music video it is clear that the main goal Tyler wants is happiness. From what we see on the screen it appears as though happiness for Tyler is to get back with the woman who has left him, and that “…taking one step forward…” is him and his partner sorting out their problems and “…taking two steps back…” is the woman leaving him. This seems like it’s the case but once you listen to the song the lyrics seem to contradict the video a bit. To me the song says that maybe happiness for him is not being with the woman. Tyler uses lyrics such as “Nobody wins when everyone’s losing”, which could mean that neither of them is happy being in this relationship and that it’s best for the both of them to just go their separate ways. In addition, Tyler also sings lyrics like “its like one step forward and two steps back” and because the video literally does start to go forward (with all the objects breaking) but then goes even further back (the objects piecing themselves back together). The main goal in this song is the idea of finding happiness. In addition, it seems that maybe for Tyler happiness is not being together. When he uses such lyrics as “I’m starting to see, maybe were not meant to be.” He is saying that it is already too late to try to fix the relationship and he knows they would both be happier if they separated. If we look at the narrative structure of this video, it seems to me that happiness for Tyler is ending the relationship, and his “…taking one step forward…” means taking one step in the direction he wants to go, which could be breaking up, which is represented by the breaking of all the objects. And that “…taking two steps back…” could be him just giving into the pain of breaking up and getting back with the woman to save the hassle when really its not what he wants.
I think that the reason the video is made to almost contradict or juxtapose the song is so that more people can relate to the video. People who are going through either of the types of relationship I have described will be able to identify with the video.

Editing
Like nearly all music videos the cuts are quite frequent and fast, you don’t really tend to see shots hold for quite long in music videos. The interesting thing about the editing of this music video that all of the shots that aren’t of the band singing, for example the objects falling and the woman leaving, are all in slow motion, and all of the shots that are of the band singing are panning shots, the camera is not placed still. I think that the only reason slow motion is used is just so that cinematically the piece is a lot better watch, I think this is also the reason why panning shots are used to film the band.

Cinematography
Most of the shots used in this music video are close ups and mid shots, which is very common for music videos as this allows for the things of importance to be focused on more in order to help tell the story of the video. Foreground and backgrounds are used a lot in this video to tell the story, for example whenever there is an object breaking to show Tyler’s emotion, instead of just filming the object breaking, the director has put the breaking image in the foreground of the frame, but still had Tyler in the background. This is done just to really drive home the face that the breaking objects are representative of Tyler’s emotion.

Mise-en-scene
Many of the props that have been used appear to be quite expensive. The apartment that the video is filmed in is certainly a very expensive, luxury place. The clothes that they are wearing back up the idea that the couple are wealthy. They are wearing quite smart, expensive looking clothes. I think the wealth of the couple could be used to show that they are both very independent people and this is the reason they are having such problems. I also think that another reason the couple have been dressed in smart expensive clothes is that this stops them from looking as though they are just relaxing around the house. It is clear that there is something wrong from the first time we see them as it feels awkward and uncomfortable due to the fact they are not dressed like a couple who are sitting around the house enjoying each others company. The whole piece is very well lit, and due to the fact that the walls and most of the apartment is white makes the whole video look even brighter. The colour white has connotations of death associated with it, which is why I am lead to think that maybe the reason many things are white is that it represents the death of their relationship.

Conclusion
I think the Video does a vey good job in promoting the band and the song. Cinematically the video is very eye cathing and interesting to watch with the spectacular veiws from the apartment and the beautiful woman and the slow motion effects of watching things smash everywhere.

Reveiws
The video has received mainly very positive feedback from people veiwing the video. They have been described by fans as being 'unstoppable' and many people reffer to other songs by the band Theory of a Dead man and say who much they like those. Newmusicreviews.net have described the song/video as 'A little less “rock style” than most of their releases so far, but it’s nice to hear a different side of them. 8/10'