The Fray – How To Save A Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjVQ36NhbMk

This video is about how people suffer from depression and that the way they deal with this is by substance abusing or self-injury, and by doing so it can push those who are close to you away. However all that this person needs is support. The Band member Isaac Slade recounted how he once worked as a mentor at a camp for troubled teenagers (Shelterwood in Denver). One particular teen, a musician, was subject to substance abuse, and most forms of 'advice' that he received were more of conditional and terse commands to stop resorting to drugs and self-injury or the people in his life would distance themselves from him (in fact, his best friend certainly did). Slade's opinion was that the boy simply needed support.

The song starts and after a few seconds and we hear the lyrics “it’s just a talk”, the image below is then displayed. This shows that although it is just a simple “talk”, that really the person who is suffering has a lot to say, almost shout because they have a lot of stuff bottled up just waiting to burst out.

Through the course of the music video it keeps cutting back to the performance of the band. Personally I think this is an effective technique to use because if you’re a fan of the artist then it is going to be easier to relate to them, moreover if you see them performing it makes the whole video more realistic. In addition to this, when they show the artist performing it gives off a much greater impression that they are the ones delivering this message, on more of a personal note.

Sometimes in music videos, they use imagery that has no cohesive connection to the lyrics or music themselves; sometimes images are placed for an effect. Hence this image below, it shows a woman holding a heart-shaped locket on her necklace with the typography that reads “8. Hold still” and this is referring to the “steps” he mentioned earlier in the song (This one being number eight). Images like this really do send messages; the image can be interpreted in many ways, as there is no right answer. My interpretation is that the woman is holding her heart; the message that reads “hold still” is like a reminder to her to not give in, to sit tight and keep that heart going.

The director has cleverly used other people in the video, all different in appearance, gender, ethnicity etc. It portrays a sort of message that says “You’re not alone” – by showing a variation of different people in the video shows that there are many other people out there in the same situation. This is a good technique because it will comfort anyone watching the video that can relate to it. On the third image you can see the word “Dad” that slowly drifts past her. This portrays the idea that her dad is slowly drifting away from her; she is losing him.

The director has used this small bit of footage of a caterpillar in motion. A lot of people know the story of how a caterpillar is ugly for the first stages of its life, however in time turns into a beautiful butterfly – This is like a hidden message within the story: in the beginning things are good, but in time things do get easier and better. In conclusion to this the director has used this caterpillar symbolism very well.

Shortly after they show this image

Previously in the music video we see the girl crying with the word “Dad” going past her face, this image we can see below is cohesive to the previous image. In this one she is really upset whilst holding an image to her dad, because we can now see what he looks like, as an audience we feel more sympathy towards her.

As you can see from the images I have used, in the music video the key colour is white and it is used in almost every shot. The colour white can give a deceived perception to the audience that there is a lot of space in the shot, this emphasises the idea that those people in the video are surrounded by empty space. This shos that these people are surrounded by no one, or in fact nothing at all; again it is another clever technique used by the director.

Towards the end of the song we see more positive photos of people smiling, and jumping with joy in contrast to the negative photos shown previous throughout the song. Moreover I believe it sends another message: that towards the end things get better (In relation to the caterpillar symbolism) – This image shows those who were upset earlier in the video, are now happy. This makes it more believable than using different people to look happy, otherwise the audience would be asking the question “what happened to those other people”.

(I used a different set of people in the video to show the negative photos, however the people in this image also feature in the video upset)

Overall I think this video is a success, because upon watching it, it does have an impact upon you. It leaves you feeling emotional, and if a video can make someone feel like that then surely it should be deemed a success. The director had a clear idea of what affect it would have on the audience and he has done that. On the other hand I believe that the music video is an important part when listening to this song, I believe if you heard the song without watching the video, then it wouldn’t have the same affect upon the audience.

On the other hand the music alone is good, it is well performed and has a contradictory upbeat kind of rhythm to it. However it still works very well with the music video and the whole narrative of the song. The use of the piano in this song has an amazing effect of making the song softer and sad, it works great with the narrative and the message they are trying to get across.