Analysing music videos - Hurt by Johnny Cash

The video starts with the opening location set in a big house. The next few shots shows Johhny Cash's wealth by showing statues and valuable features in his house. He is wearing black because he is known as the 'Man in black'. He is looking into the distance which represents that he is recalling past events. (He is looking into the camera). Artificial lighting highlights the main features in the shot such as his face and his guitar. The next shot cuts to his museum which shows his level of success. It is closed to the public which could show his fame has dissapeared slowly.

When the word 'I remember' comes up, the flashback occurs and archive footage is shown to the audience. The footage is likely to be documentaries about him and home videos combined. This shows his economic wealth as he could afford a video camera in the 1960's. It goes from close ups of him to flashbacks of him. After the line 'Everyone I know goes away', the shot cuts to his Mother passed away. There are shots of live performances as he is recalling his past. The museum is empty which could link to the fact he is empty inside. This could symbolize his life, and that he is old and not remembered any more.

There are broken records in the museum which are quite valuable. The artifacts of the museum have being brought back to his home. His wealth is highlighted by the fact he has posh food on the table that he hasn't even. This reinforces the fact he doesn't care about his wealth. - 'My empire of dirt'. He sees his wife when he says 'My sweetest friend'. He pours red wine on the food which is a connotive of blood, which ultimately shows his past. He purs the wine (blood) on the food which could represent his last supper whcih also refers to the fact he was pretending to be a Godly figure in his time of fame. - 'I wear this crown of thorns'. He was a religious man but is reflecting on the negative points in his life. At the end it shows lots of scenes of when he was young. - His first live performance. At the end the lights go out which symbolizes the end of his life. He then shuts down the piano lid whcih also signifies it is the end of his music career and possibly his life.

Documentary - Codes and conventions

Tips

• Opening must capture the audiences attention as quickly as possible
• Central question of the documentary has to be posed at the beginning in order to communicate to the audience what the programme is about. (e.g. Will we survive a double dip recession)
• Some quick snippets of interviews with good resposnes can draw audiences in
• Incidental music or evan a soundtrack, relevant song should usually accompany the opening sequence during some visual montage. The music however shouldn't override the voice over.

Actuality - Filming real events as they happen is a n example of a convention in a real documentary, but this could prove difficult with certain things like trying to film a hurricane or an explosion in Iraq and thus you need archive footage.






Fly on the wall - This is when you film real people as they do real things focusing on their lives. In terms of your documentary you may be able to film things like people having a genuine conversation about an issue relevant to your topic, a live sporting event, following an individual around as they do a job etc.






Voice over - Most documentaries have a voice over, a narration of what the programme is about, giving key information and introducing the topic of debate







Graphics - Documentaries often used graphics with written text. Maps, drawings, still photographs can be incorporated into the opening sequence through Jpeg files. Graphics should also appear as a banner at the bottom of the screen when showing who your interviewee is and what they do for a living.







Interviews - An expert interview with someone who has ample knowledge of your topic and can give a clear insight into issues is vitally important. This could be a real expert, parents, students etc.

Vox pops - This is more of a random interview with ordinary people on the street with a hand held camera, with a microphone popping up asking people what they think about your topic.






Talking head - A shot of someone talking directly to the camera as a presenter of the documentary could also be used. This is called 'talking head'. The talking head is the authority figure and presents the fact.







Music - Music is critical for the opening sequence but the sound of the song or music should not dominate and override the sound of the voice over. You need to balance sound and images very carefully and fade them in appropriately.