Benjamin Francis Leftwich - Box of stones

Benjamin Francis Leftwich – Box of stones

Cinematography	Editing	Sound	Mise en scene
- Extreme close up on guitar - Establishing shot of the countryside - Low angle shots show the importance of the man - Tilts and pans prolong the shot and give it a sense of movement, it shows more of the surroundings - Handheld camera could show confusion or just resemble the human eye to make the audience feel as though they are there. - Extreme long shot to show the surroundings and how small we are in comparison to nature, it also shows a journey - The graphic match on the hands.	- Linear shots - Continuity editing - Slow cuts matching the pace of the song - Slow motion of the flowing river to resemble the mood of the song - Fade to black cut to show an end to that part of the narrative	- Diegetic acoustic guitar - Non diegetic acoustic guitar through the narrative - Non diegetic singing throughout	- Acoustic guitar - Low natural lighting - Set outside in nature - Wild animals to reinforce the idea of nature - Man and woman resembling the traditional heterosexual relationship portrayed in music videos - The man and woman wear woolly jumpers, this could connote warmness and safety - Big hills are shown often to show the journey the man is going on and how it can be difficult but he is overcoming them - A bag prop to signify that the man is travelling - Rain clouds connote hard times ahead but change to blue skies by the end of the video which resembles that he has overcome the journey - Apple falling from the tree could resemble Newton finding the theory of gravity and this man is finding his own theories and ideas from the journey - Partly performance narrative

This music video follows the conventions of media language for its genre and for its form. This video is partly performance and partly narrative, this is conventional in all music genres as it is an opportunity to show off the artist while at the same time keeping the audience engaged with a story to follow. Many extreme close ups are used in this video, especially on the acoustic guitar. This highlights the performance elements in the video while conforming to the indie folk genre which is known for the use of acoustic guitars. The camera is handheld throughout the majority of this video; this could connote confusion or uneasiness or on the other hand could just be trying to recreate the human eye to make the audience feel as though they were in the set.

There is a slow motion edit on the river, this technique is used a lot in the indie genre as it slows the pace of the video and gives a more calm and relaxed impression while maybe being used to also match the pace of the song. Continuity edits are used to simplify the narrative and make the story easy to understand especially if there isn’t an obvious plot to the narrative.

There has been a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds in the video. The acoustic guitar playing at the beginning is diegetic to reinforce the performance side and to draw attention to the artist, however after this all the other music in non-diegetic and the focus is drawn to the narrative instead of the performer.

A man and woman feature in the music video, this is very conventional of the form as most videos appeal to the audience through the representation of a traditional heterosexual relationship. The use of both a male and female will sexually appeal to both genders and sexualities and perhaps bring a wider audience and will fit more aspects of the uses and gratification theory. For example, the close ups of the girl's face can be seen as voyeurism to attract a male audience where the target may be more aimed towards women.

  The use of wild animals in the video reinforces the nature aspect and appeal to primal instincts. You see this a lot in the indie genre that focus’ more on the simplicity of nature than material items like cars and money.

Props used include a back pack which would connote that the artist is on a journey. This genre uses the idea of ‘journeys’ a lot as it gives a simple yet affective narrative. In one shot the man is seen dropping an apple, this could resemble newton finding his theory of gravity and could reflect that the man is making his own discoveries on his personal journey. 

The use of a graphic match that show repetitive shots of the artist's hands is also very conventional of the Indie Folk genre. The shot being specifically of his hands throughout the narrative shots, draws the audiences attention back to the performance shots where the artist is playing the guitar. This is done purposely so that the audience notice his talent (his ability to make music not only to sing but to play too). Further more this shows that the artist wants to be known for his talent and not for fancy advertising or promotional videos or even his looks (hence why the face is shown less). This is a common ideology of the Indie Folk genre that they want to be noticed for substance over style, contradicting the post modern idea that appearance is valued over function.