Music Video Analysis

Media manipulates the opinions, views and ideas of many people. Media can change ones perspective on their culture. Gender plays a major role on how the media tries to manipulate ones opinion. This music video gives a stereotypical view of the male gender and how males react to the end of a relationship. In the music video “It Ends Tonight” by the All American Rejects, a relationship is coming to an end. It is about a guy who is breaking up with his girlfriend. In the video it shows that he cares about his girlfriend but they cannot be together. He has too many thoughts inside him and the relationship is not going to work. He is sad that the relationship is ending, but he knows it has to.

This music video begins with a man playing the piano. It is beginning to get dark, and the sun is setting. The man is part of a band, but he is upset and needs to be alone. As he is singing the song, the anguish in his face is very visible. He eventually leaves his piano and goes into a fireworks store. He starts throwing as many fireworks as he can into his shopping cart. When he leaves the store, he places the fireworks in a field and starts lighting them. As the fireworks are exploding, the singer joins his band and the music picks up. When the fireworks end, the music ends, and the singer walks away with his band.

In the opening scene, the main singer is playing the piano in a large open desolate field. The only things visible in the picture are a couple shrubs and dusty blowing dirt, with mountains in the background. The piano is in the middle of nowhere. This scene shows the loneliness of the singer. The anguish on his face shows how completely torn apart he is feeling. He is dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, which shows that he doesn’t really care what he looks like at the time. He is too depressed inside and his emotions are controlling him. It is late afternoon, the sky is very cloudy, and the sun is setting. This sets the mood to be very cloudy and dreary. It is gloomy and sad. The setting of the music video plays a key role in identifying the male’s status of the breakup. When the main singer is alone in the field, it shows he feels alone in the relationship with his girlfriend. His friends are watching him from a van and they realize that he needs to be alone working out his feelings. They stay close enough in case he needs support, but keep their distance to let him work it out by himself. When the main singer is in the fireworks store, he just starts grabbing bunches of fireworks, not looking or caring what he is doing. This shows that when going through a break up, the male does not think about his actions, he just acts. This is not only the stereotype of the male but also his friends, when a male goes through a break up, friends usually give him time to think things out but are there for him incase he needs his friends.

Lighting plays a major role in this music video. With music video starting off with the sun just setting and the sky becoming darker is the main key with lighting in the video. The night comes and the main character goes to a fireworks store. He pulls the stores glass doors open. The glass doors reflect the dark, gloominess from the outside. Even when the main character walks into the store, the light in the store is not very bright. While he is in the store, the setting reverts to the outdoors where his band is assembling and setting up. The sky is very dark, but the ground is lit up as if there is only a single spot light above them. When they show him walking out of the store, he walks past a gas station. It is dark around the gas station, but the lights burning in the gas station brighten up only certain parts of the screen. The main singer brings the fireworks over to the band. As he spills the fireworks onto the ground, the song slows. The sky above them is still very dark. He begins to light the fireworks and the song becomes louder and faster. The fireworks start exploding, and they brighten up the sky. The darkness of the sky brings out the light and brightness of the fireworks. The band continues to sing as all the fireworks are going off above them. Then morning comes and the sky brightens up. As the sun starts to brighten the sky, the song ends with the band singing, “When darkness ends tonight, it ends tonight.” The darkness of the sky ends by the sky lighting up which symbolizes the relationship has ended. This shows the stereotype of the male gender, because when a male goes through a break up he feels dark inside and is angry. The fireworks and brightness shows the male releasing the anger and then when all the anger is out, he brightens up.

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