Paramore Brick by Boring Brick

Paramores 2009 video for Brick By Boring Brick, is a narrative video with heavy fantasy
elements and themes. There are a variation of shots used, long shots are mostly used but
medium shots and close ups are commonly
used throughout the video. The long shots
able the viewers to see all the detail and
understand the idea of the narrative. The
use of longs shots conforms to the fantasy
idea as it shows the scenery with bold and
bright colours. The close ups allow more
detail to be explored and understood, and
the medium shots bring a more realistic
side to the music video as it cuts out the fantasy element and shows everyday people (the
singer and the girl). The camera has been used to
give the impression that theyre being watched by
something which is flying, going with the repeated
image of the butterflies.
The music video would have had a large editing
process as the whole scenery would have been
done on a green scene. Meaning they can make the
colours as sharp, bold, bright and contrasted as they
like. Which they have done. The green screen means there is no limit to the images you can
create and have shown in your video, making fairly easy for them to produce this music
video scenery. Other than using and
correcting the green screen the editing would
have just been about cutting the shots
together and adding any effects. There is a
noticeable blur around the edges of the
frame when the child has entered the
fantasy world. Making it clear to the
audience that it isnt real.
The mise-en-scene for this video is fairly straight forward as everything conforms to the
fantasy idea and theme. The little girl is dressed in a light pink dress which is stereotypical
for a female girl. The butterfly wings represent her delicate and innocent nature, just like a
butterflys. The singer (Hayleigh) is dressed in white, with white hair, portraying her as pure
and she is there to help the child. This contrasts with the causal and boring clothes of the
male digging the grave, he is there to do the dirty work and you dont pay attention to him
too much as he is dressed in dull clothing and is
placed lower down in the shot, as the audience
needs to pay attention to the singer and child.
The setting, has a high contrast and saturation to
make the colours stand out more and make them
unreal, helping illustrate the fake/fantasy
theme.
Paramores 2009 video for Brick By Boring Brick,
falls under the following codes and conventions produced by the following theorists;
Goodwin: This video conforms to theory about the lyrics and visuals having a relationship.
As the song contains castle and other reference to a world that doesnt exist, therefore the
video is based in a world that doesnt exist.
Lynch; This is a narrative video
Gow; This video could be argued as conforming to two of Gows theories. The first being
the anti-performance piece, as there is no performance of the song. However, the song
could also be seen as conforming to the song and dance number theory as the singer is
highly likely to be lip syncing.