Music Video Analysis

The video that I chose is one of my favorite Jason Aldean songs, "Laughed Until We Cried."



I think the music video is a combination of narrative and conceptual. The video and images used tell us a story that the lyrics are trying to paint. They do so by short clips of video that relate what the verse is about. It is conceptual in the way that Jason Aldean is viewing these scenes as someone who is just passing by. It almost appears as though he is imagining the images, as though they are a dream.

The color throughout the video is very cool desaturated. The tone throughout the entire video are very light and airy as though you might be in a dream, which goes along with the storyline. All of the flash backs or scenes that he observes are very quick glimpses as though he is remembering what it was like. Throughout the video, you even notice that the focus is blurry. This makes the movement very fast. The shots that made up with video are mostly ones of depth.

I think the key moment in the video is in the last verse. As he did with the other scenes, it starts out like he is observing and watching these things happen. It then switches and he is finally placed into the scene with his daughter and is able to enter the story and claim it as his own.

There is a ton of movement throughout this entire video. The reason for this is because it switching from story to story, scene to scene. One thing I found interesting is that it all takes place along this beach and boardwalk. So although you are switching stories and at fast pace, it is all within the same setting.

The video both goes along with the story, but also reinterprets it in a new way. From the song and lyrics, you hear that Aldean seems to be describing these experiences that he has had. Although this true, he is not the one experiencing them in the video, rather, he is observing them. I think it is a great way to tell the story and gives it a lot of emotional context.