Continuation of Researching into Music Video's - Johnny Cash - Hurt.

We watched Johnny Cash's melancholy performance/narrative music video called Hurt. It straight away felt very emotional, down-beat and even quite depressing. In the twilight of his career, Johnny Cash's masculine voice is filled with pain and remorse which flows very well with the raw acoustic guitar he is playing. We see archive footage of his life/ home videos throughout the music video to force genuine meaning and to provoke our emotions to be let out.


It starts with an establishing shot, which is a medium long shot of Johnny Cash performing in his house with his guitar.


There is then a close up of an aged Johnny Cash. His face looks worn and tired.


It flicks to a close up of the American flag, showing that he lived the "American Dream", he was an American Icon, a musician, a rockstar in his day.


Then we see a close up of the "House of Cash Museum - closed to the public" - this proves that there was a period of time where this man was a genuine idol, he had a museum of his belongings and meaningful merchandise, now his followers have aged with him, and maybe that generation have slowly disappeared.


He is shown again, medium long shot, in a very smart black suit. This is relevant mise en scene, as he was known as the "man in black". His house around him is cluttered, dark, antiques are seen - it is almost showing his whole fortune and fame in this one medium long shot of him in his sitting room.


We then see Johnny open his piano for what it seems like one final time, but when he sings about the "needle" he looks down in shame (close up of face in darkness).


We see black and white archive home video footage of Johnny Cash on a steam train, he seems happy, satisfied and content.


Then as he sings, "Everyone I know, goes away in the end" and we see a close up of a photograph of his mother hung up on the wall in his house (sepia brown tint).


We switch to the inside of the Johnny Cash Museum and there is a close up of a broken Golden Record (which you would get when you sell 250000 copies of his music) - so this must have been a huge achievement, but now it is left abandoned and meaningless.


There is a long shot of a prison, to reveal that he had actually gone to prison and he use to visit them regularly as he would represent the underclass people.


There is then a medium high angled shot of Johnny Cash in some sort of movie saying "You stay away from me here" this seems as though he is talking to the Devil.


We then see a close of a lobster, caviar etc - showing he has lived a prosperous life.


Then there again is archive footage of Johnny Cash with his child visiting his old small house (long shot).


 They switch to a long shot showing money, wealth and a huge meal on the table in front of him. It looks a lot like some sort or reenactment of the Last Supper, except Jesus has his disciples around him, but Johnny has no one. There is a close up of Johnny pouring red wine from a glass onto the table - this symbolises that fame and fortune means nothing unless you have love from your family and friends (this is shown when he sings "you can have it all, my fortune of dirt").


Then we see a close up of Johnny Cash and his wife - it looks like they were on their wedding day.


The next time he sings "my sweetest friend" we see a long shot of Johnny sitting down singing and the staircase behind him with his wife looking down at him on his right hand side (much like an angel, or maybe with the Christian ideology, she could be seen as Mary on the right hand side of Jesus).


We again see archive footage of the Johnny Cash laughing with his wife, then a long shot of a flood - this must have had some sort of impact on his life years ago.


We see a fast montage of archive movies of Christ being sacrificed - maybe this symbolises Johnny Cash feeling that he has been sacrificed be critics. Then we see him crying.


We see a medium close up of a dove, this reveals freedom, or maybe his longing for freedom.


The penultimate shot we see is archive footage of one of the first on stage performances the young Johnny Cash had done, it then fades to black.. Finally, the last shot is a medium long shot of the aged Johnny Cash closing his piano, and stroking it lovingly - this is the closure of his career.