Mise-en-Scene

These are the main scenes throughout the video:

• The desk scenes (live action)
• The blank background scenes (animation)
• The underwater scenes (animation)
• The fighting scene (animation) 
• The wedding scene (animation)

The desk scenes - The camera remains close to the female protagonist, symbolizing the constant fear being watched and judged. She is sat at a desk surrounded by props (lamp, pencils, magazine, ect.) providing a claustrophobic feel, making the audience feel as uncomfortable as the character feels. It is only when she leaves the ripped magazine and mask behind and leaves and she feels free from her fears.

The blank background scenes - These scenes include nothing but the characters and the occasional item (love heart, roller coaster). This puts more focus on the characters, yet the idea of an open space surrounding the characters gives a more refreshing feel compared to the previous introduction live action scene. This symbolizes an opening to a new world and a new perspective on life, creating a fresh start. 

The underwater scenes - These parts involve the most character interaction, colours and activities and development of the plot. The contrast between this and the previous scene shows how bright and positive the world can be as long as you don't let the negatives hold you back. 

The fighting scene - This is the only scene that involves any hint of violence, and rather than focus on dominating colours such as red or black, the background is once again white. This is to keep focus on the characters while showing nothing in the background, suggesting that the battle with society and the high expectations will always be there. This is shown with the blank background giving no indication of time passing, showing the problem has always been there. However to keep in mind the target audience and positive message in the song, the battle is not taken too seriously, using intertextuality to reference fighter video games such as "Street Fighter" and other games in this genre, to include not only females but males from the target audience (although this does not mean that males will not like the childish character designs or that females will not like video games). The battle is very quick, making it humorous along with the fact that a young male is tapping his forehead against the Earth in order to defeat it. This technique also suggests that the need to be perfect has be embedded in our heads by the world around us, therefore this mind set must be stopped. The fighting reference goes further with a character select screen with both the male and the world having wild blonde hair with a piece of cloth tied around their head, which may remind some of battles in Japanese anime. As for the game reference, there is a health bar for each character with power level bars showing how powerful they are with the male's being thirty six, while it world's is (another reference) over nine thousand. This, in theory, means that the world wins however; it is the male's strong will power that breaks the world.   

The wedding scene - This scene is gives an upbeat, positive tone, with all of the characters together and getting along without fear of violence. They are dressed for the main protagonist's wedding; however, they are still themselves and have not changed because society demands it. The colours are bright yet not over bearing, showing a peace. This reflects the positivity in the song.