I chose to write about “The Day I Died” by Just Jack. The
song goes through talking about the best day he’s ever had in his life
and it just happens to lead up to the climax of being the day he died he only
flash backs in time to see his wife and kids at the very end once he’s dead to
say goodbye and that everything will be alright. There is another way to look
at this song however, he could already be dead and the whole video is a flash
back through his day until we see him after he gets hit by the taxi and we see
his wife and kids in his memories.
The form of the story impacted me because the camera didn’t distract the
audience. It stayed in view of the people the song was talking about. I didn’t
have to worry about maybe seeing if the camera would turn and show the person
or scenario. It all seemed very first person, and when a song is sung in
narrative form it bothers me when it’s not. The narrator is trying to address everyone
saying you never know when you will die so enjoy what you have and in the end
everything will be alright. He is also talking about how even if you are having
the best day and nothing could bring you down best careful look out for yourself
and others.
This music video takes place in many locations including: his kitchen,
work place, the bus stop, a convenient store, the street he takes to work and then
dies on, also we see him on his favorite bench at his favorite park. The main
character in the narrative is the man who dies at the end he also is the
narrator of the story. We see many people float in and out of the scenes or
pictures of his life and that’s because they play a part in his life. There are
no characters that are not human. The main character’s traits don’t really
change over the course of the narrative. Except he was having a usually good
day and when he missed the bus he went to grab beer and cigarettes and forgot
to look where he was going.
The narrator does adequately connect the various elements of the
narrative to one another to create a cogent and meaningful narrative. The
narrator’s attitude throughout the narration is upbeat and happy. As it says
repeatedly in the song “The day I died was the best day of my life.” The narration
used non-diegetic sound; the song played in the background let us know as the
audience what was happening. I think the producers and the narrator are trying
to address everyone saying you never know when you will die so enjoy what you
have and in the end everything will be alright. They achieved this by having
the music come across as happy, hopeful, and even though it’s talking about a
dark subject they tried to bring joy to it. The values being projected in this
video are repeated, some of the values include: enjoy life you don’t know when
it will end, cherish each moment and find the joy or positive side to
everything in your day.
