Music videos, paintings, films and other art forms are like pieces of written work in the way that they are meant to express something. Each “text” conveys a theme or tells a story, however, reoccurring visual objects are employed instead of repeated words for visual texts. These visual objects, motifs, can be very subtle or easily identifiable. In the music video “Hey Brother” by Avicii, the director utilizes color, camera angles, and transitions between photographs and shots to convey the innocence of children and contrast America to a war zone. 

The first scene of the music video is a Marine opening an old, rusty box to a collection of photographs, dog tags and medals, a folded American flag, and other miscellaneous objects. The photograph on the top is of a soldier in the side car of a motorcycle with another one in the background. The camera zooms in slightly on the photograph then flashes to a new scene while still focusing on the photograph. In this scene the photograph is zoomed out on, revealing the photograph has been placed in the spokes of a red bicycle wheel. This scene is mainly neutral colors, even the photograph is black and white (though appears tan because of aging), yet the red and blue pop out. The red and blue represent the war and loyalty. The objects that are red and blue are all related to the young boy. Through the initial scene with the toolbox, war is inevitably related to this story. Red can represent bloodshed and become a dominant color of a war. Blue represents loyalty and throughout the rest of the video, the loyalty of the boy to his brother is undeniable and vice versa. The loyalty the brothers have towards each other is seen throughout the video in the various scenes that capture moments between the brothers. These moments are connected through transitions prompted by a connection to a photograph. While the photograph could have blended in with the rest of the neutral colors, it did not because the focus of the camera was on the photograph. The camera angle highlights the photograph making the audience aware of the impact of the photographs and serves as a way to introduce a young soldier and a young boy. The immediate transition from the photograph to a boy riding his bicycle shifts the focus of the music video to the boy and his initial naivety to the situations around him. 

Another scene in the music video depicts the young boy being shown sparklers and a party full of people lighting them. The sparkler is lit and the music video switches to a war scene. The soldiers are running from something, presumably the explosions that are represented in the next war scene. The video switches back to the young boy, but displays the wing of an airplane being blown off when he waves the sparkler in the air. The video uses the actions in the scene to make a successful transition from one story to the other. The change from a party in America to the war zone contrasts the life of soldiers and everyday people, especially children. There is an innocence to the boy as he is given a sparkler, yet something like that on a larger scale can create so much damage as seen in the war scenes.

Near the end of the music video, it is revealed that the young boy’s “brother” is his father, whom he thinks of as an older brother. This fact is gathered from the boy asking, “Why do you have to go dad?” along with the change in the last picture. The picture changes from being a young boy with an older boy to a young boy with a man. The age change of the “brother” highlights the image most people conjure when thinking of the military and war: young men leaving home to fight. The age change also represents the loss of innocence and the young boy facing the reality that his father was leaving for war and, later, that he had died in the war. The camera focuses in on the photograph and does a close up on both stages of the photograph thus emphasizing the change more.

The photographs that are seen throughout the music video represent the past and the reminiscing of the young boy. The boy has to grow up when his “brother” leaves for war and the funeral scene woven throughout the video, but mainly captured at the end, represents the loss of his innocence. The photographs also serve to split the music video into the past and present and to contrast America and a war zone. Each of the photographs is staged so that there is a transition into a memory the boy has with his “brother”. The boy is focused on his “brother” and different childhood activities in each of these memories. The photographs depict a young soldier, one who still displays some childishness, yet is trapped in a war zone. The theme of a child losing their naivety is portrayed through these photographs, which are emphasized because of camera angles and contrasting color schemes. The memories all focus on the boy being happy and blue and red being the brightest surrounding colors. The camera zooms out in the end to see a Marine presenting the folded flag to the young boy, who is the only civilian in attendance at the funeral. The death of the soldier signifies the death of the boy’s innocence creating an effective ending where the camera angle changed.  
