Over two million teenagers between the ages of twelve and seventeen run away from home every year; eighty-percent of these runaways are female (Brandongaile.com). The song Runaway Love, was written by Ludacris and features Mary J. Blige; the music video was released in 2006. The main scenes of the video are shot under an underpass. The underpass represents safety and protection. Every verse in the song tells a story about a girl; the girls are different ages and races, but all of them are dealing with some type of abuse. This shows viewers that this is an issue that effects everyone. People are unaware of the seriousness of this issue, but this video and song was produced to change that.

In the first scene of the video, Mary and Ludacris are walking through an empty, deserted underpass (0:17).  An underpass is a road or pedestrian tunnel passing under another road or a railroad (Dictionary.com). In this scene, they walked slow with stern faces, this made the mood of the video very serious. The use of close-up shots allowed viewers to see the emotion in their faces. The fact that the underpass was empty made the viewers feel alone. The feeling of abandonment is common among runaways. They run away because they can’t get real love from their own families and friends; they feel neglected.  The walls were covered in missing persons’ posters and candles lined the bottom of the walls. Ludacris was looking around while he was walking through the underpass, he was looking at the posters. There were layers of posters, not all of them were old. Some of the posters were stained with dirt and rain giving the impression that they had been there a while. The older posters represent the older runaways. They did a few close-up shots of the posters; the close-up shots allowed viewers to read them. Reading the posters appealed to viewer’s emotions, it made things personal. Some of the posters had “Help, please”, written on them in capital letters and black marker (0:19). This gave viewers the sense of urgency. Candles lined the walls; most of them were burnt out, but a few of them flickered. The darkness of the underpass could represent the death of the runway; or their family members losing hope. The flickered candles were under certain posters. People usually do this when a loved one goes missing because they want them to follow the light home. This give the person’s family a sense of hope. The wind blew some posters across the ground. The camera man did close-up shots of the ground when Ludacris stepped on of the posters (0:04). He didn’t stop to pick up the paper or anything, he just kept walking. This shows how runaways are often forgotten and neglected. Ludacris and Mary’s facial expressions were stern and serious, they showed no emotion.

In the last scene, the underpass was filled with girls of different ages and races. This showed viewers that this is an issue that effects all girls; it doesn’t matter how old or what you are. The girls were runaways. There were close-up shots of their faces, they all looked sad and hopeless. No one wants to run away, the girls just wanted to feel safe. They wore tattered clothes and had bags under their eyes, they looked drained. When girls runaway, some of them sleep in shelters; but most of them are forced to live on the streets. They move around and don’t get much sleep. That is why the girls look tired and ungroomed. Each of the girls had a candle in their hand. The candle light was lighting up the underpass, they were having a candle light vigil. Candle light vigils are a nonviolent way to raise awareness of a cause and to motivate change, as well as uniting and those supporting those attending the vigil (Wikipedia). They can also be used as a symbol of hope. For example, family members may hold a candlelight ceremony to show their hope for a safe return or to raise awareness to their loved ones being missing. Even though the girls were dealing with dark times in their lives, they still had hope. The light represents the girls’ hope. They want change, they want to go home. Mary was singing to the girls in this scene. She said, “Don’t keep running away” (4:16). There was a close-up shot of Mary’s face in this scene. Her face was filled with emotion; she was trying to get a point across. She wanted the girls to know that running away was not the answer. Ludacris says, “… Sometimes I feel like running away myself” (4:30). He tells the girls this to let them know that they are not alone; he understands how they feel. He told the girls to close their eyes.  “…When we come back everything is going to be okay, now open your eyes” (Ludacris 4:35- 4:42). He is telling the girls that things are going to better when they return home. When the girls opened their eyes, they seemed relieved. Close-up shots showed a few girls having smiles on their faces (4:43). Missing person’s posters fell to the ground (4:45). The falling posters could represent girls that are no longer missing, girls that returned home. The underpass was empty again, but it was filled with candle light. The light represented hope and reassurance; it made the audience feel like everything was going to be okay. 

This video was produced to bring awareness to the issue of teen runaways. The use of different shots allowed us to see the emotion of the different character’s faces. The lighting of the underpass changed throughout the video; it helped set the tone in each scene. In the beginning, the underpass was dark and empty. The only source of light was the candle lights along the bottom of the walls. Eventually, the underpass was lit with candlelight and filled with girls.  The girls in this scene were runaways. They were different ages, races, sizes, etc. Sadly, they were all being forced to think that hell was a place called home. The girls ran away to get away from their bad situations; they just wanted to feel safe and protected. The underpass was a safe haven for them. When all the runaways filled the underpass, it was a sign of refuge. Refuge is a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble. This made the girls feel safe. They realized that they were not alone.  In the last scene of the video, the underpass was empty; but it was filled with light. The underpass being dark in the beginning represented being unaware of the issue of runaways. The video ended with a shot of the underpass being empty, but filled with candle light. The underpass being lit represented bringing light to the issue of runaways in America. 
