Show Me How official music video came out six years ago in 2019 - composed and directed by Men I Trust, it is constructed of warm-tone colours, and filled with strong lighting - it was one of their most famous piece of works. In the world of indie music, few songs manage to catch the complexities of intimacy and vulnerability quite like ‘Show Me How’ by Men I Trust. With each verse and chorus, the band tells the listener closer, not just to listen, but to feel, interpret, and relate.
If there’s one thing I have to mention about the music video, it is that instead of using the 16:9 ratio, Men I Trust decided to resize their MV, making it significantly smaller (which to me looks like a small triangle box) or just a bit of scale. When the frame is small, it tends to focus on the main character who is also the singer with a blurry and shacky background like a view of a drunk person (which I think is due to the lower fps); however, Emmanuelle Proulx is always in focus.
The music video contains two types of frames, so besides the box, there’s also a larger one which is smoother in fps.
The music video starts with 8 seconds of background noises, after that the video shows a black screen for one section before starting the music and showing the visual again. Here, we can see that the main character is wearing a creamy long-sleeve polar fleece jacket with a black canteen round handbag, comfortably styled with a white t-shirt - this can be seen as an interpretation of us viewer having a glimpse into the main character’s normal life where she’s not a singer, she does not need to put up glorious fashion items and bling-bling make-up combine with perfect hair. We are not her, we just happened to be there when she walked by and told her story. According to media enthusiasts, there are four main types of music videos, one of them being narrative; however, I don’t trust myself when I introduce this as that, since there’s no beginning, and for sure a cliffhanger.
Although this is an official music video, Men I Trust decided to save time from making another official lyric video by putting a yellow text at the bottom of the frame, helping the audience to visually understand the lyrics while having a party with their ears. The song delves into a desire for emotional intimacy that transcends physical presence. The lyrics seek to uncover not just shared experiences, but the deeper, more personal expressions of affection. Lines like "Show me how you smile, Tell me why your hands are cold" are not merely poetic phrases; they serve as gateways into the complex world of individual experiences and the unspoken stories that shape a person's inner self. These words invite us to explore the intricate maze of personal histories and silent narratives within each individual.
2/3 of the music video, the singer sang only in the tiny boxes, when they zoom into her face like she’s telling a story, when it changes to the wider frame, she does not lipsync to the lyrics sung at the time, building up a theory that the small frame is in her head, while the big frame is what the world, us, looking at her.
According to songmeaningsandfacts website: “It’s a narrative that captures the essence of a soul reaching out, craving the answers to love’s most tender questions. The words ‘Tell me how you loved before’ open a dialogue about past experiences, carrying the weight of desire for insight into a partner’s emotional landscape.”
Not until 2:25 minutes into the music video, does she sing in the big frame and goes silent in the small frame, indicating that she’s finally admitted outside that she misses her lover dearly. However, from that moment on in the small frame, the main character never once looks into the camera as if they are now scared of what is to come. She stopped smiling too, I noticed, that maybe that’s the price you have to pay to openly talk about how you feel.
Photo of the band, from The Music.
Music videos often serve as visual representations of the songs they accompany, adding an extra dimension to the overall artistic experience. So I found it quite attractive for Men I Trust to include only one type of transition: clear-cut. The video features a series of seamless cuts that create a sense of fluidity and continuity. This editing style mirrors the hypnotic and mesmerizing quality of the music itself, drawing the audience in and holding their attention throughout the entirety of the video. Furthermore, the use of cuts in the video serves to highlight key moments and themes in the song as I mentioned above about the lipsyncing part.
However, as I replayed and replayed, I found more editing traits: fade transition, and swirl effect. That transition creates a seamless flow between shots and enhances the dream-like quality of the visuals, creating a sense of otherworldliness that perfectly complements the dreamy and introspective nature of the music, while also putting more sauce into the “drunk person aspect” that I stumbled upon as a thought.