Homecoming (Music Video) Short Film Review

★★★★

Directed by: #NicoleRinaldi

Starring: #AmericaJayne

Short Film Review by: Alexandra James

---

America Jayne’s music video Homecoming is a hard-hitting song that focuses on the theme of growing up, but still holding onto the memories and trauma that have led us on this journey. America Jayne is an alt-rock band from Brooklyn, with lead singer and songwriter Erica Pierce, their songs are powerful, moving and the short music video reflects the deep, emotion that lie within the lyrics.

The opening of the song is a dark, empty room, with a pool of water on the ground. The band are playing barefoot as Erica fills the room with her sweet vocals and compelling lyrics. Director Nicole Rinaldi centres the music video around the lyric "the lake where I almost drowned," hence the band playing with water up to their ankles. Although this may seem unusual, the deeper meaning behind this artistic choice is crucial and helps to strengthen the song and the message behind the words. As this is a song about moving forward and trying to leave the past behind, it was clever to use memories and have them float in the water, slowly deteriorating as the water begins to soak them into nothing.

At first the video appeared very simplistic, however, as you continue to watch, it’s a story which ebbs and flows and becomes more intense as the video progresses and matches the energy of the singer as well as the band. The only thing that I believe would have made the audience channel their focus on Erica would be for her to wear a different colour outfit. The dark background coupled with a black outfit pushes the lead singer into the background when she should very much be at the forefront, much like the other band members. This could have been a great way to draw the audience in by having instant attention-grabbing clothing that stand out against the black.

This was an incredibly artistic and moving video that matched the words and heart of the song perfectly.  A lot of music videos tend to bombard the audience with mismatched scenes and locations that do not link with the song in any shape or form. However, Homecoming is far from this, and ties this idea of escaping past trauma and the memories that still haunt us. Director Nicole Rinaldi highlights these key themes within the song and illustrates this in a poetic and powerful style on screen.