Music Video Class: Teaching Tone and Anxiety Through Visuals Using 'Where's My Phone?'

Hook: Turn student anxiety into a teachable cinematic moment

Teachers and students often struggle to find concise, classroom-ready ways to analyze contemporary music videos that feel relevant and rigorous. You want a lesson that unpacks advanced film techniques, ties to mental-health conversations and leads to concrete student work — without a mountain of prep. This lesson plan uses Mitski's 2026 single and its anxiety-forward video, "Where's My Phone?", to teach visual storytelling, film techniques, and the representation of anxiety in art through scaffolded activities you can run across 2–4 class periods.

Quick overview: What you'll get

• Grade levels: High school (9–12), undergraduate media & music courses, or community programs
• Duration: 2–4 sessions (45–90 minutes each)
• Core skills: shot analysis, mise-en-scène, sound design, editing rhythm, evidence-based writing, creative production
• Outcomes: Students will demonstrate how cinematic choices create feelings of anxiety and produce a short visual analysis and micro-recreation

Context & relevance in 2026

Mitski’s lead single from her 2026 album, "Where's My Phone?", arrives at a moment when educators are increasingly using contemporary pop culture to teach media literacy and social-emotional learning. The song’s rollout — including an eerie phone line and web presence — intentionally evokes Shirley Jackson’s Gothic atmosphere and recent trends in transmedia storytelling. Rolling Stone noted the connection to Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and described the single and video as “anxiety-inducing,” a characterization that makes this material ideal for lessons on affect and technique (Rolling Stone).

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.” — Shirley Jackson

That Jackson line (used as an intertextual touchpoint by Mitski’s campaign) anchors useful classroom conversations about how horror aesthetics and domestic space can be retooled to express contemporary mental states such as panic, isolation, and the numbing presence of devices.

Learning objectives (aligned to media-literacy outcomes)

• Analyze how camera, edit, sound, and production design communicate emotional tone.
• Support analytical claims with specific visual and sonic evidence.
• Create a 60–90 second micro-film that reproduces an anxiety-inducing technique learned in class.
• Reflect on ethical issues: representation of mental health and responsible use of copyrighted music in classroom projects.

Materials & tech (2026-ready)

• Classroom screen & sound system (or individual devices)
• Access to the "Where's My Phone?" music video (official upload) and Mitski’s campaign webpage or audio teaser
• Annotation tools: web-based timestamped annotation (e.g., VIA, VideoAnt), AI-assisted transcript tools (use ethically; require citation) such as Descript or open-source alternatives
• Smartphones for shooting micro-films; optional gimbals for stable vs. handheld comparisons
• Editing software: free tools like DaVinci Resolve, CapCut, or browser-based editors (Runway, Clipchamp)
• Handouts: shot-list worksheet, rubric, storyboard template

Session-by-session lesson plan

Session 1 — Hook, context & guided watch (45–60 min)

1. Warm-up (5–8 min): Quick write — "Describe a moment when a phone made you feel small, frantic, or trapped." Purpose: surface lived experience and normalize affective responses.
2. Context (5 min): Briefly explain Mitski’s album rollout and the Shirley Jackson reference; play the short web teaser or read the relevant quote to set tone.
3. Watch (full video) (4–6 min): First uninterrupted view. Ask students to note visceral reactions, not technical specifics.
4. Guided re-watch with annotation (20–30 min): Pause at 6–8 key moments. Use the shot-list worksheet and ask students to annotate: framing, camera movement, lighting, sound, edit rhythm, props. Model one annotation live.
5. Exit ticket (5 min): Students post one evidence-based sentence: "At 1:02 the close-up of X conveys anxiety because..."

Session 2 — Technique deep dive & micro-analysis (60–75 min)

1. Mini-lecture (10 min): Explain key techniques that produce anxiety in film: tight framing, shallow depth-of-field, jarring cuts, non-diegetic high-frequency strings, repetitive motifs (e.g., a phone ringtone), negative space, and the use of mirrors/thresholds.
2. Breakout analysis (25–30 min): Small groups receive 30–60 second clips (or timestamps) and a focused task: produce a 5-bullet evidence list linking technique to emotional effect and prepare a 2-minute presentation.
3. Group presentations (15–20 min): Peer Q&A guided by teacher prompts: "Which technique was most effective and why? Could another technique change the tone?"
4. Reflection (5–10 min): Students journal on how formal choices shaped their emotional reading.

Session 3 — Production lab: Recreate & re-score (60–90 min)

1. Briefing (5 min): Students recreate a 15–30 second moment from the video that conveys anxiety using phones and minimal kit. They may opt to re-score a scene: swap Mitski’s track for an alternate soundscape to test emotional change.
2. Production (30–45 min): Shoot and edit (mobile editing or quick desktop). Teachers circulate and prompt technical choices: lens selection (wide vs. tele), camera height, color filter, diegetic vs. non-diegetic sound. Consider compact device reviews when choosing gear (Orion Handheld X review).
3. Screen & critique (15–30 min): Use a structured critique rubric: identify the technique, describe the effect, offer one revision suggestion.

Session 4 — Assessment & reflection (45–60 min)

1. Summative task (20–30 min): Students submit a 500–700 word analysis or a 3–5 minute video essay that argues how the video constructs anxiety, citing at least three formal elements.
2. Class discussion (10–15 min): Ethical considerations in portraying psychiatric states, and fair use when remixing official music in class projects.
3. Wrap-up & extension (5–10 min): Assign optional cross-curricular projects (literature connections to Shirley Jackson or psychology experiments on perception).

Core cinematic techniques to teach — with classroom micro-tasks

1. Framing & composition: claustrophobia by design

Technique: Tight close-ups, shallow two-shots, and deliberate use of negative space create a sense of being hemmed in. In a domestic-set video that references Hill House, the camera often isolates the subject within doorframes and windows to literalize entrapment.

Micro-task: Provide three still frames. Students label foreground/midground/background and argue how the composition promotes claustrophobia in two sentences.

2. Camera movement: jitter, float, and the subjective gaze

Technique: Hand-held jitter or slow, creeping dolly-in can mimic a racing heart or creeping dread. Conversely, sudden whip pans and unstable focus convey panic. Ask students to identify the camera’s implied psychology: is it inside the protagonist’s mind or outside observing?

Micro-task: Recreate a 5–8 second handheld-in shot with a phone, then a stabilized dolly-in, and write 3 bullets comparing the emotional impact.

3. Sound design & music: the invisible manipulator

Technique: Sound is often the most direct path to anxiety. Use of diegetic phone rings, distant static, high-frequency strings, or silence can escalate tension. Mitski’s campaign used an unsettling phone line — a transmedia affordance — to prime listeners before they even saw the video.

Micro-task: Give students a 15-sec clip muted. They create two soundscapes (anxious vs. neutral) using free SFX libraries and present both to the class for immediate comparatives.

4. Editing & pacing: rhythm equals heart-rate

Technique: Rapid cutting and rhythmic repetition mimic panic; long, unbroken takes produce simmering dread. Teach students to quantify pacing: count average shot length and relate it to emotional tempo.

Micro-task: Assign a 30-sec sequence. Students create a cut with 3 different average shot lengths and a 1-paragraph explanation of the effect.

5. Color & lighting: mood by hue and contrast

Technique: Desaturated palettes, green-tinged fluorescents, and stark chiaroscuro are common in contemporary horror-inflected music videos. Lighting can hide or reveal psychological fractures.

Micro-task: Students use phone filters or in-app color grading to produce three color studies of a single frame; post and justify which best supports anxiety.

Connecting technique to theme: the phone as motif

The phone is a 21st-century threshold — it connects and isolates simultaneously. Use Mitski’s "Where's My Phone?" as a case study for how objects become narrative anchors. The absent/present phone can be staged as a literal MacGuffin and a symbol of attention fragmentation, surveillance, and domestic intrusion.

Classroom question: How does the presence or absence of a ringing phone alter a scene’s power dynamics? Have students map three alternative outcomes if the phone rang at different beats in the video.

Assessment & rubrics

Design assessments that value both analysis and creative skill. Below are suggested criteria (100-point scale):

• Evidence & analysis (35 pts): Clear claims supported by specific shots/sounds with timestamps.
• Technical vocabulary (15 pts): Correct use of film terms (e.g., shot-reverse-shot, diegetic, match cut).
• Creative execution (25 pts): For production tasks — coherence of chosen technique and production quality.
• Reflection & ethics (15 pts): Consideration of how the work represents anxiety and fair use choices.
• Collaboration & deadlines (10 pts): Professionalism in group work and meeting milestones.

Trauma-informed teaching & accessibility (non-negotiable in 2026)

When teaching material that grapples with anxiety and mental health, adopt trauma-informed practices: give content warnings, allow opt-outs with alternative assignments, provide trigger-safe spaces, and connect students to school counseling resources. Also ensure all video materials have captions and transcripts. Use accessible tools and provide extended time or simplified tasks when needed.

Ethics, copyright & AI (practical classroom rules)

• Fair use for education: short in-class clips and commentary-based analyses are typically allowable, but require clear educational purpose and minimal use. When students publish remixes, get permissions or use royalty-free alternatives.
• AI-assisted tools: In 2026, AI tools for transcription and generative editing are ubiquitous. Teach students to disclose AI use, verify outputs, and critically evaluate generated content. Consider an AI-use policy for assignments.
• Media literacy: Discuss the ethics of depicting real mental-health struggles and the responsibilities of creators and critics.

Extensions and cross-curricular ideas

• Literature: Compare Jackson’s portrayals of domestic dread with Mitski’s modern reworking; assign a short comparative essay.
• Psychology: Study the physiological signs of anxiety and map them to cinematic techniques (e.g., quick cuts ~ increased heart rate).
• Music theory: Analyze how chord progressions, instrumentation, and tempo in the single contribute to the emotional arc.
• Computer science / data viz: Track engagement metrics for the video across platforms and discuss algorithmic attention and virality in 2026 short-form ecosystems.

Practical takeaways (implement this week)

1. Start with the lived-experience warm-up to make analysis affective and relevant.
2. Use short, scaffolded micro-tasks so students practice technique before producing work.
3. Leverage free annotation and mobile-editing tools; require AI disclosure if used.
4. Include a trauma-informed content warning and offer alternative tasks upfront.
5. End with public-facing but optional sharing (class blog, private LMS gallery) to motivate revision and care for copyrights — consider basic SEO and sharing best practices from guides like SEO checklists to help others find exemplary student work.

Resources & citations

• Rolling Stone coverage of Mitski's 2026 release and campaign: Rolling Stone (Jan 2026).
• Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (1959) — cited for intertextual reference.
• Recommended tools (2026): Descript (transcript/annotation), VideoAnt (timestamped commentaries), DaVinci Resolve (editing), Runway (AI-assisted editing) — evaluate privacy and terms before classroom use.
• Copyright primer: American Library Association Fair Use resources and your school district’s IP policy.

Final reflection: Why this matters in 2026

By 2026, visual media literacy is an essential civic skill. Students are surrounded by short-form clips, eerie transmedia campaigns, and AI-manipulated content. Teaching a focused lesson on Mitski’s "Where's My Phone?" offers a timely way to link emotional literacy with formal analysis and practical production skills. More than decoding a single music video, students learn to map feeling onto technique and to create responsibly.

Call to action

Ready to try this unit? Download (or adapt) the two-session kit: shot-list worksheet, storyboard template, rubric, and annotated example responses — then run the first session this week. Share student micro-films or analysis excerpts on your classroom platform (or tag your work on social platforms) so other educators can reuse and adapt your best prompts. If you’d like the editable lesson pack for your syllabus, email your request or join our educator forum to swap rubrics and student exemplars.

Related Reading

• Review: Top Open-Source Tools for Deepfake Detection — What Newsrooms Should Trust in 2026
• Why On-Device AI Is Now Essential for Secure Personal Data Forms (2026 Playbook)
• How to Reformat Your Doc-Series for YouTube: Crafting Shorter Cuts and Playlist Strategies
• Automating Metadata Extraction with Gemini and Claude: A DAM Integration Guide
• How to Outfit Your Alaska Cabin for Dogs: Mudrooms, Flaps and Warm Dog Beds
• Celebrity Status Symbols: How Celebrities Use Emeralds Like Designer Notebooks
• Smart Lamps and Solar: Can RGBIC Mood Lighting Run on a Home PV System?
• Pundits or Politicians? When Political Figures Try Out Sports TV
• Prompt Library: Generate Vertical Microdrama Ideas with AI — Templates Inspired by Holywater