Track: Mr Brightside

Artist: The Killers

Genre: Indie Rock

Genre characteristics

This music video hardly contains any common forms and conventions of the Indie rock genre

• The band are well dressed and smart – compared to the normal indie rock look of jeans and t-shirts

• Although performance elements are a common convention of indie rock they don’t normally have narrative and concept based videos which this video does have

• It is also not set in a modern time as most indie rock videos are it is appeared to be set in the 1900’s

• It is also a very dramatic video, very much like a film which most indie rock music videos never do

Is there a relationship between visuals and lyricsThe relationship between visuals and lyrics is

amplified in the video.The song in my opinion is about a guy that falls

for a girl who is also seeing someone else and that he was oblivious to it until now, the lyrics amplify this by showing a love triangle between the lead singer, the blonde woman and the older man. You also see a scene where the 2 men are playing chess and through special effects you see the girl coming between them suggesting they are playing for her.

Is there a relationship between visuals and music

• The editing is in time with the beat of the music

• The performance element is also occasionally shown – singing, guy playing the guitar

Are there any close ups of the artist or any star image motifs

There are lots of close ups of the main singer of the band, this is not only because he is the main face of The Killers but because he plays one of the lead roles in the narrative

There aren’t really any star motifs shown within this video, they normally have ‘The Killers’ written on a drum kit but they don’t use drums in the video, probably because it is set in the 1900’s so are appearing to be more of a performance we would have seen back then.

Is there any reference to the notion to looking (voyeurism)

There are references of voyeurism throughout the video – It appears that the main girl is a prostitute of some sort and is being controlled by the older man. There are shots of the girls dancing a lifting up their skirts while the men watch them – showing the voyeuristic side of men and that women are just objects of pleasure. There is also a dance scene with the main girl and another man, the dance moves are suggesting them having sex, but showing this through dance moves rather than graphic images. The women in this video are very much seen as just sex objects

Are there any references of intertextuality The video is very similar in style of dress and

mise-en-scene of the film Moulin rouge. The story line of Moulin rouge is about a love

triangle. a man who loves a women who is a prostitute and her pimp. That same storyline is obviously shown in this video – The older man chucks the main woman red apples (symbol of temptation) at her, making her sleep with other men and the main singer is upset by this but still loves her any way ‘Mr. Brightside’- seeing the good in her not the bad.

There are also references of snow white – with the red apple being a sign of poison and the biblical story of Adam and Eve with the apple causing destruction by tempting them. This all links with the lyrics of the song brilliantly

A scene from Moulin Rouge – similar style to the music video