MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS 1

FOALS – MY NUMBER

The first music video that I will analyse is ‘My Number’ by Foals, an Indie Rock band who utilise a balance of narrative and live performance effectively throughout this video. The band clearly understand their audience and fans, creating a fictitious ‘gig’ that seemingly may show youth stereotypes for their audience such as drug culture, a theme which is prominent throughout. I felt that the blend of live performance and inventive storytelling was an interesting factor to look at and I hope it will aid the production of our own video.

FOALS – MY NUMBERThe video itself fits many conventions for the indie rock genre, allowing it to seem suitable & fitting to the song and its context. The whole video is

based around a live performance / gig , which is typical in the indie rock genre. Fitting this convention allows the band to portray the image of a ‘real’ band. This could be due to one of the labels demands or the band continuing to fit genre conventions.

This is emphasised by the large amount of shots of band members playing instruments at the correct points in the song, which makes up the most of the video’s shots.

(See above and below)The inclusion of many shots of the crowd continues to further this image of Foals being a ‘real band’ who do play live. This can also be related to Trevor Millum’s theory on male representation. He states that men are represented in specific ways and in the video all of the band are male and play instruments live, which shows the men are talented and ‘practical’ as it’s a skill to be able to perform live.

FOALS – MY NUMBER

The video also attempts to fit real life conventions, and this is most obvious during the scene which pans into the toilets. It first shows us a girl who is laid on the floor, a couple kissing (which may be a reference to voyeuristic treatment of the female body) and a group of girls taking liquid-based drugs. The shot allows the director to suggest the scenes we would expect to see at a predominantly young gig and modern youth culture in general.

Another prominent shot in the video reflecting this is the shot where a crowd member appears to be heavily under the influence (See top right), and falls back as the lyric “Far from here” (Andrew Goodwin “A relationship exists between the lyrics and the visuals”) and fades to black. This may symbolise to the viewer that even though they show substance usage in the video (Which may be seen as them condoning use), they show that too much can be dangerous.

The large panning shot is used effectively to follow a narrative throughout the video, contrasting the inside of the venue and outside. There is also a contrast which is clearly made to show the changes in the influences of drug use on both the audience members and the band. Post-production effects such as mirroring and coloured shadows are used energetically to show this, alongside a far more active crowd as the song progresses.

FOALS – MY NUMBER

The video and lyrics show are relationship (Andrew Goodwin) in certain parts of the song, one of the most obvious areas being the lyrics “Now the wolf is knocking at my door, bang-banging, asks for more”. This firstly shows some intertextuality (Andrew Goodwin) between the song and the children’s story ‘The Three Little Pigs’, as well as the frontman interacting with the lyrics through gestures. The lyric “knocking at my door” is accompanied as if Yannis is knocking at a door, and “bang-banging” is similarly followed with larger more violent gestures. This allows a relationship to be made with the lyrics which perhaps makes them far more memorable.

Throughout the song there are a large amount of close ups on the lead singer, alongside many side shots of him. This fits in the areas of vocals, as it engages the audience with the lyrics but may also be due to the fact that the frontman is hugely recognisable with fans. The large number of close-ups also suits genre conventions, showing that he can sing live, furthering the image of Foals as a ‘real band’. He may be a ‘symbol’ of sorts for the band, being a prominent speaker in their interviews. It also can be down to the demands of the record label, as they may feel its necessary to show their lead singer as often as possible.

FOALS – MY NUMBEREVALUATION OF ANALYSIS

Overall this analysis has helped me realise how I could integrate a relationship between the lyrics and footage on screen and has opened my eyes to the utilisation of context in my music video. I hope that the techniques of editing will help inspire our own and that after further analysis of other music videos I will be ready to produce my own.