Music Video Analysis Josh Robinson

Nick Lacey’s repertoire of elements can be applied to the music video of Naughty boy La La La (ft. Sam Smith) because of the use of characters, narrative events, iconography, setting and technical and audio codes.

In this music video the characters are unconventional of a music video following the pop genre as the characters used are similar to those of the Wizard of Oz appealing to the older side of the target audience, with the story focusing around the child and his helpers, the dog, the scarecrow and the

tin man. All of the characters have been represented in unusual ways. The overall colours that appear on the clothing is bright which symbolises happiness and freedom, however, when the central protagonist is surrounded by loud noises the overall tone goes darker, creating a sense that he doesn’t like noise or he is death, which is an overall theme of the video.

The Tin man character is wearing grey clothing which creates a sense of depression because he doesn’t have a heart. In terms of Propp’s character roles, the child can be seen as the hero trying to escape from his life and the companions can be seen a mystical helpers, helping him succeed, the old man at the start can be seen as the villain of the music video.

The use of narrative within Lacey’s repertoire of elements is applied unconventionally, as it is a conceptual/narrative music video that makes the spectators think about the meaning of the music videos narrative. The story focuses on a child that that uses his hands and the words ‘Lalala’ to cover the sound of loud noises such as shouting or music, this music video can be seen as post modern as it pays homage to previous texts such as the narrative sharing elements from the Wizard of Oz story, as it makes intertextual references, such as the Tin man, scarecrow and lion helping the child. This music video follows Todorovs narrative structure, except for the video not starting with a state of equilibrium; it begins with a disruption of the equilibrium, the characters recognition of the disruption, the attempt to solve it and finally restoration of the equilibrium, where the child arrives

Naughty boy La La La (ft. Sam Smith)

Target Audience – Male/Female 13-30 years

Genre – Pop/Dance

Music Video Analysis Josh Robinson

in a quiet place with no loud noises. This is expected because of Lacey’s repertoire of elements the audience usually expect a resolution to equilibrium to happen in pop music videos; however it is unconventional as they usually follow a romance genre. The video also makes use of Barthes Enigma code, as the audience are left guessing what will happen next and why the child went to a cave,

making the video more appealing to the target audience of males and females aged 13-30 years of age. During the first sequence of the music video a shot takes place that shows a man shouting at this child, making the audience sympathise with the central protagonist of the story, this creates a sense of Levi Strauss’ opposites as a contrast is created between the power of the

man compared to the child, finally the during one of the final scenes of the music video, the child can be seen hugging the mystical helpers that assisted him, which creates pastiche of the ending of the Wizard of Oz. This however follows the pop genre for music videos as according the Neale’s mental machinery the conceptual storyline has been accepted well by the subject target audience and as a result of this the industry have made use of these facts and applied them to the occasional music video of that genre.

In terms of iconography the props that appear in the music video are very conventional of the narrative of the music video. The props very much follow the Wizard of Oz storyline along with some contemporary uses of iconography to give the video a more modern feel to appeal to the target audience of the pop/dance genre, for example the heart that the child buys for the ‘Tin man’ character, this creates audience familiarity as this also happens in the Wizard of Oz, the heart is

symbolic of feeling which is why the man is supporting the child in his quest to the desert. The majority of symbols that appear throughout this music video connote sound, for example the cars, the radio, and the man shouting at the start, the child escaping from these noises is of the interpretations of this video so these props are expected to match the conceptual/narrative storyline. The clothing and props used are unusual in this particular genre of music video from the contemporary era, but they also make this video postmodern as the props used are mixed between contemporary props and props that would be used in everyday life during the beginning of the postmodern era, such as the retro vehicles and the radio.

The setting of the video is stereotypical of the conceptual narrative storyline that the video has, the characters can be seen wandering through the streets of an urban environment, and this follows

Music Video Analysis Josh Robinson

Neale’s theory of repetition. This area creates a sense of being trapped and creates a feeling that the characters are trying to escape the chaos of city life around them, it is when they arrive in the deserted area that they can be seen isolated, telling the audience that they are returning to a state of equilibrium.

With the technical and audio codes, a lot of close up/medium shots of the child takes place to show his emotions and feelings about the situations he is in, this is conventional with videos of this genre especially the ones which follow a conceptual style. Medium shots also appear to show all of the

characters standing out from the rest of the people in the urban environment, as they all look unusual compared to the other people in the video, promoting the fact that they have separated and making the narrative easier to understand for the spectator. The lighting matches the colour scheme as it is very bright during the scenes where the child is

isolated but in a place of silence, and works well to help create pathetic fallacy in the text, because equilibrium doesn’t take place in this music video until the conclusion of the music video so the light changes to create certain moods with a combination of brighter more upbeat colour pallets and darker less saturated colours.

In terms of Neale’s repetition and difference, the video follows a more conceptual view which appears in some music videos of this genre, but the reference to other texts makes it separate from other music videos of the pop/dance genre making it appealing to the audience of 13-30 year olds. The use of younger characters and a narrative that the audience have to think about and allowing them to discuss on social network websites such as YouTube makes this text more popular and unusual. The industry have noted that the audience want something new in pop and dance videos, because they are used to love stories and dance clubs scenes, and Lalala has done very well when trying to combat the stereotypical and make a unique video.

To conclude this music video works well with Lacey’s repertoire of elements, it is unconventional for the pop/dance genre; however it still appeals to the target audience of 13-25 year olds, and the intertextual reference and conceptual/narrative storyline makes the spectators wonder and adds to the video.

Music Video Analysis Josh Robinson