Music Video Analysis

Long Shot.A long tracking shot is used at the very start of the music video so that we can follow the guy outside the venue as he makes his way down the street to the entrance. The 30 second long shot creates authenticity- as does the incredibly long shot in “Goodfella’s” when he takes the woman on a date- because the lack of editing makes it look real and adds an element of actuality that is common within the majority of rock music videos.

Natural lighting.

The first shot of the video also adds realism through the use of natural lighting; this can be seen when the blue light flashes on the side of the building and then the camera pans round towards the young man where you can see the ambulance that is providing the flashing light in the background. Realism is used to instil the idea that this is a real band playing at a real gig, with ineligible people trying to make their way inside.

Real instruments- real bands.When the camera pans past the crowd and you see the band members between members of the audience, you see one of the band members playing the guitar and in the next shot, you are shown a close up of the piano that is being played. Although the images and the sounds are recorded separate, the relation of the shots and the sounds work in tandem to create a certain element of realism- which then creates authenticity. This creation of authenticity then allows the viewers of the video to build a rapport with the band members and entice them into following the band further by listening to more of their music, attending gigs and buying merchandise, etc.

Band engagement. • Ensuing are a couple of shots

of the audience, these shots show the audiences faces where the singing, bouncing around and smiling and just generally enjoying themselves, helps to promote a great image of the band as a fun and interesting band. This use of close ups to show the audiences response to the band shows viewers that the band- in a real gig- can create an amazing atmosphere where people are having a good time.

Lighting.• Throughout the video, the use of

low light or chiaroscuro is made visible by the director to again add believability to the video, making the viewers of the video feel as though they know how it feels to be there, at one of the bands gigs. The theme of authenticity seems to play a large role throughout the video, but is very easily and well shown through the use of darkness, because as a not so very well known band, they need to create a view that they will be really good at gigs- which will get people to attend and in turn will render a rise in their reputation.

Real Life Conventions.• The panning of the camera around

the toilets first shows us a girl falling to the floor, a couple kissing intensely in the cubicle and another set of girls taking drugs in front of the mirror. This use of camera movement allows the director to suggest in one shot the general social conventions of a youthful audience and thus show us the kinds of things this band expects their fans to do. Allowing the audience to see this in their video, it shows them as kind of condoning thus behaviour- which would entice people of the same sort to get into the band and get their following up.

Consequences.After the use of drugs in the bathroom, there is a pan back into the main area where the band is playing, an effect is used after filming to create duplicates of the characters to coincide with the idea that the drugs are taking over the audiences’ brains. This to me again portrays the image that the band is okay with the use of drugs at a gig- perhaps not outside a gig- but definitely at one. This is because that a common convention of a lot of music gigs/festivals is drinking and taking drugs. And for any band who decides to combat this traditional idea, their popularity may be stunted because they do not appeal to a lot of the population. Ergo, the use of these effects and blurring the shots to show drug use further is a key plot to gaining people and followers.

Convention- Andrew Goodwin.• Andrew Goodwin identifies several different conventions of music videos which

you can find in almost every single one. As this is the case, I will try to identify them in my chosen music videos.

The first of the conventions is genre characteristics. This is the repeated use of certain scenarios – although personal to the band itself- that would show up in every single music video of that genre. Examples of this are the use of live performances in a rock music video or a dance routine in a boy band.Thus, it is very easy and simple to see that the song My Number by Foals almost follows this rule to the T as the whole video is comprised of following the ins and outs of what goes on at a live performance.

Genre Characteristics:

Andrew Goodwin.

There is very limited relations between the lyrical aspects of the video and the visual aspects of the song, albeit there are two that I was able to find and thus this proves that Andrew Goodwin’s theory applies here too. The first of which, I believe, is the use of the colour red when the singer sings “I feel, I feel the love”- the reason there is a link here is because a very typical connotation of love is red and of red- love. And in an otherwise emotionless void of colour shot, there is only red. The latter of the two that I found was when the singer sings “the wolf is knocking at my door” as he gestures with his hand the motion of knocking on a door. Although small and menial, Goodwin is proved correct.

Lyrical and Visual relationship:

Andrew Goodwin.

As Andrew Goodwin points out, there is a need for a lot of close ups in music

Close Ups: