Music video analysis of indie rock / indie pop.

Music video analysis of indie rock / indie pop.

The Script, Hall of Fame – notes 

·     Studio performance 
·     Narrative
·     Start iconography / appeal (The Script / Will.I.Am) 
·     Illustrating lyrics 
·     Amplifying = ‘king Kong banging on his chest’, Mid to close up of artists hitting their chest
·     Beginning = low angle shot of boxer, looking up to him, he’s a hero, signifies that this is a person to be admired 
·     Spotlight shinning on both boxer and ballerina, they are who the audience should be admiring, they are in the spotlight for a reason, talent that should be worshipped. 
·     Close up of hearing aid, close up hands touching vibrations of music from speaker, long shot/ mid shot of boxer being beaten up behind skip, regardless of any setback you can carry on and succeed, be the best possible version of yourself, they don’t give up. 
·     Editing to the beat, close up of singers feet, when it hits the floor on the beat it cuts to a close up of ‘bully’s’ feet hitting the floor and cuts back. 
·     Dancer practicing surrounded by group, protagonist seen in white while other dancers seen in black, protagonist represents the goodness while the rest represent fear, they fear her abilities so instead of praising them they insult her.
·     Close up of will.i.am garbing the camera singing ‘You can be a champion’ which uses a direct mode of address to the audience to anchor their attention.
·     Female protagonists seen in white during final performance in spotlight, may represent perfection 
·     Male protagonist seen in black during final fight in spotlight, may represent power and strength. 

The Script, Hall of fame, textual analysis.

At the very start of the music video a low angle is shot is used from behind the character as the spotlight is pointed at him creating hard lighting which also produces a lens flare. This low angle shot is used straight away to encode that this is a person that the audience should be looking up do, they are a hero and someone who should be admired. This has been encoded from the very start to represent the idea that this character is in the ‘Hall of Fame’, In the diegetic sound of this clip the audience can hear that he is referred to as ‘undefeated world champion’ which is immediately contradicted when a high angle shot of him is shown as his mother says, ‘get up you good for nothing lazy’. Although no lyrics have been played at this point it may still fit into Andrew Goodwin’s theory as he says that the relationship between the lyrics and visuals may contradict, in this sequence the two clips are contradicting each other. Straight after this a similar sequence is used except it’s a ballerina and here her supposed struggled is her being deaf as a close up is shown of her grabbing a hearing aid. Both of these sequences have been encoded to fit the message of the song being that regardless of struggle you can still make it into the ‘Hall of Fame’.

As soon as the song officially begins in the music video the editing has been done that every time a shot changed or jumps it has been done in time to the pulse of the song, almost as though this is representing the heartbeat of the song. This would fit into Carol Vernallis theory as she states that music videos are edited on the pulse to keep the visuals steadily running along side with the music. Although the edit of the music video isn’t on every single pulse it still allows for the visuals to run steadily. 

The music video clearly fits into the music video genre of narrative from the very start, but it also conforms to the genre of stadium performance as throughout the clips change from seeing the narrative to seeing long, mid and close ups of the artists performing the song themselves. This has been done so that the audience doesn’t just get to indulge into the narrative but can also gain the gratification of entertainment and information as they get to see the artists performing as well as learning more about them (what they look like etc.) Andrew Goodwin also states that the reason that the artists are shown in the music video is because often music videos use star appeal and star iconography to attract a wider audience. This may have been done to encode the artist branding and their style. This may have also been done to allow the audience to gain the gratification of entertainment and gain a better relationship with the artists as seeing them in close ups allows the audience to see the artist in a way they would never be able to in real life. 


Bastille, Pompeii – notes

·     Narrative 
·     Illustrating lyrics 
·     Amplifying = long shots of city scenes when word ‘city’ is sung 
·     Hand held camera when running, encoded to add a sense of verisimilitude and or urgency to the situation 
·     Only the blue car opens, blue may connote freedom, as the car is letting him escape to freedom or it may connote faith, having this blue car working could represent that there is still hope left no matter how bad things feel. Or the blue could represent sadness of the city that is crumbling down 
·     ‘Walls kept tumbling down’ as car breaks down, the faith he had is failing like the car, everything keeps on getting worse
·     Sudden change to high key lighting when his eyes also start turning black, could connote positivity, finding the good in the bad situation, finding the optimism. 
·     Long shots of running water, the bad in the situation is being swept away, fears being swept away
·     Close up with black eyes at end, gives into the ‘demons’ that made the city crumble, could connote either power or evil. 
·     Constant  use of shadows could represent the idea of the ‘demons’ constantly following or lurking waiting for suspected weakness.
·     Intertextuality – The twins from the Shining.  
·     Arcade? Is this all a game? 
·     Close up looking out of window, focus shifts from city to protagonist, could represent the idea of the city being out of focus and is no longer important. 

Bastille, Pompeii, textual analysis.

In the music video for Bastille’s Pompeii a lot of hand-held camera movements are used, in particular when the protagonist is running after he comes into contact with people with the black eyes, the handheld shaky movements could emphasise that there is a sense of urgency in the situation, that the protagonist needs to escape the situation that he is in as fast as he can. The use of handheld camera movements also adds a sense of verisimilitude to the music video which allows the audience to interact and read deeper into the meaning as it makes them feel as though this can happen in real life, its portraying this unrealistic situation as realistically as possible to allow the audience to relate to the music video and target a wider audience. These hand-held camera movements are also emphasised more as he is trying to escape the arcade making the situation get more serious.
 
Soon after this a series of long shots are shown as the protagonist attempts to find a car to escape in, only to find that the only one that he can get into / the keys work for is and older blue car. The significance of the blue car is that blue can connote feelings of freedom as the car is letting him escape the city and find refuge elsewhere, the colour blue may also connote the idea that there is still faith, having this blue car working could represent that there is still hope left no matter how bad things may feel. However, the colour blue more often connotes feelings of sadness and may actually be portraying the protagonists feelings of sadness of the city that he once loved tumbling down. 
     Soon after he escapes in the car the lyrics say in the non-diegetic dialogue ‘the walls kept tumbling down’ as the car breaks down, this may represent the faith he had breaking down and the fact that nothing is going right, and everything is getting worse.
 
Straight after this the lighting changes from low key to high key as a close up is shown of him looking in his rear-view mirror and seeing his own eyes starting to turn black. The sudden change to high key lighting may connote to the audience a sudden feeling of positivity, that he is suddenly finding the optimism about the situation, the good in the bad. Not only this but when the lighting turns to high key the cinematography shows a lot of wind turbines in the mise-en-scene which may suggest the worries he felt about the situation originally are now being blown away. Similarly, the mise-en-scene shows water quickly running down the stream as the protagonist looks at it, this may also represent the worries from before being blown or swept away as he begins to find the optimism in this situation. 
 
At the very end of the music video a close up is shown of the protagonist which instantly shows to the audience that his eyes have also turned black as though he has given into the ‘demons’ that made the city tumble. The idea of the black eyes may connote to the audience that evil brought down the city and this is often a strong connotation of black or that the ‘demons’ will bring power to the protagonist now that he has submitted to it as power is also a connotation of the colour black. 


The 1975, Love It If We Made It – notes

·     Narrative 
·     Studio performance 
·     Illustrates lyrics – showing lyrics on screen such as 'Saying controversial things'
·     Amplifies lyrics – long shot of car when ‘car’ is sung 
·     Almost every shot uses bright colours over top most notable being blue yellow and pink, blue connotes the sadness of the state of society, yellow connotes energy that people have for saving or destroying the world we live in, pink connotes love for the future and for humanity ‘making it’ 
·     Many shots of the decay in the world, explosions, fires, pollution, death, contradicts lyrics of ‘making it’ forces audience to gain gratification of information in learning what’s actually happening in the world. 
·     Use of showing the artists in three shadows could represent how if the problems aren’t helped then the problems can be amplified such as the artists being amplified 3 times.  
·     Long shots of dancers in low key lighting with water spilling out in background, could represent pollution spilling out into the air. 
·     Lighting gets more low key as the music video progresses, represents how the fate of the world will continue to get darker if nothing is done to save the world. 
·     Editing to the beat, cuts to an explosion on the beat, fits Carol Vernalis due to the fact it has a non linear narrative. 
·     ‘Slide to power off’ – represent the world or society coming to end as well as concluding the music video.  
·     Long shot of protest with one of the signs saying ‘USA’s Doom’ represents the doom or fate of society.

The 1975, Love It If We Made It, textual analysis 

In this music video it shows all aspects of the relationships between the lyrics and visuals expressed in Andrew Goodwin’s theory. This is first expressed to the audience when the lyrics say car and the mise-en-scene illustrates this by showing a long shot of a car which shows the relationship that the lyrics have with the visuals and allows the audience to passively watch and gain the gratification of entertainment from the music video. Almost straight after the second way of showing a relationship between the lyrics and visuals is shown by amplifying the lyrics by physically showing the lyrics on screen when the lyrics say ‘Saying controversial things’. Lastly the relationship between the lyrics and visuals is shown by contradicting the lyrics every time the lyrics say ‘Made it’ where the visuals show many long to mid shots of death and destruction from around the world that we live in. This contradicts the lyrics as the visuals are showing the opposite of ‘making it’ and draws in an active audience to engage with the music video who try to figure out why this has been done and to allow them to gain the gratification of social integration. 

In the music video almost, every shot has an overlay of a bright vibrant colour to go along with the cinematography. This may have been done to get across the idea of pollution and destruction to the audience without making them realise the true serious meaning behind the music video which some viewers may not want to see, the bright colours gives it an almost ‘childlike’ feel. However, there are some colours that particularly stand out within the music video, the first being the colour blue. The colour blue has many connotations but in this music video it signifies the sadness and upset that the current state of society brings to everyone and how our world is becoming less safe and habitable by the day. The colour blue may also be connoting the truth of our world such as people dying trying to find somewhere safe or how or the destruction in the cities. The next most notable colour is yellow which has high connotations of energy, either representing the current masses of energy destroying our world or the energy we need to have in order to save our world and eventually ‘make it’. The last most notable colour is the colour pink. The most recognised connotation of pink is love and may have been encoded into the music video to represent the love that society must have for the planet and the future in order to ‘make it’ and save our world which is the whole message behind this music video. 

     The many shots of death, destruction and pollution in the music video has also been encoded to allow the audience to gain the gratification of information about what’s truly happening in the world regardless of if they wanted to know or not which may be used as a shock tactic into getting people into action. It’s used to represent society and how we need to change. 

Andrew Goodwin - Dancing in the Distraction Factory

Andrew Goodwin - Dancing in the Distraction Factory

Andrew Goodwin suggests in his book ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory 1992’ that there are key 6 elements to a music video that all interlink to create the music video in order to make it effective for the audience to gain the gratification of entertainment and for them to gain an understanding to the meaning of the music video or to apply their own meaning to the video as most music videos are often polysemic. 

Relationships between the lyrics and visuals

The first element is the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals which can often being described as one of three things. The first being illustrating or showing the lyrics within the visuals. This can be done by either physically showing the lyric on screen or showing someone lip syncing to the words which can be evidenced in Ariana Grande’s 7 Rings music videos with close ups of her lip syncing to the lyrics showing a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. 

The second way of showing this relationship between lyrics and visuals could be done by amplifying or stressing the lyrics to the audience. This can be done by having a character within the scene complete the action that is being sung about at that particular moment. This can be shown in Katy Perry’s Roar music video as there are many times when she say's ‘Roar’ and that lyric is amplified by the audience either seeing her roar or another animal within the jungle setting. 

The final way of representing the relationship between the lyrics and visuals is by having the visuals contradict the lyrics, or by doing the opposite on screen then what the audio is saying. This can be shown in OneRepublic’s Counting Stars at the very beginning when the lyrics says ‘We’ll be counting stars’ and the visuals show a close up of water dripping down a wall, this may have been done in order to get the audience to engage with the text more and for them to actively decode what the message of the music video is. 

The relationship between the music and the visuals

This is very similar to the relationship between the lyrics and visuals where it is able to link the music and visuals in order to create a narrative within the video. This Is done in order to encode meaning into the video in order for the audience to understand and gain the gratification of entertainment or for the audience to decode their own meaning of the music video in order to relate the music and visuals to their own story. This can often be done by cutting the visuals in time to the music.  

Genre

Another element that Andrew Goodwin states that creates a music video is what genre of video it is. Andrew Goodwin argues that there are 5 types of genre within music videos. The first being a stadium performance that gets played out on screen for the audience. This makes it seem as though the music video is being performed in front of a live audience in order for the audience to feel closer to the artist and gain a better relationship with them. An example of this could be Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit as although the music video is being acted out in a school gym, due to the fact that Nirvana reduced the flamboyancy in the rock genre to create the genre of grunge by toning everything down, it still seems as though they are playing in from of a live audience therefore making the genre of this music video a stadium performance.  

The next genre of music video is the Studio Performance where the audience sees the artists recording the music with in the studio in order to create the music video and therefore make the audience feel as though they are a part of the process of creating the music in the studio. An example of where this is done is in Harry Styles, Two Ghosts live in studio music video, this is done so that the audience can begin to feel close to Harry styles again and understand his music post one direction. 

Another type of music video is the narrative music video in which a story is played out to the music to encode a deeper meaning to the music video for the audience to follow. These can either be played out by the artist themselves or feature no artist at all. Although some narrative music videos can limit the audience it attracts as some people may not agree with the message encoded because the narrative is too set out and clear such as Marshmello and Bastille’s Happier which show the narrative of a girl and her dog other music video’s narratives can be very lose and easier to apply to the audiences own feelings making the music video more polysemic. This can help gain a wider audience to engage with the music video such as Sia’s Elastic heart which shows two characters in a ‘battle’ almost trapped within a cage, the audience can apply their own narrative to music videos like this, even if it’s not the narrative that was originally intended. 

The final two types of genre within music video is conceptual/experimental and location. In conceptual/experimental the music video aims to play around with the conventions of music video genre. This can be shown in Panic! At The Disco’s Girls/Girls/Boys music video where the whole video has been filmed in one shot with the camera either zooming in or out, or panning up and down, This is extremely experimental as this isn’t often done in many music videos as they often contains lots of shots cut to the beat. The way this its filmed is also done in a very interesting way which therefore anchors the audiences attention instead of getting bored of just the one shot.







Along with this location music videos are often filmed in well recognisable locations such as London, Paris or New York so that the audience can feel engaged as they are aware of where the music video is set. One example of where this is done is in the music video 'Anywhere' by Rita Ora, this music video is filmed in New York City which is done to allow people who live in the city to gain the gratification of personal identity. 

Looking and Voyeurism

Another key element of music videos as stated by Andrew Goodwin is looking and voyeurism. This if often the reason as to why the artists within the music video often wear little to no clothing allowing the audience to gain visual pleasure in looking. This often leads to music videos showing a lot of nudity and intimate locations such as an artist’s ‘bedroom’ and ‘bathroom’ so that the audience to gain a higher sense of voyeurism in order to be more apart of the artists private life..Because of the looking and voyeurism being a big element of music video it also often leads to the male gaze also being an element of music videos for female artists. The male gaze and voyeurism can be shown in Robin Thicke Blurred Lines as the camera gaze is used on the females body's and the character gaze with Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams  indulging in scopophilia therefore making it okay for the audience to do this. And even in music videos where the artist choses to be sexualised such as Beyoncé’s Sorry music video where she is shown in many sexualised shots such as close ups but it has been done in a way that means she is an empowered female, it has been done by the artists choice and helps develop the relationship between the artist and their audience.

 

Star appeal / Star iconography

Having Star appeal within a music video is highly used in order to attract a wider audience as they often feel as though they are gaining the gratification of information by learning more about the artists being portrayed in the video. Using this it often promotes branding, the artists style, their brand values and portrays to the audience their unique selling point as to why the audience should engage with the music video. Star appeal/ iconography often contains a lot of artist close up’s so that the audience can see the artist in a way they could never in person or the logo for the artist. By doing this it often feeds into celebrity culture and artistic portrayal. This can be shown in music videos by Rhianna and Lady Gaga as they often portray themselves to give their music videos star appeal in order to attract a wider audience to watch, however this often has implication on looking good as it portrays the artists in a way we wouldn’t normally see them but are unrealistically made up. 

Intertextuality 

One of the final aspects of music videos is intertextuality. This means that the music video often refers to other music videos, films or tv programmes. This is often done so that many people can understand the reference as it's often a reference to something in pop culture. This can easily be shown in Iggy Azalea’s Fancy music video in which an intertextual reference is used by linking the music video to 1995’s Clueless by copying Cher and Dion's outfits from the very start of the movie. Often the intertextual reference in music videos offer either homage or pastiche which means that the music video is either trying to honour / celebrate the reference or in order to copy the reference. 

References 

- Will Straw, Andrew Goodwin, Dancing in the Distraction Factory: Music Television and Popular Culture, Screen, Volume 36, Issue 4, Winter 1995,