During our lessons with Darren we have been studying and analysing music videos. We had to do three individual analysis' of our own choice of music video. Below are the three music videos in which I analysed.
Mumford and Sons - Hopeless Wanderer
In the music video for Hopeless Wanderer there are various genre characteristics. The videos main genre focuses on summer and a band of men and their strong friendship/comradeship with one another. The other main genre featured in this video is comedy. The relationship between music and lyrics is that the lyrics start off slow and calm and the video is nice and serene. The first verse is "you heard my voice" and this is very soothing to hear and it shows one of the actors playing a band member walking into the light. The relationship between the music and the visuals is that the song starts off peaceful and gradually descends into a chaotic dance. This is all shown through the visuals in the video. There isn't a notion of looking in the video because there are only four subjects in the video and these are four famous male actors playing the members of Mumford and Sons. This can link into intertextuality in the music video. This is a concept-based narrative.
Bastille - Things We Lost in the Fire
In the music video for Bastille's Things We Lost in the Fire the main genre characteristic
is of murder and the aftermath of violence. The reason we as the audience know this is because there is constant close-ups of bullets dropping to the ground and there is a use of a pistol so this henceforth reinforces the murderous genre. The final clue which adds to the genre characteristics is that at the end of the video there is a pool of blood running outside of a car and the main singer is shown to be upset over something he could have done. The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is that the music video starts off sad and the music is very slow and dreary and as the video progresses so does the lyrics and they both tie into each other well as the climatic part approaches. The relationship between the music and visuals is that there are no instruments shown in the video. The video clearly focuses on the narrative and the lyrics link to what the main character has lost by certain actions. There is a slight reference to the notion of looking. This is through various close-ups of a girl. This could be argued that it is there to please the eye or on the other hand it aids the narrative.
Chase and Status - Count On Me
Through my analysis of Chase and Statuses music video Count On Me I would say that the genre characteristics suggest that the genre of the video is crime/urban and that it is a showcase of street life. The reason I say this is because the filming is done on a handheld camera and this gives it more of an urban feel. It also makes the music video seem more surreal and lifelike. Other characteristics in the music video which give it a street like genre is the fact that there is many shots of the London borough and gang and drug culture. There is a image motif and the notion of looking in the video which can be linked together. This is because there are constantly close-up shots of the main female singer singing and close-ups of her appearance. She is wearing very little so this could have been placed there for the notion of looking. However it could also be argued that she is there as part of her image motif. The relationship between the music and the visuals is that the music starts off in a party like tune and the visuals constantly start off crazy and upbeat. The visuals also show the crazy day in the life of youth adults in London. This matches the lyrics perfectly. This music video is a concept-based one.
Assignment 2 - Analysed music video full essay
After doing a short analysis of all three of my chosen music videos I then chose to go in depth and analyse the song Things We Lost In The Fire by Bastille. The music video belongs to the genre of crime and its genre characteristics come under the theme of murder and violence.
There is a good relationship between the lyrics and visuals in the music video clearly aiding the narrative. For example the lyrics start off in the song saying "things we lost, to the flames" and it is very slow and sad. The visuals start off as a long shot of a load of wolves in the snow who are running in slow motion. This symbolises through the use of lyrics and visuals that some form of relationship is broken and that the running of the wolves resembles the coming back together or a discovery. After 50 seconds the lyrics start to run at a fast pace after the lyrics "these are the things, the things we lost, the things we lost in the fire fire fire". The visuals along with this show the wolves running at a faster pace hence showing the narrative moving forward and going towards the climatic part of the video. After this verse the main character in the video then goes on to "we sat and made a list" and the lyrics are faster but you can tell the pain in his voice. This goes along well with the visuals because there is a close up of him tossing a bullet and looking guilty. This suggests he has done something wrong, possibly a violent/murderous action. By the end of the music video as the climatic part in the lyrics occurs, the end shot shows a massive pool of blood running out of a car. This ties in well with the lyrics because it aids the themes in the narrative to portray the narrative in a violent/sad way.
There is not much of a relationship between music and visuals , however the video does still cut to the beat and the video does change pace with the music. For example as the first first starts off slow and sad so does the video and it shows a sad atmosphere. As the pace fastens up in the lyrics the video cuts well tot the beat as it shows a jolt in the wolves pace as well as a fast cut to the main character. In the main chorus when he sings "these are the things, the things we lost, the things we lost in the fire fire fire" the video cuts well to the beat and the camera shows close-ups of both the male and female and they constantly cut to each other. This shows through the relationship of music and visuals that these two characters have a connection and that there story is possibly the main focus on the narrative. There are no musical instruments in the music video to accompany the video. This is because the music layered on top of the video tells the narrative in a good way.
In the music video for Things We Lost In The Fire there are various close-ups of the main male singer Dan. This could be argued that these are image motifs clearly identify the artist are are there for selling purposes only so that they sell more of the single. There are also various close-up shots of bullets as well as showing Dan who is upset and clearly very hurt. This is key to the narrative by showing the damage that he or someone else has caused. In the music video there are minor references to the notion of looking. For example during the duration of the video there are many medium and close-up shots of a girl who is wearing thick lipstick and is pouting towards the camera. This could be looked at in two different ways. For example the first way it could be looked at is that the purpose of the shots being there is because it is there to please the eye and to make the video look nicer. The second way it could be looked at is that it could be there to aid the narrative and hence shows why the main character is sad. Because possibly he killed her. In my opinion I feel this is why the director chose to put the shots of her in the music video.
There is some intertextual references in Bastille's music video for Things We Lost In The Fire. The style of the music video has not been copied however the music video is very similar and relates to David Guetta's music video She Wolf. This is because both music videos are set in a snowy mountainous location. Both videos also involve wolves running. As well as this the two videos open up with an extreme long shot of the wolves. I don't think that this was done on purpose. I just think that the reason for these two music videos being so similar is because they portray the exact mood of the narrative very well. The music video for Things We Lost In The Fire is a concept-based narrative. This is because the lyrics don't actually fit to the visuals and they don't tell the story. It's the visuals which tell the story and move the narrative forward.
To conclude my analysis of the music video Things We Lost In The Fire I will list the main points of the video. Some of the main points to discuss would be the placement of a female actress who often in the video is shown in close and medium shots. This can be argued either way that her purpose in the video is for the notion of looking or too aid the narrative. Another main point would be that the main genre of the music video is crime. The genre characteristics which suggest this are the themes of murder and violence. There is also to conclude a good relationship between the lyrics and visuals. This is because the lyrics help to portray the visuals as a narrative. This isn't because of the actual lyrics but because of the way they are sung and the positioned of them at certain visual moments. So this makes the video a concept-based narrative.
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