Arctic Monkeys – Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?Released – 10th August 2013

Album: AM As part of the Domino Record Company

Nabil Elderkin is an English professional photographer, music video and film director of mixed American and Iranian origin. Elderkin created this music video for the Arctic Monkeys which features each of the band members, but mostly Alex Turner. The videos concept is slightly

adulterated so it has to be labelled with a parental advisory for explicit content.

Lighting is a very key aspect throughout this music video, it helps to convey meaning and to also add emphasis. In this one scene of the music video a very dramatic red lighting is used to express a certain idea to the shots.

Lighting

These two starting shots show Alex going into a bathroom, and so walking towards the red light, and getting blinded by a very intense white light whilst in the bathroom. This could be used to so Alex leading himself into danger (the danger being drugs) so the red is used to symbolise the mess that he is going to get himself into, and that he should have known to avoid it.

Because of the slightly dramatic red light on the left side of his face; we are led to believe that this is the direction which Alex is heading in. The red on the left could symbolise the wrong path to choose, and the white on the right could be the right path, so we know that the choices Alex is making are wrong.

Because we see Alex coming out of a very intense red light, we are shown that he has made the wrong decision, and so will have to face the consequences of his actions (or the hallucinations of the drugs he has been taking).

There are many ways in which this music video links to intertextuality which Andrew Goodwin has made reference to.

This style of showing text messages has featured in such television programmes as Hollyoaks. This helps a viewer to draw reference from this show into this music video, because sex, drinking and drugs are major

themes in the Hollyoaks show.

One of the shots in the music video is the band all together drinking. This shows unity to a viewer, to show what they would probably get up to and how they would behave on a normal day. Because of the

stereotypical pub shot, with pool and women in the background, the band can have a certain image of ‘getting all of the ladies’ and being able to have a laugh. This shot is really important to the development of the video, because only Alex Tuner features in the video after, viewers need to see the band as a unison to

let them know that they are still together.

Drinking, as well as drugs is heavily dealt with in the music video. This could be used to warn the dangers of drinking and doing drugs, or it could be used to promote the idea of it. Elderkin uses Alex being drunk and high to his advantage by using a lot of point of view shots with shaky cam. This then emphasises his drunken state and puts the viewer in the position of Alex. This effect has been used by Elderkin really well to show to a viewer how the behaviours of Alex have been influenced.

The only real establishing shot which is used is this one. This automatically helps the viewer to understand the location of the music video. It is located on an unassuming street which is an actual point of interest instead of a set. Because we are introduced to this street at the start of the music video, as a viewer we are then able to identify factors of it which makes it British, such as; signs, licence plates, road markings, shops etc.

As a viewer we witness a number of visual effects which help to add to the effect of Alex being high. Some of these shots are from the point of view of Alex and some are showing what he is feeling. By using these visual effects, Elderkin can show to a viewer an interesting way of looking at his video, so guaranteeing multiple views to understand the video. Through the use of these scenes surrealism is conveyed to slightly obscure the realist factor which is conveyed in the video.

I feel that it would be impossible to watch this video and not analyse the

different aspects of sex and the female gaze.

A certain representation of women has been placed on this video and that is that they’re easy. Admittedly we are seeing the hallucinations of a mixed drunk and high man, however the way in which these women are presented in the music video makes they seem almost slutty. Through the use of the conventions of the female gaze these women have been characterised as something to be desired by men and something for women to model themselves on. This aspect of how the women in this video have been presented could emphasise the ‘sex, drugs and rock & roll’ element which most rock bands try to highlight in the majority of their music and videos. With that in mind the music video to this song fits really well, and it almost reveals a new style to the Arctic Monkeys which none of the fans have seen before.

Close ups

Because Alex has been singled out and left by himself, the demands for close-ups by the record company are very high. This is because it follows one of the conventions in which Goodwin has put in. By having a lot of intense close-up shots of Alex, a fan will be able to see his face a lot clearer, so feeling that they have more of a connection with the singer. Also because of the mass of shots of Alex, we as a viewer can see that he is the lead singer of the group because he is of most importance.

The lyrics have a lot of relation to the music video with the reference to drugs this helps the viewer to follow the lyrics and the video more. This follows one of Andrew Goodwin’s theories in how the lyrics add reference to the visuals. Not only is there reference to the use of drugs through the use of the music video, but some of the elements from the lyrics match up.

‘Its three in the morning’ as an audience we are shown the indication of time through the use of Alex texting Stephanie. This helps the viewer to see reality in a otherwise implausible video.

‘Left you multiple missed calls’ at the end of the video we are shown an indicating to how many times Alex has rung and texted this woman. This helps to emphasise his desperation to not spend the night alone.

‘I need a partner, well are you out tonight?’ this lyric is referenced throughout the video to show that Alex is looking for someone to spend his night with.