Music Video analysis

By Luke Kennett

The Streets – Blinded By The Lights

The music video illustrates the lyrics quite accurately, it tends to stick to the story in the lyrics. The song itself is a story told by the artist. The visuals amplify the story not only by portraying the actions in the story but also the visuals represent the feelings and some point of view shots. This is why I like this video, because it not just tells the story in the visuals but also the emotions and confusion of the artist caused by the drugs he takes, this is seen by the use of the handheld camera being shaky and blurred but also by the shots that the camera focuses on a mid close up of the artist and then is attached to the artist as he stumbles and spins giving the audience a better understanding of how he is feeling.

An example of how the visuals link in with the lyrics is where he says ‘Menu, write message, so where are you and

Simone?’ as he says this the visuals show this action (shown in screen grab).

The music in this video amplifies the effects of the drugs taken in the visuals and the lyrics. There is quite a simple baking tune to the video which is continuous and repeated throughout. Within the music there is a continuous repetition of a tune within the music, this tune emotes confusion, this tune within the music is used to drive the editing, it does this near the end of the video where the confusion is paramount in the character In the video, the use of the tune within the music is shows how messed up the character is feeling. The screen grab below is the part of the song where the artist says ‘Ah who cares, I'm maaaashed.’ you can see from the screen grab that the camera work and mise-en-scene is smoky, the character is sweaty and cant keep his eyes open properly, all linking to the theme and the content of the lyrics about the

effects of drugs.

The video is a representation of drug use and is mainly focused towards the teenage and earlier twenty year old population., it shows the good and the bad effects of drug use In the video, the

good being interlinked with the lyrics and how it makes a party better. but, then it gives the bad views with the fight at the end caused by the character being under the influence of hard drugs

and non-intentionally starting a fight because of this. Another physical effect of the drug taking being bad is in the lyrics when he says ‘Maybe i shouldn't have done the second one, I feel all fidgety and warm... Whoa, everything in the room is spinning, i think I'm going to fall down,’ this shows his unstable state and the regret of taking the drugs.

There is a demand from the music label to have many close ups and shots of the artist within the video. This is clearly seen in this video because the artist is in 90% of the shots as the story of the video has him as the main character out of three named characters. This is also shown in the use of the camera techniques, many of the shots are close up on his face and body and the camera seems to be planted with him in the middle of the shot no matter how much he turns and moves he is central on the screen.

The music video is not typical of the genre of the music. Its quite hard to distinguish which genre The Streets fit into but mainly I believe it is urban with a mix of dance, most urban and dance music videos have scantily dressed women, nice cars and is usually set out in a club or on the streets. Whereas The Streets video is set at a wedding reception and I think it is meant to appeal to be different. It relates to a wider audience by showing a relatively normal setting for the video.

The artist has produced a star persona which aspects of can be seen in this video. Mike Skinner’s star persona is of a cockney ‘jack the lad’ and party goer. This is seen in this video as the video is all about him going to a party and trying to liven things up by taking drugs, he also has other videos with include heavy drug use and references, he is also seen to, and said in the lyrics to repeated drinking alcohol and going to parties. This all gives him the image of being a drug taking alcoholic to some of the older generation but this star person relates to his target audience and fans as many can relate to the things he says and does in his lyrics and in his videos. There is a references to voyeurism in terms of systems of looking, this is done

as a couple of the shots are seen through a video camera being used within the video by one of the characters seen in the screen shot below you can tell the camera is different due to the difference in contrast, brightness and the blurriness of the image.

Roll Deep – The AvenueThe storyline of the video is the artists vision of life on the streets is shown

exaggeratedly and uses some of the characters in the animated part of the video to personify some ideas. The artists being portrayed in a comic book which is animatedly acted out. In the second scene this is illustrated with the pop up on screen whilst the image of the artist is frozen giving their name, this is the same style as many comic books. The video goes on to a mixture of real footage and the animated cartoon telling an exaggerated story. The lyrics do not entirely correspond to the storyline of the music video. There is some essences of the lyrics corresponding, the first of these is setting of the video is the same place that is spoken about in the lyrics, also there is references to woman and relationships in the lyrics, this is shown in the video when the lyrics are said.

The genre of the music is seen as grime in this video in many different places, firstly the first seen illustrates the genre as the presumptions of grime artists and music is of young black males in built up urban areas listening to music, this is exactly what is seen in the first scene. This persona changes slightly after the third scene, the music video then moves in and out of animation and real life. Another example of the genre of the music in the video is in the animation, it shows large breasted animations of women and there is images of a cartoon pimp, this links with the genre in the way that many grime tracks are about, or at least mention, women, sex and crime. The genre is clearly seen in the style of the animation and real footage, it is mainly on the artist performing at that time, most of the shots are mid-close up or a whole body shot, this is typical of grime music as it focuses on the artist as in some grime tracks there is more than one artist so it allows the audience to identify who the performing artist is at that time. Also the shots are of the artist as it allows them to show their characteristics in the way they rap, it also adds the ‘gangster’ persona taken on by some grime artists, this is shown as the artist is free to express their hand movements and gestures when they are rappers, which is typical of the genre of the music. Lastly, the ideas held by the artist within the

genre of gangs and unity is shown in the animated scene of the fight at the end of the video, the artist link together to form one entity in which to fight the robot at the end which I think is representing the police. This idea of the artist being main in the shot links with the record labels need to have the artist seen in the video as it helps to promote that artist to the audience.

The artists ‘star persona’ is shown in this video as they have given an exaggerated image of themselves in the animated parts of the video. This allowed the artist to express how they want to, or think they, look and act. This star persona is also shown in the way the group of artists meet in the first seen of the video as it is the stereotypical persona of grime artists being in gangs on the street.

There is reference to voyeurism in the video in the treatment of women, the

women shown in the cartoon have exaggerated breast sizes and slender bodies, showing what the ideal woman is to the artists and links with the genre of the music.

This voyeurism is seen majorly in this video by the use of the comic book the artist holds in the third scene, you see the upcoming story of the next scene through the pages of the comic book.

Faithless - Insomnia

The video corresponds to the lyrics but not exactly

to the story of the lyrics. The song is about an

insomniac who feels trapped by the illness. The video

shows the portrayal of the feelings and views of the

man. There is links to the lyrics in the way that he talks

about madness and there being ‘no release,’ this

is portrayed in the video by the random images of a person in a mask and the artist walking backwards under an umbrella, these represent the madness he feels in his head. Also the composition of the majority of the video is in black and white, until the random images are shown, these are then in red, black and white to emphasise the difference and the randomness of the images. The black and white theme links with the lyrics as the artist talks about darkness and his search for the light. This is seen as most of the video is in low light and sometimes completely black apart from the artists head.

The music and the visuals coincide too, the visuals are cut to the beat of the music most of the way through, this gives a good flow to the video. The music, visuals all link in some places of the video, the music has a two beat melody repeated in parts of the video when this melody is heard the visuals match the tune by using out of focus shots coming into focus at a past pace so it looks and sounds like the tune is making the camera go in and out of focus.

Most videos in the dance genre are set in clubs and at parties with women in little clothing dancing to the music. This video however has taken a different approach to the video by making more linked to the lyrics and the themes. The cut-to-the-beat editing, helps the audience identify the genre of the video as it makes the video quite fast paced and flowing.

The video includes many close ups of the artist throughout the video. One of the examples of this is where all you see on the screen is the artists head at the bottom surrounded by darkness, this clearly identifies the artist to the audience but also links with the theme of being trapped in the darkness as all that is visible is the artists head. This is one of the demands of the record label as it allows the audience to identify who the artist is.

The artist represents himself in

places as Godly. This is seen

by the use of the low angle

shot of the artist making him

look superior.