Music Video Analysis 102

Name Of Song- Life is Life

Artist- Noah & the Whale

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

            As mentioned before in '101,' the costumes, the cinematography, tune and location are the characteristics of the indie/alternative genre. In this music video, I found that the costumes are still not vast but also not so diverse for this genre, as the band wear suits and the main girl who runs is wearing what looks like a PE Uniform. The cinematography here is much more varied, as the lighting is (seems very) natural and bright, which is reflected by the tune of the song, which is very upbeat and cheerful despite the lyrics being a tad darker, such as 'he took up all his old things, and set 'em all on fire.' The location used is rather typical of this genre as well, because it's using mostly one single location, even though it's a wide open setting on a long street with a school field and houses that run along it, eventually leading to an airport hangar then to a hot air balloon.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS?

             The only noticeable connection between the lyrics and visuals is a very large section of the video shown as a metaphor for putting away your old life and chasing a better one. This is shown with the very beginning scene of the girl dropping the slice of watermelon (could that resemble manufactured happiness; the slice looking as though it creates a smile if held to the face?) and screaming, as though she's letting everything go; her old life. The line 'left his house at midnight, resolute and young. In search of something greater than the person he'd become.' This is obviously reflecting the girl throughout the whole video running in a visually straight line, eventually passing everything and into a hot air balloon, as though she's off to find a new life.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS?

              The music here is very upbeat, which ties in with the bright sunny day and the bright clothes. It sort of becomes the epitome of a warm day for the video, as the beat at the very beginning plays along the girl running, which gives it a lively feel to it.

ARE THERE CLOSE-UPS OF THE ARTIST AND STAR IMAGE MOTIFS?

              There aren't close-ups of the artist, as the band is shown from many mid-shots maybe to allow the bright and sunny background to be shown. However, motifs are evident, such as the suits they wear, which are also in their other single 'L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N, where they sit in a gloomy bar with black suits.

IS THERE REFERENCE TO THE NOTION OF LOOKING?

ARE THERE INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES?

              There seems to be no intertextual references to books, other music or other works, which shows the video as being more of a genuine indie video.

IS THE VIDEO CATEGORY ILLUSTRATION, DISJUNCTURE OR AMPLIFICATION? HOW MUCH?

             The video is probably 85% amplification and 15% disjuncture. Amplification because almost the whole video resembles the lyrics, but not in an illustrious fashion, more of a semantic fashion. We see the girl running to a location undisclosed until the end, but we know that she's running after a new life as she took apart her old life and 'set it all on fire' and she's 'gonna change' and she feels like her 'new life can start, and it feels like heaven,' possibly resembling the bright sunny day and going up into the hot air balloon at the end. It's also a quarter disjuncture because some of the allegory is so subtle that you may be wrong in thinking you've interpreted it right. Such examples are the shots of the cheerleaders and of the band, which is a normal element of any video anyway.

THE VIDEO- http://youtu.be/6HKdXbTI49U

Music Video Analysis 101

Name Of Song- Shampain

Artist- Marina & the Diamonds

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

       The observations for the genre characteristics of 'Shampain,' it being an alternative/indie genre, is the location, the tune of the song, the cinematography style and the costume. The evidence for the location is obvious with the video, as the setting isn't a large place; a play park for most of the video. We see Marina doing a thriller-style dance through a littered park with two backup dancers. The evidence for the tune of the song is that, even though the video was released in 2010, it has a very retro vibe and sound to it, which isn't exactly a widely used style in mainstream song culture. The evidence for the cinematography is that the look and feel of the video, with help from the camera angles and shots, is a sort of glamorous cheesy indie retro feel through shots such as a close-up of Marina's face with heavy make up, only used to contrast with the smeared make up on her face later on, which is shown with surrounding smoke effects and backup dancers moving like the zombies in Michael Jackson's Thriller, generating the glamorous, cheesy retro feel. The evidence for the costume is obvious as the only costumes worn are binary opposites; a beautiful dress and then a ripped up dress. This implies the possibly small budget as different costumes aren't worn every 5 seconds, unlike mainstream pop music videos.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS?

         There seems to be connection with these factors, as there is in almost every indie/alternative music video. Here, the lyrics 'drinking champagne, to forget yesterday, 'cause I remember, the way the way the way, I ended the day...' is quite easily connected with the visuals, such as Marina wearing a nice dress and shown in a golden-coloured tone, then wearing a torn dress, as though she's remembering something bad she may have done and tries to 'forget yesterday.'

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS?

          There is only little relationship between music and visuals, as indie probably pays more attention to lyrical meaning and visual representation. However, the rhythm of the music, it being in a retro style, is synchronized at times with the backup dancers and Marina herself as they do their own rendition of the Thriller (as I've said before, so forgive me).

ARE THERE CLOSE-UPS OF THE ARTIST AND STAR IMAGE MOTIFS?

          There are quite a few close-ups of Marina used between the switch overs of her costume and make up. This doesn't create a star image motif, as her dressing isn't similar in other videos, and there isn't really any justifiable motif to do with her style in other videos and singles.

IS THERE REFERENCE TO THE NOTION OF LOOKING?

ARE THERE INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES?

             There are two intertextual references, one lyrical and one visual. The lyrical intertextual reference is when the line 'made by the angel, who goes by the name, of glittering Gabriel' references the angel Gabriel from the Holy Bible, as well as the word 'celestial' being sung at times. The visual intertextual reference is that of (you guessed it) Thriller by Michael Jackson, with the dance moves closely resembling the moves in the 1981 music video.

IS THE VIDEO CATEGORY ILLUSTRATION, DISJUNCTURE OR AMPLIFICATION? HOW MUCH?

               The video is 40% disjuncture, 50% amplification and 10% illustration. It is disjuncture as there are a lot of times where Marina is just shown stumbling zombie-like through a park, which doesn't really connect with the lyrics. However it's also amplification because the stumbling through the park and the zombie-like women seem to reflect that something has gone wrong due to a 'bad night,' which is why Marina is shown well dressed and then dishevelled. The small section that is illustration is just where Marina gets up and walks away from a set of stairs during the lyrics 'the day the day the day that I walked away, away away away.'

THE VIDEO- http://youtu.be/-vHi83LTQjU