Textual Analysis'

I have chosen to analyse two videos by the same artist for my textual analysis because although the videos are both from the same genre of music they are very different with one having a purely performance based narrative structure and the other taking a form similar to The Hollywood structure put forward by Pam Cook. Another reason I chose these songs these are that both music videos from artists who fit into the genre of indie-rock/pop which is also the genre of the song I have chosen to create a music video for is also from this genre of music therefore it will allow me to become more familiar with the conventions of videos within this genre of music and also the forms they take.

1.) "I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor" - Arctic Monkeys

As mentioned in my post titled "Conventions of Form and Genre", a popular convention of music videos in this genre of music is showing the band doing a live performance because artists of this genre like to focus more on the music rather than making extravagant music videos which is much more popular in the pop and rap genre. The reason that this kind of music video is successful and popular within this genre of music is that the target audience of artists, such as Arctic Monkeys, are the kind of people who enjoy going out and socialising at gigs and other events therefore they enjoy the concept of actually watching a band play their music on stage and so by watching a music video that is based entirely on a live performance, perhaps the audience can feel like they are at one of their gigs. Furthermore this is the chance for fans of their music that are perhaps younger and/or cannot afford to be able to go and see them live; music videos like this are good opportunity for them to experience what it would be like so that they at least have some idea.

Another factor of the music video that contributes to the performance being a believable interpretation of one of their gigs is the diegetic sound of Alex Turner speaking in order to introduce the song and finishes the sentence with “don’t believe the hype”. By doing this the band create a sense of realism and verisimilitude which, again, makes the video an accurate representation of a live gig as this is the sort of thing the audience would expect to see. In order to ensure that the video is still interesting for the audience to watch, the changes between each shot is quite fast pace, especially when the tempo of the song increases, and because the editing is fast pace it means that there are lots of different shot types being used. The different shot types include:

- close up

- medium close up

- long shot

- pan

- high angle

- low angle

- extreme close up

- zoom in

- zoom out

- focusing shot

The shots create effect in the music video, for example as mentioned previously the editing is more fast pace when the tempo of the song increases, the camera also focuses more on the instruments themselves when there is no singing however the camera shifts back to focus on Alex Turner when the singing starts again.

The camera and it's movements could perhaps reflect the crowd as it is constantly moving and focusing on different parts of the stage and different members of the band, the movement of the camera also imitates the crown dancing as nobody would go to a gig and watch it from one still angle. In a way, the audience almost get a better experience watching the band play live from this video as the camera angles allow them to see things they might not have seen before if they were actually in the crowd however others may argue that being there gives a better experience because of the atmosphere that surrounds you when listening to live music and this is something that cannot be represented through a video that is watched on a computer for example.

An explanation as to why this video follows no narrative structure in that there is no main protagonist and antagonist that are involved in a disruption which concludes in a resolution is that the lyrics are quite self-explanatory and therefore there may be no reason for the audience to seek a deeper meaning to the lyrics and perhaps one does not exist.

2.) "When The Sun Goes Down" - Arctic Monkeys

In contrast to the other music video I analysed by Arctic Monkeys, the structure of this video is heavily based on narrative. The purpose of having a music video that has a main protagonist, antagonist, a disruption and a resolution is that it gives meaning to the lyrics. If the audience cannot personally connect to a song it enables them to link the lyrics of the song to a scenario so that they are able at least sypathise with the meaning of the song. Videos like this one are also good for their audience members who understand the song as it enables to see the song visually and is also a chance for them to develop a deeper understanding of the sing because if they engage with the music they are more likely to want to consume the music. This links to Richard Dyer' Star Theory that suggests that stars must have two paradox's one of which is 'ordinary' and this is the side that the audience must be able to relate to in order to for the artist to be successful.

The reason that the music video for this song is heavily based on narrative is because the song has a much deeper meaning to it than what initially comes across. The theme behind the song is prostitution and so in the video the main protagonist is the prostitute and the antagonist is the pimp, the song is all about sympathising with the prostitute and showing her as the victim and criticising the pimp whose lifestyle is centered around mis-treating young, vulnerable women.

In order to represent this there are several references to prostitution, some examples of which include:

The very first shot that audience see when they watch the video is a screen which says "Right beside us are the ones hidden by the night." This is something that is exclusive to the audience that watch the music video because as it is a visual element of the video it obviously cannot be seen to those who only listen to the song. This immediately reinforces my point that suggests that the reason people watch music videos is in order to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning behind the song and this music video immediately gives this to the audience.

In terms of non-diegetic sound, the lyrics of the song refer heavily to prostitution however this may not be something the audience picks up on initially and so the lyrics, when combined with the video, allow this to become clearer to the audience. The line "And I've seen him with girls of the night" has connotations of prostitution as prostitutes are often referred to as 'ladies of the night'. Additionally, the line "And he told Roxanne to put on her red light" has references to a song called 'Roxanne' by another band called 'The Police' which is written from the point of view of a man who falls in love with a prostitute, therefore both songs follow the same theme however the song by Arctic Monkeys is from the point of view of an outsider who can see what is going on but is in no way involved and the audience can interpret this from the opening line of the song "I said "Who's that girl over there?", I wonder what wrong so that she had to roam the streets?" as the continuous questions suggests a sense of innocence and that this person is seeking answers to gage what is going on in this situation. This also suggests concern for the girl and therefore frames her as the victim and later on the lyrics "he'll rob you if he can" and "what a scummy man" suggests that the man is broke and only lives off the misfortune of the young girls and the word "scummy" reflects the negative attitude that the person, who's point of view the song is sung from, has on the pimp.

The mise-en-scene (costume) element of the video helps the audience to make assumptions on the characters based on social stereotypes. An example of this is the main, female protagonist who, throughout the video, is seen wearing a tracksuit, no make-up on and very harshly plucked eyebrows resulting in a look that is more masculine than feminine and as a result of this the audience stereotype her as a chav’. A contributing factor to her being labelled as a chav is the fact that she is seen in locations where it looks very rough and because of the effects of iconography the audience may assume that it is a place that is related touch things like violence and perhaps even prostitution.

The audience can also make assumptions on the male antagonist as a result of his appearance and what he is wearing. The man in the video has a broad build and would be quite intimidating to vulnerable young women like the one that is portrayed in the video. His long, smart, structured jacket makes him appear like the dominating character out of the two and his mannerisms clearly show that his grooming and taking advantage of the female character thus criticising him and framing her as the victim.