Analysis of 'Annie' music video by Neon Indian

1. Music Video Analysis:
‘Annie’ – Neon Indian

2. Camera:
 At the beginning of the video, after a montage of places, the audience can see that for
this song, Neon Indian use subtitles containing the lyrics to the song with images behind
 During the video, the lyrics sometimes match up with the visuals as the picture on the
right shows – he is talking on the phone whilst below it shows the lyric. Alongside this,
his facial expressions convey emotions and this is continuous throughout the video.
 The camera shots are very reflective of the mise-en-scene so many of the shots include
outdated technology and other items
 The camera(s) used to film the video may have been ones from the time it is set in, or
the effect could have been added in during editing.
 The video portrays narrative in the lyrics and the visuals compliment this as some of
the shots are similar to shots used in films – such as the shot at the end of the video
where she shoots him and the camera is placed so the shot is an over the shoulder shot.
 The shots are kept at a fast pace and as an
audience member it seems that this is done to
not let the lyrics distract from the shots and add
to the overall pop colour effect of the video.

3. Editing:
 The lyrics on the screen throughout the song help to convey the point that the video is based
upon a certain time period (’80s/’90s technology). This is because of the font type being one
used consistently at the time and the colour being bright yellow. The style of the subtitles
also reflects the time as it is karaoke-like. This would have been added in during editing.
 This video seems to take inspiration from other videos that were made at the time and this is
shown through the editing techniques used. Some conventions of 80’s music video editing
included vibrant colours and unrealistic looking special effects
 Another editing technique this video uses is split screen. During two parts of the video the
main singer spins around and this repeats across the screen, three times in total. This works
extremely well alongside the audio, as they are synchronised. The other split screen is into
three again, showing three different men, each one with a different expression, conveying
meaning. The split screen gives a good comparison of the people.

4. Mise-en-scene:
 Among the many out-of-date communication devices in this clip are old cell phones,
pay phones, and non-digital tape recorders.
 Mise-en-scene features heavily in this video in order to show the audience the time
the video is supposed to be set in. This is strengthened by the use of many
characters, tangible items – especially technology and locations, all showing many
forms of mise-en-scene.
Overall, the use of genuine locations, people and
environments are the details that gives the video
verisimilitude.

5. Representation:
 The way that the band Neon Indian, consisting of 5 members, is represented in the
music video is so that the main singer is the main character. It appears that none of
the other band members are featured in the video except from the skeleton man
playing the drums. However, we do not know the identity of this person.
 The pattern of the characters in the video seems to be that all of them are very
expressive, conveying an opinion by just a facial expression.
 In terms of representation of character roles, it seems that the main character is
portrayed as being quite vulnerable as he looks around the city for Annie.
 This is emphasised as the other characters in the video are shown as quite harsh
towards him, for example the police in the spoken word segment. The facial
expressions and the way they are presented through camera and editing show this.
However, the seriousness is degraded due to the use of cartoon characters.
 Annie is represented as being mysterious and the narrative turns dark at the end as
it shows her shooting the main character. This also contrasts with general
representation of women in music videos as they are often the more vulnerable
gender and not often seen being violent towards a man.

6. Genre:
 The genre of Neon Indian’s ‘Annie’ is synth-pop but also
crosses over with disco and electronic.
 The video is extremely retro, showing references through
camera, editing and mise-en-scene, showing that the
iconography backs the genre well.
 Colour reflects the genre too as, for example, slow songs
are often shown with videos in monochrome as the two
work well to create one overall vision which is shown by
both audio and visuals. Therefore, the way pop and
electronic music is shown in terms of colour is by using
bright colours that literally pop.
 The Music tube map shows not only the variety of genres
there are for music but also the fact that genres can cross
over and an artist can produce a song which is cross-genre.
 Neon Indian do this as their song ‘Annie’ belongs to both
electronic and synth-pop.

7. Intertextuality:
 Intertextuality is when media texts reference another media text. This can be
reflected in the style of the video or done in a humorous way. It can help
audiences take away other levels of meaning from the text.
 One example of intertextuality in this music video is the use of the album name
by Neon Indian. This is shown in a variety of shots and is probably done in order
to promote the album.
 At the beginning, a moped is shown and as the number plate is central in the
shot, it brings the audiences attention to it. This is intertextuality as the number
plate is part of the name for another of Neon Indian’s songs.
 During the spoken word segment, the element of humour is added when the
police show pictures of cartoon characters and this is reference to the characters
from various different places.

8. Audience Reception + why?
 Audience opinion of the video:
 How these opinions fit Stuart Hall’s theory: (Theory of 3 types of reading – Preferred reading = audience
read the text the way the creator intended them too and generally agree with it. Negotiated reading =
Reader partly believes it and accepts the reading but sometimes modifies it to reflect their own
interests. Oppositional reading = The reading is rejected.
Lily: Negotiated reading as initial editing and footage was liked but she didn’t like the other footage or the
music
Zhane: Preferred reading as the genre appeals to her in terms of music, mise-en-scene, shots and editing.
Stephen: Oppositional reading as he didn’t like it but could appreciate that someone else would
 Why an audience might watch / enjoy this video: (Uses & Gratifications etc)
 The uses and gratifications theory argues that audience are responsible for choosing what they want to
watch. This means that someone may watch this video because they are a fan of the artist, they like the
genre or that the video was promoted on a website that the audience member uses so therefore brought
to their attention via marketing.
Lily: The music matches the video in terms of quality – looked low budget and sounded old. The talking part was cool if I
was a fan. Liked the editing at the beginning and videography in general at the start.
Zhane: Love the 80’s vibe
Stephen: Video and song are odd. Would appeal to a certain crowd but not me

9. Ideologies:
 In Marxist philosophy, the term dominant ideology denotes the attitudes,
beliefs, values, and morals shared by the majority of the people in a given
society.
 The chart shows the popularity of genres in the U.S – a mass market:
 Based on this, Neon Indian’s song Annie would belong to the alternative and
electronic categories, and the majority of U.S audience would choose other
songs over this one, showing the ideologies presented through genre and the
video in general is unlikely to be dominant compared to other genres.
 However, this does not mean that the video does not appeal to more of a niche
market.
 In terms of video content, the ideologies could be dominant as they reflect real
life quite well such as the use of a large city and the focus on a man and
woman.

10. Theories:
Andrew Goodwin created a book called ‘Dancing in the Distraction’ as he was interested in visual language and so focused on the
implicit and explicit music features. He believed specific key features make a music video successful:
1. Key relationship between lyrics and visuals – ‘Annie’ shows the relationship by the fact that the lyrics explain what is happening as the artist is
doing the things in the video so the two connect fluently and the direct link can be seen easily.
2. Narrative performance – In the video the strong narrative is conveyed by use of varied locations and actors, leading the audience through a journey
3. Star iconography/ close ups of artist – Many close ups/mid shots are used of the main singer in the band and he is the main character in the video
4. Voyeurism – Voyeurism in media can be seen as the following of a character, where the camera angle shows this. It can also be shown as someone
being watched by another person. This doesn’t really happen in the video apart from the possibility that Annie herself is watching the main character.
5. Intertextuality – see a previous slide
 Laura Mulvey’s theory:
 She employs some concepts to argue that the cinematic apparatus of classical Hollywood cinema inevitably put the spectator in a
masculine subject position, with the figure of the woman on screen as the object of desire and "the male gaze. “Hollywood women
characters of the 1950s and '60s were, according to Mulvey, coded with "to-be-looked-at-ness" while the camera positioning and the male
viewer constituted the "bearer of the look."
 This theory cannot necessarily be applied to the music video as the conventions of male and female relationship are broken. This is
because Annie ends up being ahead of the main character and the way she is portrayed is mysterious and does not feature very often. This
is different to many pop songs today where the women are sexualised by the men in the video.
 Are there any Binary Oppositions in the video (Levi Strauss theory), if so, where?
 Claude Levi Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist and came up with the Binary Opposition theory:
 A binary opposition is a pair of related terms that are opposite in meaning. Examples include rich/poor, North/South,
Black/white, good/evil, strong/weak.
 In the video it could be said that Annie is portrayed as strong, having the upper hand on the main character whereas he is
portrayed as being more vulnerable and weak. Alongside this, the other characters are shown as being against him also at times.
Red shows how his theory can
be applied to the video