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1. Music Video Analysis
Supersonic – Oasis
Oasiswere a five-piece band.All five of the memberstake place inthe videobutitreallydoes
prioritiesandfocusonthe leadsinger,LiamGallagher.I’ll have toanalyse thisverywell becauseI’m
doinga similartype of video,giventhe genre isthe same sothingssuchas visual codes,stereotypes,
editing,locationsetcwill be helpfulinmyresearchandplanningof my ownvideo.The videoisanall
performance video.
Visual Codes
Almostall the videoisshotinblackand white. Ican’t sayfor
sure whythishas beendone butI didfine itto be an
interestingdecisionoverall.The openinglyricsread,“Ineed
to be myself,Ican’tbe noone else”sothe songis preaching
individualismandidentity, soremovingall the colourtoparts
of the videoandhavingeveryonelookplain,basicandboring
didn’tmake sense.
At times,the video
burstsintolife withcolourssoI thinkthere waspossibly
intentiontosay – beingthe same isboring,thisishow it
shouldbe done.Thisbringsmeaningandexampletotheir
wordsand issomethingIwouldlooktoreplicate and
adapt to myown musicvideo.
Anotherreasonforthe blackand white couldbe modesty.
The band tryingto show theyare downtoearth and could
be metaphorically preachingthateveryoneisthe same inthe sense thatnobodyisbetterorabove
anyone else.Bothideasare interestingandhave learnedsomethingfrom thisregardless.
The singerand mainstar of the video,Liam
Gallagherdoesa goodjobof nottakinghimself too
seriously.Hishairisblowinginthe wind,causingit
stickup and he acts in a waythroughoutthe video
whichcouldbe acknowledgedbysome as
unprofessional. Throughmyanalysisof music
videos, Ihave foundthischild-like behaviourtobe
commonin the genre of Rock. It doescreate a bond
and relationshipwiththe audience andfans.He
hasn’tplacedhimself inthe untouchable,God-like,
Hollywoodbracketlike Isawinthe Kanye West,
Hip-Hopanalysis.Itmakesyoufeel he isanormal personwitha normal personality,whichIalso
acknowledgedinthe BittersweetSymphony musicvideotoo.
Lastlyon the visual codesof the leadsinger,there isimportance onhim tolook‘cool’to appeal to
the general publicbybeinglikeable invariousways.The furcoatand sunglasses,whilstthose two
objectsoftencontradictintheir intendedfunctions,theybelongtofashiontoo.Sunglassesare

2. considered‘cool’thingstowearanda fur coat istoo so himwearingthese doesshow the
importance of thisfeature.
Thisphototellsme that the singeristhe most
importantpart of a musicvideo.A musicvideocan
onlybe the lengthof a song, whichobviouslyisnot
verylongso pickingsomething/somebodytobuild
the entire videoaroundmakessense,andithappens
to be that the videocentresaroundthe singermore
oftenthannot. The singerhasplentyof shotswhere
he is stoodalone,alot more than the restof the
bandand it isnotable thatthe camera choosesto
focuson the instrumentsof the bandmembersmore
than the people playingthem.Theyaren’ttotallyignoredbutIcan’thelpbutfeel theyare part of a
supportingactwhenwatchingthe video.Thiswill impactmydecisionmakingonmyvideogoing
forwardintermsof howI prioritise people.
Stereotypes
Discussing stereotypes is very difficult when analysing a performance video from an all same
gendered band. I think they are shown to be ‘laddish’ in certain parts of the video. The band
are seen kicking things between performance and this was incorporated into the video
because it represents to band and who they are. The cloths are generally just jeans,
trainers/shoes, shorter haircuts and shirts/coats. These are all typical cloths from boys but
in-terms of personality, I can’t add anything from this specific video because little is shown.
Location
The video takes place on top of a building which I think is a block of flats. This is an
uncommon place for a music video to take place but I do think there is meaning behind it. I
previously mentioned the black and white editing done to the video and had some potential
reasoning but it does add to what is a very mundane location. It feels like a working-class
area being embraced by people who have found success despite being disadvantaged. The
area adds to what I said about audience and musician connection. The Kanye West video I
analysed was shot in Tokyo, Japan. A very glamorous location where as the Rock genre has

3. really embraced the working-class roots which make the band feel more personal and more
genuine. They create the feeling by recording in this location that they are right around the
corner to the average person whereas Kanye West created a feeling on untouchability to his
video. A block of flats is something which is found in working class areas, especially city’s
and the rubbish on the floor just adds to the rougher feel this video has embraced.
Cinematography.
Because the video involves only a performance aspect, it is important to develop lots of
different shots to keep the video interesting, but also because the style of video is to make
you almost feel in the video so shooting from different angles adds to that feeling created.
The video is shot with a handheld camera. The reason for this is because it continues to add
to the rough feel the video has created. I said this video has tried to create a mundane
atmosphere so the average person can create a relationship with the band and the
handheld camera and direct gaze makes you feel that. With the handheld recording you feel
you can get in-between the band whilst recoding because the camera introduces you to
every member from different angles.
Mid shot – The mid shot is common in this video and works
great for a band performance. The mid shot starts with the
lead singer and gives you a good view of him, but obviously,
unlike the Kanye West video, there are other members of
the band who also need to be recognised, so a mid-shot
gets all five band members in the shot together, but also
establishes that this video will be focused around the singer.
Low angle – The low angle shot creates the feeling that
you are looking up to the person, that they are in
control and being dominant. I said earlier how it Is
clearly important for the singer and focal point of the
video to look ‘cool’ so having the audience look up
towards him in a literal way is a good way to achieve
that.
High Angle – This creates the opposite feeling of the low
angle shot. In this moment, we, the viewer is watching
over the drummer, almost like we are analysing him and
watching for a mistake. It puts us in the driving seat and
gives us the dominant feeling. The fact that the
drummer is exposed with this shot and the singer gets a
low angle shows the importance of prioritising him
again. These shots will be considered by me when I plan
my video and how I portray my band.