This is my analysis of the Nickleback video Far Away

1. Far Away
Nickleback

2. Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin had 7 key ideas that he believed could be
identified within a music video. He also believed that each
one of these ideas could be found within most, if not all,
music videos. For example, he stated that music videos
demonstrate genre characteristics, for example a stage
performance in a metal video or a dance performance in a
boy/girl band music video. Throughout my music video
analysis I intend on addressing the different ideas that
Goodwin suggested existed within a music video.

3. Genre Characteristics
For my third analysis I have decided to choose a song that is similar to the genres that I have
analyzed before, but not exactly the same genre, as to try and fully understand the concept
behind creating a music video. I chose the song ‘Far Away’ by the band ‘Nickleback’. This song
falls into the genre of acoustic-rock. Within these videos it is common for them to portray strong
feelings through the use of lyrics and visuals. Nickleback do this very well within the video for
‘Far Away’ as it consists of a couple where the male has a dangerous job, which he gets called
to do within the video. As he gets the call the woman becomes annoyed and very worried as this
is clearly pointed out through her performance and a two shot of the characters in which she
turns away from the man. Later within the video the idea of the woman feeling worried is
reinforced as she switches the TV channel, which is followed by a close up on the TV to show
she has changed it to the local news stations so that she can keep track of the fire that her
partner has gone to try and extinguish. Finally the woman shows intense sorrow and depression
near the end of the video – made clear through the use of a medium-close up and shallow focus
- as she receives word that a tree has fallen upon her partner. This is then followed by an
enormous amount of relief as she sees that her partner has made it home alive. This is effective
as the audience that it is intended for could relate to the pain of nearly loosing someone that they
love. Throughout the video, it is intercut with performance shots from the band. This is common
in a song like this as the performance links with the rock section of the genre while the narrative
links greatly to the acoustic genre.

4. Relationship between lyrics
and visuals
Throughout the video there is a few moments in which the lyrics and
visuals link together. One point of this is when Chad Kroger sings the
line ‘If I don’t see you anymore’ and the female character watches the
man leave, knowing that it may be the last time that she will get to see
him. This is effective as it gets the audience thinking about what
exactly the male has as a job that could be so dangerous that the
woman may never see him again. Later in the song the Kroger sings
the line ‘I forgive you’ which is quite contradictory to the scene playing
out. The male character at this point is being left stranded in this
dangerous place by the helicopter, which would be a difficult thing to
forgive as this causes a tree to fall on him instead of him being safely
on the helicopter. Leading onto my next point, Kroger sings ‘Keep
breathing’ as the video uses a multi-take to make it seem as though
the male character has been crushed by a falling tree.

5. Close-ups of the artist?
Throughout the video there is a lot of close ups of the artist, mainly
Chad Kroger. This is because he is the lead singer within in the
band and the close-up shots follow the common conventions of a
music video. Nearly every scene that has performance in it
includes a close up of Chad Kroger. This has likely been done as
he is the main face of the band ‘Nickleback’ therefore he is a major
selling point for the band. Thus when the music video ahs been
recorded the director has decided to include lots of close-up shots
on Chad Kroger. As you can see in the images below, when the
director has taken these close-up shots he has made use of the
rule of thirds technique to frame Chad Kroger.

6. Notion to looking?
Throughout the music video there is some notion to looking. It begins with the
female character looking away from the male to try and avoid eye contact with
him. This two shot helps to portray the feelings that the woman has at this
moment in time so that the audience can clearly understand the narrative of
the video without having to think about it too much, which could possibly lead
the audience to be put off from the rest of the video. Secondly the male
character is seen looking at the helicopter and shouting as it takes off leaving
them behind. The mise-en-scene of this shot, most importantly the
performance from the actor, heavily impacts upon the audience as they can
clearly see that just from the facial expressions of the actor, he has lost hope
and realizes the danger of the situation that he has managed to find himself
stuck in. Finally, the female character looks across the fireman in one of the
final shots of the video with depression as she notices that her partner is not
among them. Her expression suddenly changes to the opposite as she sees
her partner emerge from behind the other firemen. This is effective as it makes
the audience feel relief and joy for this woman as she finds out that the man
that she loves is still alive.

7. Is the video category
illustration, amplification or
contradictory?
Personally, I believe that the video falls into the category of amplification as it
amplifies the feelings that the song is about within the music video. It also
amplifies the lyrics through the use of visuals. The narrative is about a
firefighter being called away from his partner to take care of a forest fire in
which it is suggested that he dies, just to be revealed at the end that he did not
in fact die. The song is about loving someone, it is clear that in the narrative
the woman is in love with the man who is believed to have died. Throughout
the video it shows this by shots of the woman appearing to be incredibly
worried about the man as he has been called out to do such a dangerous job,
followed by her becoming depressed and crying when she hears that he has
not returned with his fellow firemen. Finally, it portrays the idea of love by her
reaction of joy, relief and happiness at the end of the video when she notices
the man walk out from behind the other firemen.