An analysis of a music video.

2. A long tracking shot is
used at the very start of
the music video so that
we can follow the guy
outside the venue as he
makes his way down
the street to the
entrance. The 30
second long shot
creates authenticity- as
does the incredibly long
shot in “Goodfella’s”
when he takes the
woman on a date-
because the lack of
editing makes it look
real and adds an
element of actuality that
is common within the

3. The first shot of the video
also adds realism through
the use of natural lighting;
this can be seen when
the blue light flashes on
the side of the building
and then the camera
pans round towards the
young man where you
can see the ambulance
that is providing the
flashing light in the
background. Realism is
used to instil the idea that
this is a real band playing
at a real gig, with
ineligible people trying to

4. When the camera pans past the crowd
and you see the band members
between members of the audience,
you see one of the band members
playing the guitar and in the next shot,
you are shown a close up of the piano
that is being played. Although the
images and the sounds are recorded
separate, the relation of the shots and
the sounds work in tandem to create a
certain element of realism- which then
creates authenticity. This creation of
authenticity then allows the viewers of
the video to build a rapport with the
band members and entice them into
following the band further by listening
to more of their music, attending gigs
and buying merchandise, etc.

5. • Ensuing are a couple of
shots of the audience, these
shots show the audiences
faces where the singing,
bouncing around and smiling
and just generally enjoying
themselves, helps to promote
a great image of the band as
a fun and interesting band.
This use of close ups to
show the audiences
response to the band shows
viewers that the band- in a
real gig- can create an
amazing atmosphere where
people are having a good

6. • Throughout the video, the use of
low light or chiaroscuro is made
visible by the director to again
add believability to the video,
making the viewers of the video
feel as though they know how it
feels to be there, at one of the
bands gigs. The theme of
authenticity seems to play a
large role throughout the video,
but is very easily and well shown
through the use of darkness,
because as a not so very well
known band, they need to create
a view that they will be really
good at gigs- which will get
people to attend and in turn will
render a rise in their reputation.

7. • The panning of the camera around
the toilets first shows us a girl falling
to the floor, a couple kissing
intensely in the cubicle and another
set of girls taking drugs in front of
the mirror. This use of camera
movement allows the director to
suggest in one shot the general
social conventions of a youthful
audience and thus show us the
kinds of things this band expects
their fans to do. Allowing the
audience to see this in their video, it
shows them as kind of condoning
thus behaviour- which would entice
people of the same sort to get into
the band and get their following up.

8. After the use of drugs in the bathroom, there is
a pan back into the main area where the band
is playing, an effect is used after filming to
create duplicates of the characters to coincide
with the idea that the drugs are taking over the
audiences’ brains. This to me again portrays the
image that the band is okay with the use of
drugs at a gig- perhaps not outside a gig- but
definitely at one. This is because that a
common convention of a lot of music
gigs/festivals is drinking and taking drugs. And
for any band who decides to combat this
traditional idea, their popularity may be stunted
because they do not appeal to a lot of the
population. Ergo, the use of these effects and
blurring the shots to show drug use further is a
key plot to gaining people and followers.

9. • Andrew Goodwin identifies several different conventions of music videos which you can find in almost
every single one. As this is the case, I will try to identify them in my chosen music videos.
The first of the conventions is genre
characteristics. This is the repeated use
of certain scenarios – although personal
to the band itself- that would show up in
every single music video of that genre.
Examples of this are the use of live
performances in a rock music video or a
dance routine in a boy band.
Thus, it is very easy and simple to see
that the song My Number by Foals
almost follows this rule to the T as the
whole video is comprised of following
the ins and outs of what goes on at a
live performance.
Genre Characteristics:

10. There is very limited relations between
the lyrical aspects of the video and the
visual aspects of the song, albeit there
are two that I was able to find and thus
this proves that Andrew Goodwin’s
theory applies here too. The first of
which, I believe, is the use of the colour
red when the singer sings “I feel, I feel
the love”- the reason there is a link here
is because a very typical connotation of
love is red and of red- love. And in an
otherwise emotionless void of colour
shot, there is only red. The latter of the
two that I found was when the singer
sings “the wolf is knocking at my door”
as he gestures with his hand the motion
of knocking on a door. Although small
Lyrical and Visual
relationship:

11. As Andrew Goodwin points out, there is
a need for a lot of close ups in music
Close Ups: