Music video evaluation - Jake Bugg 'Two Fingers'

1. Music Video Evaluation
Jake Bugg – ‘Two Fingers’
The video ‘Two Fingers’ by Jake Bugg was
directed by Jamie Thraves. The video is a
narrative music video with elements of
performance. The video begins with
atmospheric sounds of a city, this suggests
that the video is going to be filmed in a busy
location. When the music starts we see a shot of someone walking, we
as an audience assume this is the artists as we can hear a guitar being
played and we can see a shadow of a guitar on the ground.
The next shot is a long shot of the artist
walking. A long shot was used to show the
audience the location but also a full view
of the artist himself. A
tracking shot is used to
follow the artists as he
walks past the camera.
A close up shot is then used so we can see his
emotions.
A long shot is used to show him and his
friends sat on a sofa on the streets. The
shots have been put in slow motion in the
post production stage so we can see all
their moves more clearly. The colours in all
the shots are very cool/blue toned , which
gives a very cold feeling to the video. The
sofa they are sat on appears to be very old and tatty, would could
suggests him and his mates live in a not very wealthy
area. The way they are sat on the sofa suggest that
they all don’t really care as they are all slouched over it
with their feet on it. Shots of all of them smoking are
edited next to eachother, smoking is normallly

2. ascociated with young people as something bad and quite rebelious to
do. Seeing them all smoking and chilling out and laughing suggest that
they come to this place to socialise. The lyrics at this point are
matched to the visulas we are seeing, as he is singing about ‘hiding
from the feds’ which could furtherly suggest that they are a very
rebelious group of young people. The clothes that they are wearing eg
hoddies are also usually accociated with ‘youths’ or ‘chavs’.
The next shot we see his him running
towards the camera, with an
expression that suggest he is running
from something or someone, as he
checks behind him when he gets closer
to the camera. Another tracking shot is
used to follow him as he runs in the other direction. The director would
have done this so that we have a continuous shot of him running, so
the audience feels as though they are watching him on the streets. He
is seen wearing different clothing from in the previous few scenes, this
would have been purposely done to show the audience that it was on
another day. However he is still carrying his guitar around which
makes the audience believe he is the main artist.
A close up shot of him playing the guitar is edited in time to the music
which suggests that we are going to
see him performing the song soon in the
video. This shot is very dark, the
background is blacked out and all that
we can see is the guitar. Again, the
lighting is very cool toned which gives
the video a very moody, depressed
feeling.

3. This medium shot of him under very dark
blue lights again gives the feeling of a
very cold atmosphere and almost quite
depressing. Which could have been
constructed to reflect his mood. The
shadows on him face creates a very dark
and mysterious feeling which is reflective
on the video, because as an audience we don’t know where he is or
what he is doing.
Another tracking shot is used to follow him
walking into the dark room. The red wall
behind him adds to the mysterious feeling.
Red has connotations of danger which is
being reflected in this shot.
Another close up shot of him
playing the guitar to the beat of the music is shown
again, I feel this was doen to add anticipation to build
up to him performing the song in the video. Jon Gows
theory of Pseudo-reflexive performance is being ahown here as we are
seeing the behind the scenes of his production of the song.
The dark shots are then contrasted to this very bright white location.
We once again are seeing him walking,
this could be reflective on his life and
how he is constantly on the move as an
artist which is being show in the video,
as we have seen him in many different
locations then walking to the next.
Another tracking shot is used to follow him
down the stairs and into the kitchen. A lot of
tracking shots were used to follow him as I
feel the narrative of the video is to show
what the artists life was like or is like,
almost like a documentary or behind the

4. scenes of his singing career. The visuals are again matched to the
lyrics he is seeing, he is singing out his mum and her drinking and
fighting with ‘him’, this is then being shown on the screen as we can
she her drinking, what is assumed to be alcohol by her body language.
From what she is wearing we can tell that she is quite scruffy and
ungroomed. As an audience, we assume that when we saw him and his
mates on the scruffy sofa, that from seeing his mum, they aren’t very
wealthy therefore don’t live in a very nice area. This shot is significant
as we are seeing his mother and the guy in the foreground and he is
singing about them, but in focus is the artist in the background. This
could suggest that he is the main focus of the song and video as he is
singing about his life and how everything around is effecting him.
Next is a long shot put in slow motion of
him fighting with his mum’s boyfriend. At
this point the lyrics match the visuals on
the screen, as he is singing about fighting.
The lyrics are furtherlly emphasised by the
next two shot we see of him then his mum
holding up ‘two fingers’ which is the title of
the song.
After seeing him leave we go to a long shot
of him walking out the back of the house.
The setting was purposely made to look unpleasant to further suggest
him living in an unpleasant place. He is
seen carrying a suitcase which could
suggest that he has packed his stuff and
he is leaving home.

5. A shot of his mum slapping her boyfriend is shown in slow motion so
you capture all of their emotions and actions clearly. When she slaps
him he spits out red wine, it being red and violence just taking place,
makes you think it could be blood. It was purposely spat out on the
white cupboard so you can clearly see the contrast. The red has
connotations of danger but also
love, which both are being shown in
previous scenes. The red could be
foreshadowing danger that’s about
to come.
After seeing the red splatter we cut
to a shot his clothes on fire. The fire is symbolic of his anger and also
the danger that him and his mum are in being in the house with the
violent man. We can see his feet in the background, his stance is very
dominating and empowering, which could suggest him taking a stand.
After seeing the fire shot we have a low angle shot looking up at him.
The use of a low angle makes him feel and look more powerful and
dominant and almost angry.
The next shot
carries on the
aggressive
feel, as the beat of the music picks up.
This shot was purposely constructed to
look very aggressive and unpleasant. In
the background, you can see the red staining, which is representative
of blood. In the foreground. You can see his hand around her neck, his
hand is tensed as well as his neck, which as the audience makes you
feel very uncomfortable and sympathetic towards the women.
This shot has a very strong emotion
and shows the close relationship
they have. They were purposely

6. centred in the shot to make them the focus. The women is facing the
camera so we can see her emotion. The way she has her eyes closed
and is hugging him so tightly shows us her sadness.
After we see an over the shoulder close
up shot, so we can see his emotions
after seeing hers. We again see his
eyes closed which is common when
hugging someone
A close up shot of the women sat on her
own is now shown. This is a very strong
empowering shot as we can see her
emotions in detail. The camera is
focused on her eyes, as this is where the
majority of her emotion is being shown.
She has makeup under her eyes which
suggests she has been crying. The blank expression on her face
suggest she is thinking about her
situation.
When the chorus starts again this is
where the performance element of the
music video begins. The blue lights are
used again to reflect him emotion. Blue
has connotations of sadness and
depression, it was used to reflect his mood and emotions. Edited next
to him performing are shots of an audience cheering, this suggest that
he is performing at a concert. Because the main
star of the video is the artist himself, it suggests
that the narrative of the story was what is
happening in his home life contrasted to him
artists and performing life.
The final shot in the video is of him and two
of his friends in an airport. This is
representative of him moving on and
leaving, in this instance his hard home life.