2. Music videos demonstrate genre
characteristics
This music video is in black and white
reinforcing the typical filter of an
indie/alternative music video. The lyrics
of the song are about drugs which is a
common theme to these songs. The
music video features a woman with
many sexual scenes this reinforces the
commonality of this theme in many
other indie/alternative music videos.
There is also a laid back careless
atmosphere, connoting the use of drugs
in the music video. We see the band
performing in run down places
signifying a low budget, this is typical of
this genre.
3. There is a relationship between the lyrics and
visuals
‘my car smells like chocolate’
This song is one whole
metaphor about drugs
meaning so of the lyrics
wont make much sense,
because of this there may
not be a clear relationship
between the lyrics and the
visuals. There are not many
links between the visuals
and what the lyrics say,
however there are 1 or 2.
4. There is a relationship between the music and
the visuals
The pace of the music is medium, but changes depending
on the part of the song, the visuals in the music video
reinforce the medium pace of the song, signifying a
relationship between the music and the visuals. However,
even when the music pace quickens, the visuals still stay
at that medium pace.
5. The demands of the record label will include
the need for lots of close ups of the artist
and the artist may develop motifs which
recur across their work
As the main singer seems to
be the face of the band, all
of the main close ups are on
him. This connotes that this
is the artist the audience
associates The 1975 with.
Also many of the scenes are
just of him by himself, again
signifying that he may be
the face of the band.
6. There are frequent references to the notion of
looking and particularly voyeuristic (sexual)
treatment of the female body
Within this music video, women are
sexualised frequently throughout. This is
typical for both this band and genre. These
scenes can be applied to Strauss’s Binary
opposites theory as there is a clear divide
between the man and woman. The woman
could be seen as weak and vulnerable as
she is naked throughout the music video,
whereas there are only 1 or 2 scenes in
which the man is seen with no top on. This
can also be applied to Propp’s theory as the
woman could be seen as Princess as she
seems vulnerable as she is naked.
7. There is an often intertextual reference (to
films, programmes or other music videos)
This song was featured in a teaser
trailer for the film Love, Rosie
(2014), this is an example of
synergy/ cross media convergence
as this advertised both the film and
the song/music video. However,
there are no references to other
films or TV programs in the actual
video.
8. Whether the video is primarily performance-
based, narrative-based or concept-based and
how element of each is used in it
This music video is predominantly
performance based as the band feature in
the music video reinforcing the stereotypes
of this genre. However, there is some
narrative scenes for example in the car,
this signifies Todorov’s narrative theory of
there being some sort of narrative in
music videos, but there was no beginning,
middle and end, and there was no
equilibrium, meaning it doesn’t completely
apply to the full theory.
9. Audience feedback
Good audience feed back is vital
for the band as they want to be
able to sell as many singles and
albums as possible. They main
way that a band can sell their
singles is through their music
videos as the visuals sell the
song. As this song has positive
feedback, this should be able to
sell the song to a wide audience
base.
