Arctic Monkeys - Arabella

1. APPLYING GOODWIN'S
THEORY TO ARCTIC
MONKEYS ARABELLE

2. ARCTIC MONKEYS - ARABELLA
This music video of a song within the indie genre has certain characteristics
that Goodwin outlined that would typically be seen in a video of this genre.
https://youtu.be/Nj8r3qmOoZ8

3. GENRE
Indie music videos are often heavily edited with a black and white filter, this
makes the video seem more abstract and less mainstream which is another
theme often associated with indie music videos. The abstract narrative doesn’t
usually relate to the lyrics, therefore indie videos tend to appear unrelated to
the music. It is common to see videos in this genre being filmed with a
handheld camera to provide a shaky effect: This is usually the case as these
videos often have a low budget to film with and have to use what's available to
them.
The opening shot of the music video is a long shot that’s handheld of a woman
entering a room. The shot is heavily edited and is in black and white. These are
two typical conventions found in indie music videos, the black and white is used
to show the audiences that the music video is channelling noir films, heavy
editing is used to create the old, worn film reel effect which is very effective as
it adds to the mise-en-scene in the video and accompanies the abstract
narrative which video which the audience may find interesting.
In addition, the women seen throughout the music video are sexualised which is
a convention common to most music videos however it is typically seen in indie
videos as they are typically more controversial and abstract.

4. LINKS BETWEEN NARRATIVE AND
LYRICS
In indie videos, the narrative of the video doesn’t necessarily relate
to the lyrics and more shots of the band are often seen instead of
shots describing the narrative. In the Arctic Monkeys video, we can
see that the typical indie narrative has been used, mainly
comprising of shots of the band and unrelated shots of the party
around them, creating an unclear and abstract narrative.
Some visuals do link with the lyrics, for example, the main singer
sings in a mid shot “helter-skelter ‘round her little finger”, as he
says this, he makes the action with his hand to create a visual
representation for what he is singing.
Moreover, when he sings “She’s got a Barbarella silver swimsuit” a
close-up shot is used to show the audience who ‘Arabella’ to give
the audience more understanding of the narrative.
He says “Arabelle’s got a seventies head”, the mise-en-scene of
this video centres around that time period to show the audience
that the narrative and the song are slightly connected. Also he
sings “she’s a modern lover” therefore many shots of romance are
used within the video to show the audience that the video is based
on the characteristics of the woman ‘Arabella’

5. USE OF CLOSE-UPS
Goodwin said that close-ups were used to create an image for the
singer or band in order to gain more popularity for themselves and
their songs.
Many close-ups are used of the main singer to show that he is most
important within the video as he is the narrator of the video,
accompanied by his band. The only close-ups of the band members are
close-ups of their instruments as they help to main singer narrate the
story.
At the end of the video we see a close-up of a reflection of a women
looking at the footage of the video, providing the scene with curiosity.
The use of a close-up is to ensure that audiences see the importance of
this last shot as it helps them to remember the video and the song.

6. EMPHASIS ON LOOKING
The notion of looking and the voyeuristic treatment of the
female body, according to Goodwin, is used to create a
link between the artists and the audience. When artists
look directly at the camera, this creates a more personal
connection and allows the audience to remember them
more.
In the Arctic Monkey’s video, we never see the main singer
looking at the camera as he is also the main character with
in this ‘noir-film’ style video, however we do see a some
people in the looking directly at the camera, breaking the
fourth wall, to connect with the audience and involve them
in the video, making them feel like a character in this
video.
Women are sexualised in this video as we see them being
filmed topless from a high angle, this has been done to
place men above women as men are typically filmed with
low angles. This is an example of the ‘male gaze’ theory
which is often seen in indie videos as well as other genre

7. INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES
Goodwin said that music videos often show links to other media e.g.
Films, television and computer games. Using other media in music
videos is an effective way to draw the audience in and allows them to
understand a more deeper meaning of what the media is trying to
communicate.
In this music video, the use of noir films to create a dated atmosphere
has been done as these films’ narrative were often based around
crime and love which were both loosely featured in the Arctic Monkeys
video. In addition, low-key lighting is used to add the mysterious
atmosphere seen throughout the video, which is another convention
typically seen in noir films.