1. Music Video Analysis
Comment on the following aspects in relation to your music video choice.
How will these techniques appeal to the target audience needs?
Animals – Martin Garrix

2. Target Audience &
needs
Music Video Analysis
Lyrics
Tempo
Genre
Camera Technique
Editing
Use of digital effects
The target audience are people who enjoy clubbing, partying and electro/house music so the age range for the song would
typically be male and females from 16 to 25 years old. The video needs to reflect youth culture and their need to be wild and free,
literally being ‘animals’ and appeal through what is happening and the mise en scene. The video also needs address the pace of the
music, matching the build up from slow to fast beats and the several climaxes during the song. The song itself must be catchy, easy
and enjoyable to listen to but, fast paced and suitable for a party/club. The video features men and women kissing and seductively
licking each others bodies. This would attract and hold the attention of a young person who may be watching it.
House music is mostly pure music and this is reflected in ‘animals’ as there are virtually no words spoken. This matches the target
audience and genres needs as a song with many lyrics would not be as fluid to dance to at a party or club. The words that are
spoken are fast and spoken in a deep-robotic dubbed voice: “we’re the fucking animals”. This is supposed to relate to the listeners
and emphasise their young age as they are the animals by partying, dancing and drinking. As the lyrics are spoken after a build up
of tempo and just before the beat ‘drops’ they must be effective and the sharp, shortness of them does this along with the type of
voice they are spoken in. The lyrics need to be addressed in the video usually by actions of people that feature within it. This is
done as during the build up a group of people in animal masks are seen slowly walking to a huge gathering before the song
changes and the line “we’re the fucking animals” is played they begin break dancing. Later on when the lyrics are spoken again,
they smash and burn a car. This is to show they are animals, and viewers will like the violence and destruction of the car as it is
rebellious and matches the youth culture of today.
The video needs to match the tempo of music and follow it closely as it changes constantly throughout the song. It needs to be fast
paced in both aspects (video and song) to create excitement for the viewer/listener. The song builds up from slow singular beats to
a mixture of sounds before the beat ‘drops’ and the song reaches its climax. The song’s beat dropping is the pinnacle of the song as
an instrumental with a good rhythm instantly follows it. As a house/electro song that would typically be played at parties or clubs
the video must closely follow the song through what is happening corresponding to the tempo of the music. The video goes from
the group of ‘animals’ walking to the gathering, followed by them dancing and finally them smashing and burning a car. This
narrative suits the audience of younger people as they want an exciting build up followed by sharp, fast-paced editing.
The song would be classed as house music but, can also fit under variants of this genre such as electro-house and progressivehouse. It is a more modern style of music so this should anchor the target audience of younger people, who would generally listen
to this. The genre is generally only music-based with very few lyrics, as it is typically played in clubs and is a song that is meant to
be danced to rather than listen to. The video matches the genre of music as it too is fast paced often following the song. There are
a lot of things happening in the video, such as dancing, partying and people literally being animals.
There are tracking shots of the animals walking towards the party followed by long shots of the group of people dancing to
establish where they are. Throughout the video there are many close ups of people’s faces, screaming and shouting along to the
music. This is to show that they are happy being ‘animals’ and are enjoying dancing and partying. There are mid shots of many
people dancing at once, with the camera usually only focusing on the people with animal masks. The ‘animals’ are the focal point
of the video as they are first seen walking towards the party, before dancing and then burning a car. Due to the high amount of
shots of them they are almost instantly established as main characters in the video. There are mid shots of them break dancing and
jumping to the beat of the music as well as standing on the stage and directing the partying. There are close ups of the windows
being smashed and the car being jumped on, before being set alight. This adds to the chaotic feel of the video as it is generally very
fast paced throughout.
There is a lot of editing in the video such as at the start when the ‘animals’ are walking towards the party in slow motion. This
matches the song as it begins slowly before the tempo increases and they begin running and dancing. There are rapid cuts back
and forth between a girl screaming and an animal face on someone’s jacket. This is meant to relate to the fact she like everyone
else there, is an animal at heart. The song has been edited to suit the pace of the music as there are many cuts between people
dancing and jumping. Some cuts where people are dancing last less than a couple of seconds to show how quick everything is
happening and how wild everything is with the number of people there
There are a very little amount of digital effects within the film as most of the effects will have been made through shot editing and