student examples media

1. Evaluating Past Student
Examples
Viva Brothers - Still Here

2. Goodwin’s Theories
• This video fits with genre characteristics as
typically a lot of rock bands videos will
feature them recording their single in a
recording studio. Also, the use of
instruments fits with this genre
characteristics.
• Lyrics and Visual also link to each other, for
example; ‘No friends, no future, no pension
plan’; is sung over images of housing
estates, bins and tv aerials which suggests
connotations of poverty and not having a
future.
• The music fits with the visuals as the beat of
the song is very upbeat and therefore
matches the pace of the editing which is
quite fast.
• There are lots of close ups of the band,
particularly the lead singer, this fits with the
demand of the recording label.
• The band have a few motifs, one is that all
members of the band wear very similar
clothing e.g. denim.
• The video does not into Goodwin’s theory as
it does not show any notion of ‘looking’.
• There are also no intertextual references, it
is very original.

3. Editing
• There is a lot of split screen used to show each of
the band members individually. Also the main
singer is always in the middle and centrally located
to show he is the main focus.
• Slow Motion is used when the band are walking
around town, this may be used to allow the
audience to see more detail.
• Jump Cuts are used a lot as there are two locations
that the band are performing in, town and the
recording studio. Using jump cuts means they can
switch between each location quickly.
• Colour also plays a big part in this video, the colour
and saturation of the clips changes depending on
location, for example, when the band are walking
through the town centre, the colour is bright and
feels positive. However, when they are singing on a
housing estate, and the clips are of bins, flats and tv
ariels; the colour is a lot darker and feels very
negative. I feel that the colour has been deliberately
altered to reflect the mood and messages of th e
lyrics.
• Another feature is the use of fast paced editing and
the fact that there is a lot of reversing the clip used.
For example, when the band are getting in the car,
they suddenly start going backwards and the clip
replays. This effect is very effective as it matches
the pace of the editing.

4. Camera
• There are lots of close ups used of the main
artist and the rest of the band, particularly
when they are pulling faces at the camera
and making gestures to it. This links in with
Goodwin’s theory of demands of the record
label mean the artists will be the most part of
the overall video. Both close ups and
extreme close ups are featured here.
• Also, a lot of mid shots are used of the band
when they are walking around the town. This
shows them from the waist up, and they are
almost always centrally located in these
shots, and the shot is symmetrical. This
shows that they are the most important
factor within the video as this is the shot
used most often.
• Master shots are used to feature location
changes, there are a lot of location changes
in this video. For example, the first location
is the town centre, the second is a recording
studio, and the third is a housing estate.
There are a lot of other locations in the video
using the same shot.
• High Angle Shots are used particularly whilst
in the recording studio and are often
combined with a close up shot.

5. Mise en Scene
• The costumes that are worn by the
band are all very similar and this
can link to the idea of the band
having some sort of motif within
their video. For example, they are
all wearing some sort of denim.
• The lighting in the video changes
during the video depending on
location and mood. This links to the
idea of changing colour depending
on these factors aswell. For
example, when the band is in quite
a nice place e.g. the town centre,
the lighting is bright and colourful.
• Props used include a car, the
instruments and fireworks. These
all have some sort of link to the
tone, mood and context of the
video. E.g. a band will obviously
use instruments.