1. 7 – Catfish and the Bottlemen
Music Video Analysis
2. Andrew Goodwin
I found this band to be very conventional of the indie/alternative genre. Some of Goodwin's theories were
adhered to but some were not, which could mean that this particular music video was not one that
could be classed as 'typical' and I think that the idea of the video challenging theories that 'make' a
music video shows that the band are different to other bands that are of more popular genres and this
links to their ideals and genre conventions.
● For example, the first of Goodwin's theories, “music videos demonstrate genre characteristics” is
challenged but not completely. Most of the video is real life footage of the band, filmed by someone
most likely touring with them (we do not see this person). However towards the end, there is a stage
performance which I found to be in the majority of music videos, not just in indie genre also, which
shows that the band's identity is different to others but to a degree.
● There is a contradicting relationship between the lyrics and visuals as the lyrics aren't really linked to
the visuals of the band just going about their everyday life. It makes the video different and unique, as
we can either watch what is going on or listen to the story behind the lyrics being sung as non diegetic
sound. Despite this I felt the relationship between the music and the visuals was rather amplified, as
the tone of the music was upbeat (for this genre of music anyway) and this relates to the video
because this too shows the band being happy, doing regular things which could help the audience feel
closer to the band too because they'd feel like the band are just like them.
● “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” is something that I found to be relatively common
and adhered to in almost all music videos that I studied. Even though the close ups aren't of the band
performing, demonstrating that they care a lot about their music, the close ups are of the band doing
regular things, like practising and such which could represent that the band want their audience to feel
like they know them as regular people as well as artists.
3. Andrew Goodwin continued...
● In this particular music video, the only people we see are the band members themselves, no scantily
clad women or extras, therefore there are no voyeuristic views of women and in my opinion the video
is an example of a raw, unique video with raw, unique artists. I think that the lack of the 'notion of
looking' helps the audience to focus on the band and the identity that they are trying to create, which is
different to the identities of other bands, ones that use attractive females and other voyeuristic views
to get attention from certain audience members.
● I didn't notice any intertextual references throughout the video, another of Andrew Goodwin's theories
about intertextuality within music videos. I think it helps the audience to focus on the band only and it
could possibly tell us that the band want to be remembered for who they are and not what they are
trying to be like perhaps.
● As mentioned before, most of the video is handheld footage of the band doing 'whatever' and some is
performance based, however I don't think that the stuff in the video that isn't performance has a
narrative at all, so it isn't a narrative based video.
4. Narrative theoriesTodrov:
As I notice before, there isn't really a narrative of the video, it doesn't tell us a story, possibly just clips of their tour
from different days. I think this make the video just as enjoyable to watch as narrative based and performance
based videos. If I had to point out a narrative, I would say it's a walk through of their day, the band get up, mill
about and do regular day things, get ready and practise for a show and then perform the show. Although I feel
like there isn't a structured story based narrative with an equilibrium, disruption, etcetera. The footage is a nice
touch to the music video as it isn't often seen in a lot of different genres and for me, it makes me feel closer to
the band, like I'm with them, following them around.
Strauss:
I thought an important binary opposite to be considered was Small V Big, in the view of bands. This band are quite
big, in and out of the indie scene and in the video I found that some elements really help to compare a small
and a big band. For example, at the beginning we see a shot of one of the sleeping band members
surrounded by money bills, emphasising that they are rich due to what they do however when we finally get to
the performance base at the end of the video, it is a quite small arena, not a huge one that a pop artist would
sell out at immediately Another binary opposite that could be considered is Good V Bad, which I think can be
found in most videos. The band are the 'good', showing the audience what it's like in 'a day in their lives', and
the 'bad' could possibly be the reminder that it is extremely hard to get to the point that this band are in.
Propp:
I couldn't point out any specific characters identified by Propp's narrative theory due to the lack of story based
narrative.
5. Technical elements
Overall, I noticed that the close ups play a large part in the video, because we mainly see the band
and their appearances. The costume seen is typical to the genre, dark clothes, 'lad' like style, showing
they care more about the music rather than something as superficial as clothing. It adds an almost
careless vibe to the band but the quality of music makes us as the audience feel like this particular
attitude trait is only for the clothes. A long shot of the band shows them going through a door into their
concert and it's like we have a back stage pass, which again makes us feel closer to them and it
shows us their whole outfits and appearance. Point of view shots (from whoever is holding the
camera) such as one from when the band are on stage and the camera holder is standing behind
them as they perform and it pans the stage, sweeping across the band, giving us 'front row seats'
which for anyone who is a fan of the band is really good. I think this is used to show people who don't
go to the concert what they are missing, a technique possibly used in order to get more fans to buy
tickets and go to the actual concerts.
A particular shot of the band shows some of the members sitting on chair with their band equipment (props in
most music videos) and the atmosphere created is light and it immediately makes us feel closer to them from
the angles of their body posture (relaxed and chill). The lighting is bright, natural, which connotes happiness
and fun, possibly words that can signify the band's identity, which challenges the stereotypes associated with
the specific genre.
A close up of one
of the band
members shows
us his face and
appearance, so
we feel a bit clsoer
to him, like we
know him.
6. Technical elements
The sound throughout the video is non diegetic music (the track). Aside from this, at the
beginning of the video, there is a short dialogue piece between two of the band members, one
waking up the other. The friendliness and playful tones of both members shows us that they
have a good relationship which makes us like them more. I think that dialogue in a video is
really interesting, whether it be part of a narrative video or not, it adds flare and a certain feel of
familiarity to the video because it shows communication and is possibly used to help the
audience feel like these artists are just normal people too, who have normal conversations and
do normal things.
Lighting in the video is overall natural however the video is in black and white, which is
something I found to be a typical genre convention, so this video reinforces this. The black and
white colour adds the 'different' edge, the 'too edgy' attitude associated with this kind of band
and I think this is one of the elements that makes the video very typical of the genre. Although,
the lack of colour could represent equality, linking back to the idea that this band and its
members, individually, are all the same as everyone else and live normal lives, so they don't
need their videos to accentuate colours and be over the top because they could be trying to
demonstrate rich lifestyles, most likely unlike the lives of their audience members.
Black and white = typical of the genre
7. Technical elements
Edits throughout the video mainly consist of straight cuts between
shots of the footage, nothing too extravagant. Straight cuts add
simplicity to the already rather simple video, which reinforce the strong
connotations of the band as being 'simple', 'just like everyone else' but
I think the simplistic feel contrasts with the other basic elements and
makes the band and music video seem even more edgy, cool and
quirky. The panning movements that I mentioned before, accompanied
by the overall hand held camera movement creates a certain identity
for the band, along with the theories founded by Goodwin that are
included (or not) in the video make the band seem rather ordinary in
comparison to bands like One Direction, of the pop genre, who were
quite over the top about everything, from what they wore to what they
sang about which was to get the target audience to buy their songs,
albums, merchandise, whereas I don't think that Catfish and the
Bottlemen are like this, they are more chilled, and they certainly act
like they aren't rich and materialistic which could link to one of
Goodwin's theories that the record label that an artist or band is signed
to is shown a lot in their video and are known to be who they are
because of the riches they are making from the industry.
For instance, the scene again at the beginning with the money, the
band member says something along the lines of “There's thirty bucks
there!” insinuating that even for them, it's quite a lot, which makes
them seem real and like ordinary people. So I think the edits, linked
with the elements like the dialogue (sound) and props create an image
of the band, an image that they chose for themselves rather than what
their record label wanted.
The money is an important prop
because it shows the audience
that even though this band act
like ordinary people, they are
still rather famous.
