Music Video Analysis

1. Sweater Weather – The Neighbourhood
Music Video Analysis

2. Andrew Goodwin
I think that this video demonstrates a lot of Andrew Goodwin’s music video theories,
making it a typical music video of its genre. The overall video is narrative, as the band
are in the video but not actually performing the song, so it isn’t primarily performance
based.
• The relationship between the lyrics and visuals is kind of illustrative because what
they are singing about is sometimes shown in the video, for example when they
sing the word ‘beach’ we see a beach and the overall message of the video is about
a relationship and we see two person shots of a male and female who look like they
are in an intimate relationship. The relationship between the music and visuals is
also quite illustrative as the tone is chilled and relaxed and so are the visuals, lazy
and relaxed, which could signify the image that the band wants to create.
• There are a lot of band shots within the music video, which connote feelings of
‘togetherness’ and it tells us that they get on well as individuals as well as a band.
Of course, as with nearly every other music video I researched, there were close
ups of the band so we can get a feel as to their appearance. This helps to build up a
certain identity of the band and it makes us focus on them.
• I found that this video was quite different to other ones I had looked at, due to
Goodwin’s theory being adhered to so much. There are voyeuristic views in this
video, of women, and the woman in the video is portrayed in quite a sexualised
way. Despite this, I think she is used to emphasize the narrative and the lyrics.
• There is no visual intertextuality that I noticed, which could mean that the band
want to be remembered for who they are and not for something or someone
else that they could use in their video.
• The music video is primarily performance based, as we don’t see the band
performing.

3. Narrative theories
Todorov:
I found that there wasn’t really a set story shown through the visuals within the music video, but
I depicted that the equilibrium would be that the main boy (possibly the main singer) wants to
meet this particular girl and have sex with her, he goes on a quest to find her, the disruption is
that the girl wants a relationship and the realisation is that he finally wants to be with her too
and the new equilibrium is that they have sex and have a happy relationship, like those in
California, as this place is mentioned within the song and it normally has connotations of
‘happiness’ and ‘freedom’, something these young artists have.
Strauss:
I found that a strong binary opposite shown through the visuals and the lyrics is Relationships
V (being) Single. The song is about how good relationships can be and how it can feel good to
be intimate with someone so this binary opposite is shown through choice of non diegetic
words. Another one could be the difference between Happy V Sad, because the male voice
singing is almost anxious to meet this girl that he wants to be with and he is happy when he is.
Propp:
I found that a lot of the character ‘roles’ that’d be associated with a narrative weren’t in the
video, however I think the ‘hero’ would be the lead singer and the ‘princess’ would be the girl he
is singing about, because she is something that he wants and she somewhat ‘wants’ to be
saved by him.

4. Technical elements
As mentioned before, close ups are very important in helping to create an image of the band/artist and it helps the
audience to recognise them as a group, which links to one of Goodwin’s theories of music videos. As well as close ups
of the band, there are extreme close ups of props that emphasize the genre conventions well. For example, there are
close ups of cigarettes, leather jackets and old cars which are typical of the indie genre.
I think that the shots like this combined with the black and white effect throughout the whole video are giving the
band the indie/alternative identity that they want to portray to their fans. There are also quite a few long shots of the
band that then zoom in towards them, indicating that we should focus on them. The zoom in could represent that as
we get closer to them we get to know them more, which makes the audience want to ask more questions, creating
more enigma, such as ‘what are this band like?’ and ‘why should I focus on them?’ which are later answered
throughout the rest of the video when the technical elements, especially mise en scene, show us that the band are
indie and it shows us some of their values and ideals.

5. Technical elements
The sound within the music video is non diegetic because the band are shown but are not visually
performing the song so we get the impression that we can focus on the visuals or the lyrics, however
because this is an illustrative video, the visuals tell us with video and pictures exactly what is going on.
The lighting is natural or high key, like in a lot of videos that I looked at, which could symbolize that this
band are quite natural and stand to what they believe in so they have clear minds, represented by the
type of lighting. However in some parts of the video, the lighting is quite dark, especially in the parts
where we can see the man and woman being intimate with each other, which could signify that their
relationship is a secret, they don’t want people to know about it.
Also, the idea that we can see the man clearly but the woman is
faded into the background in this two person shot reinforces ideas of
patriarchy and male gaze (she’s only important when being looked
at) which could be linked to a genre convention because I found that
a lot of indie bands were made up of men rather than women, so
parts in the video like this emphasize this fact.

6. Technical elements
Editing in the music video is quite straight forward, like in most videos I looked at, consisting of a lot of straight cuts
from one shot to the next, which could represent the band as being simplistic but this could be used as irony because
indie/alternative bands are known for trying to be different. Although I found that in some parts of the video, there were
interesting transitions and shots that sent across a message or identity about the band that would appeal to the fans.
For example, there’s a series of shots in the music video where the screen flips upside down and for a portion of the
video we see everything upside down. I think it makes the video unique and it’s different to other videos of this genre, of
any genre, which creates the image that this band want to be seen as different.
I also noticed that throughout the video, the band’s logo can be seen. This is
linked to Goodwin’s theories a bit, as it could be seen as a motif for the
band, something that they want their audience to remember so that they are
more recognisable in public.