The music video for "Maps" by Maroon 5 tells a dark narrative story. It opens with Adam Levine's character running through a hospital to his injured girlfriend who was hit by a car. Through flashbacks, it is revealed that she crashed after leaving a party where Levine flirted with another woman. The video uses quick editing to match the song's pace and create tension as it jumps between the present and past. It effectively links the visual story to the lyrics and engages the audience in the relationship drama.

1. Maps Maroon 5

2. The music video itself is a narrative based music
video. Things take a turn for the worst in the
music video for "Maps." The dark clip opens with
Levine running through a hospital to woman that
was hit by car. As the badly injured patient
hangs onto dear life, Adam recounts all the
events leading up the accident. One thing
appears to lead to another and it's revealed that
the crash victim is Levine's on-screen girlfriend.
She took off from a party they attended after the
Maroon 5 singer got ‘cosy’ with another lady.
The unfortunate happenings in the video only
get worse with each look back. The "Maps"
video does a good job capturing just how quickly
good things can go awry making the narrative
encapsulating for the audience to watch.

3. Relationship between the music
and the visuals
In this video the visuals link nicely to the lyrics
of the song, creating a lovers chase scene
to fight to regain the relationship of the
couple show. One particular example of
this can be seen with the introduction of
the first chorus of the song. As these lyrics
are being played:
‘So I wonder where were you? When all
the roads you took came back to me So
I’m following the map that leads to you
The map that leads to you’
The visuals on screen are showing the
protagonist travelling to find his lover. If
you were to break it down more basically
you’d find that the lyric ‘road’ is sung when
the protagonist is driving and the lyrics
‘map that leads to you’ is sung as his lover
is shown walking across the screen. This
music video focuses very carefully on
ensuring that the visuals are telling the
story of the lyrics and therefore creating a
more engaging story for the audience.

4. Genre
This is a pop song and therefore the song itself follows quite closely to
the conventions that are featured in many pop songs. As a genre,
pop music is extremely eclectic, often borrowing elements from
other styles including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country;
nonetheless, there are core elements which define pop. Such
elements include generally short to medium-length songs, written in
a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as the
common repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and hooks. This song
follows this musical structure.
• The common theme of love is a main convention in the pop genre,
as love is portrayed in the majority of pop music videos
• The excitement of the narrative engages the audience immediately
as they are trying to figure out the binary opposition which is in this
case ‘Love vs Hate’. This video links closely with the ideas of
theorist Sven E Carlsson and his theory on binary opposites within
music videos.

5. Representation
• The male character is represented as a trendy and cool character
who loves to party.
• The tattoos on his sleeve would stereotypically present the
character as being from a rougher background, however they seem
to give the character a sophisticated look in this situation
• Although the song is from a five member band they have chosen to
only feature the main vocalist in the video as the protagonist which
could be effective as he is extremely popular and the most well
known band member. This also helps to reinforce the ideas of a
‘star image’ and get the audience rooting for his character.
• The woman is presented as a casual, well-dressed character who
also looks as if she loves to party. The red dress she is wearing
connotes lust and sexualises her character, backing up the ideas of
Michael Shore that women in modern music videos are often
sexualised and objectified.
• The target audience for this music video are couples as they can
also relate to the situations this music video portrays. It could also
be seen to be portraying moral values as couples can be learning
from the mistakes made by the male protagonist.

6. Firstly there is a non-diegetic sound which is slow
paced introducing the song. This beat is effective
as it relates to the narrative of the story. We get
the impression that this character is panicking due
to his use of gesture and facial expression. The
sideways close up shot shows the protagonist
leaning against the wall impenitently waiting for
the lift to open. This is effective as it creates an
enigma code and tension making the audience
question the characters panic.
Suddenly, the establishing shot shows
the Mise-en-scene of the music video,
this mise-en-scene for the first half is
based in a hospital which suggests that
the narrative is going to be a romantic
tragedy. Throughout the music video
there is
a frequent use of dark colours, connoting death and
sorrow. Tension is built through the visuals and fast
paced editing rather than the lyrics of the song
As the music gradually increases its intensity, we get
to see what all the panic is about. The narrative of the
story shows his girlfriend dead on the hospital bed,
trying to be revived by the surgeons. This is effective
as the high angle shot brings out the sympathy from
the audience and makes the character look weak as
her importance and life slips away.

7. Editing
• The editing in this music is particularly quick paced. This
has been done deliberately to create tension within the
narrative and to reflect the protagonists levels of panic
and frustration. The video includes a lot of fast straight
cuts between shots which speed up the tempo of the
visuals to match the tempo of the song.
• What is interesting is how the editing has been used to
switch between periods of time. For example whilst part
of the narrative takes place in normal time, cuts have
been used to show flash backs of the events leading up
the accident. This hasn’t been achieved by using fancy
effects but instead but using straight cuts which can be
disorientating for the audience but is effective in placing
the audience in the shoes of the protagonist.

8. Promotional Media

9. How this will influence my own
work
• I really like how narrative based this music video is, the
director and artist have clearly thought a lot about the
storyline of the video and how they will get the audience
rooting for the protagonist. I want to be able to do the
same with my own work so that the ‘star image’ is being
portrayed.
• I also like the use of flashback that is used within this
video, however if I do use this technique I may make it a
little more obvious so it’s not as confusing for the
audience.
• Finally, in terms of digi pack material, I really like the
simplicity of the promotional media for this single/album.
I will use this to influence my own digi pack work.

10. How this will influence my own
work
• I really like how narrative based this music video is, the
director and artist have clearly thought a lot about the
storyline of the video and how they will get the audience
rooting for the protagonist. I want to be able to do the
same with my own work so that the ‘star image’ is being
portrayed.
• I also like the use of flashback that is used within this
video, however if I do use this technique I may make it a
little more obvious so it’s not as confusing for the
audience.
• Finally, in terms of digi pack material, I really like the
simplicity of the promotional media for this single/album.
I will use this to influence my own digi pack work.