A2 Media Research

1. APPLICATION OF ANDREW
GOODWIN AND GENRE
THEORIES
Arabella-Artic Monkeys

2. ARABELLA MUSIC VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj8r3qmOoZ8

3. FEMALE BODY
Throughout the music video the female body and male gaze is
extremely prominent. The establishing shot is a close up of a woman
with prominent cleavage. She is heavily made up and dressed
provocatively. This is typical of an indie video as it engages the
demographic and makes them continue watching, allowing them to
want to watch it over and over again.
The idea of the female body is continuous throughout the video as it
focuses prominently on women through the use of close ups and over
the shoulder shots.

4. GENRE CONVENTIONS
The genre conventions of an indie music video is typically low budget
and simple. It usually focuses on the band and them miming to their
song as well as it being black and white. It is shot through a shaky
camera also adding to the idea that it is a low budget music video.
This is evident in the Arabella music video as we see the band
singing. They are the main focus of the video which is shot in black
and white and looks quite low budget as the camera is shaky. The
video focuses on the band as it helps to sell the video as it doesn’t
distract from the music.

5. LYRICS
In the music video there aren’t many links between the lyrics and what is
happening on screen as it is mainly shots of the band miming along to the
song. There is one point where the singer says ‘Bottle’ and there is a shot of
a girl drinking from a bottle. There is also a link between the lyrics and the
video when the lead singer sings about cigarettes. We see shots of a person
smoking a cigarette at the same time. This replicates what is happening on
screen and makes the viewer create the link between the two. Apart from
that there aren’t many other lyrics that link to what is happening on screen
as it is an indie music video.

6. INTERTEXTUAL
The Arabella music video has references to old film noir type films.
This were film created in 1950s France and were quite mysterious
and promiscuous. It makes the audience think of these old films and
how they are romantic but mysterious and creates the link between
the singing about a mysterious, promiscuous girl. The camcorder and
camera roll like editing makes the video seem older again
emphasising the mystery of a film noir film making the audience
think about how mysterious the girl is. This adds to the indie genre
as it makes the video seem older and cheaper to make, which is
typical of the indie genre.