This music video for the song "Arabella" by the Arctic Monkeys demonstrates many conventions of the indie genre. It is filmed in black and white, includes live performance shots of the band members and close-ups that show their emotion. The video also correlates with the song lyrics at certain points. Close-ups of the band are frequently used to provide viewers a connection to their feelings and promote their unique image. The lead singer is often shown looking at himself in the mirror and at the camera to portray confidence. Women in the video are frequently shown off through various shots, hardly clothed and sometimes naked, suggesting they are there to be looked at sexually while the men entertain. The overall retro black and white style creates the look

1. APPLYING
THEORIESTO ARTIC
MONKEYS
‘ARABELLA’

2. ‘A music video demonstrates certain genre
characteristics (such as a stage performance in a
rock video and a dance routine in a pop video)’
This music video demonstrates many genre conventions that would be expected from
its ‘Indie’ genre.
The video is in the black and white effect, parts of it are set as a live performance
(which is shown from the close ups of instruments and the lead singer singing), shots
are also cut short to reflect the fast pace of the song and close ups of the band
members are common to show their emotion; all of which reveal to the audience what
genre the music video is.

3. There is a relationship between the
video, the lyrics and the music.
A couple of times throughout the video corresponds with
the lyrics being sung; firstly when one of the women in
the video is shown through an aerial shot of her sat on
the passenger side of a motorbike the lyrics sung are
‘Behind that little lady sitting on the passenger side’.
Another time when the lyrics correlate with the video is
when the lead singer of the artic monkeys is shown through
a close up holding up his little finger as he sings ‘And a
helter skelter 'round her little finger and I ride it endlessly’.
These create a visual relationship between the lyrics and
the video helping their to be a deeper meaning as it appears
to be more like real life to the viewers.

4. Lots of close-ups of the artist
Close up of the members of the band are frequently used throughout the video which are
a common convention of the indie genre; close ups are able to provide the viewers with
what emotions the band is feeling, which therefore provides them with a closer
relationship and connection as they feel as though they can understand how they’re
feeling. Close ups are also used to promote the stars unique image whilst making them
the main focus of the video; this helps the audience to gain an opinion of how they are.
This gives them a certain reputation which they then have the potential to manipulate as
they decide how they want to be portrayed.

5. Reference to looking
Goodwin’s theory of reference to looking can
be applied as the lead singer is commonly
shown to be looking, through close ups in a
mirror but especially shown through wide/mid
shots to be looking at the audience and
camera.The reference to looking in this video
portrays him as a confident character, whilst
looking in the mirror could be seen as him
being vain and by him looking into the camera
creates a relationship between him and the
viewers whilst helping to show emotion.

6. Female body is treated as something to
look at
Throughout the video women are frequently shown
through a variety of shots, wide shots and close ups
especially to show off their bodies.The women in the
video being hardly clothed and in some parts naked,
whilst the men are all fully clothed, suggest that they
are there to be looked at and for sexual desire; whilst
the men's purpose is to entertain and the main focus of
them is purely their performance.

7. Intertextual reference (to fims,TV
programmes, etc)
Arabella
Old French Film
This black and white effect of this music video creates the
look of an old black and white styled French film as it is an
effect which was used before a colour camera was
invented, this adds to the uniqueness of the indie genre.
The use of women also being portrayed in a sexual
manner also helps to portray this image across, as
commonly in old French films women were also used as a
sexual object. It creates a retro style which is also helped
visualized by the mise-en-scene; the clothes the
characters are wearing are all old fashioned and not
contemporary and the setting appears to look out dated,
adding to the retro style of the video.