1. Dom Hayes
Music Video Analysis 1
Devlin feat Ed Sheeran – Watchtower
Target Audience: Teen Males
Genre:Rap/Pop
Nick Lacey’s repertoire of elements can be applied to find out the genreof music videos, films and
any other media texts. It is seen in this music video and can be applied by consisting of characters,
narrative, iconography, setting and style.
In this music video the analysis of characters when applying Lacey’s theory helps to identify the style
of a video; the characters are the stars, the performers. This is conventional of music videos as they
generally always contain the performer themselves, also in this the way that Ed Sheeran and Devlin
are portrayed; they represented as thug type characters or criminals. But the way they come across
links to the narrative theory of Propp as they each have character roles such as Devlin and Ed
Sheeran come across as the Heroes of the video, the police seem to be the villains, the chief is the
false hero, the little sister is the magical helper and so on. This is conventional of a music video to
actually contain a narrative and allow the audience to follow on; the video of Watchtower
successfully portrays this as the stars seem like true criminals they are represented in this way.
The narrative style in the text is very unconventional for a music video as it is more like a short film
than a music video, it follows a very linear narrative, in order and easy for the spectator to follow.
The whole video suits the style of the song and is iconic to the theme of drugs and crime. In some
ways that makes this video conventional as it suits the genre of music that it is. The way that the
video is actually follows Todorov’s theory of equilibrium, this starts as everything all fine, the
disruption is the sign that the police are coming, the recognition and attempt to resolve this are
ultimately the same part of the video as he realises they are coming for him and his attempt to
resolve this is to run and get out, the equilibrium is resolved with the state that he gets away but in
doing so his helper dies in the car on the way to getting away from the police. It is clear through the
narrative that the music video creates a clear distinction of the binary opposites during the video,
this is between the police and the protagonist of the music video (Devlin) this has become much
more conventional of music videos in the coming time as they are starting to become more like short
films instead of just montage edits. There also seems to be a part of a love story that is shown in the
video which is conventional in Lacey’s repertoire of elements theory but is unusual to see in this type

2. Dom Hayes
Music Video Analysis 1
of video as the girl in the police car being made to help the police from the clues we are given
actually knows the criminals.
In terms of iconography the props are iconic to the music video; throughout it there are gun’s and
masks that suggest a heist or robbery of some sort, police helicopter. These props have a high
relation to criminal activity of some sort making this music video very conventional in the techniques
that are used. The way that the video is done is iconic of creating a film feel almost like relating it to
Barthes hermeneutic code much alike the enigma code, the audience does not know the whole facts
and truth of the video but the creator has dropped in clues such as the props and the style of the
video to help us solve the mystery of what has happened.
The setting of the music video is unusual the narrative of it as it is set in a rural housing estate, this is
unconventional. This works in favour of Steve Neale’s theory of repetition and differences as this is a
very much different unconventional video. The place it is set seems very peaceful through the mise
en scene for nearly a minute of the video until the armed unit police squad turns up, then the whole
rural setting goes from the stereotypical peaceful area to a dangerous urban crime area raid. In
some aspects it defeats the conventional and stereotypical representation of an area and in the way
it does is very successful in doing so.

3. Dom Hayes
Music Video Analysis 1
Through the technical and audio codes, there is a lot of close ups of the two stars (Devlin and Ed
Sheeran) this is very conventional of a music video and is used in near enough all that the star is in.
The lighting in this shows the conflict between characters and allows Levi Strauss’s theory of binary
oppositions to be applied which is unusual as that technique is usually seen in films whereas this is a
music video, for example the police are in black and the two criminals are in lighter more vibrant
colours, this is a switch of characters as usually the police represent good and safety. But in this
music video they seem to represent the bad and the two criminals represent good it makes the
viewer sympathise with the two stars which is once again unconventional of a music video to do.
To conclude this whole music video is in many ways unconventional which favours Steve Neale’s
repetition theory completely. It meets the entire needs of the audience it is a very different styled
music video and fits into more of a short film style which is very unusual; the way it is presented is
very successful. It fits into Steve Neale’s theory through the setting and narrative as it is very
different to normal music videos, ultimately it defies the typical conventions of a mainstream stars
music videos as it creates a short film with a meaning in the creation of the video.