Textual analysis for music video

1. GENERIC RESEARCH- TEXTUAL
ANALYSIS 3
Electric love- BØRNS

2. • The third video I am using for my textual analysis is Electric Love
by BØRNS, because I am hoping to make my music video to
another BØRNS song. I wanted to see what kind of conventions
he uses, so I might be able to apply some of it to my own video.
•

3. Shot Language/ technique Representation/ narrative
Mid shot
Star persona
Wearing sparkly suit and makeup,
has long hair
In dark woods with LED lights
Not representing himself as
stereotypically masculine,
challenging male stereotypes
Setting the video with him as main
protagonist
Long shot
Dancers in bright clothing with
faces drowned out by darkness
We are introduced to more
characters in the video
Brightness draws attention to them
but only to their dancing as we
cant see their faces- their sole
purpose is to dance for him

4. Shot Language/ technique Representation/ narrative
Mid shot
Dimmed light shining on his face
Singing lyrics and playing guitar-
performance
Mysterious as we can only see him
in the darkness- nature of song we
don’t know who it is about
Purple light shining up so we can
mainly see his mouth lipsyncing
Wide shot
Sudden brightness of neon lights
visuals match lyrics “electric love”
Framing of neon lights
We can see details of him even
less, but we are getting a silhouette
of his whole body
We see him playing the guitar
Framed as though he is the “main
attraction”

5. Shot Language/ technique Representation/ narrative
Ariel long shot
We are looking downwards from
his point of view
Some shots capture a more
voyeuristic view of the female
body, while almost dehumanizing
them by not showing a face
Male gaze- women only there as
“objects” to be enjoyed by men
Wide shot
Visuals and lyrics matching
“electric” matched with bright light
Extremely bright light in dark
background
Draws a lot of attention to him as
he is the main protagonist
Intertextual to just dance with his
movements playing the guitar
Superhuman connotations

6. Shot Language/ technique Representation/ narrative
Panning long shot
Blurred shots of dancers dancing in
a circle
Continuous shot
Looks surreal/ dreamlike/ high on
drugs?
From his point of view- we are
seeing what he sees so we can see
he might be high
Very long shot
Psychedelic art
Very bright and colorful on dark
background with subject very
bright white falling down spiral
We are introduced to his mind
Visuals of lips, fire, illuminati
triangle?
Further implies that he is probably
on drugs, metaphorically high on
love?

7. Shot Language/ technique Representation/ narrative
Mid long shot
So bright it is almost
uncomfortable for the audience to
look at for too long
Falling through space
Imagery of spirits/ death?
Might imply he feels so out of
control he is spiraling
When we dream falling can
suggest anxiety, so this might be a
visual representation of how it feels
Close up shot
Lots of neon graphics
Back in forest- circular narrative
Back to singing and playing guitar
Shows a compromise between the
start in the woods and the
psychedelics perhaps of him
expressing what is in his mind

8. CONCLUSIONS
• After looking at this video in depth I was able to gather that this music
video used just one single protagonist, and used lots of performance
and star persona.
• I found the contrast between self representation and representation of
others interesting, as he subverting stereotypes himself, yet the dancers
in the video strongly adhered to the sexualization of the female body.
• I also found the use of graphics interesting, and may use some in my
own video.