The video parodies The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" by following a similar story plot but in a more comedic, British football fan style. It mocks the original video through subtle visual gags while portraying British football fan culture with costumes, props, and chants. The main character initially ignores others but eventually joins in to represent how everyone gets swept up in English football support.

2. INDUSTRY INFORMATION
 Band: Fat Les
 Song: Vindaloo
 Genre: Comedy, Football chant
 Released: June 8, 1998
 Type of video: Parody, performance

3. GENRE CONVENTIONS
 Comedy:
 Parody (of The Verve‟s „Bittersweet Symphony‟)
 In a parody video, the main content will be „mocking‟ a target
video/song/convention – in this example, Fat Les‟ „Vindaloo‟ follows a very
similar video story to The Verve‟s „bittersweet symphony‟. The video follows
the same floor-plan as the parodied video, with a few slight adjustments
(for example, comedians are placed within the video (E.G. Matt Lucas and
David Walliams), emphasising the parody/comedy element of the film.
 Football chant:
 The football chant „Vindaloo‟ was created in 1998, and has a
number of British connotations:
 Vindaloo‟, a Goan vegetable Curry, „was popularly eaten by the English
population, accompanied typically by a pint of lager (this relative to a „lad‟s
night out‟; a popular British past-time, also relative to a football fan‟s
lifestyle (lad‟s nights out)).
 Relative to football chant, the Banter used: “We are better than
you” is common amongst most football chants, as to provoke the
other team and get a reaction whilst supporting your home team.

4. The Verve: Bittersweet Symphony
The video shows a character,
dressed in dark clothing with black
wavy hair: during the video, he
walks down a street in a straight
line, knocking into members of the
public. This could be relative to the
lyrics “It‟s a bittersweet symphony
this life – trying to make ends meet
you‟re a slave to money then you die”: the video is a possible representation of how the character feels
about his current situation.
The video by Fat Les (Vindaloo) parodies The Verve‟s (Bittersweet symphony) through story plot of the
video. However, it mocks the video and portrays it in a more „British-hooliganism‟ way. It does this through
both obvious and unobvious ways: The image (left-bottom) shows the character in normal light, however,
the pedestrian sign in Vindaloo points towards the background character‟s crotch, which denotes the
humour aspect of the video. The
image (bottom right) shows the
football aspect: the football is thrown
at the character‟s face, which is
parodying the original video‟s
character, and also portrays the
Football aspect of the video.
Fat Les – Vindaloo

5. Where on earth are you from?
We're from England
Where you come from
Do you put the kettle on?
Kick it
MUSIC AND VISUALS Nah Nah Nah
Nah Nah Nah
Nah Nah Nah
Bonjour
Nah Nah Nah
 In the Verve‟s Bittersweet symphony, the video links Monsieur
the lyrics “I‟ll take you down the only road I've ever Nah Nah Nah
been down; you know the one that takes you to the Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah
places where all things meet” with the video‟s main Nah Nah Nah
We're England
visual representation of a character walking down a We're gonna score one more than you
road. England!
 In terms of Vindaloo, there aren‟t any links lyrically Can I introduce you please
to the parodied video, but the lyrics to Vindaloo To a lump of Cheddar Cheese
Knit one, Pearl one
represent the parodying elements of the new video: Drop one, Curl one
“Bonjour” and “Monsieur” are both French words, Kick it
and this is represented throughout the video Nah Nah Nah
(reference middle image – stereotypical French Nah Nah Nah
man with striped top and garlic): the image and the Nah Nah Nah
accompanying lyrics were used to depict the 1998 Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah
FIFA world cup – France being the host country. We're England
We're gonna score one more than you
 The British are represented (top image) as fanatic England!
football fans: to portray Britishness, a number of Me and me Mum and me Dad and me Gran
factors were considered: We're off to Waterloo
Me and me Mum and me Dad and me Gran
And a bucket of Vindaloo
 Costume (bottom image): Bucket!
 Iconographical costume (left of image 3) portrays Vindaloo
the stereotypical British icon (palace guard), as Vindaloo
does the traditional tweed shirt (middle-right of Vindaloo
image 3).
Vindaloo
 Other iconographical costumes were of different Vindaloo Nah Nah
cultures: people from other nations and countries And we all like Vindaloo
(i.e. China – Sumo wrestling, America – Hockey).
The use of portraying different nations denotes a We're England
sense of togetherness (E.G No matter who or what We're gonna score one more than you
you are, if you are in England you support England!
England). Adversely, it could be depicting the other Nah Nah Nah
nations of the FIFA world cup. Vindaloo
 Props Nah Nah Nah
 Throughout the video, many actors could be seen Vindaloo
holding curry bags; this represents the British Nah Nah Nah
culture through how we eat (this is typically Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah
associated with the „lads night out‟). Nah Nah Nah
Vindaloo
Nah Nah Nah
And we all like Vindaloo
We're England
We're gonna score one more than you
England!

6.  Angles
 There are no real changes in angles until the end, where the medium angle
changes to a high-angle shot to show all of the actors together (chanting).
 Shots
 Shot reverse shot was used in parody fashion (Bittersweet symphony uses
shot reverse shot to show the actors and how the antagonist walks through
members of the public).
 Establishing shots were employed to set the scene and show the setting of
the video, and also showed background acting (which is a factor of
composition).
 Close-up shots were used to symbolize a range of parts in the film: audible
drumming allowed for close-ups of the drummer, and the close-up of the main
actor‟s shoes allowed for a slow introduction of said actor. Additionally, there
were a number of close-ups of famous comedians (which meant that the video
was easy to connect to; emphasising the comedy element).
 Panning shots allowed for progression of the video, whilst showing what was
occurring in the background: it kept the video at a pace where visuals were
easy to identify.
 Over the shoulder shots showed the physical interactions of the main actor
and other actors.
 Editing
 The main transitions used in the film were cuts, as opposed to fading in/out
(fade-in was used at the beginning, but not again). This meant that the video
was „quick‟ and snappy as opposed to smooth. The effect of this was mainly
for comical purposes.
 The main reason behind the blue hue was merely in parody of „Bittersweet
symphony‟, but this hue was lifted after the main actor joined with the rest of
the group, symbolizing the lifting of the „sadness‟ of not being a supporter.
 The cuts within the film are mainly medium-paced and often correspond to the
music: in parts where drumming is audible, there may be cuts to the drums.
This also comes under close-up shots.
 Composition
 The composition of the film is often explored to show the transition of the film,
and also allows for progression of the video: things in the background allow
for representation of what is going on (i.e. Background actors slowly
increasing in number to join main actor), whilst keeping alongside the „action‟
or significant parts in the video.

7. PERFORMANCE, NARRATIVE OR CONCEPT?
 The video to „Vindaloo‟ is a concept video. It is based around the 1998 FIFA
world cup, with France as the host. The concept is that England footballers
are loud, proud, stand-together, and love to eat vindaloos. The main character
at the beginning of the video is shown to ignore everyone within the video,
despite being hit in the face with a football and walking into other people (this
physically parodies the Verve‟s „Bittersweet symphony‟, where the actor did
the same). Shortly before the end of the video, the actor gives in, and is seen
chanting/singing alongside the other actors. This represents how nobody can
get away from England‟s chanting, and eventually you will give in and be in
support of England.
 The video is also a performance: it shows a variation of characters either
singing the lyrics, or playing the drum – this is shown through the image:
 The singer in the foreground
shows the vocal performance,
and the drummer shows the
instrumental performance.
 As well as the singing
character portrayed, most of
the other actors sing too: this
represents English through
the theme of „English football
chanting‟.