Textual Analysis on Stereophonics "I Wanna Get Lost With You" , covering music video theory explored in prior media studies sessions.

1. By Jon Black

2.  The band plays the song throughout the piece
as the narrative shows a male protagonist on a
night out with a romantic interest. Throughout
they become more intimate, and the narrative
is placed over several days, several dates-
some at night, some in day. The music video
ends with the two protagonists happy in a
relationship, so it could be seen as a closed
narrative music video given the closure and
their relationship issues in the middle of the
video being resolved.
 The narrative, as inferred by the relationship
shown throughout, appears to be linear as it
shows the relations between the protagonist
and the love interest in chronological order.

3.  The cinematography throughout differs. The performance is shot
under red lighting which is fairly low key, connoting passion and
love- reflected in the visuals- however the narrative of the video
differs between the red lighting, then to more high key (at night),
and finally shots at the end are very high key and vibrant (shot in
the day). This juxtaposition could be seen as a visual binary
opposition showing the ups and downs of a relationship, which is
later shown through the narrative visuals and emphasised by the
lyrics “I know we did some wrong //you told me that now
//when I came to you //that you were with someone”

4.  The above left shot is presumably of the band’s lead singer, as he
sings the track throughout the music video. The red, as mentioned,
could be seen as inferring passion or love, but also of danger and
unpredictability- perhaps showing through the visuals that
relationships will have problems amongst the passion.

5.  The narrative sequence then moves to shots taken in an urban
city, with the protagonist male and females being the focus of the
shots (no one else featuring in the sequence of interest). The
colour palette is more green and less poweful than the red
lighting, inferring bliss or comfort for the characters in the
narrative.

6.  These shots come after the night shots and shows the
characters under a bridge. The lighting makes it so they’re
in shadow, yet the background behind them is bright-
showing that they, and they alone are going through a
rough patch in their relationship.

7.  However, once their problems were resolved, the characters in
the narrative moved into the light, and all narrative shots
featured afterwards were shot in high key lighting, which infers
that they are comfortable with each other again, and their
relationship issues have been resolved at the end of the music
video.

8.  In regards to representation of women, it could be said that Goodwin’s
ideas of Voyeurism (linking to Laura Mulvey’s theories on the male gaze
in the media) has featured fairly heavily in the music video, as the
protagonist male’s focus for the majority of the music video was the
protagonist female- in which close up shots were used a lot to focus on
her external beauty.
 Representation of men in the video is interesting, as the protagonist
doesn’t show many masculine traits that are associated with hegemonic
masculinity, however isn’t shown as being feminine or “un-manly”,
which is a representation that many artists are shown as- Ed Sheeran
being an example.
 Both characters wear casual clothing throughout the video, and seem to
be relatable in character to an audience, yet they feel slightly stereotypical
in the sense that their narrative seems to be a love story cliché- what
they’re going through could be anyone. Though this could be to make the
characters relatable through the actors playing them.

9.  The piece is rhythmically edited throughout,
and cuts between the performance and
narrative sections are featured throughout. The
pacing is fairly steady throughout the video, if
not a little fast- making me as a viewer feel
excited by the narrative unfolding in the video.
It also helps me understand the narrative as the
balance between narrative and performance is
just right- allowing for narrative development
without the band segments being
overshadowed.

10.  The visuals link to the theme of romance and love in the lyrics, as the
narrative centres around a young couple in love.
 The music also links with the visuals, as the upbeat track could be seen as
being reflected in the bright and vivid cinematography, as well as
through the pacing of the editing.
 There is a certain extent to the emphasis of looking, as the female
character is looked at a lot by the male protagonist, however there doesn’t
appear to be objectification leading on from that- more romantic interests
in the protagonist’s mind.
 Intertextuality: The shot of the couple looking up at the sky could be
referencing the cliché used in films (an example that comes to mind is
Pixar’s “Up”) of couples laying in a park, looking up at the sky and
seeing shapes in the clouds.

11.  Todorov: The video seems to follow Todorov’s idea of
equilibrium, dis equilibrium and new equilibrium. The start
introduces the characters and establishes setting as a city
(equilibrium), the sequence then moves to showing that some
problems in the relationship arose (dis equilibrium), but they’re
resolved and the video ends with positive closure (new
equilibrium).
 Levi Strauss: I suppose in regards to Strauss’ theory on Binary
Opposition, it could be said that the male and female characters of
which the narrative centres around are said opposition, both
genders juxtaposed with each other yet together throughout the
piece.

12.  The Performance area: The first
location is shown throughout
(cross cut with the narrative
segments), and is the location
where the band is playing the
actual song. The lighting is red,
and a little low key, and in these
segments their faces and
instruments are focused on
heavily, due to the need of the
record label to sell their artists
(“Stereophonics”) through
showing their image in the
music video.

13.  The Club: At the start of the
video (the equilibrium), a club
location is used in which the
male protagonist and the female
character are shown talking to
each other, drinking, and
having a good time. Similar to
the shots of the band, this
location also has red lighting,
inferring passion and love in the
air- and the characters are
heavily featured, shot in either
Close up or Mid shot, and using
over shoulder shots to show
each characters reaction to each
other.

14.  The city at night: The narrative
sequence then moves to the city at
night, and the lighting contrasts
with the club as it’s more neutral
and natural than the red- having a
green/blue hue aesthetic. The
characters are again featured as
the focus of this section, and are
shot in Close up and mid shots,
though long shots are used in this
part of the sequence to orient the
viewer (to show the audience
where the characters are in the
city when the location changes).

15.  A grass field in a park: This location
only features in a few shots, but is
relevant in regards to intertextuality,
given the location being a cliché place
for a date in the media.
 The lighting is high key in these shots,
and taken from an aerial angle-
showing the characters in mid shot to
show their open body language and
happy facial expressions.