The music video being analyzed is Avicii's "Waiting for Love". It tells the narrative story of an elderly man going on a journey on his mobility scooter to find his wife who disappeared. The visuals in the video are edited to match the pace and lyrics of the song. While some aspects of the video amplify the song's theme of love, other parts do not directly relate to the lyrics. The video demonstrates genre characteristics of electronica like fast pacing and cuts, though it does not feature the artist as many of Avicii's other videos do.

1. MUSIC VIDEO
ANALYSIS
A V I C C I – W A I T I N G F O R L O V E

2. OVERVIEW
• The music video that I will be analysing is Avicii’s ‘Waiting for Love’. I have chosen to
analyse this music because it is the same genre as the music that I have chosen to use
for my video.
• The music video that I will be analysing is a narrative video that shows the story of an
old man and his wife. The wife disappears one night and the video follows the journey
of her elderly husband going on a journey on his mobility scooter to find her. Along
the way he meets different people for example some bikers who help him get over a
fallen tree and he also comes to a party where there are people dancing, flashing lights
and women dressed in little clothes.

3. 1. THOUGHT BEATS: SEEING THE
SOUNDS
• This is the first aspect of Goodwin’s 5 Key Aspects of a music video. This aspect refers to the
relationship between the music and the visuals, which illustrate, amplify or contradict the music.
Goodwin identified that the visuals within a music video may be edited in time to the lyrics/change in
pace with the song. He also emphasised that these visuals are commonly repeated within a chorus to
emphasis the repetition in lyrics and beats.
• In Avicci’s music video the lyrics of the song do in some ways match the visuals. The song is about
waiting for love and the video shows the story of an elderly man going on a journey t find his wife
after she disappears one night.
• The visuals are very much edited to fit the pace of the song, for example when the tempo increases
and the music drops the speed of the elderly man on his mobility scooter increases a lot, it then slows
down slightly when the music starts to slow.
• As well as this when the lyrics of the song become more low and almost sadder so does what is
happening on the screen, for example when the old man cant get his scooter over a fallen down tree
the lyrics say “Tuesday I was through with hoping, Wednesday my empty arms were open”.

4. • Man cannot get over the tree, this sadder moment in the visual is related to the more glum
lyrics and this moment
• The drop in the music and build up of the tempo is also shown visually in the video. The
drives faster and the cinematography and editing becomes a lot more sharp and fast paced.

5. 2. NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE
• Whilst watching a music video the audience is only really given an idea of the story line
therefore they have to come up with part of it on their own. Goodwin thinks that the
music video should give all the narrative to the audience, as it makes it more realistic
and easier to watch repeatedly.
• Avicci’s music video does not completely follow this aspect. Goodwin believes that an
audience should be given that whole narrative of what is happening on screen. In
Avicci’s video they are still some important facts that make up the whole narrative
missing. For example, the audience do not know what happens to the elderly lady or
the reasons why her husband has to go on a long journey in order to find her, this is
left up to the audience to decide.
• The video is also not completely realistic as there are elements that would not happen
in real life an example is when the elderly man is being chased on his mobility scooter
by an obviously fake ostridge.

6. 3. STAR IMAGE
• Goodwin believes that the star image is a vital aspect of the music video as it is the
artist that sells. Any fan bases are more likely to want to see that artist as opposed to
actors, seeing the artist in the video will therefore make it more appealing to them.
• Avicci’s video does not conform to this step as Avicci does not appear in the music at
any point. Instead the main person that is seen on screen is an elderly man, there is
also an elderly women and many background actors such as bikers, women dressed in
little clothing and people having a party.

7. 4. RELATION OF VISUAL TO THE SONG
• There are always a few ways in which music videos work to promote a song and be appealing to the
audience. These are:
• Illustrate – images used to illustrate the meaning of the song which is the most common way of
communicating between director and audience
• Amplify – meaning and moods are repeated to keep the audience interested however this is not
through the emphasis of acting out the lyrics
• Disjuncture – the meaning of the song is completely ignored and the video is completely abstract.
• Avicci’s music video can in many ways be considered to ‘amplify’ the actual song. A lot of what is
shown on screen relates to what is being said in the lyrics for example the theme of love in the video
and the love shown between the man and the women in the video match. However there are also
aspects that do not relate. For example when the man is at a random biker party or when he is being
chased by an ostridge. Also the concept of an elderly man driving around very fast on a mobility
scooter does not relate to the song.

8. 5. TECHNICAL ASPECTS
• Goodwin thinks that the technical aspects of a music video are important in the overall
appearance and fluency of the video. For example a dance song would probably
incorporate bright light, vibrant colours and a fast pace to match the beat. Goodwin
believes that camera work, mis-en-scene, editing, post production, sound and special
effects help to set the mood and emphasise key points of the song for dramatic effect. The
video needs to look authentic in order to attain professionalism.
• The electric sound of the music in this video is accompanied by past paced cuts from one
shot to another as well as a very past pace on the screen that matches the speed of the
music. During one of the past paced, loud courses there is a party like scene with bright
flashing lights, girls dancing, people drinking and bright colours, this is probably what an
audience may expect to see from this type of music. This video also has sound at the start
that is nothing to do with the song that helps to set the scene and location of the narrative.
The video does create a sense of professionalism and in many ways looks authentic, the
editing, camera angles, pace sound and special effects all look authentic and what an
audience would expect from a narrative video of this genre.

9. 6 KEY FEATURES OF A MUSIC VIDEO

10. MUSIC VIDEO DEMONSTRATED GENRE
CHARACTERISTICS
• The music video does show a lot of genre characteristics, the video is fast paced and
have sharp cuts which is common of the electronica genre, it doesn’t have any shots of
the main artists, however this is common for many of Avicci’s music videos.
• The sharp cuts, fast pace and quick speed all links to the speed of the music and is
what an audience would expect to see from a music video within the electronica genre.
• This video also could be classified as pop and the quick cuts and timing are also
commonly associated with this genre.

11. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND
VISUALS
• The song that I have analysed is about love and waiting for love, hence the title of the
song. The video shows the journey of a man trying to find his beloved life who
disappears one night and the strange journey that he takes on a mobility scooter to
find her.
• The theme of love in the video is portrayed in a narrative way and this has a
relationship with the lyrics of the song. There are also some aspects of the video that
don’t have anything to do with the lyrics of the song, however these aspects keep the
video interesting and keep the audience watching.

12. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND
VISUALS
• This video has a song relationship between the music and the visuals. When the speed
of the song increasing for example at the chorus then the speed of the visuals and
what is happening on screen also increases and becomes for exciting.
• For example, when the tempo of the song builds that man on the mobility scooter
gradually starts to get faster and faster and the cuts get shorter and quicker. This is
also shown for the slower and more sombre parts of the song, for example when the
lady goes missing at the beginning, the song is quieter and slower.

13. DEMAND ON RECORD LABEL
• The music video for Avicci’s song does not include any shots of the main artists or
band, this could be a disappointment to the audience if they were expecting to see the
artist featured in the video. However, the idea of the video is that it is a narrative and
shows a story, had the video of been a performance video then the artists would have
been featured and seen on screen a lot more frequently.

14. REFERENCE AND NOTION OF LOOKING
• The voyeuristic treatment of the female body is shown in this video, however only for a
very short portion of the video. At some point the main male character ends up at
some kind of bar/party that the male biker who were helping him have taken him to.
The female body is lingered on by the camera during this section of the video.

15. INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES
• This music video does not have any intertextual references that stood out. This may be
because these aspects may not fit into the story line of the music video or fit in with
the other ideas that are trying to be portrayed in the video.