wolf alice

1. ANALYSIS OF A MUSIC
VIDEO - NARRATIVE
BY TILLY LEWIS
WOLF ALICE – MOANING LISA SMILE

2. The music video opens with a long shot of a house on a
cloudy day, immediately hinting there will be a narrative
to this music video. Following on from this, it hints that
something must happen with this house, it leaves the
viewer asking questions. Who lives there? Why is this
house important? This will leave the viewer eager to see
the next scene of the music video which sets up already a
perfectly good start to the narrative which the viewer can
engage into from the start of the music video.
Then the scene cuts to a clip of a record player with a
record on top; the girl walks over to the record and places
the needle on top of it, this is implying that as the record
plays the song will begin. This is effective as it really comes
across as realistic and not so much a music video but a
look upon her day.
This technique leaves the viewer excited for the music
video to properly begin as the starting of the record is the
initial start to the video.

3. Next the girl, or the protagonist of the music video begins
to dance around the garden. Any fans of the band, Wolf
Alice will instantly know that the girl in the music video is
Ellie Rowsell, the ‘front man’ of the band. As she dances
around the garden, this is telling the audience that there
must be some foreshadowing to her dancing. She dances
along to the guitar solo, this causes a great deal of action
and excitement into the clip right from the outset and
leaves the viewer wanting more.
When the vocals of the song kick in, we see the girl
walking down the road as the camera is at a tracking
shot of her. We see her walking from the side and front
in a mid shot, we are following where she is going. As
she turns the corner by a fence, we see the camera
zoom in onto some posters on the fence? As they begin
to focus, it reveals that there is a dance competition.
Due to the emphasis on the posters, it signifies that is
where she is going.

4. As the girl walks into the dance studio, there is slow
motion effect of her walking in and her facial
expression. This signifies tension or she may be worried
about it. As the chorus of the song hits; all of the other
dancers come into the frame. In this scene there is a lot
of emphasis on how different and unique the girl looks
in comparison to the other dancers. Following on from
the slow motion, there is a hint of foreshadowing that
they may not be nice to her.
The viewer finds out that the dancers are not nice to her
she goes to sit on a chair and when the chorus ends
there is a still shot of her sitting down, looking alone. As
well as this, the scene is also an over the shoulder shot
of people talking about her and watching her. Who are
they? The only aspect of them you can see is their hair
so they must be one of the female dancers watching her
the viewer must presume.

5. The camera tracks the group walking over to the girl;
and a second after she looks up, the lyrics just before
the chorus kick in, initialising the chorus will kick in; and
as it does, the camera cuts to a low angle shot of the
group; and we are shown that they’re actually men
dressed up as women. In vintage, quirky clothes like the
girl; once again, any fans of the band would know
straight away that the men are the rest of the band but
dressed in women's clothes.
As the beat sounds the man flicks his head to her, and
as the chorus sounds we are watching them all dance
together and looking very happy, which makes the
viewer happy for the girl. As the guitar riff sounds, the
scene changes, to the dance studio again, but this time
the lights are dimmed, there are judges and the other
girl dancers are on stage showing their routine. They
walk off annoyed when they discover they didn’t get a
very good score form the judges.

6. As the chorus hits again we are in view of the judges,
watching their shocked facial expressions as the group
come on stage and show their interesting and fun routine
in time of the music, all very dolled up. This is a funny
scene as we watch everyone's shocked expressions but
the group don’t care. The song finishes as they finish their
dance and confetti falls all over them as a very different
and quirky ending for the music video.