Textual Analysis - Past Student Music Video

Media Studies A2 - Music Video (Full Marks A-Grade)

The song used in this video is called 'Stuck' by a band called 'Canopy Climbers'. They are a small indie band so this music video fits very well with that idea. The video isn't shot to be hugely based around the lyrics. There are a few things like motivated cuts which work with the song. There is one where the song says 'corner' and it shows the boys running down the street and around a corner. There are also some short clips of a couple fighting, the entirety of the song is sort of about being stuck or hung up on another person (ex lover). The line 'Another drink of something that would kill the memory, replacing anything and dreams of how it should be' this is a great example of the story behind the song. It is fitting with the fighting, how drinking will allow them to forget the bad stuff so they can just imagine the good things.

When the music video starts, the tempo is fairly slow too. This matches the slower paced editing used. It also matches the content in the video, the boys are doing non-strenuous things like sitting down watching the sunset and just having a chat. However as the drum beats kick in, the editing develops and gets faster but so does the content in the video. They're running around and people are being chased. They're messing about in the field on bikes etc.

The editing goes well alongside the genre of the video. You can tell by the song that is is going for a singer-songwriter/indie vibe. The people starring within the video also match the idea of someone who may listen to that type of music. They're teenaged white males, this is a big target audience for indie bands. The video is low budget but still looks and feels great, much like many other music videos of this genre.

The entire music video has a huge range and variety of shots. This makes the video very interesting to watch as it is not repetitive in any way. The lighting throughout the video is beautiful, it has a majority of very soft and warm tones however when the boy is on the floor in the rain it gets much darker. The warmer colours make the audience feel more safe but having that binary contrast to the cold tones allows them to realise that the character is human. It represents sadness and how he is defeated in that moment. The rain also plays a big part in the fact he is upset. If someone bad or sad happens within a movie there is almost always a scene with rain. There are some good angles especially with the scenes in the field. It allows for a nice lense flare from the sun. There are some very good shots especially the ones when they're running, the camera follows and moves along with them however it is still clear and not too shakey.

There are no transitions within this video. This is great as it means it does not take us away from the storyline or scene. It also matches the genre as transitions are only normally used in more pop like video genres. The framing within the video is done nicely, they take advanatge of the rule of thirds. It is used very often throughout.

There isn't a huge amount of intertexuality within this video, there was only one that I could really think of, the film Rocky (1976). With the boxing training montage, I thought they could be playing homage to the scene in 'Rocky' in which he is training to beat 'Apollo Creed'.

The video itself seems very professional. The lip-synching is executed to a very high standard. There is generally an equal amount of performance as well as narrative, none of the scenes in the video are hugely abstract. The equal amounts of narrative and performance allows us to follow the story yet also follows the conventions of a music video. It also breaks it up so that it's not fully narrative or fully performance.

The vibe of the video really matches the genre that the song is from. It feels very much like a low budget singer/songwriter and alternative. This makes the boys seem quite normal, they aren't big powerhouse superstars. They are simple boys who write their own stuff and could've also made this video themselves. The characters within the video are doing typical things of their age. They're boxing, fighting and playing about in the streets/fields. It backs up that idea of normalcy within the video. Their aim isn't to be aspired to, they just are focused on their audience and what they like.

Within this video, there are not really any females who are the main characters, only in the background. This means that there isn't any type of male or female gaze. The boys in the video are not trying to appear as attractive, their costumes are just like what an adolescent/teenaged boy would wear. There are many close up shots throughout the video which allow the characters to convey and express as lot of their emotion to the audience. This matches the tone and some of the lyrics of the song.

The video although very good, is not greatly diverse with its cast. All of the characters (apart from people in the background) are male. This may prevent/limit girls watching the music video from being able to fully identify with a character. However, the video does show multiple different ethnicities. There are Caucasian males as well as an Asian boy. The fat that the Asian boy is the one being bullied by some Caucasian males may reflect some parts of real life. The typically 'bully' in a movie is a white teenaged male, they typically also pick on those who are of different origins.

Out of the five points in the uses and gratification theory, the main one used (as in most videos) is to entertain. The main use of a music video is to entertain the audience and tell the story of the song. It allows the artist to show what they were feeling when writing the song (especially if it has a narrative). Within this video, is also the factor of identification, the video shows a boy being bullied. This is something that a lot of people can relate too as many people in their lives do get bullied in one way or another. I think this video gives so much power to the victims of bullying as the boy trains and is able to stand up for himself. It may give people hope that they can fight back too.