Textual Analysis of Music Videos

Name of Track: Violet Hill

Artist: Coldplay

Observations and Examples
Genre Characteristics: 
Coldplay mostly fit into the alternative rock genre of music., which means this video would most likely fit into the amplification genre of music videos. This is because there is both performance by the band and a narrative, however this narrative is unusual and can be left to the audiences' interpretation. There is very much a link to the song, particularly between the music and visuals as the editing is very much kept in time to the beat of the music; seen when the band perform outside what seems to be a stately home. There is also a link between the visuals and lyrics because of the anti war message of the song. This can be seen visually by the french revolution styled clothes the band chose to wear and the setting of the deserted mountains.  However the video does contain illustrative elements such as the violet sky over a hill at the beginning of the video and the strong emphasis on the performance of the band. There is also a lot of close-ups of the band members, particularly the lead singer Chris Martin singing, which is typical of an illustration genre video, but also of Coldplay as a band looking at other videos by them. 

Relationship Between Lyrics and Visuals:

The main relationship between the lyrics and visuals is through the lip syncing we see from the lead singer. There is also a key link with the mise en scene that give a soldiers at war theme, seen in both the lyrics and from the video. The look of the band, with the war themed outfits and the dirty appearance shows the struggles of war which links to lyrics such as 'I don't want to be a soldier, who's the captain of some sinking ship'. 

There is also a relationship seen as most of the time when Chris Martin sings ''If you love me, won't you let me know' the shot is a close up of his face. These lyrics are very personal and are supposedly meant for an individual, explaining why these shots have a feeling of the lead singer speaking to someone face to face. 

Towards the end there is more gentle sound to the music and the lyrics include 'we sat in snow'. During this we see Chris Martin walking through snow.

Relationship between music and visuals:
This can mainly be seen from the editing throughout the video as it is very much to the beat of the music. At the beginning the very slow music fits in with the slow movement of the environment, such as the clouds in the sky or the sun light moving over a mountain. The band walking during this music is also in slow motion, linking to the pace of the music. 
During a particular drum beat after the first chorus, the editing once again shows the relationship as as the drum beats the shot changes. In this case it changes between black and white shots of the band and Chris Martin banging a hammer ion time to the drum beat. During the fast paced, heavier music the shots are sped up, showing the actions of the band to be dramatic.



Close-ups of the Artist and star image motifs? 
There are many close-ups of all the band members, particularly Chris Martin. However, although there is a lot of straight forward face on shots, there is also varying angles of the band members. They also fitted several members of the band into shots in different arrangements. I found this very effective and thought it made the video much more interesting to watch. These shots are not always close-ups there are longs shot silhouettes that still hold the band in focus, and the arrangement of the mid shots outside the house, also focus on the band. Also, conventional of a bands performance is the camera shots focused on the instruments being played, which are mainly close ups.

Intertextual References:
This video is mostly referenced to war. So the mise en scene is based on the idea of the band being in a war environment, as soldiers prepared for war. The outfits are based on the French revolution and the setting seems based in Europe and is very similar to that of settings for war films, which is likely to be where the inspiration came from, as well as real war evidence. 

Music Video Analysis

The Wombats - Techno Fan

Actual video:
This video fits into the illustration category of music video genres. It is straight forward with the bands performance and a simple narrative which visualizes the music and lyrics.




The mise en scene for this video is typical for the 'indie' genre in which The Wombats fall into. The band perform in what appears to be a warehouse of sorts in a very non-glamorous environment which is typical of this type of band. The quirky party setting is also fairly typical of artists from this genre, as is the particular feature that stands them apart from those at the party. However because of the theme, lyrics and music of this particular song there is a feeling of a crossover within genres; there is an element of techno simply because that is what the song is about. In this clip it is the fact that he is dressed in a suit that stands him apart from everyone else; this also shows the relationship between the lyrics and visuals such 'although the musics not my type' which would suggest he does not fit in with these people. The camera also focuses directly on the lead singer.

The use of the editing, lighting and mise en scene in this clip represent the genre of illustration. The editing is extremely fast paced to match the up tempo beat of the chorus, which shows a relationship between the musics and visuals as the visuals completely illustrate the music. It is simply the band performing, alongside a simple narrative that illustrates the lyrics of the song. The repetition of the fast paced editing and contrasting lighting amplifies the meaning and the desired effect of the video on the audience. There is also a particular focus on the members of the band, including close ups of the lead singer whilst he sings and the drummer and guitarist whilst there is an instrumental part. The red sunglasses the lead singer chooses to wear are reflective of the 'techno' theme used throughout the video to match the song; the fact that he wears them during the fast paced, quickly edited parts could show the relationship with the lyrics for example 'I never knew I was a techno fan'. For most of the video he does not wear the glasses and yet when the music builds pace he does representing the idea that this is not something he would normally do. 

Induction Task - Evaluating a video that has been analysed.

Task 4

Research and Planning - (Lady Gaga - You and I)

Research and Planning - (Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks)

Research and Planning - (Jessie J - Who's Laughing Now)

Induction Tasks.

Task 1

For this task we looked at the different marketing and advertising techniques for music videos. They are released and seen in many different ways. We also looked at what makes a video successful and how a band or solo artist are classed as 'cool'. They must fit into the current music industry for the music video to do well or audiences and fans will not watch them. We identified the places you can watch music videos and the impact it has from the very first time it is watched whether it has an aim or message.

Task 2

For this task we identified the main conventions and features of a music video. These are very important as they are what make the video successful as a whole and what intrigues the viewers and fans. Careful planning is needed to use these conventions successfully and the video works better when a variety of the features are used. The main ones we found are camera shots, mise en scene, editing,camera movement, lighting, sound, costume, colours, music genre, location and props.

Research and Planning - (Ed Sheeran-The A team)

Ruskin Kyle (director of The A team) has illustrated the meaning of the Ed sheerans lyrics into his video. You can see an obvious connection between both the lyrics and video. The video tells a story of young homeless woman whose drug addiction is leading her to her death. As we hear the lyrics whilst watching the music video we understand what is happening which makes the video more powerful and moving. The entire video is filmed in black and white which gives a dull effect which could possibly reflect the characters life. Furthermore I feel that if the video was in colour it would not be as moving, serious or powerful as perhaps desired. The lighting of the video is kept very natural to keep the story as realistic as possible however it seems that lighting sort of shows positive and negative parts of the person’s life. For example when the woman wakes up and embraces her surroundings (around the opening of the video) the lighting is bright which suggests positivity and happiness but as the video progresses it seems to get darker and more negative. As well as the simplicity of lighting there are very minimal digital effects again to keep the video realistic. There is one special effect used which is the increased speed of people and traffic passing the woman as she remains still (used to show the world passing her by and the lack of people that care) Mise-en-scene is used to create the look of a homeless character. We can firstly see this through the clothing, appearance and possessions of the character; we can clearly see that the she has very few possessions apart from a sleeping bag indicating little money and no home, her appearance is untidy and uncared for such as her hair and smudged makeup which also indicates she has been sleeping rough for a while. The location of the opening shot is the character asleep on a park bench which immediately makes the viewers aware she has no home. Sound and lighting create the image of morning (bright light and birds singing) this could be seen as creating a feeling of hope and positivity.