Music Video {Analysis}

Before I start my project of creating a music video, I need to research music videos that have been created by artists before hand to give myself an insight into what components it takes to construct and create a music video. While watching music videos, I will take into consideration the shot types, camera movement and miss-en-scene; this will be helpful for myself to further my knowledge and gather ideas for how to produce a music video. 

Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine?


The Music Video starts off at a Radio Station "Jonesy's Jukebox" which is hosted by Rock legend Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols. Steve Jones hosts a 2-hour open forum show where the only rule is doing whatever Jones wants, "Jonesy’s Jukebox" cover everything from groundbreaking new music. Having this feature on their music video makes it very unique and emphasises one of the rules of the show, 'featuring groundbreaking new music'.

This Music Video is shot mostly on a 'Handheld Camera', which is firstly introduced by Alex Turner the main artist, props it up on the dashboard of the car and the music video continues to use the handheld technique. The artists firstly featured in this Music Video are Alex Turner who is the lead singer of the band and Matt Helders who has been the drummer of the band since 2002.

We are introduced to these artists when Turner props the camera up on the dashboard of the car giving us a two shot of them both, where Alex Turner firstly shows the audience a tattoo, he shows us this for a few seconds before the Music Video continues on. The tattoo that Alex the singer has tattooed upon his forearm is a “Yorkshire Rose”, this tattoo could be in reference to his birth place, Sheffield. 

Before the pair start to lip sync their own lyrics, sometimes when the artists are 'Lip Syncing' it is out of sync this could be because Lip Syncing can be one of the hardest thing to tackle.


Later on, in the music video another member of the band is introduced, as Alex turns the camera around to reveal bass guitarist Nick O'Malley, who is featured in the backseat in between two females in cowboy hats and black eye masks. There are normally 4 members of the band however in this music video only 3 members are featured. Having the members of the band featured within the music video allows the audience to create relationships with the audience, but there is also a demand from record companies to feature loads of 'Close-Ups' of the main artist which is suggested from the media theorist Andrew Goodwin.

The main technique conducted throughout this music video is handheld until later on in the video when Alex Turner is shown upon the Reversing Camera of the car, this is used for a few seconds until it is switched back to the original handheld technique; the reversing camera could be named as a second camera. Then the camera switches back to handheld and shows us a mini concert in an abandoned building which we are lead to see by a 'Tracking Shot' of one of the females featured in the music video previously, it tracks her walking towards the band with a flare light.

The Music Video finishes off where it first started at a Radio Station "Jonesy's Jukebox" which is hosted by Rock legend Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols. This is an amazing technique as it shows a loop that the video has finished off where it all started, creating a visual loop for their audience.


Daft Punk - Da Funk


I decided to use the music video as it documents the life of an isolated creature, which is what one of our ideas include. So using this video will work in my favour as I can see how this artist created the visuals to the storyline of an isolated creature. The creature featured within this music video is a dog dressed like a human.

This music video starts off with fast paced editing of city life within what looks like New York, the words 'Big City Nights' could emphasise that is New York due to New York being referred to as the 'Big Apple' as well as being known as one of the largest cities in the world.

The music video then shows a man called Benny writing on the main characters leg due to him having a cast on it, the man writes 'Good Luck Benny' which is framed firstly by an extreme close up which is following his writing then turns into a close up of the message. Then the man walks off, allowing the main character to carry on with his journey.

We are firstly introduced to the appearance of the main character when he starts his journey through the Big City which is framed by a long shot outlining his outfit as well as the radio in which is playing the song for the music video.

The main character is then followed by two youths who are shouting nasty comments at him such as 'look at him with that big head' while mocking the way he walks as he seen to them as an outcast. Then a lady approaches him to take a survey, she asks him how many months he has been living in this neighbourhood and he replies with 1 month before she shuts him off completely saying he isn't a permanent resident before walking off.

He goes into a local store and pumps into a lady he knew from his old town where he grew up and they get into a nice conversation and she hugs him, this is when we find out the his name as she calls him 'Charles' this makes the audience be able to make relationships with the main character as he is no longer an outcast to us as he has a name. She even invites him to go to her house for dinner which he agrees to. So they sit and wait at the bus stop for the bus to arrive, once the bus arrives the lady gets on but just as Charles decides to follow her on board he sees a sign that reads 'No Radios' so he couldn't get on, we see the sign referenced in multiple shots, each time being cut closer and closer by the shot, this could emphasise the suggestion that anything good that happens in his life is substituted with a physical barrier that always gets in the way. He then watches her leave along with the bus, she is shown asking why through the window and he just holds up the radio as a simple reason to why.

The radio that the main character carries throughout the duration of the music video plays a big symbolic role, we first learn this when the youths confront him with a compliment regarding the song being played through his radio. There is another reference to the radio when Charles is trying to by a Big City itinerary from a sales man on the street and the sales man asks if he could turn the music down but he says he can't. After that, the radio is referenced when he tries to get onto the bus, there is a sign inside the bus that reads 'No Radios' so he couldn't get on, this could suggest that anything good that happens in his life there is a physical barrier that always gets in the way.

The video ends with people surrounding him passing by, then when he double takes there is no one surrounding him which could suggest that he is the only person that is involved in his world.