The video is amplified of the song, because the song is centred around love and youthful relationships which is shown in the narrative of the video. However, the element of conflict in the narrative is not what the song is about. Despite the resolve at the end, the video is sometimes disjunctive due to the nature of the relationship in the narrative.
There are frequent cut-backs to the artist during their performance, and the fourth wall is broken a number of times.
The narrative involves a montage of a young couple’s relationship and the ups and downs of it. Towards the end of the narrative the pair crash while driving. This incident matches the climax of the song.
In terms of filming techniques, the two main locations of the video are of the band in a street performing and the couple in their car. Both locations are filmed at night and heavy rain is falling. This dramatic weather and lighting corresponds to the theatrical song.
Cuts back to the band are frequent. During the climax of the song – when the tempo increases – the cuts between members of the band and cutting rate in general is much more frequent.
What I particularly like about this music video is the way it fits the song so well. Elements of the video match the song, such as beats and lyrics visualised, but also the atmosphere of the song is complemented by the locations and after effects like slow motion.
There are some parts of the film, such as close-ups of the guitars, slow motion shots and dramatic lighting, which I would like to incorporate in my music video.
It’s My Life Bon Jovi
This video is largely performance-based. It involves a combination of narrative and performance by the band. The performance is very illustrative of the song as it is literally just a performance of the single song. The narrative is quite amplified of the song as it involves a young person trying to get to the gig and taking a number of risks along the way, similar to the lyrics of the song.
While the video follows the narrative of the young male protagonist trying to get to the performance, the band playing the song acts as the main part of the video, advertising the artist well.
Whereas some videos follow a narrative and cut back to a performance of the song frequently, this video follows the performance and cuts back to the narrative instead.
There are very few static shots in the video. I think this works very well and is used to help the viewer feel as if they are at the gig, where there are no moments of stillness. This is the main aim of the video as well; to sell the band as a live act.
The fourth wall being broken helps with this last point. As the lead singer often looks at the camera as he is singing, the audience feel more involved with that element of the video because they feel like they are there watching the gig. On the other hand, the protagonist’s narrative is very simple and he does not interact with the camera so the audience so not relate to him as much. Thus, I believe this video is selling the band’s performance and song rather than the star image, which is sold in the previous video I studied.
What I believe my group can take from this video is elements of the performance section. I really like some of the filming of the instruments and the band in particular.
Moreover, I think the balance between performance and narrative in this video is just right, selling the band to the viewer very well indeed.
The Phoenix Fall Out Boy
This music video is in fact the second video of an eleven-part series, featuring every song from the album. It follows the narrative of each member of the band, with very little performance throughout – only mouthing the lyrics sometimes.This particular video I like for the quality of filming. There are lots of shots in it that show it was a high-production value piece. Elements of the location, the shot style and lighting I all admire.
Almost every shot features a member of the band, as they are the main characters of the narrative. It can be argued that there is a lot of narrative fuzz in the video, as the narrative does not totally link to the song. However, the narrative is very recognisable as a product of Fall Out Boy as a result of their meta-narrative.
The video corresponds to the song very well; as an alternative track, the video is aimed towards a cult audience. There are not a significant number of links between lyrics and visuals, in spite of lip-syncing by the lead singer. My main motivation for studying this music video is based entirely on the filming of the narrative. I would not like to create a music video that is entirely narrative-based, but this video definitely aids me in visualising what a good narrative should include. Certainly, I will incorporate elements of filming in this video into my own piece.
Excellent detailed analysis with interesting choice of videos well done Tom
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