Music Video Analysis

The Drums - Let's Go Surfing

Artist: The Drums

Video Director: David Fishel Kyle Fasanella

Year Released: 2009

There is no real meaning to this video it is just a fun, upbeat, feel-good song made to entertain, it is filmed in one complete shot with no cuts.

Mise-en-scene

This video is set on a beach supposedly next to a pier suggested by the lights to the right of the shot. The brightly coloured jumper is used to make the singer stand out in the darkness of the shot, there is no real focus in the shot other than the band in bright colours and the lights.

The band begins to clap in time on the video as it is played in the song making it seem more synchronous and links the video nicely with the song. The drum in the back of the shot after the cut at 1:43 featuring the band name/logo shows who the band are and also makes the scene quite random, much like the rest of the video, as there is no purpose to the drum being there but it fits the theme of the video.

The two men running after the camera makes the audience feel as if they are part of the video, its almost as if they are moving with the camera due the continuous shot.

Sound

There is no diegetic sound used in this video, there is just the continuous song played throughout with lead singer of the band lip-syncing. The band members in the back of the shot clap along with the music when there is clapping in the song, this makes if feel diegetic however this would have been made synchronous through editing.

Editing

Every time the word 'Surfing' is said in the song it is displayed across the video in large capital letters, this is used to incoperate the song with the video through post-production editing and adds a random theme to the video to fit in with the rest of it.

There is no main editing cuts in this video as it is made up of two continuous shots joint together by a jump cut in the middle.

At the end of the video it fades to black as the camera moves further away from the band and then eventually it becomes more out of focus and fades to black.

Camera Angles

There is only one main continuous long shot all the way up to 1:43 where it cuts to them stood in a different formation but in the same place, so still using the element on continuity and continuously in a long shot.

This was probably shot on the back of a vehicle as a track cannot be used in this shot as it would be seen on the floor, making the viewer feel more part of the video. The shot widens at the end as the characters stop running but the camera continues to move and there are no cuts.#

Mac Miller - Knock Knock

Artist: Mac Miller

Video Director:

Year Released:

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en scene used in this video is all used very well together to create a theme of high school in what looks like the 60s. All of the costume and locations are used to look like suburban streets and school discos so that the theme of the video all links together clearly and creates an overall theme for the video. All of the costume is chosen well to help create the narrative for the video, clearly indicating who is in what group and what happens between them.



The synchronised dancing of all of the people creates a nice tone to the narrative and also makes the video more fun and upbeat. 

Sound

The sound in this video is all non-diegetic as it is just the song played over the music video. However the video uses effects to make it look like its diegetic such as the characters making knocking actions as the lyrics 'Knock knock' are played. Other than that there is no key sound used as being a music video, it is all non-diegetic.

Editing

This shot sine quick cuts to create an up-beat tone to the video to fit in with the song. The song uses a lot of black and white shots where it will quickly turn into colour, this effect is used to show an influence from the past and then the present. The tempo of the song isn't really fast however it does have a lot of really

Camera Angles

There is a lot of close ups of Mac Miller's face in this video as certain points of the song, particularly when he says 'knock knock' and when he is emphasising certain lyrics, this emphasises the lyrics used and changes up the camera angles used. There is a lot of panning in and out of Mac Miller as he is surrounded by people, it comes in and out so much that it almost has a fish-eye effect although this is just due to the formation of people around the singer.

Foals - Spanish Sahara

Artist: Foals

Video Director:

Year Released:

The meaning of this video is not about the Spanish Sahara but about a cold place somewhere that would feature in a nightmare. The desolate landscape and the cold scene is like trauma and the man in the song is trying to get through it, then when the trauma doesn't end, it turns into rage.

Mise-en-scene

The opening scene fades in from white to an establishing shot of mountains in black and white, among the mountains you can faintly see a tiny man walking through the snow. The ratio of the mountains the man shows his insignificance in the desolate landscape making him appear t be alone and trapped in the nightmare that the landscape symbolises.

There is a constant repetition of water, ice and snow. All of these things add to the scene to represent the cold, painful trauma that the man is going through. The repetition of these elements all make up the landscape so there is a reoccurring theme throughout the video.

 The colours used in this video are all cold, unemotional colours like blue, black, white and grey. These colours are all used to show the desolate landscape which represents the person's trauma as they venture the mountains. The only exception to this is when fire is used later on in the video to show the person's rage that there is no end to their trauma.

When the man in the video is pulling the bags up from the water it represents the baggage he has in his life from the ongoing trauma. He struggles to carry the load and it makes us feel that his anger is building up when he throws himself to the floor, eventually this all amounts to the fire erupting which suggests his fury.

Sound

There is no diegetic sound in this video, only the song by Foals played over the top of the video added with post production editing. Although there are times in the song when there is a close up of the man in the video lip syncing although not accurately as we are not supposed to believe it is him actually singing the song.

Editing

The beginning of the video opens with a fade in from white onto an establishing shot of the mountains, this is a nice opening into the video as it sets the scene. Also through editing the mountains are put in black and white making it look very cold and simple, there's no warmth in the scene.

There's constant cuts between close ups of the mans face to him dragging the bag through the mountains or walking through the snow. This is to show his journey through his trauma and to link it with the emotion in his face, it shows what he's doing and the effect its having on him.

There is a jump cut used in this video to show how much trauma the man is going through in the video but how little distance he is moving in literal terms but also representing the effort it requires for him to move past the trauma.





Camera Angles

There is an establishing shot used at the very beginning of the video, this is used to set the scene and create the initial atmosphere for the rest of the video. The use of an establishing shot to open a video sets the tone and in this video, its a slow white beginning in black and white of mountains; this scene suggests an iry tone and a slightly glum atmosphere.

There is a close up of the man in the video led on his side near the beginning of the video. This shot is used to show the emotion of the man in the video and the fact it shows him led on his side makes it seems like he has given up and is letting the trauma win.

There is a reoccurring shot of the man in the video in a close up of just his face where he is lip syncing to the song. This shot is cut inbetween other shots to show his emotion in reaction to what is shown in the other shots. The use of the close up allowing us to see his emotion means that the viewer is able to feel more involved in the video and more understanding of the man in the scene.

Later on in the video there is a shot of the man in between two posts of fire in a mid-shot, this shot is a big contrast to the rest of the video where it is constantly flicking between either a close up or a wide shot. This contrast in camera angles is to show the change in the man's emotion for dealing with trauma to fury.