Music video analysis

Music Video Analysis

Ben Wakeford

1st Music Video Song: Where are you now? Artist: Justin Beiber, Diplo, Skrillex

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metalvideos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).

• Pop, EDM music (electrical dance music) this has become the new popular thing and Skrilles and Diplo are two of the main EDM music creators and normally get people to sing over their music.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented withimages. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)

• The lyric ‘where are you now that i need you’ is represented through the artist being on his own throughout the whole song.

• He also looks visably upset during the song and the deep lyrics show that he needs someone who is not there for him.

• It is an amplifying music video as Beiber is actually singing the lyrics as the video goes on which includes the actions and people being part of the music video.

There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative,

amplifying, contradicting)

• The music fits in with the visuals when Beiber is on screen therefore it is an amplifying video as all the singing is in line with the way that Beiber is acting and miming to the song for the video.

The demands of the record label will demand the need for lots of close ups of the artist.

• Beiber is the main artist in the video and it is obvious as he is the only person who is recognisable in the video also you see Skrillex and diplo who are also very famous but they are not as well known as Beiber and this is obvious because he gets all the attention.

There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body

• There is no reference of particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body in this music video. Even though it is sung about a women but this video has mostly shots of Beiber in it because his fans want to see him as most of his fans are teenage girls. This means they don’t want to see other girls in the video they want to see him.

The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work (a visualstyle)

• Diplo and Skrillex are a duo that is called Jack U but the U has two small dots above it. These two dots symbolise them and are used and seen quite a lot during the video.

There are often intertextual reference (to films, T" programmes, other music videosetc).

• The opening scenes has a very recognisable art exhibition look. This has been used in many films and TV programmes and probably in music videos because it is quite a sophisticated thing that people do if they have money. This shows that the video may appeal to a person who like art as there is an arty feature about the video.

Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers Song: Californication


This band is Punk rock or just rock

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)

• This video is more Illustrative because the music is showing a lot of animated characters going through animated situations. Also there is the lead singer singing lines from the song but mainly it is of the animated video game. The lyrics and visuals go very well together.

There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)

• This would be Amplifying because the music and the visuals fit together very well when the band comes up playing there instruments the sound is in the right place and time for the video.

• It could be argued that it is also a bit contradicting because it has the animated bit on the video and that is a little bit random but does also have some connections with the song.


• The video has kind of a second music video which is just the band playing the music in the corner. This means the people watching the video will always see the band in one way or another.

There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

• There is graphic use of the female body being used as a sexual object as they are recording the sexual scene for a pornographic film.

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• They have a symbol which comes up on all their videos which is the symbol of the band and this comes up on the video a few times. Everyone who knows the band know the symbol.


• In the video there are references to star wars and star trek at one point in the video. Also one of the lyrics is about Star wars.

Artist: The Weekend Song: Cant feel my face


• Pop/ EDM

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented withimages. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)

• Amplifying as artist is standing performing the song on his own and you can see him singing all the words.

There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)

• The music fits with the visuals so it is also amplifying as it fits in with what the performer is doing on the stage.


• The whole video is of the artist singing and performing his song so all the attention is on him therefore the people watching the video will understand that he is the main person and the video is all about him.

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There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body

• There is no voyeuristic treatment of the female body in the music video.

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• His hair is very recognisable therefore people will know him for his hair. This is kind of a motif and a personal thing for him.


• In the video it is an open mic session and this has been seen in different TV programmes and it is in a bar which is seen in pretty much every TV programme and film because it is a very socially acceptable thing to do go out and drink

Art & Photos

Music video analysis