Music Video analysis – “Can’t Stop” – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Type of narrative/style and genre: When it comes to “can’t stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) the genre that is conveyed to us is the funk-rock genre, this idea gotten from the way the vocalists: sing, act, what musical instrument they play and their costumes; the vocalists voices are quite harsh and loud giving the loud and very ‘in your face’ feel rock always does to the audience, the way they act is quite silly with harsh powerful movements that include going up to the camera in a forceful way and even hard movements when playing their instruments what is stereotypically seen in many funk-rock genre videos. Their instruments furthermore emphasise the funk-rock genre as it contains all the typical instruments seen in practically all rock and funk videos (Electric guitars, bases and a big drum set) and then their clothing again emphasises the rock genre; their clothes (when wearing any- as in some scenes there are moments when tops aren’t worn) are quite scruffy and are very dark harsh colours such as black and grey (but also contains scenes in which they are wearing quite bright colours- this bringing the funk genre feel into the song) , this working well with their hash movements/behaviour and with the funky rock style musical instruments, creating a very effective funk-rock genre style song. When it comes to narrative and style, we can use a theory by a man called Andrew Goodwin who states; music promos can interpret or use meanings in song lyrics/instrumental in three different ways:

1) Illustration: the promo basically illustrates the ideas of the narrative in the song lyrics.

2) Amplification: uses a key idea/image from the lyrics and develops it into a concept within a promo. A link between the lyrics and the promo.

3) Disjunctive: The promo bears no resemblance to the lyrics or its meaning: abstract; often seen as unconventional/ ‘arty’ videos; creates a new range of meanings for the song.

From these it is clear that this song comes under the ‘Disjunctive’ part of the theory as the actions and things happening in the promo have no real relation to the lyrics being sung but are very quiet weird and random for example at the beginning the lead vocalist is singing through a piece of construction pipe and nearer to the end he is dressed as a tent while continuing to sing. When it comes to the narrative structure it comes under the non-linear/multistring as the events going on aren’t really in any chronological order and throughout the song there are multiple points in which the

camera cuts away to many weird and random scenes that are away from the main stage scene.

Now we are going to look at the song but in four specific areas and how they have been used: Camera work, editing, mise-en-scene and sound.

Camerawork:

When looking through this music video there is a common shot pattern we can see coming through and we can also see what type of shots are mainly used. Firstly the shot pattern; it seems that to begin the video starts with a close up shot of the main vocalist singing into a piece of construction tube, this is then commonly followed up by a long shot that establishes the setting in which the vocalist are in and around, this then followed up by a medium shot that normally are cut a ways to a seeming ‘weird’ and ‘random’ scenes and then it goes back to a close up shot and then starts a loop in the order (the shot pattern).

The actual shot themselves:Close ups:

As seen in the paragraphs and pictures above that one of the most common shots are close ups, and these are used when the main vocalist are singing directly into the camera at the audience with a very harsh tone and loud vocals, this very typical of the funk-rock style genre and how it likes to have a ‘all up in your face’ feel, this also helps the audience to figure out who the main vocalist is as the only real close up shots or on one person (the one with the longish hair) and not any of the other, this and the fact he is never seen using an instrument whereas the others do.

Medium shot:With most of the medium shots in this music video are used to show cut a ways to scenes that are actually very weird and random that are intertwined between close up shots of vocalists and band members and long shots of the setting with the stage, although it is typical of medium shots in rock style genre videos they are normally mainly used to shot band members on instruments but in this video they have been used for these crazy random cut a ways with subverts from the typical medium shots in rock genre videos, this is showing the funk genre coming through into the song- how the style is a little more wacky and informative than most rock style genres, this aids in the appeal of the video as it is different and as always ‘different’ does good and catches the eyes of more people than generic rock genre videos.

Long shot:With the long shots in this music video they are more or less adhering to many of the long shot conventions in practically all the funk-rock style genre videos, the long shots used are when the main setting is shown and a more ‘typical’/’normal’ scene is created: a big room In which there is a stage and the ‘typical’ band set up is shown (the two base/guitarists on the left and right far sides, the drummer in the background middle section and the main vocalist in the foreground middle), this ‘normal’ or stereotypical use of long shots goes well with the juxtaposed medium shot cut a ways that are very weird to give the whole video a good balance between typical rock genre and a little more wacky style funk genre style.

Editing:When it comes to editing in the video it is clear to see that the pacing of the whole video adheres to the normal funk-rock style convention, and that being very fast to medium paced, this because they have cut the shots to the beat of the main drum instrument and also the sentences of the main vocalists. This is seen just after the long intro of the construction pipe singing scene and the running with lights on their backs, in which the first main shot change is signified by the first ‘big’ beat played on the drum at around 0.33 seconds, after this there seems to be shot changes after every 3-5 drum beats and each time the last beat being a much more cresendo’d beat and also within those 3-5 drum beats there is a space in which the vocalist most of the time finishes one small sentence and on that last drum beat he take a breath ready for the next set of rhythmic beats, this being an extremely fast shot duration allows a whole variety of shots to be compacted into the 4 minuet 38 second video, making the video extremely eye catching and enjoyable to watch (more enjoyable than most of the normal funk-rock genre style videos as it contains those wacky cut a ways) and it keeps everything fast paced so you won’t get bored and really has an epic rhythmic beat of the drum in collaboration of the guitars that sticks in your mind and has you tapping your feet and getting involved in the music (what makes all music videos amazing).

Sound:With sound there is nothing we can really analyse except where it comes from and what instruments; firstly where it comes from, throughout the music video nearly all of the singing/music is diegetic, meaning it comes from inside the scenes and not put in post editing, assuming that the medium shot cut a ways are in the same location than the main stage scene in which they are depicted singing (as the stage scene was established with a long shot at the start we can only assume that they are all in the same palace. Then the instruments themselves; the ones used are very typical of those normally used in funk-rock style genre videos, guitars (including bases), drums and

obviously they vocals, this emphasising the theme of funk-rock while still having the wacky side of the random cut a ways (especially in the parts were there are guitar and base solos what involve a good riff repeating melody that stands out from the rest of the video). Mise-en-scene:Costume:When it comes to the costumes used in this video it predominantly emphasises the rock style genre more than the funk genre as we can see that they are wearing quite dark clothing that is rather scruffy, and at some points the main vocalist and a few other band members are seen with no top at all which is a common occurrence in some rock videos, this helping get the harsh and chaotic vibe rock bands should.

Lighting:With the lighting in this video it is very different to the stereotypical lighting seen in most rock genre videos, it is extremely light due to the setting they are in (a massive white walled room in which has a bright vibrant orange wall panel at the back of it and also the stage is lit up from underneath, adding even more light which subverts the normal conventions of lighting in rock videos as they are normally very gloomy and dark, this is the funk genre coming through in the video and how funk isn’t so hardcore and dark but is more fun and light than rock.

Make up:With this there is very little to say but there is one thing that helps the audience see that it is a rock style video is when the main vocalist has no top on and you are able to see tattoos, this a very common theme that runs through the rock genre and emphasises the harshness of the characters giving them a ‘hard’ look that you normally see in rock videos, especially in the close up shots when he seems to really ‘get in the audiences face’.

Props:With this section there is a lot of subverting from the rock style genre and adhering more to the funk genre, as we can see that there are many ‘random’ and ‘wacky’ scenes intertwined into the video that hold a lot of random props that have nothing really to do with rock at all; for example the room full of flashing lamps, the room full of chairs and a shot of just a few bottles lined up straight, this not something you see in regular rock videos but it is something that proved extremely appealing to many, this because it is very different and weird, something that will catch the attention of many and because there so many random scenes put into the video they are constant meaning it keeps the audience watching. On the other hand the only real props that adhere to the rock genre are the instruments; the electric guitar (including bases), drums and normal vocals, this making sure it still retains quite a bit of rock feel.