Anita Bharath

Music Video Analysis

To construct the analysis into the music video’s ‘We are young’ sung by Fun featuring Janelle Monáe and ‘Foundation’ sung by Kate Nash, both in the Indie-Pop genre, I have used Andrew Goodwin’s framework for analysis.

Point 1- Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics.

The Indie-Pop genre tends to contain the following conventions:

A narrative which normally involves a theme that gets explained to the audience. Many close ups and mid close ups of the artist or band performing the song The use of camerawork to give the video uniqueness, typical of Indie videos. Naturalistic lighting is used for the specific context and location of the video. Lip Syncing of the artist as part of the narrative.

Fun- We are young

One of Goodwin’s theories is that music videos are used as promotional devices to not only sell the song but to also sell the artist by identifying their ‘brand’ image. In this video there are many wide shots of the band (Fun) performing thus portraying their ‘brand image’ that they are real musicians (as they are playing their own instruments), typical of the indie-pop

genre. However, at the same time, they present a lively and vibrant performance a typical convention of the pop genre.

The establishing shots of the band member’s identify the narrative of the video which is that the band (Fun) is performing on a stage at a bar where a riot breaks out. The master shot of a man walking across to the bar also helps the audience to identify the narrative as this

shot establishes the Mise en scene that reinforces the narrative that the band are performing in a bar. Majority of Fun’s music video is shot in slow motion; whilst parts of it are shot in real time.

Kate Nash- Foundations Similar to Fun’s music video the narrative in this video is identified through the use of establishing

shots of everyday home items such as toothbrushes, watches and the separation of shoes by a bowling bowl. These items become significant throughout the video as they symbolise the breakdown of the relationship.

The master shot of a couple which involves the singer

Anita BharathKate Nash, playing a card game with her partner, connotes this is a subtle symbol that the couple are playing mind games with one another.

Kate Nash’s video incorporates the effect of stop motion animation. The use of this effect on the everyday items such as socks, watches and toothbrushes clearly identifies the narrative as they could symbolise what the song is about (two people, in this case

Kate Nash, growing apart from one another which leads to a break up no matter how hard it can be). This concept of

symbolisation links closely to Barthes theory (1968) as he believed the narrative was made up of signifiers which were objects that brought meaning to the narrative. In his essay “The Death of the Author" he states ‘the author is merely a "scripter" (a word Barthes uses expressly to

disrupt the traditional continuity of power between the terms "author" and "authority"). The scripter exists to produce but not to explain the work.’ Therefore each individual audience member will interpret these signifiers differently as each signifier adds a new layer of meaning to the song.

Point 2- The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.

In the genre of Indie-Pop the relationship between the lyrics and visuals tends to be commonly illustrative although some music videos may incorporate elements of amplifying meanings.

Both Fun and Kate Nash’s music video contain elements of illustrative and amplifying meanings. In both of these videos some of the lyrics are physically represented on the screen. Below are a few examples from each music video:

Fun- We are young:

“My lover she’s waiting for me just across the bar”

As these lyrics are sung there is a shot of a guy walking over to the bar where a female is waiting making this scene highly redundant.

“And you feel like falling down”

Anita BharathThe lyrics ‘falling down’ are edited together with a scene where by a mobile phone is being thrown in mid-air so it results in falling to give the lyrics a physical representation for the audience.

An example of Fun’s music video containing an amplifying meaning is when there is a point of view shot of the mobile phone displaying a text message reading "NOW!" giving the implication that the message was possibly a signal to begin a flash mob. However this could just be one meaning of the text message as theorist Barthes (1968) argued that the reader produces new meanings when reading a text, making use of previous experiences. He states in his essay “Death of the Author” that the essential meaning of a work depends on the impressions of the reader, rather than the "passions" or "tastes" of the writer; "a text's unity lies not in its origins," or its creator, "but in its destination," or its audience.

Kate Nash- Foundation

“yeah, intelligent input, darlin', why don't you just have another beer then?”

The mid shot used here illustrates the above lyrics in a redundant manner and the high angle shot of the empty beer bottles reinforces the lyrics and could signify that the relationship may be ending soon.

“You said I must eat so many lemons 'cause I am so bitter.”

The mid shot here portrays a redundant message as the visuals match the lyrics in an illustrative way.

Kate Nash’s music video also contains elements of amplfying messages for example the stop motion animation of the everyday objects and shots of the plastic toys which could be interpreted as just simply representing the lyrics and reinforcing the narrative or they can be interpreted as having a new layer of meaning linking to Barthes theory.

Overall, both music videos commonly contain an illustrative meaning as Fun’s ‘We are young’ song is all about having

Anita Bharathfun with friends and just about being ‘young’ and their video reflects that concept. Similarly Kate Nash’s song ‘Foundation’ is about the breakdown of relationships and her video imitates that with a physical and symbolic representations.

Point 3- The relationship between the music and the visuals.

In the Indie-Pop genre as the meanings of the music vidoes have a high redunancy and contain illustrative meaning the music in their music videos tend to be edited to the beat making the sound visual. Pete Fraser states “This idea is absoutely cental to understand music videos as they build on the soundtrack’s visual asscoiations in order to connect with the audience and provide additional pleasure.”

Andrew Goodwin uses the concept of ‘Synaesthesia’ when analysing the relationship between the music and the visuals. He states Synaesthesia is the process by which sensory impressions are carried over from one sense to another i.e.: what images we envisage when listening to music.

This concept of Synaesthesia can be seen in Fun’s ‘We are young’ music video. The video implies Fun’s performance mirrors the intensity of the bar’s atmosphere; as Fun’s performance becomes increasingly intense and energetic so does music and video reflecting the bar riot or flash mob that breaks out.

Beginning of the video

Roughly in the middle

Anita Bharath

Towards the end

Kate Nash’s video makes use of editing on the beat, at the start of her music video there are some individual piano key strokes, when each note is played the image changes to an everyday item thus making the sound visual.

For example:

The first piano note is edited so that it cuts to a medium close up of toothbrushes.

Towards the end of her video, editing on the beat is apparent as as the music is slowly coming to an end so is the couple’s relationship; the stop motion animation clips are used to symbolise this. The gutair strum is again edited so that as it is played the image or animation changes.

For example:

The first guitar strum is edited so that it shows the stop motion animation shots of the watches parting from another symbolising the end of their relationship.

Point 4- The need for close ups as demanded by the recorded label.

As Fun are a band there are only a few close ups and mid close ups of the lead singer. This is so the audience can identify with him and the fact the singer is looking directly into the camera in this example allows the audience to feel a part of the song and experience the artist’s emotions thus attracting them to purchase the song. This links to Goodwin’s theory that the music videos are promotional devices.

Majority of the shots that are used to film Kate Nash’s lip syncing are shot in close ups where she looking directly into the camera. Again, this is so the audience can identify with her and experience the emotions she is experiencing to entice the auidence into purchasing her song (Goodwin’s theory).

Anita Bharath

Point 5- The notion of looking particulary Mulvey’s theory (1975) of voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

Indie-Pop music videos don’t tend to focus on the notion of looking. Due to the Mulvey’s theory being outdated neither of the videos tend to focus on her theory of the male gaze. In fact, in both of these videos they challenge Mulvey’s theory as both the males and females are dressed appropriately and are not represented as being sexual objects.

Both the males and females are fully clothed in a smart attire.

The clothing here again challeneges Mulvey’s theory as the artist is dressed in vintage attire.

Point 6- Music Videos often contain traces of intertextual references.

Neither of the videos ‘We are young’ by Fun featuring Janelle Monáe and ‘Foundation’ by Kate Nash contain any elements of interetextual references as they are both in the genre of Indie-Pop; meaning their videos are predominantly narrative based portraying illustrative and amplifying meanings between the lyrics, music and visuals.