Analysing a music video- Ready to start



Analysing a music video-

Arcade fire- ready to start

Image-

·         The video is an actual concert of the bands that has been filmed and has now become a video for the bands first single.

·         The fact that there are quite a few shots of the audience enjoying the music almost persuades the audience to enjoy the video and to have the same experience of the fans in the video.

·         The video is black and white, which in some ways can make it more personal for the audience. By not seeing the colours of the video,

·         The facial expressions of the band as they walk onto the stage are quite serious, therefore, this could show that they are serious about their music and want to portray this fact to their audience.

·         The lead singer of the band is usually positioned in the centre of the frame to show his importance within the band.

·         The majority of the costumes that the band is wearing are fairly normal with the exception of one of female members of the band. She is wearing a frilly white dress, which connotes a sense of purity, which could reflect the bands purity in the sense of the music they create.

·         One of the most effective camera shots within the video is an over the shoulder shot of the one of the band members looking at the fans. This is effective, because, by showing the audience what the band members are seeing during the video, helps the audience create a more personal relationship with the band and the experience that they could have at one of their concerts.

Editing-

·         The beginning of the video, as the band are going onto the stage, it has a slow motion effect that is effective because, it helps to build up the tension that the audience may feel at the beginning of an actual concert.

·         The lights and their effects are very dominant in the video. The fact that the video is black and white but has very bright flashing lights helps the audience enjoy it even more. Also, this could show that even though the black and white connotes a sense of seriousness, the bright light connotes as sense of joy that may sometimes overshadow their music.

·         There are jump cuts between the audience and the band. This shows the audience who are watching the video the reaction of the audience who are in the video, which is effective because, it allows the audience to feel as though they are a part of the video and the music.   

Genre-

·         The genre is elevated in the video by the way in which the video has been shot. For example:  the slow paced of the beginning of the video and the bands reaction of the audience shows that the music is very important, which is something that is very dominant in the indie genre.

Target audience-

·         The target audience is suggested by the age of the audience in the actual video. The audience look like young adults, which could suggest that the target audience are of that age.

Mode of address-

·         The tone of the video is created by the colours in the video and the facial expressions of all the people in the video. The black and white create a mysterious atmosphere for the audience, whereas the shinning lights create a fun atmosphere that contrasts well with the other colours.

Representation-

·         Ethnicity is represented in the video by the fact that the majority of the people in the video are white. This reflects the dominant ideology of the genre. It is usually dominated by white males; therefore, this is not shocking, it simply reinforcing the ideology.