Hinder- Lips Of An Angel

Music Video Analysis

According to Diane Railton and Paul Watson’s book ‘Music Video And The Politics Of Representation’ Hinder’s Lips Of An Angel is a Hybrid music video. This is as it contains both aspects of a narrative storyline, and staged performance of the band. (Page 61)

The narrative of the video stars the lead singer of the band Austin Winkler . The storyline shows us his dilemma of still being in love with his ex girlfriend, and sneaking behind his current partners back to speak to her, and tell her how he feels. As Andrew Goodwin identifies in his book ‘Dancing In The Distraction Factory’, there is a link between the lyrics and the visuals, as at the start of the video Austin Winkler picks up the phone and sings the lyrics ‘Hunny why you calling me so late?’ down the phone to his ex partner.

Throughout the video there are many singular shots of the bands front man Austin Winkler. Again as Andrew Goodwin states, there has been a demand on the record label to include lots of close ups of the singer. In Hinder’s case this may be due to them being less well known band, and to raise familiarity of the singer to the audience.

Both these shots have also continued the narrative of the music video. The shot has been framed so we are able to see the background in which the current partner of the front man sits. It has also been shot using a large aperture setting to get the blurred background, and the focus to be all on the singer. In both the shots Austin also has his back to his partner, signifying the dishonesty of going behind her back by talking to an ex partner.

This footage has been changed to black and white in the post production editing stage. This effect is used here to signify that this was in the past, as the rest of the footage is shot in colour. This part of the narrative is showing the audience the life the singer had with his ex partner. In this scene the shots have been used to show how happy the couple used to be together.

Again, these shots are taken from the flashback scene. In both these shots we are shown the couple either walking along the beach, or driving into the sunset. These stereotypical ‘perfect moments’ are used again to signify the couples

faultless relationship.

In contrast, the singer and his current partner are shot under gloomy lighting, in a dark, dingy, unromantic setting. This is used to signify the couples breaking down and dishonest relationship.

Throughout the video the narrative shows the upside to being a male rock and roll star. Austin Winkler is shown to be essentially a giant ‘stud’, having two women on the go. He is also shown as not really caring about his current partners feelings as he easily goes behind her back to talk to his ex, and seems to just treat women as sex objects. The women themselves have been chosen for the video due to their model looks, and skinny, perfect bodies. Again, this continues the stereotype of male rock and roll stars as they are often known to hook up with models, or have the lifestyle where they can get any woman they wish into bed.

Along with the narrative, there is also the aspect of staged performance. As Andrew Goodwin states, Hinder have identified with the music genre they are by using staged performance in their music video. This is a thing that is often common to see, and linked to rock and metal bands music videos. They have also identified with this music genre by wearing the typical black/dark clothing that is linked to rock bands nowadays.

Lastly, as Andrew Goodwin states, there is also a relationship between the music and the visuals. In this video there is close ups of guitar, bass, and drum playing, as well as singing that fits in with the music. This is used throughout to illustrate the song.