Music video analysis

Hoobastank- the reason

The reason is a song by the band called Hoobastank , it won the MTV Asia VMA award for best rock video . Hoobastank are signed by the record label ‘island’ and for promotional purposes the song appears in video games SingStar Pop and Karaoke Revolution Volume 3.

The video mainly focuses on theft of a ruby gem from a pawn shop, many people might believe that it doesn’t suit the lyrics and has nothing to do with the song, however if you interpret the lyrics with the video-

‘I've found a reason for meTo change who I used to beA reason to start over newand the reason is You’

you will realize that what they are really saying in the video is that he was a criminal, and has decided to change his ways for the girl he loves.

The video begins with close up shots of a girl and a guy standing opposite sides of the road.

Then there the screen goes black for a second ,and the next shot is close up of the girl on the floor‘hit’ by a car which turns out to be an accessory to the crime. The reason they blacked out the shot is probably because at the end of the video you realize that she doesn’t really get hit by a car. This scene follows by an introduction of the car which ‘ hit ‘ the girl , and inside you see a member of the band singing the words to the song while acting to the story of the video. You later get few low angles shots showing faces of people surrounding the incident , calling the police and just observing what has happened.

A performance shot is then scene for few seconds of the lead singer playing guitar in another location. after the performance it all happens again from the close up shots of the two faces, however this time it shows various different angles , such as shots from above and shots of the girls shoes .

The main reason for the repeat of the same scene with different angles is to show the same story but this time you get to see it from the pawn shop owners point of view. As soon as the shop owner walks out the main character from the video steps inside the shops and closes the door. Every now and then you see performing shots of the band to make it clear of who the band is.

The viewer then realizes that she was in on the operation, as she gets up and rides off with an accomplice on a motorcycle towards the end. There is a close up shot of the presumed owner of the pawnshop which displays a look of realization that it was all a set up.

The song ends with the band admiring their new acquisition, holding it up to the light and projecting red light-rays onto the ceiling. The accident "victim" is also present. They then hear police sirens from above, and the video fades out.

There are many tracking shots in the music video to keep it smooth and simple without any special effects. One of the main effects used in the video is ‘slow motion’ most of the story part of the video is slow motion to get a better view and feel of what is happening, and the speed of it matches well with the slow paced rock song.

There has been a lot of color correction used in this music video , the performance shot is in a different color to the actual story.

Here you can see the different color correction used between the story and the performance.