MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS (USING ANDREW GOODWIN, SVEN E CARLSON& JOHN STEWARDS

THEORY) By Rayan Solanki

ANDREW GOODWIN’S 7 FEATURES OF MUSIC VIDEOS

•Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop). •There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). •There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). •The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). •There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.•The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work (a visual style)•There are often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc.)

“How deep is your love” is a song produced by Scottish Dj and Producer Calvin Harris. The song features the Disciples and the music video stars American model Gigi Hadid. The genre is rock/ electronic. The music video was directed by Emil Nava, filming took place in Malibu, the video starts with Gigi on a table in what looks like to be an abandoned hospital. She then gets up off the table and walks down the hall into a party with a lot of people and also pole dancers. She then ends up on, what looks like a very expensive boat which is surrounded by water bikers. The scenery is then moved to a pool party in what looks like a very big, expensive house, she dives into the pool and gets out and takes her dress off and jumps into the shower. She then ends up in a different party room, next she is shown with a number of motorcyclists riding around her. Towards the end of the video, flashes of Gigi in all of the places she has been in the video (plus a beach party) are shown in fast cuts before it ends with Gigi walking out of the main( first ) party.

Calvin Harris Ft Disciples – How deep is your love

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).

In Goodwin’s theory, he believes that each genre has characteristics that help to define that genre. In the music video of ‘How deep is your love’ there are various characteristics that help this song be

classed as alternative hip hop, rock, electronic.

as this song is classed as alternative hip hop, rock, electronic (alternative being the main genre), there are various characteristics that contribute this song and music video to being classed as alternative. One of them is the background. The video for ‘How deep is your love’ is based in various locations, one being an abandoned hospital, a boat and parties. The abandoned hospital and the scene where Gigi is being surrounded by bikers are characteristics of the rock genre as they are in dark places and that is something which rock videos have. The parties and the boat scene are characteristics of hip hop music videos as the boat and the house where the bool is look very expensive with people wearing the in fashion clothes and there are very attractive women (including Gigi), which make the audience focus on Gigi mainly, but also others in the background, and that is a characteristic of hip hop music.

Another convention of alternative music is fast paced editing, there is a lot of quick cuts between different shots and angles. When Gigi is stepping out of the swimming pool, there are shots of Gigi getting out of the pool, a man staring at her, everyone else around the pool staring at her whilst she pulls her dress down and then there is a close up shot, from the waist to the knee caps, of Gigi pulling the dress down and then an older woman gazing at her.

The colour scheme, in a way matches the alternative genre, but it also challenges it. It matches the genre in the way that in some scenes in the music video, there is dark/ neutral colours used, they’re not too bright, the mise- en- scene was very low key and subdued, like in other alternative videos. But this music video also challenges the colour scheme of the genre in the way that, there was a colourful colour scheme, this colourful colour scheme was in the scenes when Gigi is on the boat, at the pool party and when her face is shown flashing in different colours. The colours used are very vivid and eye catching, this colour scheme matches more of the hip hop genre.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images. (either illustrative, amplifying,

contradicting). 

The visuals of the music video could maybe be seen as being narrative based, with Gigi dreaming/ imagining herself being in different places i.e. the pool party, beach party etc. the chorus ‘How deep is your love? Is it like the ocean? What devotion? Are you? How deep is your love? Is it like nirvana? Hit me harder, again How deep is your love? [x3] Is it like the ocean? Pull me closer, again How deep is your love? [x2]’ do not really have a relationship with the visuals, only some likes do such as “is it like the ocean” this is said as she is on the boat in the ocean and also when the song says “is it like nirvana” this relates to the visuals because she says this as she is at the pool party and taking the shower because nirvana relates to a peaceful, joyful, heavenly like place and the pool party and shower scene looks like it relates to the word nirvana. All of the rest of the lyrics do not really correlate with the visuals, not that I know of from me analysing the visuals and lyrics of this song.

As I have said previously, it might be seen as the visuals are narrative based because of Gigi dreaming/ imagining herself in different places but the lyrics do not really have a relationship with the visuals, apart from a couple of lines.

When watching the music video, you can see that Gigi is not singing the lyrics which tells the audience that she is not the artist of the song and she is just in the video.

There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative,

amplifying, contradicting). There isn’t a very big relationship between the visuals and music, it is talking about how deep

someone’s love is for another but the visuals are of Gigi going to random places where the audience does not expect her to go and she is not talking about a specific man. But there is a good deep base to the music which has a relationship to the visuals when Gigi is at the party so in that sense there is a little relationship between the music and visuals but this relationship is not for the full length of the music video. In some scenes Gigi is surrounded by people who are gazing at her which suggest the lyrics match those scenes as if she is asking those people how much love they have for her as they are staring at her non stop when she appears in some of the scenes.

Overall I feel that the music video doesn’t have a relationship with the music throughout the whole video but it does in a couple of scenes in the music video.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across

their work (a visual style).  There is not any artist in this music video has it has Gigi instead of the artists, this is probably

because Calvin Harris is hardly ever in music videos as he produces songs and doesn’t sing. Disciples also don’t feature in this song but the main reason for having Gigi in the music video is because she looks the part in the music video and she doesn’t look out of place in this music video, it looks more naturel with her in it.

There are a lot of close ups of Gigi throughout the music video, at first, the close ups highlight her confusion in what is happening when she first steps into the party but after that the close ups show how she is taking everything in her stride with confidence but I feel that the close ups are there mainly to take advantage of her looks and to keep the audience focused on the music video. Her looks and the use of the different scenery's come together to keep the audience focused I feel.

There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment

of the female body. In the music video, there are shots of people around the pool gazing at Gigi as she steps out of the pool and when she pulls her

dress down. These shots tempt the audience into acting with the same behaviour as the people around the pool, who are looking at Gigi. Gigi is a very attractive woman so it is naturel that people stare at her but the men, especially, look at her in a very sensual way. When taking her dress down, she stands in the middle of a lot of males which allows the audience to know that they are all looking at her. Her hair, makeup and clothing are very sexy which makes her appeal more to the audience.

For the mise- en- scene, the costume’s Gigi wears a nicely fitted dress, it isn’t too tight but it fits perfectly and compliments her model figure, especially her back side and breasts, which help to pull the audiences eyes to the screen when the video is playing. Also, when she dives into the swimming pool and steps out, because of the water, her dress is wet and is sticking to her body and it has become almost transparent, due to her going into the pool with the dress on, this allows the audience to see her bikini top as she moves her hair back in a sexy way. When she pulls her dress down after she is out of the pool, there is a close up shot of her back side in her bikini underwear whilst she is walking to the shower, this is done to probably show off her body and how good it is, but it is probably a strategy for people to keep focused on the music video. Also in the video Gigi wears a black, nicely fitted dress, again not too tight but tight enough to compliment her body, it has a loose back but the rest of the dress fits well, this attracts females (because of the dress she is wearing) and also males (because she looks super attractive in the dress) and this is another way to keep the audience watching the video. In the beach scene, she is seen wearing black shorts and a black top with holes in it, this again keeps the audience due to the clothes she is wearing.

Throughout the video, there are more close ups of Gigi’s face rather than shots of her body and this happens because maybe the director of the music video wants the audience to see her dark blonde hair and her blue eyes which compliment each other and maybe the director wants the audience to appreciate how good her make up is done and appreciate features like her lips, which are very attractive, and this is a way to pull the audience in.

The artist may develop motifs or iconography that recur across their work (a visual style)

There isn’t a particular motif for Gigi in this music video but when there are close ups of her face, she touches her hair a lot which looks attractive for male viewers and also female viewers and this is a way to pull them into watching a video. An example would be if someone is flicking through the music channels on TV and they see Gigi doing something with her hair, it looks attractive and makes the audience want to watch the video and listen to the song.

There are often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc.)

This music video, from what I can tell from watching and analysing it multiple times does not have intertextual references to films, TV programmes etc. The storyline of the music video is not really similar to one specific film/ TV programme.

‘Bring Me To Life’ Evanescence.

In the video of ‘Bring me to life’ by Evanescence there is a lot of themes that reoccur in other rock music videos such as having a dark Mise- en- scene to give the song a dark feel. The band is wearing relatively dark clothing, with the exception of the female singer, who in this case is wearing light clothing. Also, the band who are playing the instruments are showing a lot of passion in their movements which is another common aspect which happens in rock music videos. This song is narrative based. The female singer is having a bad dream as if she is falling from the building where she is sleeping, she then dreams as if she had woken up and got out of bed and got out of the open window and climbed up to the building, first to what looks like a flat party and then towards the rest of the band and the lead male singer tries to pull her up but she refuses and eases his hand off hers and falls down the building, this then ends in her waking up from what was her dream.

This is one of the first shots of the whole song and it sets the mood for the song but also represents the rock genre, by having dark and gloomy scenery's. also, if you look carefully and the still above, there is one window that stands out and it is made to look this way deliberately. By that specific window standing out, the audiences' attention instantly gets grabbed towards that window and that window is where the camera shots eventually end up, so that the female singer can be seen having her nightmare. Also the lyrics say “like open doors” and the window is wide open so there is a link there in the lyrics with the visuals with the music video.

In this shot, you can see the guitarist leaning down to strum the strings and one of the singers lowering his body. This is a still of this scene, but when watching the video they are moving fast which shows their passion towards this music and whilst playing their instruments. This relates to the genre of rock. They are all also wearing dark clothing which again, connotes to the rock genre of being dark.As you can see, the walls look sound proof which suggests that they are in a soundproof room which suggests that they are playing loud, fast music and the music to this song is very loud and the beat is fast.

The mise- en- scene in the rock genre is really different to any other genre. As you can see above, the male singer has really spikey hair, as if he has just had a big electric shock but that is the stylist of rock stars, it is very messy but very spikey also, it again links to the rock genre. As this still is bad quality, you cant really see but he has an earring on and it looks like quite a big one but this again adds to the look of the stereotypical rock star. Finally, he is wearing a big necklace and a black top and this again completes the look of the stereotypical rock star and all of the dark elements such as the top, necklace and hair represent the ‘feel’ of rock music, when people think of rock music they think of like a dark song and this is what these elements add.

The look for this female singer of the band matches the rock genre, she has jet black hair and Goths tend to have jet black hair, not saying she is a Goth but the colour of her hair relates to what Goths look like and that also helps her fit in with this genre. She doesn't’t look like a full blown Goth but her hair connotes to what Goth’s look like. She has pale skin too, which makes the black hair stand out even more to the audience and sticks with the theme of ‘dark’ clothing/ hair.

In this scene of the music video, you can see that there is very little light, leaving a very dark atmosphere to the viewers, this matches what is going on throughout the music video, the female singer is having a nightmare about dying/ being broken and this dark scene matches the mood of the lyrics. This scene is filmed of the top of other buildings and they look very dark, damp and this also helps to reflect her dream and that is why this is a good shot in the music video.

The female lead singer is climbing up to the rest of the band as you can see from the still above, this might be representing the fact that she wants someone to revive her “Bring me to life” and so she is finding others to help her and she is doing this at any cost by climbing a very tall building to find someone to help her.

This is one of the end shots of the music video and it shows the audience that everything that happened was just a dream and that she is still in bed sleeping and that the majority of the music video was based in her dream and not reality.

The music video is about a girl who is on a quest to find her friends “Imagine Dragons” who are locked in a basement under a puppet fighting ring where people go and put their money on the “champion” who, ultimately beats up and kills other puppets/ teddy's. The girl allows her teddy to fight the “champion” and at first her teddy gets beaten up but when it gets back up again, it takes out the ”champion” with one single punch, the lead man who is owner of the puppet fighting then sends two men in to kill the pink teddy but it uses laser eyes to kill them both and all of the betters flee leaving just the other, the girl and her teddy and the “champion” who is dead on the floor. The girl takes the key to unlock her friends from the basement and traps the owner in the basement who then gets surrounded and attacked by the teddy's who have been trapped down there. The girl and Imagine Dragons then walk out.

Imagine Dragons – “Radioactive”

In this scene, the mysterious girl is walking with a cage, which is covered by a cloth. She is walking in the forest and all that there is too see is trees and this shows the audience that her, and her teddy are both very isolated and on their own, which represents that when they go for battle in the puppet fighting ring, they are on their own because everyone backs the “champion” who has never lost a single match, shown on the tally bored.

This shot again shows that she and the teddy that is covered by a cloth are walking into the puppet fighting on their own with no support and it also shows that the place where the fighting takes place is very isolated and it is an unpredictable place to have fighting. Also it gives the audience a surprise as they do not know what is inside that building and it leaves them wanting to know what will happen inside of the building.

The still above is the “champion” this is the teddy that has never lost a fight and is very aggressive and violent towards the other teddy's who have no choice but get put in the ring. It is a close up of him to show that he has a mean, scary look to him and show that he obviously intimidates other teddy's.

This is a high angle shot of the ring, with the people who bet on the “champion” around it. The “champion” is throwing the girl’s pink teddy around, like it does to any other teddy that gets put inside the ring with it. It just shows how many people are better on the “champion” to win again. It shows money being thrown into the ring and this can be seen as a lack of respect for the other teddy as people are so confident that the “champion” will win. This only leads to surprise to the audience as to what comes soon after.

In this picture, you can see the pink teddy, turning away as the “champion” is getting ready to go and beat it up some more and this also helps to lead to a surprise to the audience because of what happens after, this shot makes the pink teddy look weak and useless, which is not the case as the audience soon finds out.

This is the scene after the “champion” is knocked out and as you can see, all the men that were putting their money on the “champion” to win again, have ran off because they have just seen the small, pink teddy also kill two fully grown men and they are scared because they humiliated the teddy by throwing money into the ring and as a consequence they now feel they are going to be targeted next. As for the owner, he looks shocked as to what he has just saw from this pink teddy and have probably realized that his most prized asset that gains him money has been knocked down.

In this picture, you can see the owner, who has now been trapped in the basement where he trapped all of the other teddy's and now he is helpless because he doesn't’t have the “champion” to help and protect him and as you can see by his facial expressions, he realizes that all of the teddy's that he has treated badly are now going to treat him badly. You can also see parts of teddy's that have been torn apart and that shows the audience what he has done to them. An establishing shot allows for this to be seen by the audience.

This is the shot when the pink teddy uses powers to defeat the “champion” and shows the audience that he has hit him clean and this is where the turning point is in the music video, the pink teddy was getting beaten up and then he all of a sudden has enough and uses power to knock the “champion” out. You can tell he is using power by the purple lighting that is there. This scene sort of reminds people not to underestimate anyone as you don’t know what can happen next.

This low angle shot shows the expressions on the faces of the betters and the owner as soon as they see that the “champion” has just been knocked down. They have used a low angle shot to make it look like they have power over the teddy and that they are in control but by looking at their faces they look disturbed that something unexpected has just happened and it puts into sense that they are no longer in power as they have just witnessed the pink teddy use powers.

Overall I feel that this is a really good music video due to the indirect message it sends out ‘do not ever underestimate someone as you do not know what they can do to you’ and I feel that is a key factor in this video, also it is something different from all videos and it makes it stand out which is good as people will remember it because it is unique.