Analysis of a student Music Video

Student Music Video Analysis

The student music video I have chosen to analysis is of Labrinth’s Express Yourself. There are quite a few elements of this music video that I think are good including the narrative and the editing. The narrative for this music video is clear and simple and is portrayed well throughout the music video as well as linking to the lyrics. The editing in this music video is also very good and I especially like the use of the silhouette with the coloured background as it fits with the genre of the song and music video and is also a good way to highlight the lip syncing which for most of the video matched perfectly with the song. Lots of cuts used within the video also helped to make the lip-syncing good as they were only short sections of lip syncing and therefore there was not much time to spot if it was out of sync before it changed to another shot. The editing in this student music video was also very good at the times when the boy and the man disappeared mid shot as although it was cheesy, it did look professional and worked with genre of the song. The music video matches with both the lyrics of the song as well as the music, with the cuts and transitions being made to the beat. The dancing towards the end of the music video was also good as it was to the beat and was an appropriate style for the song although some dancers didn’t look very professional or excited.  

At the start of the music video, the camera was a bit shaky and the quality of the video throughout was not very clear and therefore did not bring it up to the standards of a real music video. Towards the end of the music video the camera again lost quality and began to look more like a student video. Even though the quality was not very good, the angles used and the different shots used in the dance sequence made it look upbeat and fun therefore making it fit with the genre.

Genre
The genres for this music video are pop and dance whilst the genre or the artist is pop.  There is a typical narrative for this video as it tells the story of a man who isn't very confident and doesn't get noticed by people being helped to gain more confidence by another man who plays the character of his guardian/genie. A clear and obvious narrative is something that is expected within most pop music videos as they help to tell the story within the song and lyrics.  Something unexpected within this music video is the two men disappearing throughout the video whilst in shot as it’s not something that relates to the lyrics specifically and is not very realistic. There are not any intertextual references that I can see in the music video.

Narrative
The narrative in this music video is a cheesy storyline of a man who isn't very confident and doesn't get noticed by people being helped to gain more confidence by another man who plays the character of his guardian/genie. There is a recognisable structure in the music video as it shows 4 out of the 5 stages of Todorov theory of equilibrium. The music video starts on the second stage of todorov’s theory meaning there is a disruption that is causing a lack of equilibrium this is shown when we see the boy screwing up his diary entry and throwing it out of the window this show his struggle. The next stage in this theory is the recognition of the disruption the part of the music video that could relate to this stage is when the man in the park finds the boys diary entry scrunched up on the floor and turns up at his door. The fourth stage of todorovs theory is an attempt to repair the disruption this stage occurs in the music video this can be seen when the two men go shopping in order to make the boy feel more confident and more like himself. The final stage is the reinstatement of equilibrium this happens in the middle of the music video and onwards when we see the boy dancing and having fun suggesting he is more confident and can now "express" himself. some recognisable characters could be seen in this music video as the man in the white suit could be viewed as the hero whilst the other boy is viewed more as the victim/ damsel in distress type character. The music video for this song can be seen as reflecting some of the lyrics within the song because in the video the artist sings the line " I don't make the papers" as he is handed a paper. Also, when the chorus of the song occurs, people are seen dancing, which is sometimes viewed as a way of expressing yourself which links with the song title as well as the lyrics in the chorus.

Representation
There aren’t really any specific issues of representation that I can see within this music video. The artists for this music video have not been presented as celebrities and are instead playing characters. Although towards the end of the video the artist seems to come away from the narrative and is the main focus in the narrative as well as on the screen suggesting that he is important but not quite of celebrity status.

Visual/ Technical Codes
There are a couple of different settings in this music video including a bedroom, a park, a street, a shop and a tunnel.  All of the settings for this music video are very modern and therefore suggest that the video is set in the present. There are  a lot of bright colours used within this music video such as yellow and bright blue which have connotations of happiness that match the generic conventions found in a pop music video. There is no iconography or typography within this video


Audience
I would say the target audience for this video is both male and female teens with the demographic of D/E. The video has the similar aged characters  which then attracts the same type of audience because audiences can relate more to people of the same of similar age. Also along with the pop genre which is aimed more at mainstream audiences, the young characters seen having fun at the end of the video are used in order to attract the same type of audience.

Institution
There is only one reference to the institution within this music video, this is at the start before the music video has started. A black screen at the start of the music video appears, detailing the song title, artist and record company for the single. Apart from this,  the record label is not mentioned or included throughout the music video.