Textual analysis of 3 existing music videos of the Indie/Alternative Rock genre.

Written by: Dan Smith

Directed by: David Knight

Genre: Slow Indie/alternative rock

Structure: Mainly narrative but also abstract.

The video follows the conventions of its genre mainly because for the longevity of the music video the lead singer and the band do not make a single appearance throughout, which is conventional due to the fact an indie rock bands performance usually does not play a large part in their music video, this is due to the fact that the writer and director wanted to focus more solely on the narrative and getting the message of its content across without disruption or the crossing of another narrative of the bands performance, which is not a bad thing and makes the video more creative. A commonly found feature of this genre.

The cinematography in the music video mainly consists of many unique shots and camera angles that intrigue the audience from several different angles. The video initially opens up with an extreme long shot of a girl stood on the edge of a large English lake. The camera is positioned amongst trees and a depth of field shot shows leaves, that can be seen close to the camera in the shot that are out of focus, which is effective and immersive due to the fact that it makes the audience feel involved as if they were spectating this girl from a distance secretely.

This then comes up later on towards the end of the music video where the girl is seen walking slowly towards the camera from a distance through some grass that is out of focus. Close up shots are a common feature found in this video to show emotion, and show key elements about the girls personality. For example, from a long depth of the girl in the opening of the video, the camera then cuts to another perspective, a close up shot from in front of her face. This gives the audience a better insight of this girl, and how she is feeling. She is blank faced and expressionless with her eyes closed, which the audience was previously unaware of from the original perspective.

A shot of the girl asleep in bed is then shown straight after the opening, slowly zooming into her, and her personal possessions whilst slowly panning over them. Handheld close up camera shots overlook and pan across a book (which the girl then clutches as she walks out in the night) dolls and the girls face whilst she sleeps in bed. 

These different shots and camera techniques are used to piece everything about the character together so that the audience understand the narrative more fully.

A long shot looking through wooden poles in her staircase and then through a window are then used as the girl walks out of her house in the dark, bringing back this idea of spectating her, which adds the element of mystery as to what she is doing. Once again these are depth of field shots, with everything in the foreground blurred other than the main focused subject, which in this case is the girl.

A collection of shots are then used to show her mysterious journey through city streets at night. Long shots to show how she is only a small girl in a big city and that her surroundings greatly overpower her as she doesn't take up much of the shot. Close up shots of her front and face to show her emotions and feelings which the audience will understand and emotionally respond to, empathising with this girl, whereas tracking shots to show her movement and progression to her destination. Close ups of the girls bare feet walking on hard concrete and  then through fallen leaves provoke the audience to wonder why this girl is acting this way, making them want to find out the conclusion to the narrative.

Editing in this music video is greatly reliant on the music, making cuts to the chords and beats, which is conventional in music videos and helps in progression of the narrative. The most effective use of editing like this that struck me throughout the video is that amongst soft piano chords and the lead singers calm voice, a harsh bassy 'electro' sound of distortion comes in for about a second. And from a shot of the innocent girl dressed all in white, with her head down clutching a book, for the short duration of this electric sound in the music the camera quickly straight cuts to a shot of the same girl dressed in a black leather jacket smoking a cigarette. Which shows how the timing of editing can assist the narrative and change the tone completely, and how it makes such an impact to edit with the music. Throughout the rest of the video

In relation to ideology, two very different points of view of the girl are shown. For the first and most of part of the music video the girl is represented as innocent and pure. This is done by the fact that the girl is dressed in all white (suggesting these themes of purity and innocence), wearing child-like bed clothes including a white t shirt with a white cats face on it, and white shorts. The girl also has no shoes on for the most part of the video, walking through dark London city streets at night bare foot. I think this suggests the fact that she is exposed and vulnerable, which is a common stereotype of females in media texts of any genre, which supports Tessa Perkins' representational theory of stereotypes.

Although towards the end of the video, a sudden force overcomes the girl as the music picks up pace after burying the book she has been carrying throughout the video. Shots of the girls face and her expression change from innocent, to hard and powerful. Also several shots of this girl smoking, wearing red lipstick, dressed in darker colours, denim and high heels, leaned against a brick wall at night are shown. The girl is now shown in a completely different point of view, challenging previous stereotypes as the girl is now in these more revealing, less innocent clothes, smoking a cigarette. This ultimately shows her independence, and how she can make her own decisions (to smoke, wear these clothes) unlike how she seemed weak and controlled for the first three quarters of the video. These two different stereotypes and images of this same girl could also relate to Levis Strauss' representational theory of binary opposites, as the girl goes from being represented in one way, and then as the exact opposite by the end of the video to show a change. From pure and innocent, to rebellious and dangerous. The mise-en-scene of a music video can have an effect on the connotations of the narrative by using different costume such as in this case, and how the dim lighting and dark settings give off a completely different feel than the bright, colourful settings.

The text appeals to the audience by fitting the genre of the music greatly along with the narrative of the video. This is achieve by placing a song that has deep meaning over a video that has a subtle and somewhat subliminal deep story and conclusion also, which the audience is left to decipher. To combat the fact that the fan base for Bastille, (this indie rock band) is mainly male dominant, the director of the video decided to make the main character for this video an attractive female, which will appeal to this mostly male audience, but also for females to compare themselves to (Laura Mulvey). An edge of a sexual theme is shown at parts in the video also, such as when the girl is shown in denim and high heels, with red lipstick, which visually connotes sex and passion, as well as danger.

Written by: Alex Turner

Directed by: Nabil

Genre: Indie/Alternative rock

Structure: Narrative

The music video does follow the conventions of this genre to a great extent due to that fact that there are conventional locations including bars and city streets, and the bands lead singer is the main character in the video, which is commonly found in the indie rock genre. Other conventions of the genre that are fulfilled include the costume and hair. The main character (and lead singer of Arctic Monkeys) is wearing a black leather jacket, a black t shirt, dark blue skinny jeans and has his hair slicked back with wax.  The costume is probably the most noticeable and recognisable conventional feature found throughout the entire genre of rock (especially the classic leather jacket), as well as in the sub genre I have chosen to study. In the indie rock genre (unlike other types of rock) it is conventional to not feature a performance element of the band, and music videos of this genre are usually more focused on narrative aspects to progress a story.

The cinematography in this music video follows common conventions of the genre and includes many close up shots of the lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys (the man in the video.) This is done in the music video in relation to conventions of this genre of media text, he is the main artist that people came to the video to see, so that is exactly what the cinematography delivers to the audience. The video opens up with a long establishing shot of Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys leaned against a pillar inside a smoky, dull bar. The shot also shows a depth of field view as in the foreground there is a man playing pool that is out of focus, as well as passersby, with only the main character truly focused on.

The mise-en-scene along with the diagetic sound within the video of the noise of people talking as they would in a social, public place like this also creates a sense of realism. This fits alongside with the element of extras that pass the camera, (which is in the midst of everything) through the shot, and the fact that people are shown walking around the bar with everyone going about their own business as it were real life.

The inclusion of an establishing shot can be seen in the previous, and following example of music video in this textual analysis also. This initial establishing shot is key to this type of media text, especially of the indie rock genre. From the establishing shot there is a jump cut to a close up of Alex Turner's face, which then tilts downwards to reveal his phone, and that he is texting a girl. Soon after, the camera then cuts to a zoomed out medium shot of the man, who swings around to look at the clock on the wall. In the middle of him turning around, the camera cuts to a view of him from the first person and shows his vision of the clock which is very distorted and almost looks like liquid. Without cinematography such as these examples, the narrative would be very limited regarding progression.  Many over the shoulder shots are also used this way to show a certain subject from his point of view.

There is a large amount of swaying and shaking of the camera during these close ups of hi face shots from his point of view and close ups of to symbolise that this is what he feels like is because he is intoxicated. As he leaves the bar, a large amount of tracking shots from a handheld camera follow, showing angles from the front, back and side of him consisting of mostly medium shots, but some close ups to show emotion of stress and tiredness as he yawns. The whole time the camera is tracking him he is kept as the main focus of the shot, making the viewer feel as though they are amongst the characters and within the action on his journey, this also continues with the convention that the lead singer or artist is the main subject and takes up a very large amount of screen time as this is what the audience came to see.


At the end of the video we see the character reaching his destination which is presumably the house of the girl whom he has been desperately trying to communicate throughout the video. Long shots show the entire house and how he is attempting to knock on the door from afar. This long shot shows how he is so insignificant and meaningless in a shot were he only takes up a miniscule part of the screen. The camera then cuts to the inside of the house to a medium steadicam shot which slowly zooms in to the girl, who checks her phone and ignores the texts from Alex, then cutting back to the shot of him outside to show his expression of dismay. Concluding the narrative which has been built up and developed on since the beginning of the video to an anti-climatic end for the main character.




As previously touched on, the video opens with a man looking at his phone. And through the use of editing a virtual hologram of what he is doing on the device projects out so that the audience can see what is being said and done, which allows to the audience to understand the narrative further as it moves along.
This is a good example and a key element in this video of how the narrative is represented and developed, through what actually happens in the video. The man in the video is at a bar and gets drunk, and throughout the rest of the video certain effects such as blurring show this from his point of view.

As a good example of these 3D effects and editing, when the main character looks at the clock it is completely distorted, looks as though it liquefies on the wall, his own face in the mirror also does this.

This can be done through animation editing. In the midst of certain shots the main character also hallucinates to symbolise the fact that he is drunk, this is shown to the audience so that they understand the narrative through the eyes of the main character. Another example of this was when he is drinking, an image of the lead singer breathing fire appears for a brief second then quickly flicks back to reality, to show that he is imagining this. Shots from Alex Turners point of view looking at ordinary normal people are also shown, which then edit to blurred shots of these people being involved in sexual actions happening before his eyes, but only very briefly, this then cuts back to the ordinary to show that it is all in his mind. Blurring is a key element to show a shot from his point of view which is caused by the alcohol, and the video also makes good use of the sound, as ringing sounds even play when he falls on the concrete and peoples voices are slowed down and pitch changed as if this is what he hears. This use of sound and editing provides for a really immersive viewing experience which the audience can understand.

Other hallucinagenic editing to show what the lead singer see's includes a shot of his phone dissolving to his own hand later on in the video, and a neon blue line following a man as he falls from the sky and runs across a nearby road, shown as an over the shoulder shot.
At the end of the video the editing displaying the conversations on a mobile phone as a hologram occurs when we see the girl the lead singer has been trying to communicate in her home, as she picks up her phone 'Alex Band Guy. 17 missed messages.' is projected into the shot for the audience to see, which the girl ignores, thus being the conclusion.

The main ideology in this music video includes the stereotype that men are stupid and get drunk often, yet again linking to the theory of Tessa Perkins. This is represented and shown through the way the character see's his own distorted face in the mirror and see's that he is drunk, yet carries on drinking alcohol and doing shots. He then stumbles and falls over many times whilst hallucinating. During his hallucinations, the lead singer and main character see's many sexual actions happen to women before his eyes, and we are then shown that they are not real and it is only what is happening in the man's mind. This relates to Laura Mulveys theory of the male gaze and that women are seen as 'sex objects' by men, and as we are seeing from the mans point view in the video, this is definitely the case.

Due to the main character being a male and the content of the video including sexual themes, the music video would appeal more to men, which is in co-ordination with the fact the Arctic Monkeys have a larger percentage of their fan base that are male. In the video the lead singer of the band: Alex Turner, drinks too much and gets drunk and imagines sexual actions and people dropping from rooftops then jumping over fences, adding an edge of humor the video.

These certain elements would be more relatable to men in my opinion, due to the fact that men are stereotyped to drink and get drunk more often than women, (Tessa Perkins) and are also stereotyped to be more interested in sex than women, seeing them only as sex objects in the eyes of Laura Mulvey and John Berger, which is exactly what the sequences featuring sexual actions reflect.

Written by: Dan Smith

Directed by:

Genre: Indie/Alternative rock

Structure: Narrative

The main artist in the video is shown wearing a black t shirt and leather jacket, with skinny jeans. This is a formal genre convention and fits the code of the indie rock genre due to its reflective nature of the genre as most indie rock bands can be seen wearing these clothes.. The majority of the music video is set in and around dark, urban city streets. This location is conventional to the Indie Rock genre due to the fact that it co-ordinates with the impression and feel that the genre of music gives off, which is rebellious, suburban and cool. My statement of these streets being a conventional location is also backed up and shown by the fact that for the most part of the video for 'Overjoyed', (the song I first analysed in this post) it is set in city streets, and the entirety of the video for 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High' also shares the same location. By coincidence, the most part of each of the videos that I have analysed are also filmed at night, suggesting that this is another conventional feature of the genre shown in this video.

Throughout the video, many close up shots are used to show the main artist, which is a formal genre convention, as this is what the audience wants to see. Another formal convention of the genre would be the extreme long shot which the video opens up with, showing the lead singer of Bastille (Dan Smith) stood atop of a large dam in Los Angeles, slowly zooming in and tilting upwards towards him looking out into the distance.

This is conventional for the rock as well as pop genre, to establish location.

This then cuts to a shaky handheld camera shot from behind the lead singer overlooking LA whilst slowly panning across to the right, the shot also includes the song title and the bands name in the middle of the screen, which is a type of editing.

The artist only takes up a quarter of the shot and the majority of the shot is of the city, although this is a depth of field shot which shows the man in perfect focus, yet the city is blurred. This could connote that although the location is established in these shots, this is the mans story and the narrative is still led and progressed by him.  Straight after this camera angle, the camera then cuts to a close up from the front of Dan, showing his emotionless, expressionless face.

Close up shots are good for revealing the reactions of characters and how they are feeling, and for the sake of star appeal which the audience expect to see in a music video. This shot delivers both of these purposes. A similar close up shot of the characters face, with everything else around him out of focus is also used later on the video.

For a large amount of the video, the character is seen moving. With the segments where the lead singer is running away from the antagonists with the black eyes (such as in the games arcade), there is a shaky handheld camera chasing behind him from a low angle, tilting upwards. This camera angle represents the characters panic, how he is scared, and his frantic need to escape. The shaking of the camera also reflects his emotional being, and how he is probably shaking after his encounter with these strange people. The fact that the shot is taken from below at a low angle at some speed could symbolise that he is being chased by these people also, as the girls he see's in the arcade are much shorter than him.

On the other hand there are segments of business where movement of the character can be seen present, but steadicam tracking is used. Steadicam is used in this individual parts before the character is aware and alerted of the antagonists when he is riding a bike into the city, the fact that the camera is still and not shaking whilst following him represents how the cinematography can amplify how the character is feeling. The audience will understand that the character is calm at this point, but then factors such as; close ups of the characters face showing different expressions, and the shaking of a handheld camera can give off different meanings and provoke the audience the understand and receive the media text in a different way. The character is calm and collected, and so is the camera. Going from still, steady shots for the first third of the music video, I think this builds tension up for when the camera is in rapid movement.



As an alternative to tracking there are also other camera and editing techniques used to show transition in the video. Towards the beginning of the song, the character is seen travelling down flights of stairs in a derelict building. Instead of following Dan down these stairs, the camera is positioned far away from the stairs in a designated place in the room and a single long shot of him walking down the stairs is taken until you cannot see him anymore.


Just as Dan leaves the frame, the shot quickly cuts to a shot of him travelling from where he left off on the stairs on the floor below, with the still camera positioned in exactly the same place on the floor below, almost as if to creates an illusion that it is in real time and in one continuous shot.

This is then used once again soon after as the room changes around the character but the camera position stays the exact same, although the camera has been moved to the floor below. This type of shot and editing manipulates transition and gets the narrative moving quickly. This saves time, as well as looking appealing to the eye.

In the section of the video where the character drives a car in an attempt to flee the city, the cinematography consists of many extreme long shots of the location around him as he is travelling, with very little focus on the character and his vehicle in certain shots as he only takes up a miniscule portion of them, with the dark surrounding environment overpowering him.


At a later point in a shot filmed at night, the lead singer mimes the words of the song, bows his head and then closes his eyes. The shot then cuts to a long shot of a brand new setting during the day time, set in a desert with Dan still in the same position. There are many changes of scenery throughout this video, all justified and fully established using long, and extreme long shots so that the audience get a clear understanding of the transition and how it has happened. Such as showing his car, or bicycle for example.


Regarding mise-en-scene, the location that the music video is set in is extremely varied, including places such as an abandoned building, the city streets of LA, a desert and a snowy mountain. Transition through these locations is easy for the audience to understand through what is shown in certain shots.

Many extreme long shots are used when a new location is established, especially when the character is walking amongts the open landscapes towards the end of the video. How small the character looks in these shots emphasises the mise-en-scene and his insignificance within the masses of beautiful surrounding environment, symbolising how mentally lost he is, although he seems to have a clear destinationt that he is trying to achieve.


The editing in this video creates the main basis for the narrative, which is by all means not unconventional within music video media texts, but is somewhat unconventional for the genre. For the longevity of the music video the lead singer is the main protagonist, and in his travels around the desolate city streets of Los Angeles he encounters people who have fully dark, black eyes, and spends the rest of the video running from them.


Only to eventually become one of them at the very end.

 Without this form of editing the narrative would be understood as to why he is running from these people and  the video could not progress along with the story. The implementation of a title screen style edit featuring the bands name and the name of the song included in one of the opening shots slightly breaks conventions but then again does not look out of place in the video and adds an abstract element to it. Montage editing is also a technique found within this music video. Montage editing is the editing in quick succession of multiple short shots that only appear for a few seconds at a time. This is found whilst the character is cycling through the streets of LA and shots of a bulding site, a river and an old shop, before cutting to a shot of the main character on a bicycle. This form of editing is used to establish and show the location that the music video is filmed from another perspective other than what we have previously seen (the shot from afar.) At a part where the lead singer bows  his head and then closes his eyes, the shot cuts to day time, where it was previously dark. Editing at this point is used to symbolise that he has slept and shows progression in time, showing continuity and a chronological order to the structure of the video.

On the subject of sound in the video, a key point for me was that the lyrics correspond to the actions in the video at certain points in the music video. As Dan enters the games arcade in a panic he comes across two young girls.

 The ideology behind these girls is that due to the fact they are wearing 'baby blue', child-like dresses that look like they should be worn by dolls, they are stereoyped to be innocent and harmless. Although this is soon negated due to the fact that where their eyes were once closed, they open wide and are shown to be pure black. Relating back to sound, as the girls open their eyes, the lyrics of the hook in the music are 'but if you close your eyes.' These lyrics are very ironic compared to with what is shown at the current time here. Shots of graffiti on the walls of buildings and structures in the video also give off a rebellious, dark feeling of uncertainty and a lack of security. This form of ideology is also a stereotype that we automatically assume, that graffiti connotes rebellion, thugs, and violence.

The narrative in this video is developed mainly through the use of editing and cinematography. Without the editing of the eyes of the assumed antagonists (causing them to be fully black) we would not understand what the character was running away and trying to escape from, which would destroy the main focus and story the narrative is telling. There are two narratives within the music video that interweave, the main story line which takes up most of the video, and a performance element where the singer mimes the song for a few seconds at a time.
The text appeals to the audience through the use of superficial themes, exciting locations and an interesting narrative. The video also has a satisying ending as it features a final conclusion to the narrative that Dan turns into one of the antagonists, revealed by showing a medium-close up shot of his back, as he turns around to reveal his fully black eyes, before the video ends. But leaves a slight cliffhangar as the audience are left to wonder what the cause of this is.

The narrative is action packed and excites the audience through the use of the editing of the eyes of the people to make them black, this adds an almost sci-fi element to the music video and would appeal to fans of this genre. The fast editing as the character is escaping combined with the shaky, frantic camera movements is entertaining to watch and leaves the audience wondering what is going to happen next, as he travels location to location in search of refuge, with a conclusion that leaves the audience to unravell the meaning embedding within the music video.

The theme of Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposites also comes into the video as the main character is the protagonist, who is in fear of the the people with black eyes, who are the antagonists. The binary opposite aspect visually is the fact that instead of a large amount of the eyes being white, the entire eye is black, which is a contrasting colour and considered an opposite. Which easily identifies the people as the enemy, although this view is questioned and challenged towards the end of the video.