Goodwin's theory states that the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups (CU) of the artist. This is clearly shown in Vampire Weekend's music video for "Giving Up The Gun" as within the performance sections of the video there are lots of CUs of the band members, in which they are either singing or playing their instruments. These CUs are incorporated into the music video so that the audience are able to identify and connect with the band members. Furthermore, the CUs also help to establish the band's image/brand as well as show how well the band can play their instruments.
This close up of the lead singer of Vampire Weekend successfully highlights that they are anti-mainstream, which indicates to the audience that they are likely to be an Indie band. Interestingly, rather than framing the leader singer’s face in the centre of the shot like mainstream artists would do it is instead placed i in the left hand side of the frame. By doing so Vampire Weekend show that they are prepared to go against the conventions of the mainstream thus, reinforcing that they are an anti-mainstream group.
The CUs, together with other shots, of the band members clearly portray that Vampire Weekend are an American Indie band. For example, as shown by the first still above, the guitarist has a distinctive Indie haircut (side swept fringe with cropped sides), which immediately tells the audience that he is probably part of an Indie band. Moreover, it is easy to establish that they are an American band because all the members are wearing either red or white items of clothing, which are colours that are often attributed to the USA. This American image is reinforced by the drummer’s red t-shirt which says “NEW YORK NEW YORK".
Vampire Weekend is an Indie Rock band so their music video will have to convey this by using the genre characteristics of an Indie Rock music video. Conventionally, Indie Rock (and Indie Pop) music videos tend to incorporate a performance element so that the artist or band is shown throughout the music video. Both of these conventions apply to this music video as there are plenty of clips of the band performing the song all the way through the video.
This music video also incorporates comical element, which according to XFM is a ‘key’ interest to their target potential target audience, such as when Jake Gyllenhaal is hit on the bum with a tennis ball. This comical element can also be seen as a convention of Indie music videos as many bands (such as the Mystery Jets) include comedy within their music videos.
Furthermore, throughout the video there is a futuristic and Japanese undercurrent, which is quite anti-mainstream and would therefore, appeal to Indie target audiences as although Indie music is arguably becoming more 'mainstream' and popular it is still based on the principles of being 'anti-mainstream'. These genre characteristics are used because they are known to appeal to the potential target audience of this genre and also to make Indie music videos readily identifiable to their audience.
Moreover, the audience see the band seen performing the lyrics of the song and when the song lyrics say ‘Go on, go on, go on’ there is an unknown man that dances around the band with a huge black and white sign, which has ‘GO ON’ written across it, in order to hammer home the importance of not ‘giving up the gun’. As this is done in sync with the lyrics the visuals help to illustrate the lyrics.
Within this music video there is quite a subtle relationship between the music and visuals. For example, whenever there is a particularly important guitar part the guitar player will be shown. Also when the beat becomes more staccato the band members appear and disappear onscreen whenever it is them that is playing (around 1 min and 58 seconds into the music video).
At the end of the music video the umpire picks up a silver boom box and it starts to play one of Vampire Weekend’s other songs ‘Holiday’ for a couple of seconds. This is probably done in order to promote that song in particular and their album as a whole.
Notion of looking and voyeurism (particularly in the treatment of women):
In both Vampire Weekend's music video for 'Giving Up The Gun' and One Night Only's music video for 'Say You Don't Want It' neither of these aspects have appeared within their music videos. This is most likely due to the fact that Indie boy bands tend to have a large female following and voyeuristic treatment of women would be quite likely to offend a large amount of their potential target audience. However, although the two music videos mentioned above do not contain either the notion of looking (through telescopes or television screens) or voyeurism a few Indie boy bands do include this aspect of Goodwin's music video theory, however, the artists that tend to this are usually Indie Pop rather than Indie Rock boy bands. For example, Indie Pop boy band Scouting For Girls music video for 'Famous' includes lots of references to the notion of looking:
Additionally...
This music video contains cameos from both mainstream artists, such as Joe Jonas, and anti-mainstream actors, such as Jake Gyllenhall. This mixture of mainstream and anti-mainstream reflects the current state of Indie music, as although it was traditionally created for a anti-mainstream audience Indie Rock/Pop music now appeals to the masses and therefore, a more mainstream audience. By including cameos of both anti-mainstream and mainstream people Vampire Weekend have made their music video successfully appeal to both their traditional and contemporary potential target audience.
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