The View are a Scottish Indie Rock band from Dundee that formed in 2005. Their music video for Same Jeans is a performance based video with a subtle hint of narrative. This type of video was probably chosen so that main focus of the video is the song, and therefore, the promotion of the song. By highlighting the importance of the song this music video reinforces one of the key principles of Indie music – that the music is the most significant element of any band.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpF51y8udgY&ob=av2e
Demands of the record label...
Goodwin’s theory states that within a music video the record label demands lots of close ups of the artist or band in order to establish the image of the band or artist. The music video for The View’s single Same Jeans follows this convention as it contains close ups of the band members throughout the video. However, similarly to One Night Only’s music video for Say You Don’t Want It, the main focus of the close ups in the video is the lead singer, Kyle Falconer.
By including lots of close ups the band’s record label encourage The View’s potential target audience to connect with the individual band members, particularly Kyle Falconer, and simultaneously establish a cool Indie image for the band.
(click image to enlarge)
Genre characteristics...
Like the majority of the music videos that I have analysed Same Jeans by The View contains many of the conventional genre characteristics that you find in most Indie Rock and Indie Pop music videos. For example, stereotypically Indie music videos include a performance element and lots of close ups of the artist that not only establish the band’s image but also show that they can play their own instruments. Moreover, many music videos, for example, Vampire Weekend’s Giving Up The Gun, include cameos. However, The View’s music video does not include any cameos, perhaps so that the audience focuses more on the song than the video.
Apart from the inclusion of cameos, all of these conventions can be found within The View’s music video. For example, for the majority of the video the band is shown performing at a gig, in which the band members are often shown playing their own instruments. This is important as one of the main principles of Indie music is the DIY ethos, so by being depicted as being able to play their own instruments The View automatically establish themselves as an Indie band. Furthermore, by incorporating lots of close ups of the band members the record label is able to reinforce their image as being an authentic Indie band through clever use of mise-en-scene.
Relationship between lyrics and visuals...
In this music video there is an illustrative relationship between the lyrics and visuals. The lyrics to Same Jeans are about an individual who has been wearing 'the same jeans for four days now' that is about to go to 'a disco in the middle of town'. These lyrics are illustrated throughout both the narrative and performance elements of the video as it is these lyrics that the whole video is based upon. For example, one of the first shots that the audience see is one of the lead singer waking up and getting out of bed already dressed in his skinny jeans, which suggests that he has been wearing his jeans for at least a couple of days and is therefore, illustrative of the lyrics. Moreover, he is also shown leaving his hotel room and walking into the middle of a 'disco' (gig) that he performs in, which is again illustrative of the lyrics.
Furthermore, he is shown wearing skinny jeans rather than any other type of jeans because skinny jeans are a distinctive fashion staple for Indie music fans and by wearing them he is reinforcing his casual, laid back, Indie band member image.
Another example of the illustrative relationship between the lyrics and visuals comes towards the end of the song when the lyrics say 'everybody's dressing up, I'm dressing down'. Whilst these lyrics are being played the visuals illustrate and amplify them because the lead singer is shown sitting in between two men in business suits whilst he is wearing his skinny jeans in the middle of what appears to be a train station.
Relationship between music and visuals...
There is an amplifying and illustrative relationship between the music and the visuals in The View's music video for Same Jeans. At the beginning of the music video the cutting pace is relatively slow in order to be illustrative of the pace of the introduction of the song; however, it steadily increases in tempo to keep up with the beat of the song. This is indicative of the editing pace for the majority of the song as it is usually illustrative of music.
Towards the end of the song the beat gets a lot more staccato and the visuals amplify this change in beat through the sudden change in the cutting pace. By changing the editing pace when the beat of the song changes it creates a sense of fludity between the music and the visuals, which makes it more enjoyable to watch. Moreover, the illustrative relationship that exists between the music and the visuals is important because it makes the storyline of the video easier to follow.
Intertextual references...
This music video does not include any intertextual references and therefore, contradicts Goodwin's theory. Like with The Kook's music video for Shine On, this could have been done so that their target audience focuses more on the song and the band rather than a distractive narrative or concept. Moreover, it also reinforces The View's anti-mainstream image because they are challenging the conventional rules of music videos.
Notion of looking/voyeurism...
As with most of the music videos that I have analysed, this music video does not contain any elements of voyeurism, as it would alienate and upset a large amount of their target audience if they were to have included it. However, it does include the notion of looking as the music video contains lots of point of view shots in which we can see the audience’s, in the music video, reaction to The View’s stage performance. By including point of view shots of the audience it creates the impression that the audience’s reaction is of vital importance to the band, which is something that their potential target audience would appreciate. Furthermore, being at a engergentic gig is something that a lot of The View's target audience can relate too.
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