This song falls into the ‘Indietronica’
genre and is from Mentronomy’s second album “Nights Out”. The song was also
released as a single and is one of Mentronomy’s most well known songs.
Lyrically, the song is about the a male who
has previously suffered in a love triangle and the situation is repeating
itself (shown by the lyrics “back to the start again”) as the girl, who is
already in a relationship with his friend, is trying to flirt with him. The
lyrics could be referring the woman involved as a prostitute with the lyrics
“friends in the business” and with this knowledge he then warns the other male
of this and attempts to console him for his loss.
Typical of its genre, the video follows the
convention of a narrative based music video with performance elements such as
lip-syncing. As seen throughout many music videos in the ‘Indietronica’ genre,
the band do not appear in the video in full and do not perform. The video is
illustrative as it illustrates the meaning of the lyrics so the viewer can
easily interpret the meaning of the song. Another convention of the
‘Indietronica’ genre is conformed to with the clothing (thin ties) and
hairstyles of the actors in the video, as it is quirky and what would be
considered ‘cool’ and ‘modern’ which is seen in many other videos of the same
genre. Also, what can both be considered
as an old and vintage/retro, the car and tape machine used in the video. These
elements conform to the conventions found in music videos of the genre as it
fits in with the lifestyle, which would be considered fashionable by followers
and fans of the genre.
The story of the video is that a man has
had his ‘heat broken’ by a break up with a woman and his friends are trying to
console him by taking him on a road-trip to the seaside, zoo and countryside.
The use of mise en scene
in the car is clever as it gives the car a quirky feel and gives the video a
bit of an interesting indie edge that fits in with the genre of the song and
this benefits the video as if it was just a normal car, it would not have the
same effect. This mise en scene is created through various colourful props
throughout the car.
They travel to what appears to be a
deprived old English seaside town, which has past its prime time. The mise en
scene in the town presents the town as run down and old fashioned which matches
the car used and also the ‘indie’ theme of vintage and retro items and
locations, which reoccurs throughout. The men look out of place in this town,
as they are young, dressed in full suits and well presented. The town is the
complete opposite of this and the two are juxtaposed which could be a hint to
the depressed member that he is still young and he has a lot more time to find
someone else. The shot used here is an
establishing shot as it establishing the location to the viewing but could also
be classed as a long shot. The man who is grieving is stood slightly further apart
from the other two, which could connote his sense of loneliness.
This is my favourite shot from the video as
they are walking from the car towards the beach. The camera remains still with the car in a
medium shot whilst the men walk away into the distance. The shot works so well
because even though the shot is so simple, there is a lot to look at and take
in. The blue sky and the clouds, the sea, beach, grass, men and car all combine
into the one shot, which is very effective. I think this shot works really well
given the scenario of the video and is something I would like to replicate in
my final product.
This long shot is so
simple yet effective as the other two men walk off, the saddened man remains
starting at the sea for a couple of seconds which implies to the viewer that he
is deep in thoughts as he takes a few seconds to realise the others have started
to walk off. This shows his has a lot on his mind and is an effective way of illustrating
the lyrics.
No comments:
Post a Comment