Music Video Analysis

Comment on the following aspects in relation to your music video choice. How will these techniques appeal to the target audience needs?

Target Audience & Needs

The target audience of this video, in my opinion, are those that enjoy the feeling of fear and thrill. It’s more probable that the audience of this music video are mature, but not too mature or immature to the point it may disturb or frighten. The music video’s audience will be primarily female although females will watch it too. Those that enjoy horror-like videos will want screaming, blood, upbeat fast music and distortion in what can be seen.

Lyrics (Meaning Implied?)

There are very few lyrics in the music video. Almost all of them are “I will eat your soul”, “I want to eat your soul” and “Come to Daddy”. There is a lot of screaming in this video which implies fear and panic. In the middle of the video, two of the “children” begin skipping whilst holding hands which is seemingly nice. This breaks the tension and they skip to a nursery rhyme. It’s almost like the music video is giving the viewers a breather from the horror-like video. This contrasts the rest of the video. The way “Daddy” is said to the “children” makes it kind of look like he is possibly Satan or God, or someone who is thirsty of some sort of power with these “children”. I think the lyrics show that the writer has an imaginative and creative thought process and this may be a way to express his emotions as it is creepy and dark, which is what he may be feeling.

Tempo The tempo of this song and video is very fast and upbeat. It’s speedy and keeps the tension building. In the middle, there is a break of tension when the “children” skip and hold hands to a nursery rhyme. This is almost like the song is giving the viewers a breather after the tension they have been watching and have had building up inside them from watching this. After this, the tempo speeds up again and rushes, as it did before. The song has an aggressive nature and doesn’t follow a particular pattern as it is extremely

Music Video Analysis

jumpy. There are electronic sounds in this video, as well as drum and bass. This keeps the listeners on their toes and listening in to what’s happening, as it’s very captivating and enticing as it lures you in to view and listen to what is happening and what will happen if you carry on.

Genre The genre of this narrative music video is dance music. In typical dance music, there are smiling, happy faces that are enjoying themselves. Dance music videos tend to just follow normal people round dancing to what they hear. Stereotypically, it would be taken at night time in a club with dim lighting. This is a more horror like dance music video, and therefore does not follow these typical dance music conventions. In this video, we can hear (and see) a lot of screaming. We can see a naked body forming from nothing; it grows until it’s absolutely massive and then begins to scream in an old woman’s face. This is extremely typical of a horror, not dance music. There are other screaming scenes in this music video and in the sounds we hear too. There is a black and white flicker to the whole shot at some points, as well as the TV flickering at the very start of the video too. This is typical in horrors too and evokes fear from those in the video and those watching it too. Black and white are monotone colours and have no feelings attached to them and so this flicker is almost like it’s a numb flicker with no feelings attached, like the distorted man on the TV is emotionless and unattached to what he’s actually doing. The environment this is being filmed in is contrasting to where a typical dance music video takes place. In a typical dance music video, it’s taken in a club. This one, however, is taken on the streets and in an alley-way. The environment is extremely dirty and there is rubbish everywhere. This shows how defaced this area and property is as nobody seems to care for it. It’s dark where it is taken place which could symbolise how emotionally draining and dark this music video is for those in it and those watching it too. At the beginning before any music comes on, there are echoed laughs in the background which are blurred out. It’s like somebody is watching the old woman which is frightening for us as we don’t know what’s going to happen as nothing’s started yet and so we don’t know what’s coming, especially as it’s an elderly woman and so we naturally sympathise for her because of her age as she is vulnerable. The lyrics are creepy in their own way as they’re hard to understand and there are very few of them and so they don’t develop into something more which would be more understandable. The tension breaking by the nursery rhyme in the middle of the video isn’t typical of a normal dance video – or even a horror – as usually it would just carry on through. The “children” in this video aren’t actually children. Although they’re dressed in what look like dresses, if you have a deeper look into what they’re wearing they look like hospital gowns. The faces on these “children” are all the same face, peculiar smiling which is clearly forced and just extremely weird. I have a feeling that these may be masks – emotionally or possibly physically. The man on the TV describing himself as “Daddy” in my opinion could be two things. These two things are either God or Satan. I have a feeling that it’s more likely to be Satan as these “children” seem to be possessed and are following this distorted man on the TV all together in a crowd or cult. The smiles on their faces are extremely forced and make it look like they’re trying to make themselves be happy. These possessed looking “children” are wrecking the area which emphasises my idea of possession by this Satanic man on the TV. The man is a blue colour and very distorted in his face. There are a lot of random movements in this music video which I can’t find a meaning behind and so this may be typical for a horror as nothing can be defined as it’s so spontaneous. Dance music videos usually have bright colours where as this video is mainly blue, black and white.

Music Video Analysis

Camera Technique Many camera techniques are used in this music video. An establishing shot is used at the very start of the video to show the viewers where this video is taking place. It shows tall buildings and uses a low angle panning shot to show all the different ones. This shows that the buildings are a bit ruined and defaced; conveying to the viewer that they’re not in a modern, posh area and those that live in the area may be of a lower class. An over the shoulder shot is used to show the viewer how it feels to be screamed at by this weird human that has just magically formed out of nowhere and enhance the terror that you may already be feeling from the creepiness of the video. It’s almost like a point of view shot as you feel how the old, vulnerable woman would be feeling at this point. An extreme close up is used to show this man who miraculously formed in front of our eyes and shows how he is dripping and wet. This type of shot is used frequently throughout to highlight certain parts of the video. There are close ups of the characters faces frequently throughout the music video to show reactions and facial expressions that they are feeling. Medium

Music Video Analysis

shots are taken of different bodies in this music video to show us their posture and give us more detail of how they’re feeling.

Editing The music video is edited by using jump cuts and intercutting between the shots. These are used to keep up with the drum and bass upbeat tempo of the music being played. Some shots are less than a second long and so this keeps the audience directed and concentrating on the screen with what is being shown. It is all very fast between each other and it’s as though you don’t get given time to process it until after it’s been on. This keeps the tension there with the viewer and makes you want to carry on viewing in order to see what’s next and it’s so mesmerising.

Use of Digital Effects There is a cold colour scheme in the music video. Blue, black and white are the main colours used. Blue is usually a calm colour

Music Video Analysis

which relaxes you and so this now may be used to do the complete opposite in order to challenge your emotions. The image on the television screen is colour corrected to this blue colour. This face is the opposite of calming and so maybe it is supposed to make you think about what is happening as it goes against your natural feelings. The face is also twisted and made larger at some points (the mouth) and is distorted. This is to go along with the horror genre that this music video seems to go along with, rather than typical dance music videos. The hairless body and “children’s” faces are clearly made with CGI as it’s not possible to make these images in any other way. The colours are dark which shows how run down the area this video is filmed in and how low the mood is here.