Goodwin 7 Theory
Firstly. one of the theories proposed by Goodwin was that generally lyrics will often link to the visuals of the video. In this music video, the band are seen in a club/pub drinking until they are drunk; which links with the lyrics as they sing 'They say a few drinks will help me to forget her' and 'I know that I'm drunk but I'll say the words'. Also, the main theme of the song is about a girl who has broken up with a boy, this is evident in the visuals because in many parts of the video we see an attractive girl who is presumably the ex-girlfriend. There is a contradiction between the music and the visuals, for example the music is quite slow paced and quite sad, however, the visuals are fast paced and diorientating and continuously change. For example, when Danny (lead singer) is underwater with his ex girlfriend, the music slows down, but the sequence under water speeds up, and soon enough he is pulled out of the water. The video demonstrates genre characteristics as 'The Script' is a pop rock band and stereotypically this genre of music uses a combination of narrative and performance based material. Most of this video is narrative but when I looked at other videos 'The Script' have produced I found that they do have many videos that are mainly performance based. Also, demands of the record label wish for the main artist to be shown as much as possible, this applies to this video as the main artist Danny is shown on the video pretty much throughout, there aren't many scenes that he isn't in, and this is shown using a variation of shots, in paticular close ups and extreme close ups. The Script has developed a motif of almost always using the idea of break ups or love within their videos, for example in 'Nothing', the song is about a break up, and the object of the video is a woman. This is the case for most of The Script's videos. This brings me to my next point, there is a frequent reference to the notion of 'looking', for example, the female body; which happens to be the case in this example. The woman who plays the ex girl-friend is wearing red and sparkly clothing when under-water which has connotations of being desirable and attractive. There are frequent camera shots that focus entirely on her body and her 'dancing' in the water. Also, we can see that her cloting is also relitivaley revealing as her legs and back are revealed. This also enables a focus on the female body and making it an object of desire and enahnces the idea of 'male gaze'. Intertextual References of a typical break up are seen, e.g. someone gets their heartbroken, they want them back, they are let down; a reccuring cycle. This is seen in lots of hollywood films and in real life, so many of us know the story that is being told before the band tell it.
Conventions
Camera Shots - The band uses a variety of camera shots within this video, including mid shots to show the band when they are together. Long shots are often used of the band as the walk through the town that they have been out drinking in, this is used to show the full extent of what they are doing. Many, many close ups are used, paticularly of Danny, who is the one who has presumablly had his heart broken. This is clearly to show the emotion on his face, which shows a lot of pain and despair; this will help for the audience to react to how he feels. Point of View shots are also used to show what Danny or the other band members are looking at, for example, when Danny jumps into the water; it shows him looking at the woman. This shows the subject of the lyrics that he is singing about and therefore allows the audience to make a connection between the two. Over the Shoulder shots are also used when Danny jumps off the bridge into the water, this is to show that his friends are behind him and may be symbolisim to show how his grief for what has happened has made him feel as if he has fallen over the edge.
Mise en Scene - The costume that the main singer wears is quite dark and dull, which can represent the emotion that he is feeling. He is wearing mainly black, which has connotations of being very sad and depressed. The props that are used are limited but include mainly props that relate to the meaning of the song, for example, it is pressumed that many people go out with friends and drink a lot when thety are broken up with; therefore Danny is seen holding beer in clubs and drinking a lot. The lighting in the video is farily dark to represent his emotion but when he dives underwater, the lighting become bright, this is related to the idea that he is hallucinating about his ex, which has made him happy again.Editing - The video is fairly fast paced thoroughout, this is shown through a montage of images and clips of many different things that relate to the meaning of the song. Danny has the most prevelance out of all of the band members, one reason for this is because he is the lead singer and this is what record labels want from their artists. But, another reason is because he is the subject and character within the video. There is also a focus on intercutting between two different 'stories', the story that Danny is in and singing about, and the story of his ex under the water; this may show the difference in their opinions on the break up.
Representation
Gender is represented through the use of narrative as the video shows men to be going out and getting drunk, this is stereotypical of men as people think they tend to drink more than women, paticularly when they are upset. Also, Danny is represented as being a very emotional, lonely male; which also breaks stereotype as society views males as being strong, and show little emotion. Females are represented as an object of desire in this video, which is often the case in many music videos; however, due to the fact that the clothing she is wearing is more tasteful and less revealing than some other music videos; I would say that the female in this video is being represented as being respectable and classy rather than more easy and slutty. In terms of location and place, this is represented through the idea that a 'night out' will always lead to getting drunk and as they are in a nightclub or bar, this often has connotations and belief that they are grimey places where people drink too much and do silly things. Again, this is not the case in this video; although Danny does get drunk, he is not over the top and is clearly just letting out his anger and emotion.NOTHING - THE SCRIPT from Maria Grazia on Vimeo.
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