Textual Analysis: Past Student Example 1

I am going to take a look at this past student example from 2013. Lewis Parker created a music video to the song Still Here and scored extremely highly overall. I am hoping to take some inspiration from his music video and see if he did any particularly relevant things that I could look at implementing in my own music video. 

I think this is a really great music video. I would consider it a performance music video, although it does also have elements of a concept music video. The band are seen to be singing to the camera a lot and also messing about when they are not performing.

Camerawork

Lewis used close-ups of the artist a lot. These shots are perfect for helping to promote the artist and are also good for helping the audience understand who is singing what. It allows them to create a relationship between the song and the video, because they can clearly see who it is singing the song.

Lewis also uses mid shots in order to show the entire band standing together in one frame. This shot, for example, helps to connote a sense of hierarchy within the band - the main singer is quite clearly standing further forward, with the other two in the background, and is centred in the frame. This shot is quite common with bands in music videos because it shows the band as a whole.

Interestingly, this music video lacks any real establishing shot. Although the location is sometimes shown (such as in the shot on the left), there are not many shots that show solely the location. However, this type of shot is less essential when there is no narrative to convey and also helps to reinforce the importance of the band.

A lot of the camerawork in this video seems to be freehand and this works really well. Especially when the band are rehearsing, the camera is a lot less still than when the band are walking around outside. This is representative of the difference between the rehearsal and performance phases of the band.

Mise-en-Scene

My favourite aspect of this music video is the mise-en-scene. For example, I love the costumes of the stars. They are wearing costumes that are typical of the indie rock genre, and are worn throughout the music video. It helps to, as Goodwin would claim, reinforce the relationship between the music and the visuals.

Although not very many props are used much in the video, there is a point when you see the band rehearsing with their instruments. This showcases the artist's talent and shows the audience that they play their own music. It also helps to make them look like they are very cool people because they can play instruments so well!

The video is shot in a very worn down, urban location. This is very appealing to the video's target audience (teenagers and young adults) because it may be the sort of place that teens would hang out in their spare time. Also, the video adheres to the genre of indie rock because it uses locations that are typical of that kind of music.

Editing
The editing in this music video is very impressive. When the band are rehearsing, along with the handheld camera movement, Lewis uses a scratchy effect in order to make the shot look less 'complete' and professional.

Light leaks are also usual used. They make the video look very cool, and help to adhere to Lewis' visual style which is maintained throughout the video - similar to Vernallis' theory.
The light leaks also help to just make the video look aesthetically pleasing and stand out from other music videos.

The video is also mostly edited to the beat of the music. This helps to develop the relationship between the music and the visuals and to help make the video 'fit together' better when playing the musical soundtrack over it.


Overall I think Lewis' video is really great. It is one of the best student examples I have ever seen because of its professionalism and beauty. It is a great song and the video certainly helps to do the song justice!