Analysis of 3 products similar to main product

Two Fingers – Jake Bugg

Jake Bugg wrote the song ‘Two Fingers’ about his breakthrough into becoming a professional artist from a usual guy from Nottingham. When we watch the video, we can see it has themes of happiness and unhappiness as we see the contrast between him before he got his breakthrough and after. The genre of this music video is Rock and Indie and this targets a wide audience of both genders, usually young adults, as they are more likely to relate to the band and their songs.

This video doesn’t follow the stereotype that’s represented for most artists. Instead, we see that Jake Bugg was just an ordinary person like the rest of us, which makes the song more relatable for his target audience and makes the artist more successful. This is effective for the artist because it makes them different from other mainstream artists that thrive off the media.

Representations of the indie rock genre are typical. Firstly, rock/indie are both more male dominated genres which are favoured more by males than females. Jake Bugg dresses the way we would expect an indie/rock artist to dress. Throughout the video, he wears tight skinny jeans with baggier tops and vests, usually always dark in colour. Black is a colour we would associate more with evil and darkness, and this makes sense in the video because Jake Bugg felt he was going nowhere so he felt a moment of darkness in his current situation. Indie/Rock artists usually live quite rebellious lifestyles for example one line of lyrics in this song is “Roll up a fat one, hide from the feds.” This undoubtedly means the consumption of Marijuana and hiding from the police. Yet we also see Jake Bugg standing and waiting for a bus, which relates back to his audience as I’m sure most of them use buses, making the video relatable to most people as well as his target audience.

Use Somebody – Kings of Leon

Lead singer of Kings of Leon, Caleb Followill wrote the song ‘Use Somebody’ about needing somebody to help his loneliness whilst on tour. After watching the video, we can see it has themes of both love and loneliness. The band whose genre is both rock and indie target a wide audience of both genders, usually young adults, as they are more likely to relate to the band and their songs. The video doesn’t create a stereotypical representation of the band as ‘stars’ believing they are above everyone else. Instead, we see that even though they have a lifestyle in luxury and fame, they too get lonely sometimes just like ordinary people. The audience can relate to these feelings of loneliness and empathise with the band making their music more appealing. This is typical of performers in this genre opposed to those who have more mainstream music and always like to be in the eyes of the public. Representations of the indie rock genre are typical. Firstly, rock/indie are both more male dominated genres, favoured more by males than females and as the band consists of 4 males, we immediately get the impression they are an indie/rock band. They all look and dress how we would expect them to. For example, we can see they have long hair; tattoos and facial hair making them

look more ‘rugged’. Throughout the video, they wear tight skinny jeans with baggier tops and vests, usually always dark in colour. Black is a colour we would associate more with evil and darkness. It also connotes power and authority, anger; death etc. and helps them conform to the audience’s expectations of a stereotypical rebellious rock band. This representation is developed through the bands behaviour. In one shot a band member is blowing smoke into the camera, as if he is doing it into our faces. He smiles afterwards implying that he has no remorse portraying him as disrespectful. On another shot after a gig, a band member is lying on the floor looking almost unconscious. Although this could be due to tiredness, we get the impression that he has taken something to make him behave in that way e.g. drugs. Both of these relate to this idea of rebellion. Audiences they target may also be able to relate to this way of behaving. Ordinary things we see them doing in the video also allow the audience to identify their similarities with the band. Seeing them playing pool and drinking in a bar/pub shows that they can do normal things too, just like everyone else.

Someone like you – Adele

Adele's music video to the song 'Someone like you' is a simple yet gripping performance video. The duration of the promo is focusing on Adele and her performance due to Adele being centre of the frame for most of the shots in which she is included. From the moment the music promo begins the audience is drawn to Adele as she is centre frame and it begins the audience’s journey to relate and feel Adele's obvious pain and loneliness. In this music video it is clear that Adele is trying to relate to her audience through the lyrics and therefore this is why the video is so simple visually, because she wants the lyrics to be heard.

Due to the fact that the music of the track is slow paced, it is reflected in the video to create meaning. For example, the editing is just an array of straight-cuts and pan shots that are very slow paced. Therefore, this reflects the pace of the music. It reflects the mood Adele is presenting which is sadness and pain. In comparison to music videos that display parties and people enjoying themselves the music is usually fast paced and so is the editing, therefore creating a mood of enjoyment. This can be supported by the use of the setting. There is an establishing shot of the Eiffel tower in the background. Therefore, it’s Paris. This is ironic as Paris is known as 'the city of love'. The video, the setting is abandoned therefore, this creates a meaning of for Adele personally there is no love, she can’t find love and the love she wants doesn't want her. It also reinforces how lonely she feels or felt. This clearly supports my opinion that the music video is trying to create a mood of pain and loneliness.

It could also be said that the use of the visuals; black and white, is to display the emotions in which Adele is feeling. As black and white are dull, lifeless colours. Therefore, it represents Adele as miserable and unhappy. As there is no colour in the music video it portrays as her having no happiness in her life, as colour represents an array of positive emotions such as love.