LIIAR Analysis of three music videos

Conor Murray
A2 Media
LIIAR Analysis of three music videos

Arctic Monkeys, why’d you only call me when your high:

This video initiates with a track shot of the lead singer, Alex Turner, leaving a pub intoxicated in the early hours of the morning and gradually making his way towards a girls’ house whilst texting her without a reply. But on the way, due to his mental and physical state, visualises many things that aren’t there and encounters many other characters that are considered as antagonistic. The cinematography featured within this music video is quite shaky, creating a handheld feel , that depicts the state that the character is in. This shows that he isn’t in a functional state of mind to function to the standard of a sober individual, this also reveals connotations of rebelliousness and deviance that is primarily perceived as working class behaviour. The camera proceeds to follow Alex on his entire journey, in regards to cinematography the camera seems to predominantly use a track mid-shot to create the sense that he is progressing on his journey and that the narrative is progressing also. The editing within the video is rather consistent in it’s form, it includes only cross cuts, from Alex to the events that are occurring and the other characters featured in the story, showing us what he is experiencing. This, as well as the video being shot during the night time creates the sense that danger is imminent and anything could happen at any given time. 
The state that Alex is in, makes the viewer see that he is in fact highly vulnerable to these circumstances. There is also regularly cross cuts to Alex’s hallucinations in which the focus of the camera is distorted, enforcing the fact that he is intoxicated and visualising these occurances. In regards to conventional attributes, this video carries a strong urban theme, and supports the ideology of the working class regularly getting drunk and wandering the streets at the early hours of the morning. 
This video also defies stereotypical conventions, as the standard convention for narratives including a boy and girl state that at the end of the video, they will meet and live happily, but in this video, the main character has simply had too much to drink and can't think clearly. On his way home, he is confronted and interacts with other characters that are portrayed as ‘antagonists’ as they give him trouble on the way home, giving the narrative a more defined conventional story. Alex's costume within this video features a black leather jacket and skinny jeans, as well as these items of clothing being identified as indie, they also carry connotations of deviance and rebelliousness.
The ideology of him being a rebel is enforced by his intoxicated state, and how confrontational he gets with pedestrians on his journey. I would personally state that the targeted audience for this piece is the working class who are represented as regularly getting intoxicated, getting themselves into trouble and making poor choices, the title of the song alone enforces this also, the music however is targeted to audiences that enjoy alternative/indie rock music. The conventions of this genre are presented strongly and boldly throughout the video, them being the urban setting, the dark coloured clothing and the characeters that appear on the street at the time the video is set. The ideology behind the video appears to be representing the artists as working class 'Sheffield' lads, showing that despite all their fame they still consider themselves, and act like normal working class men in a working class environment. 
The classic Hollywood convention of boy meets girl, boy gets with girl is broken in this video however as Alex is so intoxicated that the video results him in mistaking his girlfriend's house for an elderly old ladies' house. 
The video successfully represents Alex Turner (Songwriter/performer) as a working class man, living a working class life, which is the lifestyle that the macro audience of this music live. The representation and ideology of this video is a strong link to the theory of Marxism regarding media, as it shows people of the working class (proletariat's) getting wasted and being deviant. This matches the theory as it states that the working class are primarily demonized for being the members of society who drink and engage in deviant.

Bob Dylan – Duquesne whistle

This video tells the narrative of a young man who has become infatuated with a young woman that he has noticed coming out of the same place at the same time every day. The young man is dressed in a white shirt which carries connotations of purity and innocence, showing us as an audience that his intentions are good and he is a person of good character. The cinematography and editing of each time the man attempts to woo the woman is the same, which creates a sense of continuity and repetition in regards to the narrative structure. The woman in the narrative is also dressed in a white dress the first time we see her, this shows the audience that theses two character's could potentially be a good match for each other. The man that we associate as the protagonist goes to the same place every day at the same time to see the girl, and attempts to grab her attention by dancing around her, but she appears to be unimpressed by his actions. This meets the convention of a boy trying to impress a girl in the hope of making them a couple, but this convention is quickly broken. 
One of the days he goes to meet her, he is about to speak with her, but he is suddenly kidnapped by some thugs who drag him into a van and take him away from the woman. The thugs take him to a warehouse and proceed to violently attack him whilst he is strapped to a chair. The protagonist in this scene is covered in blood showing that his innocence has been violated and he is now in danger. The cinematography in this scene changes also forming a pan which establishes the area the protagonist is in, but also shows that he is now out of his comfort zone. 
Along with these scenes, there is also cross cutting to interweave shots of the artist of the song (Bob Dylan) walking down city streets with a variety of typical stereotypes creating an interweaving story line.
Upon the ending of the video, Bob Dylan walks past the young man’s body on the pavement, showing they are part of the same story. The cinematography on both Bob Dylan, and the boy and girl is predominantly track shots, following them where they go to show that the narrative is progressing to tell a story. In regards to conventions, this video appears to break all the expectations of the viewer. As the boy is seeking the attention of the girl that he is infatuated with, the viewers is lead to infer that he will eventually woe her over. But as the story progresses, the video takes a darker turn as he is confronted with an antagonist that violently beats him, then leads him for dead on the street. Instead of using the ‘classic Hollywood’ convention of a happy ending, the young man is just left in the street to die, and then stepped over by Bob Dylan. 
Personally, I would state that this video connotes a lot of different elements, upon the starting of the video, the protagonist is moving around energetically, and seems to be in an extremely positive mood, but as the video proceeds, there is a gradually progression in mood and the young man becomes shy and quiet. Also, when Bob Dylan is walking with many others at night, the way in which his friends are dressed truly demonstrate the ugliness of city nightlife, as they are represented as prostitutes, gangsters and thieves. 
The targeted audience for this video are the fans of folk, country, blues and rock, but also people who don’t necessarily desire a happy ending. The ideology behind the video appears to be that the city it is set in is an ugly one, and that though people may desire and seek a happy ending, they won’t always receive one. This is shown in the video as it is firstly presented as a romance, but takes a dark awry turn when the young man is kidnapped. 
This video is a strong link to the Levi Strauss’ theory about binary opposites, as the you man is shown to be the protagonist, but is confronted with an antagonist that destroys his intentions of talking to the girl.

Little Comets – Joanna

This video, like the previous two is in the form of a narrative. It proceeds to tell the story of several young women, who due to their social/economic position have had to resort to a line of work in prostitution. The video opens with numerous till shots of things such as clothes flung on the floor and ashtrays to connote that a rough night has taken place, the lighting is also very limited enforcing this ideology. It then proceeds to show several close up shots of the young women, leaving the beds where their 'one-night-stand' partners reside, getting dressed and leaving the house. 
These women then engage on walks, each of which is filmed via mid-track shot, and shows that these women are participating in serious life evaluation thought processes. The scenery in which these scenes are set, consist primarily of streets on estates, reflecting the fact that the characters in this video are all of the working class, and materially deprived. The way in which the shots are composed represent these women being highly unhappy with their life, walking around the estate on which they live, embarking in negative thoughts about themselves and the things they have done. As the narrative progresses, the characters start to run around recklessly, showing they are enjoying the moment and letting go of their worries. 
The cinematography in this video differs throughout, though there are regularly high angle shots, looking down upon the women in the video to show that they feel insignificant, unappreciated and unhappy. 
The editing in this video consists only of cross cuts changing from one girl to another, showing many different perspectives creating the sense of interweaving story lines, though at no point do they collide. In a sense this video relates to the male gaze theory, as it shows that women are represented as objects to the male form. 
This video features the conventions of British based street life film, as it is presented in a gloomy manner, presenting poverty and neglect upon the street. It also meets the convention of the main character(s) overcoming the problem that they face, in this sense; the women are simply overcoming their deprived state emotionally. 
There are many connotations throughout this video, one of which is misery, which is represented through the apparent mood of the characters and the dim colour of the streets. But as the video proceeds and there are shots of a fun fair and people throwing money into the air, the connotations become more positive, resembling happiness and overcoming problems.
I would personally state that the ideology behind this video is to show that these women are facing problems in their lives and have overcome them by letting their sour memories go. The target audience for this piece is teenagers, who during their adolescence face many problems.