Music Video Analysis

Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down

The video I have chosen to analyse is Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down, the song was the second single for the Sheffield band to release, following a performance based debut single. However in this case the video has taken a narrative route rather than a performance based route, which links it to the direction that we would like to take our music video. The videois basically about a prostitute who as the lyrics say roams 'the streets'. Though the video does link to the overall story of the lyrics, it does not follow the lyrics completely, the exact words of the lyrics are not reflected through the video. The genre of the music video would be 'indie' and I think this is represented quite well through the mise-en-scene, the setting is in a city its easy to relate to, the shots are quite gritty with a greyish tint to them which adds to the overall raw edgy tone of the video. It's shot almost like a student video, it has a trendy cool edge to it which would be appealing to their audience of indie/alternative music lovers around the ages 17 - 30 who are very interested in style, and appearing to be individual and 'cool'. This video definitely is individual, it is not the common performance based, superficial music video that most musicians have, which sets it apart and gives it a selling point.

The video opens with a stunning, high definition closeup of a average looking girls face with her hood up, with a back drop of a council estate, tying in directly with the opening line 'So who's that girl there?', adding intrigue for the viewers. The shot is not conventionally appealing, it is not bright or exciting, but by starting the video with a closeup the viewer immediately becomes attached to the character, and the realness of the shot makes it quite intimate, and relatable. The shots that follow are set out in a slow montage, all in everyday locations following the initial girl, and a suspicious looking older male, again creating a sense of intrigue, and maintaining the audiences attention. The lead actress makes frequent eye contact with the camera, as though she is aware that she is being watched, but the expression remains passive and vulnerable, again creating an intimacy between her and the viewer, and compelling the viewer to watch the video, and find out what is going on.The editing follows the slow paced music, the shots are long, and each cut hits the beat, creating fluidity.

After the slow montage of shots the pace of the track changes and becomes faster, with this there is a swift change in shots, the shots become handheld making them shaky, and are point of view shots from a car, through city streets. The colours are bright, and the movement of the camera is disorientating, contrasting dramatically to the slow and static shots from the introduction. More shots of the girl in an estate location, and city are used, she is mostly alone or with the suspicious looking male, as the lyrics state 'scummy man'. She is never place in warm mise-en-scene or in a home at all, she is seen to be standing on street corners and making 'subtle propositions' to males, there is subtle hints that despite her casual attire of a duffle coat and track suite bottoms that she is a prostitute. There are hints that the suspicious male is her pimp, in most of the shots that they are in together he seems to have a dominate hold over, frequently actually physically taking hold of her but in a menacing way that could not be mistaken for affection. The subtlety of the hint increases the intelligence and overall edginess of the music video.

The video then becomes integrated with shots with brighter lighting and a homely mise-en-scene with soft browns and red colours, contrasting to the dark and moody tone of the earlier shots. The new shots include a magician and confetti, and the girls costume changes from being dark and dull to wearing a pink tutu, I think these shots add a new dimension to the video which is slightly fantastical, and suggest perhaps a happy ending for our troubled girl. The shots become are rapidly edited towards the climax of the video, keeping the viewer absorbed in this mini film, the shots become so short and fast that it is hard to understand quite what is going on, there is a lot of physical violence and more handheld shaky disorientated shots. The main purpose of this is probably to prompt the viewer to re-watch the video to gain more understanding of what is going on, which would mean the viewer would be listening to the song again, pushing them to buy the track or the video. The video ends on a terrain of sharp and short cuts of closeups and shaky handheld shots of a forceful, violent argument between the girl, the magician and the suspicious male. The video ends with the return to the darkly tinted, desolate looking shot of the girl sat on the street with the suspicious male dominantly holding her beneath his arm, indicating a continuous loop of events which takes the viewer back to the start of the video and again prompts them to re-watch it.

Overall the video holds a very dramatic and captivating mini-film, the plot is not in depth, the shots are vague and confusing but this all adds to the mystery and intrigue of the video. The lead actress is captivating in front of the camera, her frequent looks into the camera immediately place the viewers in her positon, and makes them relate emotionally to the video, and hope for her to have a positive ending. I think this video is definitely something that our group can look at and be inspired by, the video ticks all the boxes and leaves the viewer feeling satisfied, yet craving more.