Textual Analysis of a Music Video

 As we are thinking about using a Kasabian song for our music video I decided to analyse one of their other music videos to find out more about their style and genre. Although we didn't end up using a Kasabian song, being able to recognise all the conventions of music videos was very useful when creating our own.

Insitutional/Reference Information

I am anaylsing Kasabian's video for 'Cutt Off' (2009), which was directed by Simon Willows. The music's genre is indie-rock, and the video reflects this genre through the mise-en-scene. The video is set in an urban, desolate, run-down town which is covered in graffitti. The main singers clothing is quite simple and dark, and not trying to be flashy or stand out. This is quite typical of the indie genre where the artists appearance isn't necessarily key to selling their music.

Relationship between Lyrics & Visuals and Music & Visuals

• 'monkey is the key' - small  toy monkey is shown on screen
• 'tied to the suspect' - see's a car covered with blood, crime connotations
• 'unsuspecting citizens who hallucinate in fear' - cuts to man running away from something unseen
• 'hooked on LSD' - accounts for some of the crazy things the audience are seeing - sharks flying around
• 'i don't think you realise he's coming for your neck' - cuts to a shot of a scared man who's fearing of the thing coming for him
• 'making his get away' - see a man running through an empty street

The video doesn't always cut to the strong beats in the song, but it doesn't cut mid line either. At the beginning the music is quite slow, and so the editing reflects this as the camera stays on each shot for a little while. Each verse is slow and then the music and pace builds up for the chorus meaning the video also speeds up. During the verses  we see the people in the video panic, but they don't really run until the chorus starts and the shark then attacks.

Close-ups of the Artist and Star Image motifs

There are many close ups of the main singer who we follow as he walks through the streets. There are also occasional close-ups of the rest of the band, but as a large proportion of the video is narrative, the focus is almost taken off of the band and put on the story instead. The record company is looking to sell this track on it's unique quality and the rough, experimental elements it has. 

As the shark ignores the band it suggests they are invincible and fearless, and their presence contains authority. This is making the band seem more desirable to their audience, encouraging people to buy the song. Also because of how different and unique the video is, it will likely draw in viewers that may not have watched the video or listened to the song before. Kasabian's other videos are also quite strange in their narrative, not sticking to conventions. A lot of their videos have a focus on performance such as 'Shoot the Runner' and 'Where Did the Love Go' and so this video may be slightly different to their others because of it's strong narrative influence. Their videos mostly seem to be set in empty places or deserted places which don't look too fancy or clean.

Reference to the notion of looking

In this particular video there isn't any real sense that the artist is on sexual display, but this is primarily down to the genre of the music. The video is about fear and attack rather than a song about love or relationships. Also, in the indie-rock genre the artist is not often sexualised as the focus is on their music instead of their looks. The costumes and lack of dance are almost trying to do the opposite, making the band seem less sexualised to make the viewer focus more on the interesting narrative instead. However, the lead singer and band do seem to have a confidence to them as he bravely struts around the streets clearly not afraid of what everyone else is running from.

However, there is still a strong notion of looking, but from the sharks perspective. You don't actually see the shark until over half way through the video, but you see a lot of the people in the video from it's perspective. This makes the viewer more fearful as all they can see is the look of horror on the people's faces, and obviously there's the 'fear of the unknown' which is strongly utilised in this video. There's no hints to it being a shark, and it's especially not thought of in the urban setting but this makes it even more shocking and effective. The view we see from the shark doesn't sexualise the people we see, instead making them out to be victims. Unlike most music videos, you don't wish you were the people in this one. One example of looking from the bands perspective is when the lead singer looks into the car (shown above; bottom left), and when the band stare at the camera, almost looking straight at the audience.