WB - Music Video Deconstruction

Media Language

Within this video there is to an extent a message and purpose conveyed. The video matches the lyrics quite well, along with the performance shown, conveying quite a strong band image. It is looking back at a high school in which the band are positioning themselves with the teenage boy who seems to be a bit of an outcast within the school.

This is used through editing with prevalence on the teenage boy linking to the lyrics within the song. Camera techniques are useful in presenting a band image. Within the performance sections there is a great deal of camera movement along with a mixture of both close ups with long shots showing the whole band. This shows the manor in which they perform, the style of their attire, and attitude to the situations.  The movement of the camera creates a sense of youthfulness once again creating a band image that fits Dyer's criteria of a star persona. Nevertheless the lyrics and video suggest the band challenge conventions.

Throughout this video it seems like there are some intertextual references. The two main focuses within the video are both part of the film 'American Pie' in which they go to prom much alike in this video. This could be seen as pastiche where a proportion of this music video is directly influenced by the film. The idea of prom in America and general high school life is conveyed within this video conveying bricolage.



Representation

Throughout Arctic Monkeys 'Why'd You Only Call Me When Your High' the bands star persona is enhanced and progressed. The star qualities that Dyer states such as rebellion, youthfulness, and an anti-athoritarian attitude is enforced throughout the video with the constant drug references aided with the hallucinations of sexual acts. They have often been presented to hold a disregard for social values relating to drugs, sex, and polite behaviour in the past and within this video this representation is reinforced.

Within this music video different groups are represented in a different ways. Youth are represented to be wild and rebellious, enjoying drug and alcohol abuse. They fit the dominant ideology of youths and the younger generation who enjoy partying and other such activities. Females are presented within the piece to be more together and mature. The girl in the piece who is presented as something to do with Alex Turner, seems to condemn drug and alcohol abuse, suggesting that he should get his act together.

Institution and Audience

This video is likely to be consumed on a global scale, thus would probably be an ambient viewing. Over the past few years, the band has gained a great deal of popularity, they have become one of the biggest alternative rock bands not just in the UK but globally. Due to this, it would be very unlikely to be a focused viewing due to their extremely wide audience.

The record label for a band such as this would most likely have quite a large input to the band image. They will have a large role in creating a star image as well as creating their promotional texts. It would definitely be an industrial production due to the scale of the band. Although they most likely started with an independent label, they now will be partnered with an industrial label due to their increased popularity.



Genre and Narrative

Throughout this video, there are many forms and conventions evident linking to Goodwin's theory. It is mainly a narrative based video shot in black and white presenting intertextuality throughout videos made by The 1975 as they use this feature frequently across many of their music videos. Their are some links between lyrics and visuals. This is seen when the lyrics are saying 'settle down' and within the video the young boy is throwing rocks at glass windows. Applying Goodwin's theory it could be argued there are demands from the record label, thus having frequent close-ups on the lead singer of the band even though he isn't the centrepiece of the narrative.

Throughout the video, I would say the relationship between lyrics and visuals is amplified. It doesn't seem to have a really close relationship thus wouldn't be illustrative but also isn't so distant there is no relationship; thus I would say there is an amplified relationship.

This could be considered art in a sense as it experiments with different techniques such as black and white as well as promoting some interesting ideas. Throughout the video I got the impression that the main boy in shot was represented to be Matt Healy's younger self. This became evident to me within the two shots where the boy is sitting down and tilts his head back. This shot is then followed by Healy (the singer within The 1975) doing the exact same thing. This makes me believe the video isn't purely for commercial purposes but can in fact be considered art as it does have a deeper meaning.