I have chosen Royal Blood's 'Figure It Out' to analyse for my semiotics analysis.
This music video is mainly targeted at fans of the rock genre but due to the popularity of the band has reached out to the mainstream audience. The video challenges conventions in the way that it is narrative based rather than a more conventional performance based music video.
Considering mise-en-scene we can see that there are a serious of signifiers that help to construct an overall message. The blue and red colour grading makes you unable to see everything in the shot that clearly, connoting a sense of mystery and unawareness. When it flicks from colour to colour, certain visuals disappear, whilst others re-appear. This can be seen in the stills below. This is also evident at the end of the sequence where the blood on the wall only shows when the colour grading switches to blue from red. Furthermore, it is a visual signifier to the band name 'Royal Blood'. Royalty is often associated with the colour blue, whilst red quite clearly is associated with the colour of blood.
Location is very useful as a signifier. It is set in what seems to be a shopping centre, The girl in shot appears to be missing and running away from someone. This thus presents a sense of rebellion as the girl in shot has a disregard for rules and authority. Although she is in a very compromising position she is very calm and doesn't appear to be scared or worried showing bravery and courage. This could be a signifier to the audience of the star qualities the band itself holds according to Dyer's theory. Moreover this can be conveyed through the use of non-verbal language. At the beginning of the video the girl in shot is drinking her drink bobbing her head in time with the music, with a careless attitude as to what is happening around her. The use of make-up and costume is very effective as a signifier as it helps to construct the character's within the video. The main girl has a bruised face and blood on her clothes, signalling she has been abused or beaten up in some format previous to the start of the video. This is revealed later in the video within a flash back of her getting out a back of a van, tied up and battered.
The syntagm of these signs constructs a signifier and meaning of the music video. The message could be to fight for yourself and don't let people control your life, or something along those lines. The band are represented to be quite rebellious and anti-authoritarian even though they do relate to some serious issues within the piece. This is highlighted through the missing girl killing her kidnapper rather than reporting him to the police like she should. Moreover, within this video the band show us there alternative video style by breaking conventions and trying a wide array of techniques.
The music video does assume in this instance that the viewers have some cultural knowledge and can understand the meanings and signifiers within the video. For example, a viewer should be able to tell that the girl is in some sort of danger and has been physically abused or hurt in some form. They assume the viewers have general knowledge of what abuse and crime looks like.
The 'myth' of femininity could be seen as conforming to or rejecting conventions. On one hand, she has been abused by a man, presenting a conventional view of women that they are weaker than men. Nevertheless, it could be argued she challenges conventions as she manages to escape and then go on to kill the person containing and beating her against all the odds.
Excellent work Will
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