Textual Analysis - Nirvana

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit 

Genre - the genre of this video for Nirvanas song 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is Drama/Performance , and the genre of the band and the song is Rock. The genre of the music makes the audience expect a performance type video, however because it is mainly all performance, it can shock the viewer as they may have expected a stronger narrative or some acting.

Narrative - The narrative of this video is very loose, there is no obvious narrative or storyline, the audience are made to understand that the video is set in a high school due to the fact there are young adults and cheerleaders. The video is mainly a performance set in a high school due to the genre, so the narrative isnt the main focus in this video.

Representation - there are some mild traces of represenation in this video. The representation of gender is shown at the start when we see the females in the video 'cheering on' the men in the video, this could be seen as showing  that men  are more powerful than women. Also the band and specifically the main lead singer of the bad Kurt Cobain is constructed as being someone who lives a hectic almost broken life as he is seen in normal clothing in a desolate environment.

Visual Codes - The video is set in a school gym, this could be because the band members or lead singer have profound memories from when they were at school, however it could also be the chosen setting because the word 'teen' is used in the title. A very dull orange colour is used through out the video along with a smoke effect, this gives the video a very mysterious mood. 

Technical Codes - initially a lot of long shots are used to help establish the setting of the video, also the camera focuses a lot of the band members to begin with, this is because the record company require the artist to be featured a great deal. Pans and sweeping shots are used near the end to help the viewer get a better feel and understanding of what is happening in the scene in the video, also the male gaze theory is present near the end when the camera focuses on the cheer leaders. 

Audience - the audience this type of music and video would be aimed at is mainly the 16+ market purely because the song and the band sing about things that probably wouldn't be understood by anyone younger than that age, and also because most people over that age would be able to relate to the setting and the situation of being in a concert like environment. 

Real Media Texts - Comparison of Music Videos

One of the first things me and my group noticed about the 3 music videos I looked at in the previous post is the link between the genre of the music in the video and the number of shots used in the video. In the first Video 'Still Into You' almost 200 shots are used in the 3:41 of the video, this is because the song is an upbeat pop song, so the amount of shots may have something to do with the tempo or mood of the song. However in the second video for 'I Was A Fool' just over 100 shots are used in 3:31, this is because this song is an alternative/pop song, also the tempo of the song is a lot slower than the first, this means that not as many shots are used. The Third song I look at has a considerably shorter video overall at 2:44 and also only uses 71 shots. The length of this video is obviously dictated by the length of the song, but the fact it is an alternative/indie song means that the song is most likely going to be made by a band that has a lot less budget to work with as apposed to a band that makes a pop song, This is most likely the reason that there are less shots used.

Another point me and my group found when discussing the videos I looked at was the amount of locations used in each video. In 'Still Into You' almost 10 different locations were used in and around the house that they were filming in, this is mainly because the band has the budget to decorate and use multiple rooms in the house, garden and also the hall where the ballet is performed. In the video for 'I Was A Fool' although the video is set in one location, multiple parts of the location are used like in the first video, about 5/6 different places in the house it was shot at are used in this video. The last video for 'Diane Young' only uses about 2 locations, the majority of the video is shot around the table in the dinning room, and then there is one other shot in a dark room, this is most likely down to the fact the band is alternative/indie and can't afford to use multiple locations for their videos.

Real Media Texts - Music Video

The grid below shows different music videos, by different artists who create music is different genres. It allows me to see various different aspects in each video, which makes it easy for me to compare each one, for example I compare the genre of each one with the setting of the video, this will allow me to see what the typical conventions of settings are for each genre, something I will need to take into consideration when creating my video. It most importantly allows me to see the number of shots used in each video, which when compared to the different genres shows me a lot about how many shots I should use in my video.

Video	The Narrative	Settings	Number of shots	Transitions used	Representations seen?	Genre of music	Duration
Still Into You -Paramore	Celebration/Party situation with members of the band.	Mansion house, Garden, Performance hall, Bedroom.	191	Fades, mainly standard cuts	Gender – Female surrounded in beginning with feminine coloured items in a bedroom, males in video seen on bikes, can be seen as stereotypical for this gender.	Pop	3:41
I Was A Fool – Tegan and Sara	Follows break up of main female character.	In bedroom/house environment, some scenes on balcony/ in garden.	116	A large amount of fades are used when the setting or scene changes.	Gender – the female in the clip is upset and heartbroken showing how women are stereotypically seen to be weak and venerable.	Alternative/Pop	3:31
Vampire Weekend – Diane Young	Dinner party, celebration event.	Dinner Table, Garden.	72	Pans are used to go from character to character even though it is a continuous shot, mainly standard jump cuts are used.	Age – most of the people in the video are young adults, the fact they are partying and drinking loosely backs up the fact that young people drink and party.	Alternative/Indie	2:44

Specific Knowledge of Music Videos

Knowledge of Music Videos