Music Video Analysis - John Bone

The Script – The Man Who Can’t Be Moved

Genre characteristics
This music video fits the genre, alternative rock, by using both performance and narrative based visuals. Throughout the video we see visuals of the band performing the song as well as the video itself based on the lyrics, the ratio is about 50:50. The costumes worn by band members fit the conventions of alternative rock.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals
There is a major relationship between lyrics and visuals, the song is almost telling a story and the visuals help show and describe it. For example, at 1.30, the lead singer makes a reference about a policeman; the nest shot is of a policeman. There is also a reference to time which corresponds in both the lyrics and visuals. When the lyrics mention “I’m not moving” and “waiting for you”, the visuals move into fast forward, showing time quickly passing by. This is helped by visuals of the sun rising and setting and a close up of a watch showing the hands speeding through time. It is clear to the audience that there is a relationship between the two, which helps the audience get involved in a song, to take a fondness to it.

Relationship between music and visuals
There is a constant relation between the music and visuals; the cutting speed of the visuals is fixed to the tempo of the song. The visuals cut (when needed) on a major beat in the song. When the song reaches its climax at 3.10 where Danny O’Donoghue sings at his loudest and lyrics overlap with backing vocals, the visuals adapt to it, cutting at a faster pass showing visuals that had not yet been seen in the video. This shows an illustrative method in the relation between the music and visuals.

Demands of record label, visual style
The lead singer of ‘The Script’, Danny O’Donoghue, is completely focused on throughout the music video. He is given screen time for at least 90%-95% of the video. The longest gap where you don’t see him is less than 3 seconds. Not only is he given a huge amount of screen time, but the shots of him on the majority are of close-ups. This is likely to be because of the demands made by the record label, which is identified by Andrew Goodwin. In the close-ups of Danny, his facial expressions coincide with his feelings expressed in the lyrics. The other two band members are shown in the video, however the shots are more aimed at the instruments their playing than the band members themselves. This allows the audience to identify Danny as the lead member.

Intertextual reference
The most identifiable intertextual reference is seen at 2.46 where Danny is seen ‘Live’ on the ‘Breaking News’, still singing along to the song. He is seen twice on the news, first at 2.46 and then at 2.49, which shows a closer shot of Danny singing. There are no other intertextaul references shown in the music video.

Band Representation video based
The video is primarily narrative-based; the visuals are constantly shot between the band performing and the story based visuals. We see a variety of shots of Danny, the lead singer. Using both close-ups and long-shots, high and low angle shots as well as cameras zooming into him and 180° pans. There are also shots of the rest of the band, during the performance-based element of the video, where the audience see them playing their instruments in time to the music.

Analysis in terms of media language
Mise-en-scene; the music video is set outside, along a street and in a multi-story car park. The band performs in the car-park, and the rest is filmed along a street coinciding with the lyrics. The music video is very much centred on the song and lyrics. The video is filmed as if in real life, as Danny walks down the street, the public walk by just as you would expect. They portray that this is in real life, that he singing about a real life experience. This brings the audience closer to the band members. The costumes for all band members are casual, jeans and jacket, which helps represent the genre of the music, alternative rock.
Lighting; this does not play a vital role in this video. It is used though when the band is performing in the car park, light shines through the window affecting the image seen through the camera. This effect makes the band stand out more, as if they are something special. Light also plays a role in showing time passing by, light moving to dark and the sun rising and setting to show the passing days, as he is waiting on the corner (3.17).
Camera Techniques; there are many different techniques used during this video. The parts of the video shot when Danny is walking down the street are mainly moving shots using a handi-cam. Danny manoeuvres his body to stay front on to the camera. This includes 180 degree pan shots, seen at 2.18 where he turns a full 180 followed by the camera. The techniques include lots of close-ups, mainly of Danny, allowing the audience to recognise who he is. Zoom shots are also used, focusing on something in particular, but also showing the surrounding settings.