Comparable Products Music Video: The Kooks - Naive

Mise en Scene:

The lead singer wears a black leather jacket and has messy hair. This style is commonly associated with indie bands and young men. This also indicates that he is considered stylish and fashionable. The woman in the video wears a pastel pink coloured vest top with black hot pants. The pastel colour is quite dull and portrays her to be submissive. The hot pants have connotations of her being promiscuous, which links with the type of character she is, as she cheats on her boyfriend.

There are a number of mid-shots showing the woman drinking alcohol and getting drunk. This prop is commonly seen when youth is being represented.

Dark, moody lighting is used throughout the video, with red filters being used on the dance floor in the club. This red colour has connotation of danger and evil which could link to the type of character the woman is portraying. This style of lighting also gives a serious and glum feel to the video. When the video flashes back to a daytime setting, the lighting is much brighter, giving a calmer feel to these scenes.

Camera Shots:

Point-of-view shots have been used to show the singer singing to the camera. This helps to create a connection with the audience, as well as helping them to relate to the lead singer’s situation in the video.

A high angle shot of the woman standing in the toiler, clearly allows the audience to think of her as low and a bad person as they are looking down on her, and she is hurting the singer.

A mid-shot of the band sitting at the bar, laughing and drinking, allows the audience to see them all together, and get a sense of the type of group they are. By seeing them drinking and how they are all dressed in young fashion, it is clear that they are representing young males.

Camera Movements:

The video begins with the camera tracking the lead singer. This immediately grabs the viewer’s attention, as well as indicating that he is the front man of the band and important to the storyline of the video.

A pan of the singer walking through the crows shows him to be alone as he tries to find his girlfriend. This makes the audience feel sorry for him and keeps their attention on him.

Editing:

Straight cuts are used continuously throughout the video, creating continuity and verisimilitude. The pace of the edits are quite fast, which matches the up tempo song, especially in the chorus.

Straight cuts from the singer on his own in the club to a flashback showing a long shot of the couple sitting at opposite ends of the bed, help to show the back story to their relationship, as they are portrayed as being physically separate.

Target Audience:

The target audience is young adults and older teenagers, mainly because these are the representations being portrayed by the band themselves and the other characters featured in the video.

Mode of Address:

The use of point-of-view shots allows the audience to be spoken to, and for the band to connect to their fans.

The lighting creates a gloomy mood to the video and song as well as the storyline to the video.

Narrative Structure:

Todorov’s theory can be applied to this video:

Equilibrium: Goes out to club
Disruption: Sees his girlfriend getting with someone else
Recognition of Disruption: Walks away from her
Attempt to Repair Equilibrium: Sits with his friends
Reinstatement of Equilibrium: Has fun without her

Propp’s theory could possibly be applied here also, as the female character is portrayed as a villain.

Representation:

Youth is represented in the video by the props showing alcohol, the costume of the characters and the long-shot of the singer holding his girlfriend’s hair has she is sick, which represents youth as being rebellious and naive. Women are also represented as being promiscuous by the costume of the female character. These representations communicate that the band are up to date with fashion and the style of young people at the time.

Enigma:

The use of flashbacks help to create and enigma, as the audience don’t know the full story of the couple’s relationship form the start of the video. The use of tracking the singer at the start of the video also creates and enigma as the audience clearly sees he is important to the story and the band.

Attract Audience:

The elements attract the audience by creating a connection with the audience by the use of point-of-view shots, the moody and serious lighting used and the type of costume worn to clearly show that the band represent youth, attracting their target audience.

Image Presented of Band/Artist:

The band of presented as being fashionable and representing of young people, mainly through the costume worn by the band.