HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE ANALYSIS

CALVIN HARRIS & DISCIPLES

ANDREW GOODWIN6 features of a music video:1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics 2. There are relationships between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics

are represented with images. 3. There is a relationship between the music and the visuals. The

tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. 4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots

of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)

5. The frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There are often intertextual reference

MUSIC VIDEOS DEMONSTRATE GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

Calvin Harris’ ‘How Deep Is You Love’ has a ‘deep house’ genre and characteristics of this genre include the location at which the music is played, such as bars, lounge’s, festivals and clubs. The music video fits this characteristic as it’s locations include a nightclub, a casual pool location and a bar. A second characteristic is that there is usually use of a female’s vocals, which is applicable to the track (Ina Wroldsen)

THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MUSIC AND THE VISUALS. THE TONE AND ATMOSPHERE OF THE VISUAL REFLECTS THAT OF THE MUSIC. The tone and atmosphere of the music is positive, uplifting and ‘feel good’. This indeed fits the tone and atmosphere of the music video created by the sunny locations such as the party on the boat and Gigi Hadid’s performance beside the pool. Clubs also denote positive uplifting vibes which fits the music well. The bright, vibrant colours used throughout the music video (especially in the studio) also fit the exotic locations and the confidently optimistic vibes.

THE FREQUENTLY REFERENCE TO NOTION OF LOOKING AND PARTICULARLY VOYEURISTIC TREATMENT OF THE FEMALE BODY.

This feature of the music video is very relevant as the camera work and screen time focuses primarily on Gigi Hadid, who is not the artist, but a model who is acting in this video. Throughout, she appears in minimal clothing, for example, within the studio element of the video no clothes on her top half is visible:Close up shots are used on several different sparsely dressed body parts such as Hadid’s legs, stomach and back:

There is also a constant ‘notion of looking’ present within the video including the viewer who is forced to focus on the female body by the cinematography. Men are also shown paying the beautiful female character a lot of attention:

5 WAYS TO ANALYSE A MUSIC VIDEO1. Thoughts beats – where you ‘see’ the soundStep 1. To look at the music itself. We must take into account the structure of the song.Step 2. The voice of the song. Unique and can form identification.Step 3. Artist’s mode of address. Songs can be seen as stories and the artist the storyteller, making the music video a two communication device – them telling us a story and we listen.2. Narrative and PerformanceSongs fail to give us the whole narrative – we get a gist of the meaning and we add our own meanings to it and music videos should ignore common narrative. Music videos should have coherent repeatability. The artist acting both as narrator and participant helps to increase the authenticity however the lip sync and other mimed actions remains the heart of the music videos.3. The star imageThe star image is a vital aspect. Meta narrative which is big story that describes the development of the star over time has an important part to play in the music video production process. How is the star represented?4. Relation of visuals to songThere are three ways in which music videos work to promote a song:Illustrate – use of a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genreAmplify – meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision Disjuncture – this is where the meaning of the song is completely ignored 5. Technical aspects of a music videoMise-en-scene, sound, cinematography and editing and beats

4. RELATION OF VISUALS TO SONGTHERE ARE THREE WAYS IN WHICH MUSIC VIDEOS WORK TO PROMOTE A SONG:ILLUSTRATE – USE OF A SET OF IMAGES TO ILLUSTRATE THE MEANING OF LYRICS AND GENREAMPLIFY – MEANINGS AND EFFECTS ARE MANIPULATED AND CONSTANTLY SHOWN THROUGH THE VIDEO AND DRUMMED INTO OUR VISION

DISJUNCTURE – THIS IS WHERE THE MEANING OF THE SONG IS COMPLETELY IGNORED

I belief that this music video has a disjunctured ‘lyric to visual’ relation. The lyrics repeat ‘how deep is your love’ consistently throughout, although the star remains independent and alone in her performance and no relationship with a male is present. Romance is not represented in any part of the video and Gigi performs alone, with the closing tracking shot being of her walking alone with a satisfied look on her face. The meaning of the song is mostly ignored, although it could be argued that the location of the boat relates to the interrogative lyric ‘is it like the ocean?’