Music Video Analysis – ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ – The Courteeners

For my analysis of the music video ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ by The Courteeners, I will be basing my points for discussion around the characteristics of music videos displayed by Andrew Goodwin in his book ‘Dancing in the distraction factory’ (1992). The six key features that Goodwin outlined in his work were:

- That the music videos would demonstrate a large number of genre characteristics.

- That there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visual aspects of the video.

- That there is a relationship between the music and the visual aspects of the video.

- That there is a need for lots of close-up shots of the artist to make the video more personal.

- There is frequent reference to the notion of looking and there is also a very voyeuristic portrayal of the female body.

- There is also often intertextual reference to Film and Television etc.

I have chosen to analyse The Courteeners song, ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ and as a group we agreed that it was particularly key to analyse this video as it is obviously relevant to us as a group , linking in perfectly to the other videos we have analysed from similar Indie bands such as The Libertines.

I have decided to work through the video chronologically and talk about the video almost shot by shot to comment on the video’s content in relation to the rules set out by Andrew Goodwin. In the opening sequence the four band members are shown sat round a table in a café and as the camera zooms in over a five second period the video cuts to our first series of close ups, the first close up focuses on one of the artists drinking his coffee before the use of different planes of focus to show the band’s frontman Liam Fray beyond the other band members who are shown out of focus. The use of close-ups is particularly common throughout this video and these particular shots are included early on in the video to establish the relationship between the viewer and the artist and also to create an immediate image of the band that will be repeated throughout to create a personal and intimate feeling to the video. The first series of close ups are again succeeded by yet more shots that bring out the finer details in the gestures and actions of the band members, these typically depict either the flow of conversation between them in the café or in terms of the props including the mugs and salt, a rather stereotypical British breakfast which suggests a sense of tradition and patriotism. From the coffee the video cuts to the first two pieces of evidence for both a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals and the music and the visuals through the use of lip sync as the band’s frontman is sat at the table. The first two shots of the lip syncing are both close ups however the camera shows a long shot as he continues to lip sync amongst the other band members who continue their conversation and are seemingly unaware of their cinematic presence and the relevance of any lyrics. This is done to put emphasis on the idea of having one member of the band who is at the forefront of proceedings and is to be seen as more significant to the viewer which is the reasoning behind directing the audience’s attention onto one of the four men. Shortly after the previous shot there is a more direct link this time with relation to a connection between the lyrics and the visuals as the lyrics ‘said would I like to go for tea and toast?’ are synced before the video frames to show tea and plates for toast in an close up aerial shot of the table where they are sat, this allows the audience to gain an image to add to the what they are already hearing therefore giving them a more developed understanding of the video’s storyline were it not already obvious. The video then cuts again to a more interesting extreme close up of the lip syncing, showing the finer details of the face and facial expressions of the artist which allows the viewer to feel closer to the artist and feel a sense again of intimacy and exclusivity. Proceeding this we almost get a lack of context to the video as we get several shots either side of close ups that show a teenager or young man running away into the darkness and there is the

running man and the artist are wearing an orange/red sweatshirt or jacket which connects the clips together and gives them a sense of continuity and therefore not leaving the audience thinking of the switch of story as random or unexplained. The position of the colour within the frame is also relevant because they are all placed at the bottom of the screen to draw your attention back to that recurring point in order to allow you to make the link between the two men. With the shots of the young man coming to an end there is the first reference or inference for the potential of voyeuristic treatment of women and the female body as a woman enters the room with the band members, the shot is in slow-motion which suggests a certain captivation of the band members who recognise how attractive she is and to put emphasis on her presence in the room, which is shown almost from a point of view shot which could suggest that the video is designed to make you just as focused on the woman as the people within the video are. Not long after her

entrance we get two close ups in quick succession that are part of a shot reverse shot as the shots go from the woman, to the man and back to the woman from a different angle. This duo of shots again references Goodwin’s idea of the notion of looking

through an eye line match to create a sense of closeness between the two characters who dominate throughout the video, making them significantly more important than other members of the band for example. After a continuation of close ups that again help to develop a relationship between the artist and the consumer, the shots of the boy running into the darkness reappear and there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals displayed once more as the lyrics speak about how the boy is ‘not nineteen forever’ with the suggestion that he is trying to cling onto his youth and freedom and that instead he needs to sort himself out and ‘pull yourself together’. The correlation between the colours of the sweatshirts and the clips cut between the boy and the man

expressions of the artist which allows the viewer to feel closer to the artist and feel a sense again of intimacy and exclusivity. Proceeding this we almost get a lack of context to the video as we get several shots either side of close ups that show a teenager or young man running away into the darkness and there is the suggestion that the man shown running is the artist when he was younger in his attempt to get away from his problems and avoid getting his life together in the sense that his youth is running out and this interpretation of the clip relates directly to the meaning of the lyrics themselves. There is also a suggestion towards the notion of looking with this clip as the artist is shown to rub his eyes as his recollects what happened when he was younger and how he personally remembers it. The use of Mise-en-Scene is also key in suggesting that the young man is the artist of previous times as both the running man and the artist are wearing an orange/red sweatshirt or jacket which connects the clips together and gives them a sense of continuity and therefore not leaving the audience thinking of the switch of story as random or unexplained. The position of the colour within the frame is also relevant because they are all placed at the bottom of the screen to draw your attention back to that recurring point in order to allow you to make the link between the two men. With the shots of the young man coming to an end there is the first reference or inference for the potential of voyeuristic treatment of women and the female body as a woman enters the room with the band members, the shot is in slow-motion which suggests a certain captivation of the band

members who recognise how attractive she is and to put emphasis on her presence in the room, which is shown almost from a point of view shot which could suggest that the

video is designed to make you just as focused on the woman as the people within the video are. Not long after her entrance we get two close ups in quick succession that are part of a shot reverse shot as the shots go from the woman, to the man and back to the woman from a different angle. This duo of shots again references

Goodwin’s idea of the notion of looking through an eye line match to create a sense of closeness between the two characters who dominate throughout the video, making them significantly more important than other members of the band for example. After a continuation of close ups that again help to develop a relationship between the artist and the consumer, the shots of the boy running into the darkness reappear and there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals displayed once more as the lyrics speak about how the boy is ‘not nineteen forever’ with the suggestion that he is trying to cling onto his youth and freedom and that instead he needs to sort himself out and ‘pull yourself together’. The correlation between the colours of the sweatshirts and the clips cut between the boy and the man are also evident as they were previously to infer that it is in fact a flash back from when he was young. The topic of the flashbacks in terms of wanting to be young again could be made relevant also to the characteristics of the indie or indie rock genre in which is not uncommon for videos to tackle more difficult and detailed subjects or to have storylines that are more complex and potentially confusing/harder to follow unlike the pop genre for example where the storyline is less developed because there maybe isn’t for something to match the lyrics due to them being less meaningful or just because of the difference in target audience. A large number of the shots that follow show the woman shouting at or arguing with the band’s frontman and a number of the shots are close ups or extreme close ups and these help to extenuate her features which the video wants to direct your attention to through the mild use of voyeurism. The woman in the video is however never sexualised as such but there is a direct focus on her and her actions like in many videos. In terms of the editing techniques in the video there is the use of a match on action which shows the woman during the argument from a variety of different camera angles with a quick cutting editing pace to emphasise both her anger and the intensity of her words which is also done through the slowing of her movements and gestures in these interludes. For a final time we cut to shots similar to the previous of the young man wearing red running without direction into the darkness however this the young adult who was framed before becomes a young boy of school age wearing the same clothes (and colour) and this again links to both the lyrics where in these clips ‘not nineteen forever’ plays over the top and also to the idea of wanting to stay young and avoid resposibilities. The transiton from man to boy could also infer a longing for simplicity and an easy life that the frontman knows he can no longer have deep down. This could also suggest innocence and naivety as children should not be faced with problems and worry. Amidst these shots the viewers focus is homed in on shots of seemingly insignificant things such as the pouring of salt onto the coffee table and the tapping of a spoon against the surface however I feel as though these could again reiterate his way of thinking in terms of how uninterested he has become in growing up and halting his immature and unneccesary actions