Music Video Analysis

I have decided to study and annotate the music video "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White Ts because it is of the same genre as our client. The music is predominantly acoustic guitar and male vocals, which are the same set up as our chosen artist "The Next Forever". The music is quite soft, peaceful and easy listening and the lyrics are based on love, which again are features of our client’s song.

The editing of the footage in the music video is a main feature in the music video and stands out from start to finish. The footage has been edited so that it appears in boxes, dividing the screen into sections. I think this is an effective and interesting editing technique and makes the music video a lot more visually appealing and interesting for the audience. You can see an example of the sectioning from the screen shot picture of the music video to the right. I think that incorporating this editing technique in some aspects of our music video would be a good idea as I really like this style of editing and as this music video proves could be a possible convention of acoustic music videos. One way in which we could incorporate this editing technique into our music video is to use the sectioning in either the performance section or the narrative section of our music video. This would create an obvious divide between the narrative and performance aspect of our music video. In the music video there is a 50/50 split between narrative and the performance. From studying this music video and many others of the same genre, such as music videos of Jack Johnson, James Morrison, and Joshua Radin, I have found that this 50/50 split of narrative and performance sections to be a typical structure in acoustic music video.

The overall pace of the editing is generally quite slow. This matches the pace of the music and cuts are generally in time with the beat. Studying this music video and other music videos of a similar genre, I have discovered that they generally have quite slow paced editing, and feature cuts in time of the music. As this is a typical convention of acoustic music videos, I will try and incorporate slow paced editing and cuts in time with the beat in my music video. Another feature I picked up from studying the music video is the fact that there aren't any transitions used, only cuts in time with the music. This gives the music video a quite military feel to it, with each cut being in time with the music and precise. Personally I feel this contradicts with the general slow paced feel of the music video and feel than transitions such as "focus pull" and "fade to black" would be more appropriate in an acoustic music video. Hence, when it comes to editing my music video I might go for a more conventional approach and use transitions instead of the repetitive cut to the beat as featured in this music video.

The main theme of the narrative in the music video is the theme of a journey. This is quite typical in acoustic music videos as certain videos of the genre I have studied consist of some kind of journey, whether a literal journey in the form of transportation, or a journey of love or relationships. This is also main evident in Jason Mraz’s music video of his single “I’m Yours”. The theme of a journey could be a convention of acoustic music videos as it appears in several music videos of this genre. I could use the idea of a journey in my narrative to tap into this theme. However logistically, shooting a literal journey, focusing on transport could be quite difficult and expensive as using transport does come at a cost whether it being a car journey, train journey or a plane journey. I think that a more suitable approach for my music video would be to emphasise on the journey of love and how two characters in love can develop in the narrative of the music video. The narrative part is based around a girl walking through the streets of to be New York City. In these scenes there is a case in which the visuals of the video match the lyrics: " Hey there Delilah, what's it like in New York City?". This is an interesting aspect of the video as the visuals show literally what the lyrics are saying. The girl is shown walking a lot and catching trains, reinforcing the theme of a journey, in this case a literal version of the girl journeying through New York.

The performance based aspects of the music video are featured in an abandoned house as seen in the picture to the right. The house's furniture is covered in white sheets suggesting that the house has been sold or is currently unoccupied. This could represent a movement in the singer’s life such as moving house or moving away from a loved one. The main shots used are long shots to establish the location of the abandoned house and the singer playing guitar and singing in the house. The other main use of camera shots are the use of close ups of the front man singing, as seen in the screen shot below in the right panel. This is quite a frequent shot and one that again is quite typical in acoustic music videos, as well as music videos of other genres such as pop, rock and metal. As the use of close ups are very typical for acoustic music videos I have decided to incorporate this camera shot into my storyboard and ultimately into my music video.

Digipack Analysis

On the page below this is the digipack front cover to Plain White Ts latest album “Wonders of the Younger”. The cover shows an abandoned theme park and a stage with light coming out of the stage curtains. Straight away the cover has a sense of negativity about it. The fact that the theme park is abandoned means that the many children are missing out on fun times, which could represent sadness. Perhaps this could indicate to the audience that the actual music is quite sad sounding. This may appeal to some members of their target audience who like sad music, but on the other hand could put some of their audience off purchasing the album.

Theme parks usually connote fun times and youth. As the theme park is abandoned, this could represent that the band have abandoned their youth and immaturity and perhaps this record is about a more mature sound that they have developed. Similarly to the band Paramore (which I done a magazine advert analysis on) this band consists of many young members and perhaps they are trying to ditch the immature label that some people may give them through the means of this digipack cover. An alternative view of this is that they may think they are the only remaining youthful and fun band in the industry. Some of their other songs contain lyrics which are about adolescence and fun times, which some of the audience may be able to relate to through personal experiences. The abandoned theme park could represent that there are no youthful bands in the industry, and the bright red stage could represent Plain White Ts being the light in the dull, mature industry. This interpretation is also reinforced by the use of lighting in the digipack cover. The abandoned theme park has quite dark colours consisting of mainly greys blacks and browns. There is also a foggy/pollution looking background. As bad weather usually holds negative connotations this could support the interpretation. There is light coming from the stage which draws attention to it as human eyes are attracted to light. This puts the album name in a good light making it seem positive and exciting, which contrasts with the dull, polluted background.

The use of red colouring in the stage could represent romance as this is a connotation of the colour. This could indicate to the audience that some of the songs are romantic which may appeal to some of their audience and could be a contributing factor into making them purchase the record. The colour red also holds connotations of anger and aggression. Some of the audience who do not know the band and their previous songs could interpret it in this way. Again this could be the decision maker of whether or not the person buys the album or not.

The text that says “Wonders of the Wonder” on the stage is done in a typical circus looking font. Circuses usually are related to fun and general positivity. This could represent the style of the music having a positive vibe about it that could appeal to their audience. The “Plain White T’s” text at the top of the album cover is quite basic. This text is used in all of their albums so this could act as a recurring theme that their audience could recognise. Even though the font is quite simple it is bold and in caps lock, both making it easy to read and noticeable. I think this is an important aspect for the text so the name of the band stands out so as the bands name is the most important bit of information on the cover. This has made me decide that when I come to create my digipack I will have my chosen artists name in an easy to read font.

By Harry White.