Video Analysis

Video 1: The Streets- Dry your eyes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHOf3s70w-c)
Video 2: The Streets- Blinded by the lights (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7MCbis75wk)

In this blog I am going to focus on two additional videos from The Streets to see what sort of videos they have chosen to produce previously. This will hopefully provide me with inspiration and ideas for my video and allow me to see the sorts of videos The Streets choose to produce alongside their songs so my video can follow a similar trend. I will be adding screen grabs from the videos on chosen shots which i feel lead to the video being effective and providing the video with a story. The first video is a song called dry your eyes. The song is about a man trying to cope with his girlfriend breaking up with him and went to number one in the UK and in Ireland. I felt it was a good choice to decide to focus upon this video as it has many connotations to stay positive with similar themes of loneliness.

The video opens with a long shot showing the lead singer and the persona of the video sitting under a light on a un-lit road with his dog. Instantly the video is telling us that the character is alone and is shown in a shot on his own to demonstrate this. The video then proceeds to show him in a snooker hall, with the theme of loneliness being replicated in that no other character is shown in the shot other than himself and the dog. The use of the dog is showing that it is the only person the character can currently relate to and the only thing wishing to be with him.

Throughout the video, there is a constant theme of loneliness as Mike is never shown in a shot with any other character just himself. When the camera moves in for a close up (as pictured), his face is very sullen and has little expression demonstrating that he is likely to be in a bad mood and upset with what has happened. The Video has similar shots throughout, with a number of establishing shots showing his change of setting from the swimming pool, to the cafe, to the betting shop and other locations. This could possibly suggest due to his varying location that the character is looking for something or someone and that it is thing certain thing that will cheer him up or make him feel better.

One shot which i found interesting was the close-up on the games machine when he visits the arcade. The screen reads "you lose", which other then suggesting the character has lost at the game, also suggests that he is a loser and has lost in his relationship with his girlfriend. The video shows locations which would usually be full with people such as the supermarket, cinema and a football stadium, all empty with only the character and his dog being shown in each one, this is effective in showing that the character feels totally alone in the world and lost.

The video finishes with a shot of the main character and his dog back at what looks to be his home, the dog seemingly moves towards Mike who lovingly accepts the dogs gesture and he embraces the dog looking as if the dog is the only thing left who he can relate with and who wants to be around him. The video is powerful in demonstrating the mood of the character after his girlfriend splits up and shows him alone throughout the video clearly promoting a constant theme of loneliness. The theme of the song is very similar to the song we have chosen, therefore i may use the idea of this video in the production of my own.

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The second song and video I have chosen to analyse is a song called “blinded by the lights”. The song focuses on a main character, again played by the bands lead singer Mike Skinner, who goes to a wedding to meet his girlfriend. He then proceeds to take drugs whilst the girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend. The video focuses on the mood of the character as he notices his girlfriend isn’t there and turns to drugs and excessive drinking to try and make his mood better. The video opens with a phone conversation between mike and his girlfriend. The signal drops and the girl sends him a text message saying “c u in da corner x x”. Due to the text and the alternating shots between the couple, it tells us the couple are close and plan to meet at the party. At this moment of the video we assume they are together.

The scene changes and Mike is seen at a wedding, a handheld camera is used to track Mike as he walks through the wedding looking around trying to find his girlfriend, Simone. He realises she isn’t there and spots some friends over on another table who are drinking heavily and he joins them. The handheld camera is effective in showing mike’s confusion about where simone could be and it also could potentially show nervousness due to the shaking of the camera about meeting her. A close up then shows him taking MDMA with the continued look of confusion on his face as he looks around for her.

Mike then walks to the front of the building to get reception or as the lyric states, "get bars on my phone". He begins to send a text to his friend Dan who is also not there, the shot then changes to an over the shoulder shot which shows simone and dan in the cloakroom kissing. It's at this point of the video that Mikes mood really deteriorates and a close-up over the bar shows that he is starting to feel the effects of the drink and drugs as his friends are shown to be forcing him to drink more, possibly due to the fact they know what is happening between Dan and Simone and they want Mike to not realise by getting him drunk. There are short shots however throughout, still showing Mike looking around for Simone. The handheld camera is then used again to show Mikes drunken state, with the angle tilting and moving as he walks into the toilet and does a couple of lines of cocaine. Its then we see that Simone and Dan are now in the toilet with Dan filming Simone giving him oral sex in the cubicle. A high angle shot reveals Mike and his friend in the next cubicle snorthing cocaine demonstrarting how close Mike came to finding them.

They then walk through into a disco room, where the handheld camera is used to focus on Mike's face showing us that he is in a drunken state and the tilting of the camera is again used. Through a point of view shot we see a medium close up on Simone and Dan dancing together. This is the first point of the video where Mike realises what has been potentially going on. As he attempts to make his way over to them, a fight breaks out between all of the men which cultimates in Mike ending up on the floor covered in blood in a dramatic close up to finish the video. This video demonstrates an emotional rollercoaster of an evening for the main character, it shows him at first being concerned about Simone not being there, then getting drunk of excessive drinking and drugs and eventually discovering his girlfriend has been cheating on him. The main point of the video was the handheld being used to demonstarte Mike being disorintated and is a technique im debating about using in my final video.

Both videos from the streets were very powerful and hard-hitting and both focused on the theme of women leading to mens lives being ruined. The dramatic style of both videos is something I will hoping to capture in my final video. Things such as in both videos the main character mimed the words throughout in an epilogue style format and the fact both videos featured constant close up on the character are two techniques I will be looking to incorporate into my video.