JB - Music Video Analysis 1: 'Blue – One Love'

The music video for Blue’s One Love track is somewhat typical in the idea of mainstream pop genre music. The boy band displays typical characteristics throughout the video, and uses conventions that boy bands have used all through time. The music video is a performance based one and starts with a series of establishing shots on the artists, and gives the audience the location they are at. The notion of looking is used a number of times throughout the video where the artists look at the camera towards the audience. This is quite common in a boy band performance based video. There is also a link between the lyrics and the visuals as the main lyrics are ‘one love’ and the story within the video is about one girl. This is an example of illustration because of this link, and the cuts of the video also go in time with the beat of the music. The music video is really a rather conventional boy band music video combining performance and narrative, however it is post modern because of the way it is commercial and a piece of art at the same time.

Whilst using Goodwin's theory as a foundation, there are many visual techniques throughout the video, for example the way that the camera is used with a range of different angled shots. The video starts of by zooming out and than doing a jerky pan towards a long shot of the street. Then we see a number of shots like a worms eye view and a medium shot from behind them, followed by a crane shot looking down on them. This variety of shots means that the audience can grasp the location they are in. The quick paced editing anchors this camera work, by moving with the music, and also there is more post production editing with the colour wash that connotes warmth, yet a run down and dingy look. There is also a transition effect used when the artists go from the busy street to an empty one. The speed of the camera work is also affected to enhance the music. In certain points in the video we see a use of intertextuality and references to popular culture with the use of the skate boarder and the graffiti up on the walls. There is also a lot to do with dance in the video especially the way that there is someone on his own dancing in the street.

This location of an American looking street gives the audience an idea of the bands status, adding to their meta-narrative. As an English boy band this video may be representing the fact that they are making it down in America, or the fact that the band even have the money to go down to America to shoot the video shows how popular they are as a band. The second thing I noticed is that the street also looks extremely run down, and graffiti on the walls shows us how the band wants to express themselves. They have chosen the ‘real’ America, rather than the glitz and glamour of America. Mise en Scene such as the clothes they are wearing anchors the location as they are seen in tracksuits, vests, and work overalls. At a stage in the video just slightly further on the location is transformed to the freeway bridges, and we now see the band changed in more expensive clothing, however still casual. Also the band tends to wear clothes that average Brits would wear for example Duncan wears a silver chain. In this sense the band emphasise conventions to other boy band videos as they tend to cut from one story to another. We also see other conventions such as the performing and dance sequences which create a divide between the video and the performance. The overall story of the video shows a woman and what appears to be her husband, or boyfriend arguing, and this is another way in which boy bands portray themselves as the hero figure or the perfect man. They are saying that they will treat her better than her boyfriend.

A main theme in this music video is to represent the real America. Throughout we see shots of everyday Americans, mainly what appear to be working class. This reinforces dominant ideologies of working class however this video challenges those by showing them all having a good time e.g. the man dancing. At one stage in the video the boy band walks along a station platform and there are images projected against the wall of what appears to be certain people for example one is of a single mother and her son. Also throughout the location is constantly giving us clues as to the sort of place they are in through posters shop signs and the types of cars. There is one sign on a shop saying '$6 Collections' which is run down and dingy. To add to this the way in which the post production editing has worked has enabled a yellow wash and a turquoise. The turquoise could be there as a star motif, as the bands name is 'Blue' and the yellow effect creates a hot, homey feel, however also adds to the dingy effect on the streets.

This music video would be consumed on all popular music channels such as MTV, and Kiss. Audiences would most likely view this as ambient, and play it in the background whilst getting ready to go out for example. With the institutional context, the genre of the music and the type of band that blue are the record label would play a large part in promoting the texts, through advertisements and internet sites etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFGPSx6cPN0