Textual Analysis of Music Videos

I have decided to look at the music video ‘Everybody Talks’ by Neon Trees (released 20^th December 2011). The official music video was released in March 2012 by VEVO and YouTube and reflects the characteristics of a pop rock genre. 

The music video is set in 1950s America at a drive in cinema. It starts with an image of the film being played on the screen telling us ‘coming soon to a drive in near you’ which suggests it is a never before seen event. The first line of the song is ‘Hey baby won't you look my way,’ and we are shown an arc shot which allows us to see all of the cars are facing the screen which indicates they are all looking. This then cuts to an image of the band/characters in the ‘zombie bikers’ film which leads you to believe that they are the main characters and accompanies the lyric ‘look my way’ as it is making the lead singer/band the center of attention. From here it then cuts to the lead singer (no longer a character in the film) sitting in the car in the drive in which reinforces that the band are the center of attention. The song then goes on to the line ‘Hey baby what you got to say,’ accompanied by an clip of a woman which implies she could be his ‘baby

The idea of all of what they’re seeing and experiencing, being a product of someone else’s creativity i.e the ‘zombie bikers from hell’ in which everything is made up is supported by the lyrics “All you're giving me is fiction” as they are quite literally watching a fiction film.

The lyrics ‘Everybody talks’ could be an indication of the characters jealousy towards people talking to his ‘baby’ as we are shown a clip of the woman listening and chatting to another man.

 “Hey honey you could be my drug” likening the woman to a drug makes it seem like she could be dangerous and risky but also fun and recreational. Every one wants to talk to her and see what she’s got, once they see her they want to talk more to her which could be likened to a drug due to their addictive qualities and always wanting more.

The song then goes on to the chorus where the band and others are dancing to the lyrics ‘It started with a whisper’  with basic dance moves, to represent the lyrics, by putting their fingers to their lips to indicate whispering. This is then repeated but by gesturing towards the lips for the lyrics ‘And that was when I kissed her. And then she made my Lips hurt . Throughout the music video we are shown images of the band in the film ‘zombie bikers’ dancing and singing in a shed which could be their way of representing the lyric ‘Take me to your love shack’

 As the song progresses the images start to contradict the lyrics, for example “Hey sugar show me all your love” so here you might expect images of perhaps a couple holding hands or kissing which are stereotypical images of love. However we are shown images of vampires making their way towards the ‘love shack’ to attack people which is quite the opposite of love and therefor the images juxtapose the lyrics.   The lyrics also juxtapose the images in the scene just before the one I spoke of above, where his ‘baby’ is taking another man to a quite corner, perhaps to kiss, but instead she turns into a fire-breathing vampire.

As the video continues and the music takes a pause, the banging on the door contradicts the idea of love, by creating a fearful atmosphere which is added to by the smashing windows and screams in the instrumental.

 The song then goes back to the chorus where the repeat actions of whispering and kissing are repeated. “Take me to your love shack”  is conveyed in a different way to the earlier reference. Before we were shown images of the band in the hut but now we are show images of another man being taking off to the quite corner just like the one before, suggesting that this is now the “love shack” and that the story in the film is no longer just a creation of fiction and has now become a real event.

The video ends by the character/lead singer in the film escaping from the zombie bikers and being rescued by the same woman who is working at the drive in cinema. This is followed by ‘coming to a drive in near you’ and a shot which pans round the drive in cinema, this reiterates the idea of the film being real and similar events are already happening in the drive through.

The video cuts to the beat and it also illustrates solo instrumental parts. Throughout the video it changes pace with the beat of the music, for example on the chorus where the beat is quicker the band and dancers move quicker in the video. 

I think the record company are trying to sell this track as a quite playful, upbeat song. It is quite catchy so a memorable music video like this one  will help the audience to remember the band and the song. The band is being portrayed as 'the cool kids' in a 1950s style almost in tune with the film "Grease". Their 'coolness' is contrasted with the 'geek' character in the music video which consequently makes the band look like a more popular group. 

This video is fairly similar to previous videos by the band. For example in '1983' 

The video is also narrative based and takes you on a journey. We see the lead singer on the band in the beginning of the video looking at a 'Zodiac' machine and asking for it to 'make me young again' and from here we are transported back in time to a fair ground and a seemingly younger version of the character being played by the lead singer.

The music video 'Animal' is also similar to the video for 'Everybody Talks' as it too tells a story through out the video and features the band

Through out the video for 'Everybody Talks' there are references to looking, as it is largely set in a drive in cinema. This is also encouraged by the lyrics 'wont you look this way' There is nothing in the video that leads you to believe that the band are on sexual display but the character who appears when the band are singing 'Hey baby' is quite sexualised in a sense as the camera angles and her movements lead you to believe that she is flirting and using her femininity. I think these features have been used because the whole song is about capturing the attention of a crush and getting to know them better, so the references of looking are equal to the characters desire to be recognised by his crush. The images we see of the lady who we believe is his crush are a little bit sexualised and make us believe she is flirting in order to convey that everyone else has her attention and recognition other than the main character.

I couldn't really spot any intertextual references in this video, other than the slight link to the film "Grease" but this may just be a personal link as I relate drive in cinemas to that film and the era it was set.

Looking at this video by Neon Trees has helped me see that it is, to my belief, 40% narrative based and 60%performance based. This is because when the band are at the drive in cinema, they are part of the story, we see things from their view point and we get to see them looking at the film on the screen. However, in the chorus' they are taking part and interacting with the lyrics as they act out dance moves. This makes the video more performance based as the chorus happens more than once. Then we also see the band in the 'film' where they are singing, playing instruments and dancing. Again this is putting on a performance. Furthermore the lines between performance and narrative are not clear cut in this video as the story is mixed in to the music and the music is mixed into the story, there is a story inside a story and it becomes hard to understand what was real and what was fiction (within the story of the video) by the end of the video.

Overall I would say that this video is a mixture of narrative and performance based imagery. The lyrics help aid the video and the story it tells and the video also aids the lyrics in parts, i.e the chorus where the band are performing actions that directly relate to the lyrics in the chorus. This means there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals and also the music and the visuals. The band are portrayed as a 'cool' and 'fun' band and a little mischievous. There are many notions of looking and very few, if any, intertextual references.