Genre: Indie Pop.
Director: Andrew Nowrojee - RCA Records.
San Cisco are a four-piece Australian Indie Pop band who describes their vibe as "squelchy, crispy, streamlined, hairy, indie". The two main band members Jordi Davieson (main vocals) and Scarlett Stevens (bass and vocals) play the main characters in the narrative scenes of the music video. Even though this is a performance based video the two members still act out some of the lyrics providing a meaning behind the song in addition to lip-synching throughout. The performance conventions are accentuated by the close-up shots of the lead singers faces where shallow depth of field has been used making the background blurred and out of focus. Close-up shots of the guitar and drums being played are also included emphasizing the musical elements of the video and song. Scarlett Johnson subverts the stereotypes that women usually just stand there and look pretty whilst singing as she plays the drums. Usually men in Indie Pop bands play the drums and other musical instruments which does not happen in this video.
Little special effects have been used making it obvious that this video was produced on a low budget. The entire duration of the video has been filmed in a white film studio where the artists are simply performing to the camera. Richard Dyer's star theory has been subverted in this video as the artists have not been manufactured for financial gain, as they appear like normal everyday teenagers. The artists are able to relate to their target audience who would be male and females aged 13-25. The artists wear causal clothing including black skinny jeans, denim jackets and trainers instead of expensive designer clothing or extravagant costumes. Both the Pop and Indie elements are presented in this video - a boy and girl who are clearly attracted to each other is a Pop genre convention however the performance style of playing instruments and the use of a simple location is typical of the Indie genre.
There are intertextuality references in this video through the use of instant messaging, a type of communication used on social media. The boy and girl choose to communicate this way over their phones instead of having a proper conversation, even though they are positioned parallel to one another. A crab shot is used to show the conversation between the two of them which mimics our head movements when we listen to a conversation between two people. I feel the band are playing on the idea that the only way teenagers of today's society communicate is through technology. The instant messaging bubbles read the lyrics of the song making the lyrics conversational and casual, which are inserted in time with the vocals of the song 'I got your message last night'.
In this video I feel men and women are represented as equals, neither sex is dominate or overpowering in this video. However it can be argued that the storyline makes males appear more powerful as it is about a boy who stalks a girl in order to seek her affection for him, however she is disinterested.A certain section of the video has been edited to the timing of the drum beat. Short random clips of extreme close-ups of the artists and a dog have been used adding a sense of narrative to the performance based video.
This video successfully presents the band as 'normal' with no superior celebrity status due the personas evoked and the expenses of the video. This video would appeal to the target audience of male and females aged between 13-25 due to the fun and low-key style of the video and the catchy music.
No comments:
Post a Comment