Genre: Indie Pop
Director: Daniel Brereton - Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited
Swim Deep are an indie pop/dream pop/funk rock/baggy/neo-psychedelia band formed in 2011 in Birmingham, England. Currently signed to Sony Records, they released their debut album 'Where The Heaven Are We' in August 2013, followed by their second album 'Mother's in October 2015, which is of a different music style as it includes elements of acid house, psychedelia and krautrock.
The music video is a hybrid of both narrative and performance style, which are combinned at the end of the video. The video opens with narrative scenes of young pretty girl in the location of a white, clean kitchen. The innocence of the character is portrayed by the white connotations of purity and innocence depicted from her blonde hair, white costume and location. The scene is very simplistic and fresh looking illustrating the ordinary basic life of the character. However the girl is seen to be almost sexualised due the way she slowly licks her finger which appears seductive. The confirms to Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' theory in which the audience is positioned from the perspective of a heterosexual man, looking at women in a sexualised manner. This maintains male audience members attention whom dominant indie music demographics, therefore it is important to keep them interested in the video by featuring a young pretty girl. This close-up shot shows the actress visually illustrating the lyrics and title of the song 'Honey' which she eats, creating a connection between the song and video. This confirms to Andrew Godwin's music video theory that there is a relation between music and visuals, where the character does exactly what the songs says. The conventions of dark dingy lighting used in indie music videos is subverted, as extremely bright, natural lighting is used creating a uplifting and light hearted atmosphere.
The performance segments of this music video feature all four band members performing the song via vocals and instruments, a convention confirmed to of the indie genre. This is emphaised through the close-up shots of the artists, particularity lead singer Austen Williams and instruments of guitar and drums.The artists wear typical indie clothing, including band t-shirts, skinny jeans, shaggy long hair, bare feet and also being topless. The very casual informal clothing reflects the care-free and relaxed nature of artists, following the meaning behind the song of being and believing in yourself. The artists are seen having fun by being rebellious via reckless behaviour of throwing colourful paint and destroying the filming set, very much 'rock n roll' behaviour. The array of colourful paint reflects the dream pop and neo-psychedelia genres in which Swim Deep's work comes under due to the neon colours and artistic arrangement. It is clear to see the video has been produced on a low budge (conventionally for indie videos) due to basic location of a studio, the simplistic style and lack of special effects.
At the end of the video, the two separate narrative and performance scenes are combined into the same segment. The innocent young girl seen at the beginning is now with the band who begins to also become rebellious due the band's influences. This presents the band's star image as very fun, showing that if you spend time with them your insured to have a good time. The actress has changed her clothes to more trendy clothing, consisting of all black connoting a loss of innocence. There is also a significant change in hair and make-up which is more messy and relaxed, representing her freedom and youth. Together, the band and actress throw paint at each other creating a rainbow of bright colours creating a uplifting atmosphere. The basic location of a studio and the narrative reflects the low budget of the video, a convention of the indie genre. This connotes how you do not need a lot of expenses to have fun which Swim Deep successfully portrays. The audience is positioned to feel jealous of the amount of fun the artists are having, encouraging them to listen to more of their music or attend one of their live gigs.
No comments:
Post a Comment