Music video that I am going to analyse is by All American Rejects – Dirty Little Secrets, it was directed by Marcos Siega and the genre of this song is POP rock which differs from the Rock genre by being more mainstream and use light hearted themes to relate to the audience. Additionally the music video itself is performance based. This means that the band focuses more on the actual performance in their video rather than narrative or the actual concept. There is however, despite it being more performance based, a direct relationship between the lyrics and the video itself that makes it more entertaining for the audience rather than just watching the band perform. Example of this can be found across the whole video, there are close up shots of flash cards being held by different people with different writing on them and most of them are in fact ‘Dirty Secrets’ or just things a person would not tell their friends or relatives.
During the chorus ‘I’ll keep you my dirty little secrets’ there would always be a zoom in on a flash card which has a secret written on it. This creates a challenge for the audience, creating curiosity as to what is actually written on the flash cards. Furthermore because the song is about ‘Dirty Little Secrets’ some people in the music video have their faces blurred, covered with a bag or covered by the flash card itself, this represents their humiliation over their secrets. In addition to this the lyrics contradict the music video because the audience gets to read peoples secrets and there is a verse that says ‘Don’t tell anyone or it will be just another reject’. During the close-up shots of the lead singer, he makes direct eye contact with the camera at certain times. He is fully aware he is being watched and this suggests the band being exhibitioned to the audience. On the other hand it’s only the lead singer who makes direct eye contact with the camera, but when there are mid shots and close up shots of other performers from the band, none of them do so. This emphasises the importance of the lead singer in this music video.
The editing of the music video is fast paced with slow camera movements and panning shots/close up shots of the flash cards, giving the audience time to read. There is a guitar solo along with drums playing and close up shots on the performers from 2:04 to 2:16 and during this time there are close up shots of the guitar solo performer along with two more flash cards and the drum player, there is no singing present during that time. During the chorus the pace speeds up and comes back to its original pace during the verse. There are a number of different camera work used like crabbing, tracking and panning shots when showing the flash cards, this helps the audience see the location of the person holding the flash card, as well as chiaroscuro lighting is used on these people to represent their dark secrets, the members of the band are also performing in a dark area which suggests that they also have dark secrets. The background of the stage is covered in the flash cards that are being shown in close up throughout the whole music video; this may suggest that some of them may relate to the members of the band.
There are a few similarities between the band’s music videos and as comparison I have decided to look at one of their other songs ‘Move Along’. Both of these songs belong to the same genre, however ‘Move Along’ has a much faster pace and faster montage editing, this is due to the different meanings behind the songs. However there are a few similarities between the two music videos. For example: Montage editing and close up shots of the lead singer. The close up shots are very important when promoting the band and in both videos close up shots are not only used on the lead singer but also on the other members of the band, although they may not be close up shots, the use of mid shots of other members of the band emphasises the importance of the lead singer. The similarities between these videos would be due to the fact that they are both the same genre and already have an existing audience that would watch the music video and have to be familiar with their style in order to be challenged by any rapid change.
The music video is influenced by a photographer which took pictures of people holding up flash cards with different meanings behind them. Making it very simple and straightforward. This could be due to the target audience being teenage girls/boys that would be more interested in the actual ‘Dirty Secrets’ that people may have and possibly even relate to them. Additionally the intertextual references in the other music video are unclear or may not be present, which further backs up my point about the band being more performance based rather than narrative or concept based and actually treating the music video like a live concert with a few extra shots of different concepts to make the video more entertaining and interactive for the audience. Seeing as it would be rather challenging to create a music video that would be interesting and challenging for the target audience as they are very likely to get bored and not watch the music video so instead there is more emphasis on the performance.
In conclusion this music video would attract the target audience by being original and simple, it would also make the audience actually engage with the video by attempting to read what is written on the flash cards. The song itself is very catchy and fast pace with the video being able to keep up with the pace but at certain points there are slow camera movements in order for the audience to be able to read the flash cards.
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