JB - Music Video Analysis #2

This video that I am analysing is called M.A.D by hadouken which was produced in 2009, the genre of this music is very mixed it has crossovers of electro, hip-hop and indie, I decided to use this in comparison to Jamie T as they are both British and both use a mixture of rap and indie. This music conforms to the genre of all of them as they use synthesisers for an electro sound, guitars drums and some of the vocals make it very indie but the majority of the vocals are rap which conform to hip hop.

Genre and narrative

The relationship of lyrics to visuals is an example of disjuncture as there is no true relationship, however there was illustration when 29 seconds in the lyrics are, bring it on," and there is some confrontation between the mouse and some people. This form of disjuncture could connote the rebellious acts of which the mouse is creating by not having a relationship between lyrics and visuals.

There is a relationship between the music and visuals, everytime the music goes back on itself there is an MS of the mouse walking down the road and it jumps cuts to him going further down the road, normally throughout the whole video there is a large guitar noise which appears to be the queue for a transition in shot. There is also a relationship which connotes the dispair of the mouse when the beat of the drum drops and then the cutting rhythm slows down.

Media Language

The majority of the shots in this music video are MS, MCU and Cu shots, this can help the audience into targeting the main storyline and identifying with the main character of the music video, the MS shots can give the audience a wider view of the mise-en-scene, the establishing shot depicts dingy backstreets of an urban english city as there is rubbish strewn all across the street, graffiti sprawled up the walls and windows boarded up as the mouse travels across the street through jump cuts, this gives the social status of this character and an insight into where he lives. Lighting in this video is all natural, this is as it is shot outside and want to give the realistic feel towards this, even though there is someone dressed up as a mouse, it can also give it a documentary style towards this for "Broken Britain." The editing pace varies throughout the song, this is due to the relationship between the music and visuals, like i said before, such as the flashbacks showing and MS of the character drinking and the cutting pace is slow due to lack of drum beats.

The intertextual references are all visual, which are based around cartoons, the main one being Tom and Jerry, there is a very post modern effect to this as it parodies it, Tom and Jerry is a famous childrens programme and they use this but put it in a context where there is a use of violence, alcohol and women.

Representation

This music video is something which is new and experimental for this band, all previous music videos of this band have them featuring in the music video, there is a slight cameo of some of the band in the music video, however it only lasted for a few seconds, this means that this does not add to their meta-narrative in anyway. However this could mean that they are trying to form a new meta narrative for them.

From the MS shots depicting the background of a dingy street can represent the lower social group, the mouse character can stereotypically viewed as lower class, which contrasts from the intertextual reference of tom and jerry, and have changed it by using accessories such as sovereign and keeper rings, which are linked with the social trend of "Chavs," there is also a bite out of his ear as well which connotes the ruggedness of the character.

There is a large ideological discourse with youth within the music video, mainly the ASBO lifestyle. We can identify that the mouse is representing youth as there is an MS shot of him presenting his I.D and then gets it rejected, this however all leads into violence with the mouse stamping on the head of the off lisence cashier and then takes the alcohol. Underage drinking also is an issue within this music video with him drinking on a street corner which is naturally framed by a boarded up door, which also links the ASBO culture to the lower class social status. There is also the relationship between the ages, such as the MS shot of the mouse kicking away the old ladys stick, this is reinforcing the dominant values about youth and peoples perception on they treat there older generations.

Institution and audience.

This music video can be consumed through ambient viewing, this is due to the fact that people can flick though channels and return, or tune in halfway through and still understand the meaning behind the music video as hoody culture is such a topical issue today. The channels which can be viewed from can vary, either from urban channels such as channel AKA or MTV base or music channels such as the hits or kiss.

As the band are not well known and are still in the process of making it big, the record labels have around the same say as the band do in the production of the music videos.

Here is this music video -