Analysis of Chosen Artist's Previous Music Video

Our chosen artist does not have any previous music videos. Therefore, I have chosen to analyse a song in a similar genre, which also has the same name and topic, Insomnia.



Genre
The genre of both the video and the artist is electronica. The video does not have much of a narrative, which can be common in electronica music videos, however, it doesn't happen in all of them.

The use of colour to illustrate certain shots is expected from electronica music videos. However, it is unexpected that most of the video is in black and white, as most are very colourful.

Visual Codes
The video is set in an urban area - some alleys and streets - as well as a dark room. The dark room could connote that he feels trapped as he can't sleep. This is evidenced by the lyrics, "Insomnia please release me".

The video does not look like modern electronica music videos as it was made in 1995. However, there are aspects that are similar to modern videos. For instance, they have used colour to highlight certain parts of the video - most of the video is in black and white but they have used selective colour on red and orange colours of certain shots.
The artist's body language connotes that he is tired, due to his lack of sleep.

Technical Codes
There are some shots in this video that are close ups on the singer, and they pull focus before cutting to the next shot. This connotes how he struggles to find focus as he is so tired from not sleeping.

The editing is quite fast paced, which is common in electronica music.


Organisations
There are several close ups of the artist's face in this video, which could be due to the record company insisting that they be in the video. Record companies often require a certain number of close ups for the artist to make sure that they are well known and easily recognisable.

Audience
The audience for this video would be from 14-25, B,C,D, both male and female. This is because the song, and its video, encourage dancing, which is popular among this demographic.

Nowadays, the video targets its audience by being available on YouTube, which is very popular among its target audience. However, when the song was release, it would likely have reached its audience through music channels on TV, such as MTV.

The fans were not as instrumental in promoting this video as with modern electronica music videos. This is because it was only available on TV, radio, etc. Although people could watch it and recommend it to friends, it would not have been shared as quickly as the near-instant filesharing social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter.


Narrative
This video does not have a particular narrative. It features the artist in several different locations, singing the lyrics.

There is no recognisable structure, such as Todorov's theory:

1. Equilibrium
2. Disruption of Equilibrium
3. Recognition of Disruption
4. Attempt to repair
5. New Equilibrium

The video reflects the lyrics as it is mostly in black and white, which is very dull, symbolising the dullness of insomnia. Also there are some shots that slowly go out of focus, symbolising the struggle to stay focused.


Analysing this video will help me when making my own, as it is in the same genre as the song we have chosen. This means that we will be able to use it as a reference to make sure that our video fits in with the genre's codes and conventions.