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Music Video Deconstruction - Hellogoodbye - Bonnie Taylor Shakedown

Genre and Narrative

Hellogoodbye are a power pop band, power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical features such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instruments usually include one or more electric guitars, an electric bass guitar, a drum kit, and sometimes electric keyboards or synthesizers. While its cultural impact has waxed and waned over the decades, power pop is among rock's most enduring subgenres. The songs tend to be upbeat, and so a video for the song must be happy, lively and upbeat. For example at the weather is sunny, there is dancing, skipping and general playful behavior. The instruments are not shown in this particular video, the nature is more that of a boy bands video, this is done perhaps in jest as other hellogoodbye videos are heavily performance based . There are relationships between the lyrics and the visuals. This can be seen when he says ‘when you know that I am yours and you are mine’ he points to himself and then the camera in relation to the lyrics and to grap the attention of the viewer and it then cuts to close up of him looking at the camera. This is done many times throughout the video and with other lines in the song. He begins to click in time with the music and this shows a simplistic part of performance for the track. The chorus is more upbeat and lively than the rest of the song, and is shown in the video as more people are in the shots, they are dancing jumping around, and having a good time. There are many shots of the whole band, to show them as a band rather than individuals; it also plays along with the joke of the boy band idea of the video. The idea of impersonating boy band videos with the band walking alongside each other towards the camera could be considered post modern and relating to the many boy bands of the 90s, that the band would have been fully aware of in their teenage life.

Media Language

There are a lot of close ups and meat shots shown of the band in this video. The main reason for these would be to show off the bands appearance and to allow the fans to become familiar with their image. There are close ups on the lead singer and of vest and head band and different attire. This shows hes being energetic, and could also be to represent the joggers stereotypically found along California’s beaches. The majority of the video is filler shots of the band, with the lead singer singing to the camera. Most of these shots are mid shot and the occasionally pan of the band is added when they are standing on the pier. is a zoom from mid shot to close up on the girls that he likes face. This is to show how she has an attractive body and then to show how attractive her face is. There are long shots of Forrest looking at the girl in a loving manner. Later the song becomes more upbeat, there are more people in the shots, there are wider shots, of the people dancing on the pier, more pans, and the camera moves continually there are also close ups of the girls doing a dance routine and shots of the man dressed as a beer bottle, particularly when he does the worm across the floor.

Representation

The band are represented as fun and lively in this video. This is shown in their appearance, and the little things the rest of the band do when following the lead singer around, such as ‘what up gurl’ on their hand, hand gestures and peculiar walks. Also the man dressed as a beer bottle, and the man dressed in a brightly colored poncho, shows their outgoing and party like behavior. This should help sell the song and the band to a younger audience because it shows that they are a fun band and quite outgoing like most teenagers seem to be these days. In this video the band are represented as teenagers. teenagers are represented as rebellious and also fun loving, the talk of love and romance is also a top topic in many teenage pop songs..

Institution and Audience

This video would be consumed by an ambient audience. The reason for this would be because it has no narrative that you dont have to see it from the start of the video and people flicking through channels would be able to pick up from anywhere in the song or may find the video interesting. Also this video would be good for fans because fans love to interact and get to know what the band look like and the characteristics of the members. This would be viewed on a mainstream channel because Hellogoodbye have quite a large fan base. The band would have a minimal role in the creation and promotion of this the record label would have done most of the production this text is one of the bands first hits from their older album. The record label would want to promote the band and do so by producing a fun loving video that is entertaining and relevant to the band and song.

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