Music Video Analysis- Bastille 'Good Greif'

Bastille 'Good Greif' music video

Bastille are an English indie rock band formed in 2010. The music video 'Good Greif' was released on 22nd June 2016 and as of 14th July 2016, it has 1,579,009 views. The duration is 3 minutes 56 seconds. The video is linked below:

Narrative/Performance

The narrative for this video doesn't really follow a clear story line, and so it leaves the audience a little unsure about the meaning as it doesn't really make a lot of sense, or reflect the lyrics. The disjointed storyline includes the repeated reference of girl, especially in a sexual way, which is Laura Mulvey's theory whereby females are objectified in front of the camera, due to a usually male cameraman. As well as this, there is the unusual frequent appearance of a Teddy, perhaps a child inference representing how woman can often be patronised, but this can be inferred in a number of ways. There is also the repeated appearance of a telephone, which seems to be significant in the video, as the lyrics 'I miss you' may be the lead singer trying to contact a ex partner. The video is mainly narrative based, but the performance element from the band comes later on in the video.

 

Representation between lyrics and visuals

The title 'Good Grief' is reinforced throughout the video, this is because the extreme images do make the audience think 'Good Greif' what is this? The storyline is quite disjointed and so the video doesn't really make a lot of sense. Furthermore 'Every minute of every hour' is used as a representation between lyrics and visuals, because the band look at their watches when this lyric is sang. On top of this, the lyric 'Each miss fire' shows the characters holding guns and suggests the act of violence. This lyric and visual cohesion is effective because it reinforces the lyrics for the audience.

 

Representation between music and visuals

There are a number of moments in the music video where their is a relationship between the music and visuals. For example, a girl is seen to be playing the drums, which emphasises the instrumental parts of the music. When the drums are the main part of the track that the audience hear, this is when we see the image of the girl on the drums, which I think is highly effective because it represents the instrument and the role it plays within the music composure. The video doesn't cut to the beat of the music, as again this portrays the randomness of this video. The editing of the video is also the same pace throughout; which is fast paced editing, as the tempo of the song is fairly quick. I think this is highly effective.

 

Camerawork

The camerawork throughout the video is particularly effective because it incorporates many different shot types. For example, the repeated shot of the mobile phone and the extreme close up shot of the telephone number dials are repeated throughout, which is effective because it really makes the audience question the significance of this.  Furthermore, the repeated shots of a naked woman is also questionable, sexualising women. There are also frequent shots of a naked women's breasts. This therefore portrays an image of the band that they sexualise women, and also presents voyeurism.

 

Mise en Scene and Editing

The editing in this music video is highly effective. This is because the head of the singer is just lying on a table, disconnected to the rest of his body. As well as this, a woman's body is changed through the use of editing into a forest landscape, representing nature. As well as this, slow motion is used to show the girls roller-skating, which gives a different feel to the music video. In terms of Mise en Scene, the costume varies depending on the scene, and isn't consistent due to the nature of the video. In addition, the lighting and colours are fairly bright to portray that the video is a happy one. Fast paced editing also fits the tempo of the music.

 

Intertexual References

Basille's video for 'Good Greif' is very different to the others, for example 'Things we lost in the fire' is completely different in the sense that it is set at night, and has a more clear storyline. On top of this, it doesn't sexualise women. However, the storyline is still slightly disjointed, which appears to be a running theme.

 

Conclusion

To conclude, this wasn't the video I expected this song to have when I first heard it. I don't think I like the style of this video, as it doesn't incorporate any cinematic features which I wish to include in my own video. Furthermore, I don't like the sexualising of women in the video, and there isn't a clear storyline. This video hasn't inspired me.