Music video analysis- The Last Shadow Puppet's 'Bad Habits'

The Last Shadow Puppets 'Bad Habits'

The Last Shadow puppets released 'Bad Habits', the first single off their album 'Everything You've Come to Expect' which was released in April 2016. The single 'Bad Habits' was actually released prior to the album, and so the video for the single was uploaded to YouTube on 10th January 2016. As of June 3rd 2016, Bad Habits has 3235010 views. The Last Shadow Puppets are signed to Domino Records, an independent British label based in London, to which the Arctic Monkeys are also signed to.

 

Narrative

Bad Habits is the first video uploaded to YouTube by TLSP since 2008. The video almost acts as a reintroduction back into the 'music scene' as the narrative at the beginning, suggests that not many people know who they are as they have been gone for so long. A voice says 'I think these guys wanna play a song' suggesting that they aren't really known in the area they are playing. The narrative is based in a city, in a pub, but also features a girl, who is associated with the 'bad habit'. The story line isn't very clear but this may be what the band were trying to portray. It could be due to the 'bad boy' image, the confusion perhaps associated with being intoxicated, being one of the bad habits which is reinforced by the title.

Camera

At the beginning of the video, an establishing shot which pans in is used. This sets the location of the video; a city.

Establishing shot, which pans in of the city.

Long shots are used as well, combined with close up shots of the band and their instruments. This reinforces the typical conventions of indie bands focusing their videos around their music and instruments, conveying how they write and play their own music. The repetition of the guitar throughout the music video is really effective because it portrays the instruments sued, and the importance of them too.

Close up shot of guitar.

As well as this, extreme close up shots are used to show both the signers faces, combined with a two shot. In this case, the singers star in the video as the main characters, but often in indie rock bands they will use an actor to portray a narrative.

Extreme close up/ two shot.

The camera follows the band members, an the camera isn't very stable. This gives the feel that this isn't a 'staged' video, that they are performing as if the camera isn't there, perhaps from the viewpoint of a fan. It also gives a more rustic, indie feel to the video which is the look the band are going for.

 

Editing

The editing throughout the video is fast paced, which fits the tempo of the music well. It also represents the hectic lives bands in the spotlight lead. As well as this, straight cuts are used to transition from one shot to another, which is a common convention of music videos. Blue lighting is used at the beginning of the video, but when the music kicks in after the crescendo, the lighting flashes red. This is repeated throughout the video, the use of colour is very effective. The blue toned effects are used in the pub, but when the inserts of footage are used, which are of the girl, the editing is red toned. Red has connotations of danger, and so this could reflect the danger from the bad habit, which could be the girl. The use of colour separates the two different scenes.

The blue toned scenes are slightly faded too, which creates that indie feel. 

Mainly red editing, with overlaps of footage fading over one another.

Mise en Scene

The main outfits throughout this video are casual clothing, combined with leather jackets. This portrays a indie look.

Leather jacket as his outfit.

In terms of lighting, mainly low key lighting is used in the inserts, to convey a sensual atmosphere, but in the pub when they are performing, the lighting is high key, in some places it is overexposed making the footage fuzzy, but this was intentional to create the indie-rock look. Other props include the instruments, cigarettes, and the girls are seen to be wearing leather gloves in some parts of the video.

The glove is removed to reveal a girls hand.

 

What I learnt:

Through the analysis of this video, I have realised that using colour is very effective, if used in the right way. Furthermore, being consistent with  and shots gives the video a much more professional finish. I think this video portrays the band's image really well, it is particularly engaging and effective because of the different inserts and usage of colour, and has given me inspiration for my own video.