Review of Past Years Music Video

Group R1-10 Naive



The song Naïve, by The Kooks fits into the indie rock genre. The song accompanying the video above isn’t the original but a cover by a female. The video complies with the indie and alternative rock genre, as it is a light video. The live cover suits the indie rock genre as many artists take on the do it your-self approach.

The video is set in Cambridge. The first shot of a girl in a telephone box in town establishes the setting. The girl makes her journey through the park and back into town.

The performance aspect of the music video is the girl singing as she walks along. The performance is integrated into the narrative of the video, as she walks past the three different couples and their situations unfold.

There are many shaky close-up shots throughout the video of the girl singing. The shakiness captures the feeling of her walking. There are many different shots of the girl as she makes her journey such as wide, medium, tracking bird’s eye and worms eye view. Shots of the girl’s feet feature throughout, as she walks on different surfaces she encounters. This variation of shot’s of the singer keeps it interesting. There are also many different shot of the couples for the same reason. Close-ups and over the shoulder shots are used when the couples are in conversation so the viewer can see.

The editing is subtle so it doesn’t overpower the music video. Black sections at the top and bottom frame the video. The black section at the bottom allows for the white subtitles to be seen that accompanies shots of the couples. These subtitles tell the viewer what is going on or what people are saying as dialogue can’t be heard. There are many quick cuts to keep shots brief. The video ends with a fade out.

The lyrics and visuals amplify each other. For example the chorus is consistently accompanied by shots of the couples. The music and visuals also compliment each other. For example the song starts once the girl turns her mp3 on and prior to this we only hear the ambient sound of the town. Another examples is the girl walking to the beat of the music.

The video meets the demand of record labels, as it incorporates lots of close-ups of the artist.

The video is an effective story drive video that follows some one on a journey. This makes it similar to what we plan to do. Like in this video we plan to integrate the performance with the narrative. We will do this by using the same person to sing and act.

Sarah