music vid analysis 2

Textual Analysis of Music Video:
Giggs Ft. The Streets- Slow Songs

-the video opens with two scruffy looking characters, male and female, walking out of a dirty and trashy flat, with the artist sitting down in the flat in the background
- The audience are introduced to the artist with a close up shot of him sitting down holding what seems to be a photo whilst narrating the lyrics, the artist is featured in a lot of close up shots I think that this helps the audience relate to the artist on a more personal level
- the relationship between the visuals and the lyrics work very well. The lyrics seem to speak about the artists troubled past and what is currently happening to him, and the visuals seem to portray the more depressing side to these lyrics e.g the location the artist is sitting in is in a trashy house with rubbish and used drug paraphernalia scattered around the room
- there are close up shots of the artist setting fire what appears to be photos and letters, this is significant because it can possibly show that the artist is quite literally burning away his memories and hard times.
- the two scruffy characters at the start of the video appear again and this time they are stopping the artist from walking to the door, these two characters are significant because they are filmed in black and white which signifies to the audience that they are possibly the ghosts of his past trying to hold him back from success
-The second artist of the song is introduced later in the video, he approaches the house the other artist is in and narrates his lyrics to the audience while he waits outside the house
- as the second artist waits in front of the broken window narrating his lyrics, the first artist seems to be arguing and fighting with the two scruffy characters mentioned before
- it is my belief that the second artist represents the first artists new life and act as a deliverer from his troubled past to lead him to pastures new, all of these characteristics justify how well the lyrics and the visuals match. The relationship between the two is quite simple as the visuals seem to document the depression and poverty that the lyrics speak and deal with
-the song is quite slow so the editing of the different cuts and shots are also quite slow paced and easy to follow, I think that this has been used to allow the audience to engage into the artists story.
- a sence of voyeuristic behaviour is present in this video when the second artist is looking through the window at the other characters arguing and fighting, this is documented in a point of view shot and gives the audience to see the story through an outsiders point of view. Also when the first artist looks into the broken mirror to see himself may represent him looking into his own broken soul/life.
This video has a delicate balance of performance and narrative and also seems to mix the two together giving us a performance with the narrative in the background. This is significant because it allows the audience to engage with the artist’s story on a more personal level and feel empathetic towards him as he speaks about a sensitive subject, his troubled past.