1. Analysis of a professional music video Foo Fighters – Times Like These
2. Key Information The song “Times Like These” was released on January 20th in the year 2003, there are two different versions of the song, the album version which is 4:26 long and the acoustic version which is 3:55 long. The song itself was recorded in May 2002. The song was written by Dave Grohl, who is part of the band. The song itself isn't aimed towards any type of age or gender in particular but towards the fans of that genre. There are 3 versions of the music video, however I am doing the second version, directed by Marc Klasfeld, the video was filmed in Victorville, California.
3. Genre The genre of the product is identified quickly by the music playing, as well as the lip synching, close ups and band shots. This also helps identify the main performer, Dave Grohl as he is both the lead guitarist and singer, therefore many close ups are of him. The main give away to which genre the song is the instruments, the song starts and the first thing you can hear is an electric guitar strumming. The band also help identify the genre as there is a lot of black clothing.
4. Narrative Structure The music video starts with an establishing shot of the band under a bridge, this sets the position for the rest of the video. Then a girl appears on the bridge and throws her game boy, this then happens with more and more people throwing items off of the bridge. Two cars are dropped off of the bridge at the same time, resulting in clouds of smoke and fire behind the band. Towards the end of the video a crane drops a 1 storey house onto the band, the house then falls apart, revealing the band.
5. Visual Style The camerawork shows loads of close ups and band shots, these show the lip synching and the band playing together. There are many fast cuts, this ties in with the tempo of the song. The mise en scene of the video is; The costume worn by the band is that of a typical rock band, this includes black clothing and jeans. This gives the impression that the band aren't too caring of their appearance. Lighting: the music video has natural light, this is because the music video is filmed outside in a sunny location, California. As said above for the costume the band aren't too caring of their appearance so hair and make up isn't a big part in the music video. Props: there are many props used in the video, these include all of the items that were thrown off the bridge, as well as the instruments that the band are playing. The setting of the music video is clear as the band are always around the bridge, whether they are under it or in front of it.
6. Character Representation The band in the video aren't represented in any particular way, as they are more about the music than on their image, this is shown by the way that not a lot is done about their appearance.
7. What Makes it Successful? The music video is seen to be successful as many people like it and the song, this could be down to the idea in the video, this is because the idea hasn’t been done to my knowledge, all of the points on the before slides contribute to its success.
