DEMONSTRATION LESSON IN ENGLISH 4 MATATAG CURRICULUM
Textual Analysis Document
1. Textual Analysis of Existing Products
1: Sleeping with Sirens “If You Can’t Hang”
The video I am analysing is by Sleeping with Sirens, and it is
called “If You Can’t Hang”. This genre of music is “Post-Hardcore”.
The main characteristics this video has, is the fact that the
video is shot in a big dark, wet room, and the band members are
playing their instruments aggressively in order to put across a point.
The band is playing in a waterlogged room, which has bright
white lights pointing at the camera.
The main concept of this song is the fact that it’s a male point of
view of a girl who can’t “Hang around” in a relationship. He’s
basically telling the girl, that if she isn’t in a relationship for the long
run, she might as well leave him.
This point of view is shown as quite an aggressive tone, as the
lead singer, as well as the rest of the band, play their instruments
harshly and almost “Scream” the vocals.
2. The music video has short, fast-paced cuts, which go from the
singer to the rest of the band and the background they are playing in.
The video’s cutting pace begins to slow down in the middle of
the song, as the song begins to slow into a breakdown section. The
video is then composed of long shots of the singer.
There are many close ups of the band in this music video, the
shots are of the band members, often screaming or looking
aggressive covered in water. The band members being aggressive in
water, could portray that even though they have been rained on
(Their clothes being wet, could also mean the girl in the relationship
3. has done something bad) they will always “fight” back, this is shown
by their aggressive behaviour while being soaking wet.
As you can see, this music video is completely performance
based, it is of all the members of the band, playing the song, in what
looks like, a waterlogged abandoned warehouse.
The main shots used in this music video are Close-ups of the
band members, and long shots of the background. Editing has been
used to create a fast-paced cutting action, which gives the whole
video a violent/angry feel to it, this is appropriate due to the song
being about an angry concept.
The band member’s body language is quite hostile, and tense.
4. 2: Violet “Perspectives”
The video I am analysing is by Violet, and it is called
“Perspectives”. This genre of music is “Post-Hardcore”.
The main characteristics this video has, is the fact that the
video is shot in a big dark, room, and the band members are playing
their instruments aggressively.
The band is playing in a large empty room (Apart from bands
equipment), which has bright white lights pointing at the band to
create a almost shadowy silhouette effect at the camera.
The video swaps from long shots to close ups to extreme close
ups regularly. The main pace of cutting together the shots is
relatively fast.
The close ups are of the band members face’s and their
instruments. There are often long shots of their silhouettes against
the plain white wall.
5. Throughout the music video, there are small “flashbacks” to a
woman who has minimal clothes on. This is to perhaps attract more
viewers, as from my survey I took on my target audience; it showed
more candidates would rather see music videos with “Hot Females”
in it.
The way she is dressed, and the way she acts and moves in the
frame, gives a seductive and suggestive tone. This would appeal to
more of the male audience rather than the female, due to the obvious
male to female attraction.
Typically, most post-Hardcore videos will have an angry tone,
in this video this is present, because of the way the band and singer
“plays” their instruments. This is because of the aggressive ways,
such as “Screaming the Vocals” and slamming their instruments
badly.
6. The band members have numerous tattoos and long hair,
which promotes the stereotype of the people who play and listen to
this genre of music.
The bands overall body language is “tense” and quite hostile to
the camera.
For example, the long hair and tattoos would fit with the
stereotype of an “Emo” person, which is part of my target audience.
This music video is dominantly performance based, however
has some shots of a slightly narrative nature of a barely clothed
woman showing suggestive nature.
The music video seems also to be putting across a message, it
seems the band are trying to show different perspectives of how
people see life, and see women. In the video it shows a shot of a
woman with some text saying “Addiction” on it, meanwhile the song
lyrics go harsh and extremely heavy. This could portray that his
addiction to women has almost driven the singer angry and saying
that all women are seductive and almost deceiving to be something
bad.
Towards the end of the song, the cutting speed between
different shots begins to slow down, as the music slows to a halt. And
this final shot is of the women slowly walking and fading away.
7. 3: Red Jumpsuit Apparatus “Your Guardian Angels”
The video I am analysing is by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus,
and it is called “Your Guardian Angel”. This genre of music is “Post-
Hardcore”. This is the original video to the song I am doing a music
video for.
The song is a depressive song about losing a girlfriend or a
loved one. This is shown clearly by the lyrics to the song.
The video starts off with the lead singer, in a small alleywayin a
room. He is holding a light bulb, which flickers, on and off. This could
portray that the light bulb is his “hope” because it is a depressive
song. His “Hope” could be his thoughts about maybe getting back
together with his girlfriend, but then reality hits him so the light bulb
goes back off.
The next shots are of the band, in a backstage area for a
show. It shows the entire band depressed so they have all most likely
“lost” someone. Even though they are in back stage, being in good
accommodation and treatment, it gives the impression that the band
is only happy with their girlfriend. This is shown by their looks into
the mirror throughout the video
8. Throughout the video, it shows the band on their
Instruments, playing the song with a depressed look on their face.
In the music video, it shows more shots of the band staring into
mirrors, with the lyrics, they give the joint effect of that he is staring
back into his past, thinking about the mistakes he had made to lose
his girlfriend.
9. The main shots used in this music video, are close ups,
extreme-close ups, long shots and mid shots. These are mostly all at
the band and their instruments and equipment.
Later in the music video, the music video turns into a more
heavy and performance based song and video this is shown by the
band walking onto stage and playing live, in front of a crowd.
The overall body language of the band members is quite
depressive, as it seems they are hurt over losing their girlfriend,
however at the end, when they are playing to a crowd, it shows they
are fighting back the depression. This gives the impression that
however bad your depression gets, you can get right back up after
losing something important to you.
The ending shot is of the lead singer, back in the original first
shot in the alleyway, holding a light bulb, which is bright. The shot
then fades to black and the song ends. This gives the impression that
the band is back to normal and no longer depressed and that their
hope is back high again.