The music video that I am analysing is American Rejects-Dirty Little Secret. It is directed by Marcos Siega is a film, television, commercial, and music video director. Siega working in various fields tells me that he is artist and passionate and I see these elements reflected in the video. The genre that this music video belongs to are: Indie and pop-rock. The broad characteristics of the genres that the music video has are: Close ups of the main singer to promote the artist and the band. Fast paced camera movement and editing. This gives the video more energy and speed. This captures pop-rock aspect. The use of montage editing emphasises the movement and gives greater impact in a reduced amount of time. Also the use of backlighting, gives more contrast. This gives Chiaroscuro lighting which makes the shots look visually interesting. Furthermore, there is use of crabbing and panning. This creates alot of movement. Finally, we see shots of the guitar and drums. This enforces the genre of rock. 2. The relationships that are shown between lyrics and visuals are when the use of Chiaroscuro lighting compliments the lyrics of ‘Dirty Little Secret’ as the more of the shadow we see the more that is hidden. Furthermore, when the singer says ‘Dirty Little Secret’ and 'just another regret,' corresponds with the viewing of the cards making it more interactive visually. ‘You are the only one who needs to know’. This emphasises the exhibitionism as we are being revealed everything. ‘Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret’. This to an extent contradicts the music video. ‘Who has to know’ We don’t see the people’s faces. This demonstrates that it doesn’t matter who knows. ‘Who has to know when we live such fragile lives it’s the best way to survive’ This phrase also contradicts with the visuals, as the singer sings ‘who has to know’ when we are presented with the secrets. Sometimes in the video we are presented with the other band members singing along or joining into the chorus. This demonstrates unity in the band. Near the beginning when the singer says ‘Tell me’ in a raised tone, the camera zooms in quickly. This really captures the raise in tone of the voice. There is a moment in the video when it comes out of the montage editing and the singer has paused from singing. Then there is a cut to a light bulb in the background and zooms out to have a view of the singer singing. This is a effective re-introduction from montage editing of the people.
The relationship between music and the visuals are presented in a manner that when we hear the sound of the drums or the guitar at certain points where they seem to overpower the music we see close ups or mid-shots of them. This compliments each other. Right at the beginning of the video the first of round of beats are played in a very fast pace complimenting this we see a very fast montage editing of people showing there secrets. During the chorus music, which is fast paced so it the camera movement and the editing. During the chorus we see fast tilts, pans, lots of cuts and close ups of the band members and instruments. This captures the speed very well. Another example of visual synchronization is when the music plays the cymbols. So does the drummer. Later in the video when the music has slowed pace so does the movement of the camera and the editing. Nearing to the end the music is slowing down to the point of stopping. We are shown the montage editing of the people showing their secrets but in reverse. Eventually the music stops and when this happens the camera zooms out and tilts down.
The image of the band that is given is of cohesion as we see that their costumes follow a dark tone which is similar. The record company is trying to sell the track as in the video we are shown cards with secrets that might identify the audience. This will make them engaged in this track. In their previous music video ’The all American reject - Swing, Swing’ their performance is based in a shed and around it. This may link with their original situation when starting out as a band. Furthermore, there are less people in the narrative part of the video. This suggests this video had a much lower budget as in their video for ‘Dirty Little Secret’ the performance was in a hall and there were a lot more people also more lighting. The video represents a change in image as the main singer has a different hair style and setting of the performance is different from the ‘Swing, Swing’ video.
There isn’t a notation of looking in the video but being seen, Exhibitionism. This is apparent as we see that the main singer is looking into the camera at times. This shows that he knows he is being watched. The camera work in the video is fluid or swoopy. This is very apparent in any form of rock music videos. Furthermore, the band is shown. Howver not as much as the lead does. The lead singer will give us a direct mode of adress. This engages the viewer and tells me that the director wanted to seel the band through the focus being on the lead singer.
The music video doesn’t have any intertextual references to engage the audience. However, it does show cards that reveal a person’s secret. The audience can identify with some of these secrets and be engaged. 7. The music video is performance based video. The performance aspects of the video are the band being on the stage and the people showing their secrets.
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