The 1975 | The Sound Analysis

Analysis of the The Sound - The 1975

The Sound is a music video created by the band The 1975. This is a modern and new music video which was released on February 25th 2016. The video was directed by Tim Mattita. 

Relationship between visuals + lyrics

There is a direct link between the visuals and the lyrics in this music video. The visuals help the viewer have a more clear view and idea of what the song is trying to say and the video portrays the meaning of the video in a good clear way. The band are present in this video and the lead singer is there to deliver the message of the video. The lyric 'you say im such a cliche' this links to the story of the song and video because the general idea is that they are recognising their critics and turning the tables on them

Genre Characteristics 

The 1975 as a whole do not fit into any specific genre, they make lots of different styles of music, but for this song they have gone down the pop route and the song fits perfectly in the pop genre. The video does and doesn't follow conventions for a pop music video. One of the reasons why this video does not follow conventions is because it has a deeper meaning and idea behind it which isn't common for a lot of pop music videos. Usually they will just be dancers or the artist performing however in this video it is all related to a deeper idea and meaning which gets the audience engaged and feel more invloved. The reason why this video does follow the conventions of many pop videos is that it has a performance from the band, this is very common for a pop music video and because of this it will fit into the pop category for a music video.

Intertextuality 

In this video there are other aspects of culture referenced, the types of culture and media which are referenced are music critics and reviews and also social media. Because the main plot to the music video is about recognising their critics and music reviews, some quotes for these reviews are placed on the screen, here are some examples.

There is also links to social media and the modern age of technology, they do this by showing a women taking a picture of the band performing and this is a link to the modern age where everyone is judging and taking pictures rather than just experiencing and enjoying whats happening infant of them, it links to the argument about people recording videos and taking pictures instead of just enjoying it. There is also a link to a TV talent show such as X factor when at the end the band are sat on chairs looking into the cube like they are judges.

Performance, Narrative and Concept 

The majority of the video is a performance of the band in a small cube, their performance looks like a genuine performance just scaled down, there is a lot of shot variation of the performance from extreme close ups of the band members to wide shots of the whole band performing.

Shot Types - this music video features a lot of different shot types which vary throughout the video here are some examples of the shot types used:

 Extreme Long Shot

 Extreme Close Up

 Mid Shot

 Long Shot

Medium Close Up

 Close Up

 Cut-In

Cutaway

The pace of the music video noticeably changes throughout the song, the speed between shots is a lot quicker and happens a lot faster in the chorus of the song than the verses, at some parts of the chorus shots are on the screen fro less than 1 second. The overall pace of the video is very quick and it has to be to fit the song because the song is very fast and upbeat.