Music Video Analysis. "Letlive. – Renegade 86"

Like the band I am studying, ‘letlive.’ are classed as a pop/punk band who a lot like ‘Strangle Kojak’ are quite an unknown band, who depend purely on viral ads for the selling of their music. In a lot of their music videos like the video for “Renegade 86”, they have included a portion of performance into their music video, which is seen as quite redundant for this specific genre of music. The theorist, Pete Fraser, could be used here, as he said that the element of performance was vital. The video includes many close ups and low angle shots of the lead singer in particular, as it forms a connection from artist to audience, it also allows the audience to get the lyrics across to the audience, as we can see the artist himself singing them. A lot like in Strangle Kojak videos, audience participation is used within letlive’s music videos, which is again seen as a very redundant way of making music videos, as it brings the audience into the music itself. Jump cuts are used between band members as they are running through the streets, showing no time lapse. The use of slow motion is used constantly in this specific music video every time the beat in the music changes, which allows the audience to ‘see the music’. This is used a lot in many music videos, not just for this genre, as it’s a good way for the audience to connect with the artist and the track. For example, as the beat changes near the end of the music, the whole band jump in the air and land as the beat ends, this again, allows the audience to see the music. Like most ‘boy-bands’ now, a large proportion of their fans and audiences are female based, but for this specific genre of music, it changes to a mixed audience type of female and male, as the music itself attracts both genders, which is a generic idea I’d like to use for my own music video. Synaesthesia is also used within this music video as the movement of the camera throughout the video is motivated by the band running through the streets, which keeps the video itself fast moving and pacey to match the songs tempo. The fast cutting between band members and audience during the performance segment of the video emphasises the quick pace and youth of the audience and the band, connoting the young feel of the music itself. Quick panning is used as the camera pans around during the performance, showing high angle shots of the audience listening to the band, cutting away during quick shots of the audience dancing or participating within the performance itself – again, showing the pacey movement of the video. Generically, it is a very typical ‘pop/punk’ video, as it shows close ups the leader vocalist throughout the video, an element of performance nearer the end of the video, audience participation throughout and a series of jump cuts connoting the quick pace of the music video and the band themselves. The final shots show a long shot of the band performing, which eventually fades to black. Through the performance itself, lowlighting is used apart from a few glimpses of colour as other lights are used, which focuses of the fast pace of the music, as the colours change quite rapidly, along with the tempo.