Textual analysis of a music video before i was born

The video begins with a rather faded background with two hands switching on and off a light bulb with quite a cold, white light. This could temporal link to the music as the bulb lights up each time the music has a beat. It's a simple rhythm at the start which links to the simplistic scene that lacks colour and features a few moths flying around the bulb.


The next few shots shown after that are extreme close ups of rapidly blinking eyes of different people to symbolise the music building up slightly more. The colour of the scene is a lot brighter with yellows and primary colours of the eyes and clothing standing out. As the eyes blink rapidly, women in bikinis swim around on a pool, smiling. The sound and mise-en-scene on this is nicely linked through Goodwin's theories of the nice up beat tune and the bright scenery of women sunbathing and having fun on a summery day.



The lead singer of the band, Damon, is then standing in a tilted, close up shot with the same enhanced colour as before. He looks directly in the camera and winks while the green screen behind him displays different pub signs, architecture and neon signs. This presents the common culture of what people tend to do and see on holiday. As Damon sings "Following the heard." The green screen behind him shows many people queuing up to get onto an elevator. This links to Goodwin's theories as it shows the lyrics of the song and the footage of the music video closely related.



The mise-en-secne of the video displays the band members in long, baggy sports jackets and jeans with hair quite messy. As the music video goes along, different people begin to wear plain white T-shirts with words of the lyrics printed onto them in black lettering. this showing the relation of the song to the video.

From the mise-en-scene, it is clear that the music video is representing the band as youthful and rebellious.


The editing of the video flickers between scenes of people partying in a nightclub to men and women drinking, having fun by the pool and going down waterslides. All this happens in moments as the band stands and plays in front of the screen and images moving around. All this symbolises the fun atmosphere the music producers want you to feel.


A lot of arch shots are used particularly around Damon and the rest of the band as they play. The band members jump around with their guitars and dance in time with the beat.