Luke Bryan – Drunk on you
Genre characteristics: (Country Genre) Countryside, horses, fields, pick up trucks, casual wear, natural looking, acoustic guitars, checked shirts. This music videos conforms to all of those stereotypes. For example the girl Luke Bryan is singing about is wearing a checked shirt when she is dancing on the pickup truck, which is set in the countryside. There are mid shots and close ups of the same girl in the crowd sitting on someone shoulders in the same checked shirt. There is another scene where Luke Bryan and his lover are in a horse stables petting/riding a horse, so that also conveys the country genre. His lover is very natural looking, with blonde hair, no excessive makeup and plain clothes, which matches the countryside stereotype. On stage Luke Bryan is playing a plugged in acoustic guitar whilst singing. His clothes are very casual, he is wearing dark jeans, a dark t-shirt and a baseball cap, this conveys the laid back style of the country genre.
Relationship between lyrics and visuals: During the first verse he speaks about a four wheel drive and then there is a straight cut straight after he says that to a long shot of a truck. He sings about summer time, being in love and he sings about the girl he loves who is wearing blue jeans ‘you’re lookin’ so good in what’s left of those blue jeans’, and in the video there are clips of his lover in blue jeans, it looks sunny and he says ‘dancin’ on the tailgate in a full moon’ which in some scenes the girl is dancing on the back on a pickup truck. I think it’s always important that there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals because it shows the audience what the artists perspective is of the song and conveys how they feel.
Relationship between music and visuals: It is full of regular straight cuts which connotes the genre of country as most country singers are casual and not all about their image. This makes the video easy to follow but is not very exciting. I think the relationship between the image and the music is important, as this music video is 50% performance based there are several shots of the artist singing and playing his guitar on stage showing off his talent. For example the first verse shows him playing his guitar and singing along, also it shows his band playing their instruments as well, this is important for the audience to see as it is almost like they are experiencing the concert themselves, but by having a narrative in this video it allows the audience to see his talent and his personality of him trying to be a romantic and finding the girl he loves. So this is vital for his target audience and fans that he already has, as it shows off everything good about himself.
Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs: There are close ups of the singer looking into the audience and midshots of the audience looking at him, so it shows a connection between his fans and himself. The close ups show expression in his face so the audience can see how he feels, because he’s singing about love and is quite emotional. This is important because it shows he sings with meaning and he may connect to his audience more if he shows his feelings.
Reference to the notion of looking: There is notion of looking because we can see the singer’s lover in the crowd watching him but he doesn’t realise that she is there. So the audience are happy knowing that the girl he wanted to find is at his concert and they will meet and it will have a happy and romantic outcome. Also it keeps the audience enthralled as they will want to know how it ends.
Intertextual references: It promotes his concerts because we can see everyone screaming and singing along. At the beginning Luke Bryans manager has an apple mac computer but the apple logo is covered by a sticker so they aren’t advertising it. Throughout most of the video especially when Luke Bryan is on stage, he is wearing a baseball cap by the brand 'New Era' as there are several mid shots of him which show the side of his cap and the logo for 'New Era'.
Performance based, narrative based or concept based?
50% Performance- A large amount of the music video shows concert footage, with Luke Bryan singing and playing his guitar, his band playing their instruments and there are shots of the audience singing along and dancing..
50% Narrative–The first shot of the music videos starts with a long shot of Luke Bryan performing on stage but there is a blurred affect and there is bold white writing which says ‘...TWO MONTHS LATER’ so straight away we can tell that the video has a narrative, but the audience does not know the plot yet. Also throughout the video there are straight cuts between Luke Bryan performing and his lover dancing. It also shows shots of him signing merchandise for his fans and taking pictures with them at the concert meet and greets. I think showing the footage of him meeting fans will appeal to his target audience and increase his fan base, as it shows he takes time out for them.
Your analysis of Goodwin's music theory demonstrates some understanding of the theory. You have identified the main points and you have also considered some examples to support your analysis.
ReplyDeleteTo make your analysis more detailed you need to:
1) Include screen shots to support the points that you are making
2) Explain why the relationship between the image and the music is important to the audience