MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSISTHE KOOKS – FORGIVE AND FORGET

Goodwins Theory1) Music videos demonstrates genre

characteristics2) There is a relationship between lyrics and

visuals3) There is a relationship between music and

visuals4) Music video meets demands of the record

label

Music videos demonstrates genre characteristics

The ‘Forgive and Forget’ video by The Kooks heavily uses the conventions of generic indie music videos. One way that the music video demonstrates genre characteristics is through the editing. The video uses minimal lighting, and is edited using a low toned filter. Indie music videos usually use darker colours such as black and grey to convey emotion. Mise en scene also demonstrates characteristics in a similar way as the artists are wearing all black. Another way that this music video uses conventions of the indie genre is through the performance aspect. A lot of indie videos use performances, especially with musical instruments to showcase their talent to their fans.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals

Because this music video is solely performance based, there isn’t a very prominent link between the lyrics and visuals. However there are subtle hints of a relationship in some parts of the video. For example, when the artist sings “Frankie plays the guitar”, there is a close up shot of a guitar.

Another subtle hint at the relationship between lyrics and visuals in the video is when the artist sings the lyrics “Can we get a little higher?”, the back up dancers lift their arms in the air.

There is a relationship between music and visuals

Aside from the dancing in the music video, there isn’t much of a relationship between music and visuals because it is so performanced based.

At some specific moments in the video when a musical instrument is heard, a visual of the corresponding instrument is shown. For example, there are guitar sounds throughout the video, and at many points it cuts to images of a guitar.

At the end of the song there is a fast paced drum solo. In the music video, the camera uses a tracking shot to spin in circles really quickly, creating quite a distorted feel.

Music video meets demands of the record label

The music video meets the demands of the record label through the use of camera angles. There are a lot of close ups of the artists and of them playing musical instruments. The close ups of their faces create recognition for the audience, whilst the close ups of the instruments market the artists because it shows that they have talent.