“Mr Brightside” is a song performed by the Las Vega s
The video is inspired by the film “Moulin Rouge” and thus is set in a burlesque show. The music video could be described as a 'typical Moulin Rouge extract'. The video tells the story of a love triangle between the lead singer, actor and actress. This supports the use of inter-textual references.
Mr. Brightside is a rock song and this is reflected in the video. The use of an electric guitar and a drum kit, which are associated with rock music, suggest to the audience that it is a rock track. The genre is also mirrored in the style of the band. The video shared a rock genre concept of performance based videos, as well as incorporating a relationship between the visuals and lyrics. This supports the use of genre characteristics.
The mise-en-scene in the video reflects a number of aspects of the film. The aesthetics of the room mirror is used in “Moulin Rouge”. The dark colours such as the reds create a sexual environment. It is also the perfect setting for showing a love story in the “Moulin Rouge” style. This is a good use of iconography because the visuals clearly relate to the era and genre that they are trying to represent.
The costumes in the video also reproduce inter-textual references from “Moulin Rouge”. The men are wearing expensive suits and the women are wearing luxurious dresses. All the costumes are representative of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s; however they have a modern twist to relate to the age of the target audience, teens and young adults.
Enigma is used to create a mystery for the viewer as well. They do this at one point by blurring out the picture so that you can't see the two people in shot clearly. The characters clearly are main parts in the video however, you cant see what they are doing in shot.
In this video the band is given a lower status. They are the ones who are working, playing for the audience on stage, whereas the audience are rich. The lead singer is also seen as inferior to his girlfriend when she rejects him. This makes him seem like an ordinary person.
This music video is likely to have a number of audiences, the main being teenage girls and women in their early 20’s. This is due to the image of the band, which is likely to catch the attention of young girls who find them attractive. Men and women of all ages could also be fans of the track and the video if they relate to the lyrics and themes of the song. They may enjoy singing the song as it has relevance to their life and therefore lead them to watch the video out of interest. Men could also be a target audience as there are a number of women in the video who are portrayed in a sexual manner, lifting their skirts and revealing their legs and dancing in a sexual way, which may entice a male audience. Fans of the film “Moulin Rouge” are also a potential audience as they may be appealed to the themes of the film and be interested in seeing how the music video related to the film in general.
The lyrics of the song are represented in the video however; it’s more of a lyrical story being told. The video tells the story of two men and a woman in a love triangle. The whole story takes place within the context of a burlesque show. It uses the concept of voyeurism a lot as well to create the feeling that the dance routine is from the show, "Moulin Rouge". This mirrors the lyrical story of how the singer’s girlfriend is with another man because he kissed another girl. This supports that there is a strong relationship between the lyrics and visuals throughout the music video. There is also a relationship between the music and the visuals as well when the tempo of the instrumentals quicken up so do the cuts.
The majority of camera shots of the band are close ups and medium close ups of the lead singer. This is due to the popularity of the lead singer and the image he creates for the band but also because it is quite an important demand of the record company to promote the band. There are also a number of long shots, which allow the viewer to see more, making it feel like you are in the room with the band.
The main edit of the music video is fast cuts. This helps create a sense of urgency and confusion, which is reflected the emotions of the lyrics. The fast cuts also coincide with the pace of the music. However, the most important feature of the cuts is that it creates a fast cut montage. This means that the audience don't have enough thinking time to take all the visuals in on their first viewing causing them to have multiple viewings. This is another reference to the link between the visuals and the music. The use of fast cut edits thought the video also make it almost impossible for the viewer to see everything in their first viewing which helps the video to sustain repeated viewings.
Overall I think the music video for Mr. Brightside is very affective. It successfully illustrates the song in a unique and creative way. It does this as well as including band and dance performances. It is able to reach a broad variety of audiences and therefore attracts a large number of people due to its likeability. It uses edits, camera shots and angles effectively in order to make the video interesting which encourages the audience to watch it again. The way in which the video is filmed also creates a more personal relationship between the band and their fans. Compared to the British version of the video it is very complex which makes it more attention grabbing.
Both the English and American version of the music video can be seen below. However, I chose to analyse the American version due to the fact that the English version is fully based on performance.
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