Analysis of music videos 1: Arctic Monkeys - When the Sun Goes Down

Overview
The song is by Arctic Monkeys, at the time consisting of four young friends from the suburbs of Sheffield writing about the things they see and do in their city. They formed in 2002 and steadily recorded and released some of their songs until releasing their first album, in 2006. The album 'whatever people say i am, that's what i'm not' became the fastest selling album in the uk charts for many years. The song i am analysing from this album is called 'When the sun goes down' and seems to tell the tale of a woman in the rougher areas of the city, a woman of which is implied to be a prosititute. The lyrics go onto describe a male as a 'Scummy Man', implying that he is in control of this woman by being either a client or her 'pimp'. Originally, a short film was produced based around the chosen song, with the same implications yet more of a plot, and this was released onto DVD. The same actors were used as in the music video, but the music video became a cut down and shortened version.

Genre
The music genre is Indie/Alternative rock, which can be picked up by listening to the music the band make. Most of the songs contain catchy guitar riffs and prominant drumming, to give a good beat to the song. This is topped with expressive vocals of which are also catchy, making the song more widely enjoyable to the majority of consumers. From the video, you do not get a great sense of the genre, apart from the fact that the video shows quite a serious issue in society, as it is common for indie/alt rock bands to sing about serious and important issues. Within the clip, we see a short period where the band 'Arctic Monkeys' are putting there instruments into a car. This gives us a sense of the genre due to the fact that we see the instruments so are aware that they are a band, and also by their dress sense, as they are wearing long jackets and slim fitted jeans, commonly associated clothing for this genre of music.

Codes and conventions

The Video is a narrative clip, as there is no lip synced or instrumental visuals. As a supplement to the song, the video was originally released as a 16 minute short film, so the video seems to be a shortened version of this to fit the 3.20 minute track. It is therefore a narrative and tells the story of the young girl in the clip.

Audience

I believe that this song and video would be targeted at the younger members of society due to the provoking film and use of slang in the lyrics. The genre tends to be favoured by the younger audiences, teenagers and young adults because the lyrics seem to relate to the lives and activities that this age group are into. Younger teenagers, and also many teenage girls may not be as interested in the song as they tend to be more attracted to pop music in which is in the charts rather than music of the indie genre. Also, people who live in Sheffield or similar cities may relate to these sorts of goings on (prostitution, drug use) as they may have seen similar situations in places around their city. Older viewers however, may not relate to the way in which the lyrics are said, as they won't be as familiar with the use of slang in some phrases. As well as this, they will not have as wide an idea of the lower class youths in society, as obviously they aren't of a young age. The fact that the band itself are all young males would help in gaining a similar audience of young males, as they may have similar opinions to what sort of music they like, and may find the song or video cool or in trend.

Lyrics and Music

Who's that girl there?
I wonder what went wrong
So that she had to roam the streets
She dunt do major credit cards

I doubt she does receipts
It's all not quite legitimate
And what a scummy man
Just give him half a chance
I bet he'll rob you if he can
Can see it in his eyes,
Yeah, that he's got a driving ban
Amongst some other offences

And I've seen him with girls of the night
And he told Roxanne to put on her red light
They're all infected but he'll be alright
Cause he's a scumbag, don't you know
I said he's a scumbag, don't you know!

Although you're trying not to listen
Overt your eyes and staring at the ground
She makes a subtle proposition
"I'm sorry love I'll have to turn you down"
He must be up to something
What are the chances sure it's more than likely
I've got a feeling in my stomach
I start to wonder what his story might be
They said it changes when the sun goes down x3
Around here

Look here comes a Ford Mondeo
Isn't he Mister Inconspicuous?
And he don't even have to say 'owt
She's in the stance ready to get picked up

Bet she's delighted when she sees him
Pulling in and giving her the eye
Because she must be fucking freezing
Scantily clad beneath the clear night sky
it doesn't stop in the winter, no
Around here
They said it changes when the sun goes down
Over the river going out of town

What a scummy man
Just give him half a chance
I bet he'll rob you if he can
Can see it in his eyes that he's got a nasty plan
I hope you're not involved at all

When these lyrics are matched to the video, you can see some clear similarities linking what is said to whats being said on screen, as the lyrics seem to fit the video to tell a vague story. The song starts with the words, 'Who's that girl there' and a woman with an unhappy facial expression appears on screen.

This immediately shows that this is the 'girl' mentioned in the song, of whom will become the main character in the clip. The lyrics then go on to say 'She dunt do major credit cards I doubt she does receipts, its all not quite legitimate'. Hearing the song alone may not show the meaning behind this sentence, but on screen you can see the woman approaching older males in cars, implying that this woman is a prostitute. When the lyrics say 'And what a scummy man', we see a man sat next to this woman, who takes a piece of food from her plate as it says 'I bet he'll rob you if he can'. This links well because it seems as though he

is 'robbing' a piece of food from her plate, and leaves viewers to believe that this man is a bad character and could do worse things as the narrative develops. The term used in the lyrics 'girls of the night' backs up the implications that the woman is a prostitute as this is a common slang term for it. Throughout the whole first 50 seconds of the song, the mood and tempo fit very well with the edit and what is on screen, as it is rather slow. Only guitars and vocals can be heard to a slow tempo, and the video mirrors this as each scene takes a while to cut to a next one, and the camera doesn't move jerkily to indicate any kind of fast action.

The mood then changes in the song and we see this is mirrored in the way the video is edited. The camera becomes jerky and the edit cuts from scene to scene quickly. The footage itself is fast-forwarded, showing the change in mood as the drums and bass kick in, and as the guitar playing builds tempo and gets quicker. After this point the lyrics and video do not match as well as before, as a number of different things are happening in the visuals, as the edit cuts from each shot at a fast pace, yet the title of the song is repeated to emphasise the change 'when the sun goes down' to be a bad one, a point in which is backed up by looking at the general narrative of the video. Towards the end, the tempo begins to slow down again. The video links to the lyrics as whilst the apparent 'scummy man' character is being sung about, he is the character focused upon in the video. The lyrics say 'I can see it in his eyes that he's got a nasty plan' and there is a close up of the characters face, in which his expression isn't very warming or friendly and therefore fits with the label that he is a 'scummy man' and with the idea that he has a 'nasty plan'.

Representation

One of the main features of this video is that it shows some very strong representations throughout. The main group represented is young teenage girls from Britain's lower class locations. By watching the video and listening to the lyrics it gives audiences a very negative impression on this group of people, painting them to be opting for one of society's worst professions, a prostitute. As well as this, the woman in the video is seen picking up drugs from a young boy on a bike, once again putting this group in a bad light in the eyes of people who may watch the video. This paints a picture that many youths of today have to turn to prostitution in order to feed their drug addiction. Despite this negative image, its obvious from looking at the characters face that she isn't happy with the way her life as and must wish that it were different. Many people may find this representation shocking to see because they could be unaware of situations some young girls are in, and may start to feel sorry for young women out there who have made mistakes and been dragged into the dark worlds of drugs and prostitution. Another social group of which is represented is older males of whom illegally use prostitution services off these young and vulnerable girls. The other main character in the clip, of whom is implied to be the 'scummy man' in the lyrics, is shown in even more negative light, abusing the girl and sung about in a negative way. This will reinforce already built up negative ideas of this sort of person.

Institution - Record Label

Since forming in 2002, the band (Arctic Monkeys) went quite a while unsigned until Domino records signed them in 2005. Before this, Arctic Monkeys performed a number of small gigs and as their popularity grew over time, they released their first single 'Five minutes with Arctic Monkeys'. Due to the growing popularity and increased hype about the band, a number of record labels approached the band with record deals, yet the band decided to turn these down with the ideology that they would not change their songs to fit these labels demands. After a while, the band ended up signing with Domino records, due to the 'do it yourself' ethic this label promoted, as the owner ran the label from his flat and only signed bands to which he liked personally. The 'DIY' ethic is popular amongst similar bands, being a trait assigned to the 'indie' genre. Since signing this deal, the band have released all of their following albums and singles from this label. Some other artists signed to this label are Franz Ferdinand and Lightspeed Champion, both artists creating a vaguely similar style of music, also generalised under the 'indie' genre.

The fact that these bands are similar shows that this record label promotes this kind of music, and therefore may influence how Arctic Monkeys dress and the genre of music they create, although not to a massive extent due to the 'DIY' ethic of the label. I think that therefore the video was not greatly influenced by the record label as they seem to be the sort of label who let the bands make their own decisions in terms of which direction they will take there music and videos, so long as it isn't too extreme a change.

In terms of the music released from this label (indie rock, indie pop), Domino is a big company, being one of the longest running and most successful independent record labels in the UK, with many different artists signed up. They successfully helped Arctic Monkeys in releasing 'I Bet you Look Good on the Dancefloor', which reached number 1 in the UK charts.

Camera Shot, Edit and Lighting

At the start of the video the edit is slow, cutting from shot to shot at quite a slow pace. This fits will with the music which begins at a similar slow pace and tempo. We see the use of lots of close ups, to portray the different emotions the character's may be feeling, for example the woman looks lost and vulnerable yet the man looks as if he has a menacing motive for something. The lighting in the video is mostly natural as it is mostly set out side, but as an audience you can see a clear contrast as it changes from the light of the day to the dark of the night. The female character is often shown with a close up or mid-shot, with a light sky as the background. This connotates her vulnerability in her night time activities and shows the audience that she has some sense of innocence despite her contrasting job. The male character however is often showed in night time with mild lighting on his face. This gives a completely different feeling about the character when compared to the female character. It gives the audience the impression that he has cruel or vicious intentions and leaves a dark feeling about him as a character.

Intertextuality

This video shows some form of intertextuality as the actor playing the male character in the video, Stephen Graham, is in a number of different films and programmes. He is seen below playing 'Combo', from 'This is England'. Use of intertextuality in this way can help in attracting viewers to the video, as they may enjoy his other characters and films, making them want to watch more of his work.