Kings of Leon - Waste a Moment
Genre: Alternative/Indie
Origin: USA
Dimitri Basil's music video for Kings of Leon's song "Waste a Moment" opens with a shot of three teenage girls sitting under a tree, all dressed in cheerleader outfits; the camera zooms in slowly on the middle girl who is staring intently at something off-camera. We then cut to a long-shot which shows two policemen who fall to the ground as soon as they make eye contact with her (achieved through an eye-level match). This, combined with the sexualised connotations of cheerleaders in popular culture, creates a representation of these girls as being mysterious and almost seductive, with this action also being comparable to the Medusa monster in Greek mythology.
As noted in my first analysis (Cathy Come Home), a common convention of alternative/independent music videos is that they are often set outdoors, creating a naturalistic and aesthetically pleasing effect; this is also seen here through this initial setting being a public park, however, this naturalistic effect is slightly subverted due to the darker actions taking place in this particular segment.
At 00:25, we cut to an establishing shot showing two men dressed in suits, with one pulling out some sort of weapon, connoting a representation of the men as violent gangsters or mobsters. This establishing shot is framed through the doorway of the next room, linking to Andrew Goodwin's theory of voyeurism (the pleasure of looking) being a common convention of music videos, placing the audience into the scene itself.
Tension is created between the two men through various techniques, such as the exposition of the shot showing a literal divide between them, as well as their facial expressions and body language (arms out slightly, as if they're about to fight). An eye-line match is also used to create this effect, as well as the "180-degree rule" to communicate to the audience that the men are making eye contact with each other.
Another of Andrew Goodwin's music video theories is used here, with a link being created between the lyrics of the music and the music video itself; the two men lip-sync to the music, with the lyrics becoming their conversation, rather than the men singing. Elements such as this are what allows audiences to distinguish that what they are watching is a promotional music video, rather than a short film, due to the foregrounding of the song itself. This also shows Jon Gow's theory of there being six central genres of music videos, with this video falling into the "enhanced performance" category due to its combination of performance elements with narrative elements.
This short sequence is repeated at the start of every chorus in the song, meaning that it also shows Carol Vernallis' theory of music videos following the structure of the music itself.
After the chorus, we see several fragmented sequences, once again representing the three teenage girls from the start as being mysterious and seductive. This time it is achieved through framing, with the first shot showing one girl standing motionless, looking at a policeman intently. A later shot shows a blindfolded man stumbling with another girl looking mysterious in the foreground, creating an association between the two, implying that she is responsible. These actions subvert a common gender dynamic in the media, with women being active and men being passive, instead of the opposite.
The fragmented nature of this narrative shows another of Carol Vernallis' music video theories, stating that music videos do not embody a full narrative structure and actually gain from this due to the fact that it results in audiences interacting more with them. One notable effect of this element is that it keeps the narrative concise, using Roland Barthes' enigma code through controlling what information is given to the audience, allowing them to interpret it for themselves, allowing the video to keep to the length of the song itself.
In the final chorus of the song, the music video becomes particularly stylised, with digital colour correction being used to exaggerate reds, oranges and yellows; this links to another of Roland Barthes' theories, discussing how meanings are produced through the use of signs and codes. When combined with fast-paced cuts to various seemingly-unrelated images (such as a burning eyeball and a blindfolded woman), these signs can become polysemic, allowing audiences to deduct different meanings to decode the video.
Once again, the performance aspect of this video is highlighted in this sequence; several times, we cut to a short clip of two members of Kings of Leon, blindfolded and playing along to the music. As stated before, this foregrounds the fact that this is a promotional music video through featuring the musicians themselves in such a way that they blend in with the video itself.
The music video ends with an open ending; we see one of the cheerleaders staring at a car crash, motionless, whilst other people run around frantically, before cutting back to the cheerleader, now sitting on a car, looking up at a spotlight. Again, this is an example of a polysemic sign, due to the fact that the sign of a spotlight could signify several different things, such as a police searchlight or a beam from a UFO; through using an open ending in this way, audiences can be intrigued to the point where they will watch the video again to try and further decode it. As a result, they will hear the song more, resulting in more ad-revenue for the band, and the increased likelihood of them buying or streaming their music.
The fragmented nature of this narrative shows another of Carol Vernallis' music video theories, stating that music videos do not embody a full narrative structure and actually gain from this due to the fact that it results in audiences interacting more with them. One notable effect of this element is that it keeps the narrative concise, using Roland Barthes' enigma code through controlling what information is given to the audience, allowing them to interpret it for themselves, allowing the video to keep to the length of the song itself.
In the final chorus of the song, the music video becomes particularly stylised, with digital colour correction being used to exaggerate reds, oranges and yellows; this links to another of Roland Barthes' theories, discussing how meanings are produced through the use of signs and codes. When combined with fast-paced cuts to various seemingly-unrelated images (such as a burning eyeball and a blindfolded woman), these signs can become polysemic, allowing audiences to deduct different meanings to decode the video.
Once again, the performance aspect of this video is highlighted in this sequence; several times, we cut to a short clip of two members of Kings of Leon, blindfolded and playing along to the music. As stated before, this foregrounds the fact that this is a promotional music video through featuring the musicians themselves in such a way that they blend in with the video itself.
The music video ends with an open ending; we see one of the cheerleaders staring at a car crash, motionless, whilst other people run around frantically, before cutting back to the cheerleader, now sitting on a car, looking up at a spotlight. Again, this is an example of a polysemic sign, due to the fact that the sign of a spotlight could signify several different things, such as a police searchlight or a beam from a UFO; through using an open ending in this way, audiences can be intrigued to the point where they will watch the video again to try and further decode it. As a result, they will hear the song more, resulting in more ad-revenue for the band, and the increased likelihood of them buying or streaming their music.
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