Music Video Analysis: Kodaline - 'Ready'

Kodaline - Ready

Genre: Alternative Rock

Origin: Ireland

Abteen Bagheri's music video for Kodaline's song 'Ready' opens with an establishing/long shot of a man in a wheelchair, played by American actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Kick-Ass, Superbad). The use of Mintz-Plasse in this video suggests that the target demographic of the video would recognise him as an actor (often in 15-rated/R-rated films), making them generally between 16 and 25 years old, which is also a key age demographic for the Alternative Rock genre, giving the music video more potential as a promotional product.

As is common with modern Alternative Rock music videos, 'Ready' embodies a narrative structure, one of the three sub-genres identified by Joan Lynch, with this video not featuring any 'performance' or 'concept' elements. As a result of this, it falls into the music video category of 'the anti-performance piece' (Jon Gow), as well as demonstrating Steve Archer's theory of 'thought beats'.

Archer's theory states that whilst the lyrics of the song must not be the focus of the video, the ideas or themes portrayed should reflect them. Over the course of the song, the lyrics "I'm ready, I'm ready for it" are repeated many times, which is reflected through the main character's desire to return to horse racing after an inferred accident resulted in him having to use a wheelchair; this is echoed through shots of him exercising and watching horse races. This also demonstrates Goodwin's theory of music videos illustrating the music and lyrics. 

The opening shots, seen above, match the common narrative convention of orientating the reader at the start of the narrative; we're introduced to the lead character, with a close-up shot of a wheelchair foregrounding the fact that he is disabled. The iconography of Alternative Rock music videos is also continued here through the use of a natural aesthetic created through the use of an outdoor setting, with a mountain visible in the back of the first shot. This aesthetic is also created through the use of film being used, as opposed to digital cameras (although this may have been shot on digital cameras with effects used to create this look). When combined with naturalistic lighting throughout (aided by a particularly green colour palette), the result is a more intimate-feeling style for the music video, which is effective when used in combination with the 'narrative' style of the video.

Much of the video uses long and generally static shots, often slowly zooming in on the subject of the shot, which may be related to the struggles of Mintz-Plasse's character, with these shots allowing more raw human emotion to be seen. This effect is also created through the use of a shot/reverse shot and an eye-line match (seen above) in which we see the protagonist looking longingly at a horse, making use of Barthes' 'enigma' code, due to the fact that the audience does not yet know the reason for his link to the horse. 

The use of long takes does not distract from the music due to the use of cuts in places which keep in line with the rhythm of the song, highlighting the song, rather than eclipsing it. On the opposite end of the scale, as the song begins to 'pick up' we see more high-energy moments, such as the main character racing down a road in his wheelchair. Both of these instances demonstrate Steve Archer's 'thought beats' theory once again, with the pace of the video revolving around the music itself.

Further on in the music video, we see Mintz-Plasse's character sitting on his own behind his family, watching an old clip of him as a horse jockey; through Levi-Strauss' theory of Binary Opposition, this creates a contrast between both versions of the character, due to the fact that the version of him in the past is standing, whilst the other is restricted to a wheelchair, highlighting the fact that he is not currently able to live his passion.

Goodwin's theory of voyeurism being a convention of music videos is also demonstrated here through the use of seeing the clip playing on a television through the perspective of the main character. In this instance, voyeurism is used to allow audiences to identify with the character and understand what he is thinking/feeling - he wants to be a jockey once more.

This sequence is also a key point in the video's narrative, which is a fragmented version of Todorov's 'equilibrium' narrative theory, with this sequence working as the 'recognition' section, but with the 'original state of equilibrium' and 'disruption' sections also being introduced here. The 'original state of equilibrium' is actually seen through the television, where we see the character as a famous jockey, whilst the 'disruption' element is then inferred due to the 'binary opposition' (Levi Strauss) created between the two versions of the character - we know that some sort of incident has occurred, resulting in him having to use a wheelchair. The 'attempt to repair the damage' then takes up most of the remaining section of the video, as we see him exercising and watching horse races, which is used as a shorthand (Barthes 'Action' code), with a new equilibrium being created at the end of the video as we see him riding a horse once more.

Throughout the video, Mintz-Plasse's character is represented initially being depressed and helpless, with his wheelchair and lack of movement being used as a shorthand (Barthes), however, the video shows his journey as he becomes determined to return to his love of horse riding against the odds. The use of determination as a narrative device allows for a short and easy-to-follow narrative due to the fact that it is something that the audience can relate to so much, meaning that time does not have to be spent elaborating it, making it a good fit for a music video.