Comparable Products Music Videos

Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire

Image - 
 The opening scene starts with a close up of the main artists face showing him sweating, suggesting that he is worried/scared.  He is wearing a black vest which has connotations of darkness/impurity and we can see that he is wearing a necklace with a cross.  This relates to the concept of religion and introduces the idea that he has perhaps sinned and this has led him to the situation that he is in.  The black vest is also usually associated with young adults mainly men and indie bands.  As soon as i started watching this video i noticed the orange tinged lighting which is a reference to 'fire' throughout, possibly interpreting the burning of sins/dark spirits.  The video seems to be talking about human sins, as throughout the video one guy is continuously eating (gluttony), another one is flicking through the bible and tearing out pages and the other seems to be craving sexual immortality, but he is being contained by his friends to prevent him from sinning.  It's like the guy looking through the bible is trying to look for a solution to free him of the dark spirits contained in him. All the other members of the band are all seen to be wearing black as well again, perhaps suggesting all of their impurities. Near the beginning we see a floor shot, but with black feathers similar to the shot earlier showing parts of the bible pages that have been ripped suggesting that the chicken has been sacrificed as they attempt to perform maybe an exorcism.  We keep seeing a point of  view shot coming from the main artist on the bed showing his vision fading in and out of blurriness suggesting that he is either under the influence, or has been drugged.  During the chorus the band is seen altogether performing clearly showing the mains artists change in outfit connoting that his impurities are slowly being washed away.  We then see the main artist try to release himself in a mid shot as he refrained by his fellow friends, interpreting that he is not ready. He violently tries to release himself, almost like he is being possessed by some spirit.  We then see the ripped bible pieces being blown away again suggesting their loss of religion and beliefs.  We then see a mid shot  of one of the band members putting his head face first into the previously shown water connoting to the audience that he feels like he's on fire and there's no release for the feeling except for water.  The rest of the band except for the main artist are also shown pouring some kind of water on themselves whilst there is a close up of the main artists face with smoke rising showing that, because hes tied down he cant release himself.  An extreme close up of each of the artists is then shown including the chicken to show the audience each of their reactions at this point.  At the chorus again, the main artist is shown rising and black smoke being released out of his mouth connoting that the dark spirit that was contained in him has been released and equilibrium has been restored.

Editing - Jump cut from images of water at the beginning appearing to be calm as to when the beat of the music starts the waters starts to ripple suggesting the loudness of the music.  Straight cuts have been used repeatedly throughout the video making it interesting for the audience to watch and keeping up with the continuity of the song. The straght cuts that are taking place go with the beat of the song keeping an easy rhythm for the audience to go along with.  The staright cuts mainly take place from artist artist to show the audience what each person is doing at the same time. 


Target Audience - Typically the target audience would be 16 years and older who are typically interested in indie music and are part of the indie scene. 


Mode of Address - The extreme close up at the beginning where the main aritst is making eye cintact witht the camera, immediatly allows the audience to create a relationship with the artist and the band. 


Narrative - The storyline to this video is very strange as there is virtually no relationship between the lyrics and visuals. 


Enigma - Enigma has been created by the audience seeing an extreme close up to start with of the main artists seen to be sweating and panicing moving out to a close up.  This causes the audience to wonder whats happening and why.  Also the use of the dark orange tinged lighting creates enigma as it causes the audience to question the setting. 


Attract Audience - I think that the elements that help to attract the audience immediately is the orange fire like tinge, as this creates a warm feeling for the audience and thesetting being a bit grungy as theis would be attractive to people involved in the indie scene. 


Images of Band/Artist - This video shows alot of performance and appearances of the band suggesting that their performance is important to them.