Comparable Products Music Videos

Foals - Spanish Sahara

Image -

The music video contradicts the song title because it is set in snow and ice and in a cold location. This first shot of the video is a long shot of someone walking along the cold icy mountains as the music starts beginning as they sing 'So I walked into the haze, and a million dirty ways'.  These lyrics link to the visuals being used, as at first you can barely see the man through all the fog, which starts to clear as the song goes on.  'Now i see you lieing there, like a lilo losing air' suggests his internal feelings.  It connotes that he doesn't feel like he has enough energy or motivation to stand up out of the cold. An extreme close up of the man has been used with him looking at the camera, making a connection with the audience and in a way causing the audience to feel some sympathy towards him.  A straight cut to what seems to be a dead animal wrapped in a bad is displayed for the audience to see floating in the sea.  We see the man dragging the dead animal out the water as the lyrics 'Forget the horror here' are sang which suggests he is trying to remove the bad things from this place to try and make it a nicer place.  Straight cuts to close ups of the mans face happen frequently to show the audience the way he is feeling.  The man shows no emotion and looks almost depressed.  There is a straight cut to the sea covered in broken ice, suggesting that he feels broken.  The lyrics 'now the waves will drag you down' suggests that once you've been dragged down there is no way back up as the amount of ice makes it impossible to break free. The long shot of the man dragging the animal is shown in a large space, however, it is completely abandoned apart from the man.  It's almost as if he's dragging the dead animal with him for some kind of company. Future rust/future dust is a contradiction in terms, rust obviously is the outcome of metal decaying over time. Future rust and future dust means that it is inevitable that the future of things will fade.  The straight cut to the mid shot of burning fire takes the audience by surprise.  It suggests that perhaps he's found some hope and that there is some hope of escaping this abandoned place, where he's wanting to leave to go to the Sahara desert.  We see a mid shot of him looking in to the sky, perhaps looking to God for guidance, whilst holding the dead animal over his shoulder.  He then continues to walk higher which suggests he's walking out of the dark hold that the seems to have fell in.  We then see him put the dead animal next to another dead animal, which suggests that he is collecting everything that is bad and putting them together.   Although the song is contradicting the music video, the video is also playing a story for the song. The video is quite slow and quiet as well which matches the pace of the song. It is all in time with the music so you know that the music video is the music video to that song. As the song gets going the lyrics say 'Black rocks and shoreline sand, still that summer i cannot bear, and i wipe the sand from my eyes, Spanish Sahara the place that you'd wanna'. Some of the song lyrics link to images of the video, such as 'im the ghost in the back of your head' it's a daunting phrase, as he is singing this there's an image of something burning. Both of which are shown as a bad thing. There are close ups of the artist singing, he is wearing warm clothing which a normal person would wear if they was in that location. There isn't really any props, they have kept it simple and wanted people to focus on the actual video. About 4.18 minutes into the video, there is a close up of the fire. This shows the heat and that inside he still feels the warmth although he is in the cold location.  I think the lyrics are about being alone, and leaving your pain and being happy. Although the happiness doesn't show because of the slow paced song and the way the singer is looking the meaning of the lyrics mean something else. However he seems to be dragging dead animals along the mountains, this is a sad part of the video. This could be what he is singing about when he says 'Leave the horror here' . 

Editing -

Straight cuts are pre dominantly used in this video, which are also very generic to the indie genre. The shots are paced in time to the music helping with the continuity and rhythm of the song, which also makes it easier for the audience to follow. 

Target Audience - I would say the target audience for this video is for eduacted young adults  above GCSE level, as this will allow them to be able to understand the song as the lyrics and the visuals are tricky to interpet.    Although other ages can enjoy the song too if they are into 'indie' music, but probably without really listening to the lyrics. 

Mode of Address - The main band member, who is the only character in the video is constantly faced with the camera as he looks into the lense using direct mode of address helping him to make an connection with the audience. It also makes the audience feel as though they were there too.  It brings a sense of security as he is singing about how to get through a bad time, because of his eye contact with the camera he is almost giving the audience his positivity

Narrative -  I think Barthes narrative theory has been used throughout this video.  For this narrative there are 5 different codes by which a narrative engages with the audience.  The ones that I believe have been used are the enigma code where the audience intrigued by need to solve a problem, which in this video they are for e.g. trying to work out why the man is dragging the dead animal out of the sea.  Action code where the audience are excited by the need to resolve a problem for e.g. working out why the man is dragging the dead animal out of the sea keep them interested in watching the rest of the video and the Semantic code where the audience are  directed towards an additional meaning (connotation), which in this video it is necessary and although some lyrics link to the visuals, alot of them need to be interpreted and can present many different meanings 


Representation - In stereotypical 'indie' music, there videos show a story which is what this video does. It represents the bands feelings and the way they feel, and the video shows how they feel about certain things.

Enigma - Enigma is created immediately as the the opening shot is very hazy, not allowing the audience to view much.  In a way in makes the audience search until the haze clears.  There are lots of  shots throughout the video that cause the audience to pose questions such as the dead animal in the water and the sea covered in thick ice.


Attract Audience - The audience are attracted immediately as the establishing shot is in the snowy mountains, which totally contradicts the title 'Spanish Sahara' which stereotypically has the conventions of being hot and sandy.  This makes the audience want to continue watching and finding out more.


Images of Band/Artist - We are only presented with one band member throughout the video suggesting that he connects with this Particular song the most and that the lyrics are more important to him.