Video Analysis According to Goodwins Theory

David Guetta – Titanium

In this piece of writing, I will be analysing the use of narrative, setting, representation and target audience within a music video. I will explore how and why is it used in that specific video and genre. The song Titanium was written by the artist Sia, who featured in the song with artist David Guetta. It was also released in 2011 and was available for digital download on August 8th.

 

Narrative

Throughout this video, there is no performance from either artists featuring in the song. Instead, there is a story shown, in what looks like supernatural events. This is because there is a young teen playing the main role, and showing supernatural behaviour, like making the teddy bears spin in the room. Throughout the video, there is shown to be an enigma code, written by Roland Barthe, as the video progresses and gets clearer as to what is happening. As at the start of the video, it isn’t clear to understand who or what has caused damage to the school, until he cycles home to see it on the news. This further becomes clear when the teen is being chased by the police and performs supernatural events. This has a big impact on the audience, as this is an unusual topic and isn't something you could expect to see. Therefore making it more intriguing for the viewers to watch and try to understand. 

Setting

The setting of the video is clear as the narrative is set around a disaster that has happened within a school. Therefore, it starts off in the school but further changes to the teenager’s home. This could connote he is scared and confused, as he cycles to his ‘comfort’ place, and also believes that he is safe in there. Towards the end of the video, there is a hint of intertextuality shown as the teen is running through the woods away from the police. The video looks like it is set in the 80s and is based around the idea of supernatural, meaning it has references to the film ET. This video, could also have a reference to the series Stranger Things, as it is a young boy who has powers. The impact intertextuality has, is that it grabs the viewers attention and makes them think about the links. Which makes them more interested to watch more of the video and not get bored.

Representation

There is a representation of age in this video, as the police are after a young teenager for something he has destroyed. Connoting the idea teenagers are reckless and vandalise things. However, they could also be represented as an outcast, as through the video, the teenager is ignored by the citizens of that town. When in the video the two women are running and do not acknowledge he is there, linking to the supernatural idea that he is alienated. Throughout the video, there is a wide use of the colour red, on the teens bobble hat and the red siren. This could connote a warning to the audience, as something big is going to happen. Or, it could be a warning to the police in the video to stay away from him, as at the very end he makes a big explosion, in which pushes the armed police away from him.

Target Audience

Using the idea of demographics, the target age that this could be aimed at may be between 13-30. This is because the main focus is a teenager, but includes range of adults in the video, which mean they may want to expand the target market. In terms of gender, this would be both male and female, as both genders are shown in the video. However, it isn’t clear as to what gender the main teenager is.

From doing this piece of work, it allowed me to get a clear understanding of what is included within a professional music video. It enabled me to pick out the key connotations myself, which will help me when considering my own music video.