Music Video Analysis - Catfish & The Bottlemen: Fallout

The best description of the genre of the video is alternative rock, as this is the genre which the bands music usually fits best into. This immediately means that the video is likely to be slightly tongue-in-cheek, because a big part of the genre is about being against the mainstream. This is confirmed when the men in the van begin to dance in sync with each other, having been completely straight faced and serious up until then. There is a fairly typical narrative and style to the video based on the genre, because the narrative of the video is completely detached from the narrative within the lyrics, which is arguably convention of rock music. However, from listening to just the lyrics, the listener will expect the narrative of the video to be about a breakup between two people, especially when noting that the chorus of the song begins with "but we just always seem to fallout". This means that the majority of what happens within the video is unexpected based on the lyrics, but is expected in an unusual way when considering the content of the video. 

The basic storyline of the video is three builders are driving in a van, when one of them begins to imagine things which are happening around him. This is what makes the positioning of the audience interesting, because they are able to see the things which the builder who is suffering the delusions sees. As the video progresses the things he sees and does become more erratic, to the point where he leaves his van and begins dancing. There is a theme of happiness and spontaneousness, which is unexpected for a music video for a song which is about the breakup of a relationship. In terms of Todorov's 5 stages of narrative theory, the video contains an equilibrium, a disruption and a recognition of this disruption, however the resolution of the disruption hasn't occurred by the end of the video because the man is still dancing by the time it reaches the end. There are no recognisable characters as such, but there is the recognisable stereotype of a builder. This stereotype has been constructed through the fact that they are driving a white van which has pages from tabloid newspapers stuck up on the walls. The video doesn't reflect the lyrics very much, because everybody in the video seems to be giving off a completely different message to the one which is expressed within the lyrics.

In terms of representation, it is clear that the director is making the point that middle aged people can become fairly burnt out and deluded. This is because the older man attempts to ridicule the younger man for asking him if he watched Strictly Come Dancing, but it is then the older man who begins to have delusions. Aside from age, there aren't any representations of other social groups, because the only women in the clip appear as dancers, and ethnicity doesn't play any part within the clip. The band don't feature at all within the clip, which is fairly typical of an alternative rock video, because the artist will usually think that the song is more important than their individual artistic image. In addition to this, it would be hard for the band to fit into this video, because if the video cut to clips of them playing live then it would make the narrative of the video even harder to follow.

The video is set in a location which appears to be in the suburbs. Such a location was probably chosen because it is easily relatable for the majority of the expected audience for the video, and because it has connotations of both comfort and security, but also being stifled and unable to break out of the routine of life. The dominant colour used within the video is the grey/beige which is used on the roads, houses and sky, which again suggests the monotony which is often associated with the suburbs. 

The shot which is placed in front of the van with the van
moving towards the audience is one which is seldom used
and thus creates further interest

The most interesting camera angles are the ones which are within the van, because they give the feeling to the audience that they are looking into a scene which they wouldn't usually get to witness. The shots which create this feeling the most are the multiple extreme-close-up shots on the face of the driver of the van, as it invites the audience to emphasise with him and to try and work out why he is seeing such strange sights. Another interesting camera angle used is the dolly-based shot which shows the front of the van, as it gives the shot from the perspective which most people would expect to see the scene from - the contrast between the two different ways of presenting the shot is one of the most interesting technical codes which is included within the video. The majority of the editing is made up of cuts between what the driver of the van believes is going on, and shots showing what is actually occurring - this means that the editing is kept at a fairly fast pace and transitions are seldom used.

The target audience for the video is people who are in their teens, because with the exception of the driver, who is the source of ridicule within the video, all the other people who feature appear to be very young. This type of audience targeting is based on the uses and gratifications theory, because it shows audience members characters who they can relate too in some way, and this will fulfil a certain need which they have, such as the need to see a character who they can emphasise with. The demographic for the video is likely to be people in classes C2, D and E, because the three main characters are all builders, which is typically a working class job. However, the video could appeal to an audience member in any demographic, because the narrative of the video is likely to be entertaining to somebody from practically any walk of life.

The record company which Catfish & The Bottlemen are signed too is the independent Communion Records. This explains why the video hasn't been filmed in a studio, because not only is it cheaper to film outside than to construct a set, but also because filming outside of a set gives the video a feel with more verisimilitude, which is key for an independent music video. There is no specific brand image sold of the band, because they don't feature within the video, but due to the mix of different characters, it is clear that the director is trying to connote that they are a band of the people, whom anybody can be a fan of.