Analysis of the music video 'Elephant Gun' by Beirut.

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When researching into bands/artists who are similar to ours in terms of the style of genre and the theme of the music video, the band 'Beirut' was appealing in how it displayed it's genre and themes throughout the video. They are an American band primarily focusing on folk music/indie folk yet combining these genres with what is known as world music which is a musical category encompassing many different styles of music from around the world, including traditional music. This acoustic/instrumental style of music is similar to the style of music featured in our music video due to the many instruments played throughout, for instance the use of the Ukulele in the beginning of the video which is in the center of the mise-en-scene showing it's importance to the song. 

An intertextual reference to silent films is shown right at the beginning of this music video and is made evident by this opening shot which is a generic opening to a silent film. This links to Goodwin's media theory, for example: 'There are often intertextual references (to films, tv programmes, other music videos)'

This particular opening is featured as the opening of  many silent films for example in the Mary Pickford film 'Poor Little Rich Girl': 

REFERENCES TO ANDREW GOODWIN'S THEORY: 

'The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist..'-

Throughout this music video the artist is continually the main focus of the video as there are many close ups of him highlighting his importance. This also shows that the artist is the key feature of the video and is being promoted strongly, furthermore this enables the audience to notice the emotions of the artist and to some extent connect with the artist.

'There is frequently reference to the notion of looking and
 particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body'

Although the notion of voyeurism is not heavily shown in this music video there are still subtle hints throughout which suggest that there are elements in this music video which objectify women. An example of this is the costume that the female's wear in this video as the camera tends to draw attention to the short dresses they are wearing which show their bare thighs. The reason that this could be considered as voyeuristic treatment of the female body is the fact that the camera focuses on the women's body and clothes but the male dancers and the lead singer are not represented in a sexualized way at all. 

When analyzing the meaning of the lyrics and how they link to the visuals the fact that this music video is in a sense dream like references to our music video as throughout the video the audience are unaware as to whether what is happening is merely an illusion. The fact that this music has a dream like notion is talked about by the artist himself Zach condon who admits to representing the video 'Elephant Gun' as "a nostalgia for something that never happened to me—things I've seen in old movies" Therefore this idea of creating a video which represents a wonderful 'anything can happen' world which is merely a figment of one's imagination is appealing and is the style that our music video is aiming to achieve. Whether what is going on in the mise-en-scene is a reality or an illusion is up the audience meaning that they are able to engage with or even relate to the story of the music video.

 The artist goes on to talk about the fact that this video communicates the blurry sense of memory " It only imagines what it wants to and that, actually, is what I'm working off of…that's what makes a great story." Our music video has been inspired by this theme of mixing illusion with reality as well as creating a nostalgic feeling to some extent due to the protagonist in our video wondering around some sort of wonderland, running away from or even following the white rabbit. This, referencing to Alice in Wonderland where Alice goes on an adventure looking for the rabbit, our character is trapped in her own wonderland on an adventure of self discovery. The idea that she is on her way to self discovery is made evident towards the end of the music video where her costume changes which could represent her conforming to the modern society she has entered into. 

According to Andrew Goodwin music videos will either show a link between the lyrics and the visuals or instead a contradiction between the lyrics and the visuals. In reference to this music video another aspect of Goodwin's theory is made evident to some extent, for instance in the beginning of the video when the lyrics "Far from home, elephant guns" is sung there is a cut from the artist to a woman and a man, the woman wearing an elephant trunk. Therefore, it could be plausible to suggest that this is a link between the lyrics and the visuals as the costume reflects what the lyrics are saying, this connects the audience as they may link what they are hearing to what they are seeing meaning that they can engage with the video.

   

Intertextual references- for the editing process

Intertextual references- for the editing process on Prezi