Music Video Analysis: Q3; Audience

3. Audience: Death Cab For Cutie – Meet Me On The Equinox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V51jCr3oOHU



This music video was created for the purpose of marketing the film “New Moon” using the theme song chosen for the film “Meet me on the equinox” by Death Cab For Cutie. This sets up the music video to follow a storyline using clips from the film, to which the lyrics from the music track will follow. For example, at 3:02 of the video, the lyrics read “When the sun is perched at its highest peek
in the middle of the day” we see a sunny day with a clock displaying 12:00. Another example would be at 2:12, the lyrics read “Your last breaths, moving through you as everything, everything ends” we see the lighting in the room where the band are situated change from bright and sunny to dark blue, which is later clarified by the next shot as the character in the story is underwater unconscious which links with the lyrics “Last breaths moving through you”. This clarity and correlation between the visual, the storyline, and the lyrics add to the audience appeal more in terms of the film that is being promoted than the music itself. The music video here is distinctly there for this purpose and diverts audience expectations onto the subject of the film rather than the music track and the band.

Using the story narrative of the film, the books the film is based on, and the context of the lyrics with the visual, this can encourage the audience to relate to the video and the lyrics of the music in a sense that although the film hadn’t yet been exhibited when the video was made, those who watch it can pick up the storyline and the sections from the book that it may be referring to, which makes it appealing and meeting audience expectations of the film. In relation to the production as a music video, smooth transitions and slow camera movement (2:45) makes the viewing easy on the eye for the audience to take in which can make it appealing. In a similar way the changing of the lighting where the band is located to correlate with the equilibrium of the storyline is appealing. Such disequilibrium’s of the character falling into the water changing the lighting from bright to dark, and also the final shot which divides the room into each of the lighting, constructs contrast, opposition and dissimilarity between the male and female characters (of whom between the disequilibrium occurs).

Accessibility of the music video in subject here would be available on TV music channels and by such places online as Youtube where I discovered this music video (similarly to Linkin Park – New Divide which promoted Transformers through these mediums). Such places as music channels and the internet have a high population rate, therefore marketing using these mediums make sense to appeal to a target audience.
However, access to the film and music track would be available in the cinema, and later to be released on DVD. Successful films are more often than not sold on DVD to attract more money to the film industry and to provide the audience with the opportunity to watch the film on their demand at their convenience, increasing the number of views received for the film.

How are contemporary media issues changing the music industry?

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