A.S - Music Video Deconstruction

Jack Peñate – Pull My Heart Away
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Zi4AyzRC4&feature=related

In the opening sequence, Jack is seen to walk into the frame from the left (through a long shot) and pick up a glass orb in the sand. This theme continues throughout the video, with the orb making a few appearances at random points, and Peñate walking about the desert area. One of the opening shots involving the orb is seen to the right.

The music video for this song was filmed in Jordan in the Middle East, and the only link between the video and the song is Jack miming to the words, thus rendering it a performance based video. Although there is one specific illustrative link, when Peñate sings the line ‘I want you to throw my shoes in the fire and I’ll watch the soles burn’ and here there is a clip of a pair of shoes on a bonfire. Jack Peñate is seen to just be walking around in a desert area in Jordan, singing along to the song, occasionally holding a glass orb that he found in the sand at the beginning of the video. As he is a solo artist, there would be no need for other performers or actors to be involved in the video, as it is simply just himself. However, the song is about needing to get over a past love and breaking up. It is an example of disjuncture, as evidently there is no real link between the lyrics and visuals. However, there is a link between sounds and visuals, as when there is a drum filler, the cutting has been edited to that speed, creating a very quickly paced scene. I personally do not believe that this video could be considered art, as there is no apparently obvious story or meaning to the music video, and he is simply just walking around a beautiful area. Although the beautiful area itself could be considered a form of art. I believe that this video has been constructed for the mere purpose of advertisement and awareness of the artist, and his sense of looking for adventure and freedom.

One of the most obvious visual techniques is the use of a handicam, made even jerkier possibly by post production editing. The camera is also of quite a low quality, giving the video a low fi feel. This fits in incredibly well with the music genre, as Jack Peñate is an indie/pop artist, and a convention of indie videos is to use a low-fi effect in videos to connote that the artist is a credible musician, using normal cameras just like everyone else. This is also reinforced through the opening and ending of the song, as the sound of an old camera shooting is played, again giving a low fi feel to the text. Generally the editing pace is quite slow, leaving the audience to observe the area he is in. However, during drum fills before the chorus and near the end of the song, or when there is a heavy noticeable beat, the shots change to jumpcuts giving a sudden rush to the video. There are also quite a few dissolves used between shots, to create smooth transitions to echo the tranquility found in the desert. The shot sizes vary between long shots, medium shots, and close ups, with the long shots being when Peñate is physically doing something like jumping or climbing rocks, and not singing. This perhaps connotes that when he is just being himself in normal life he feels isolated from everyone else now that he’s lost the person he loves. At about 3 minutes 10, the pace of the song changes and the editing also changes as everything jack does is then re-winded, however this is a brief part of the song, and then returns to normal once the chorus starts. This may perhaps connote that he is feeling lost and confused, and does not know where or which way to go.

With reference to representation, there is not a lot that can be picked out from the video. As Jack is seen to be wondering around on his own, this may represent him as being lonely, and similar to just normal people, as he also suffers with problems. Also, as he is walking on his own, this represents him as being a solo indie artist, as he does not have any band members with him. He also has quite modern clothes on suggesting that he is a modern artist. This sort of image appeals highly to young adults/teenagers. The overall representation of Jack in the video is that he appears to be lost in his life, looking for a direction or answer after losing his love. He also appears to be having a lot of fun during the video, suggesting an authenticity of being himself, and not performing. Using Richard Dyers’ critical framework on ‘Stars’ it is evident that Jack is constructed as being ordinary and also extraordinary. This is evident as jack is seen wearing normal clothes to construct the ordinary image, but he is also constructed as being extraordinary as he is seen as walking around a beautiful area in the Middle East to try and find himself.

I think that this video would be consumed by an ambient audience. This is because the video is not very meaningful and doesn’t have a particular interpretation. There are also trigger noises (the drum sequence before the chorus) which would attract the audience’s attention as it is quite loud and noticeable. It would probably be shown on most modern music channels, as this indie/pop genre of music is one of the most popular at the moment. I don’t actually believe that the record company would have had much of a say in the creation of this particular text, as indie artists are renowned for being creative and wanting to create things and design things in their own way. I think Jack would have had a large say in the video. Also, record companies when creating videos are mainly interested in promoting the artists, so many meat shots are common so the audience grows familiar with the artist’s image, whereas in this video there aren’t many at all.