Music video research

Common people – pulp

Genre

Britpop and alternative rock

Type of video

Disco- themed, theatrical

Target audience – primary and secondary

The primary target audience was a broad 90s British alternative and Britpop audience, specifically resonating with working- class listeners who felt frustrated by economic struggles and “class tourism”. The song sat deeply with everyday people who were sick and tired of the romanticization of poverty, Aswell as the disappointment from upper class people who looked down upon the lower class.

The secondary audience is anyone who enjoyed more niche Britpop, especially in a time where oasis and blur were the big dogs of 90s Britpop

Use of camera

Quite stationary as the characters lip-sync the lyrics

Camera pans during the street scenes

In one of the most famous visual motifs, Cocker is shown trapped behind the metal bars of a supermarket shopping cart. The camera frames him tightly to mirror how the wealthy female character in the song treats working-class life as a tourist attraction or a commodity that needs to be showed off. Additionally, to show how even if she tries to get on his level of wealth she will always be bigger than him due to money.

the camera moves around the band as they perform inside a dark, retro-disco setting lit by neon signs spelling out "PULP", blending mundane everyday spaces (like grocery stores and residential streets) with stylized, caricatured pop art to convey how they are trying to make boring things seem fun and exciting

Editing

 Features a homage to the "Eleanor Rigby" sequence in the animated film Yellow Submarine, incorporating everyday people stuck in repeating loops (during the club) lasting less than a second. Sets the performance in a neon-lit, retro disco space featuring the band playing and Jarvis Cocker interacting with various scenes. The fighting scene was quick cuts from one punch to another to convey a club fight that was seen as “trashy” during the 90s.

Context

Jarvis cocker took inspiration from a girl in his sculpting class at university who expressed how she wanted to live in hackney like common people, saying how she genuinely wanted to suffer. Cocker then told her that she can live in a run-down area and go to rough pubs, but she can always get out of her situation because her dad could easily send her money, whereas other people around her are trapped. Additionally, cocker lived in Sheffield which seemed wild to someone who was living in London, especially meeting someone with a northern accent.

representation

The lyrics of Common People tell of a rich girl "from Greece", who latches on to the working-class narrator when the pair are both studying at St Martins College in London. She immediately declares that she "wants to live like common people like you", a statement that takes the singer by surprise. He quickly organises a trip around supermarkets and pubs to give the girl the full "working class" experience, but there's always the sobering fact that, unlike the so-called common people, she always has an escape route: "If you called your dad, he could stop it all.” This song became a British classic that everyone knows, especially between people who could relate to being the “common people” of Britain. 

I believe in thing called love by the darkness

Genre

sci-fi/space-themed music video that heavily leans into camp, 1980s glam metal, and retro-futuristic aesthetics.

Type of video

Sci fi, camp, nonsense

Target audience – primary and secondary

Primary – 20 – 40 as they grew up with this genre of music (80s pop camp) and the music video is sci fi – again inspired by the 80s as they were the most famous for sci fi movies.

Secondary – younger people as the song are very pop and entertaining for younger audience

Context

There really is no meaning behind the song as darkness just wanted to make a fun song with the vague story of a love song. This is their most popular song as it came from nowhere. It came out in 2002 when all the songs were serious and gloomy, so darkness came out with a song heavily inspired by the 80s glam pop rock genre. Many people didn’t take the darkness seriously as the public thought of them as an unserious band that made songs for the fun of it with no real intention, so it became a joke if you genuinely liked the band.

Use of camera

High angles to show everything that’s going on

Close ups to get Justin Hawkins lip syncing on point

Wide angles to get the whole band in

Zooms to focus on the members

Parts where Justin is in focus and band members are in the background

The camera is quite stationary during a lot of the video, whilst the band does their own thing

Camera pans around the fire, where each member sings a lyric

Editing

Edited very quickly and fast paced

Jump cuts used excessively to convey the narrative

Lots of special effects used for the sci fi aspect of the music video, such as the flames and lightning strikes coming out of the guitar.

The editing is cut excessively during the end scene where they fight the octopus to simulate danger and panic whilst fighting, much like an action movie

Representation

The music video doesn’t feature traditional representation of any politics or serious subjects, instead it used intertextuality to do over the top homage to 1970s science fiction movies and high camp theatricals. The most noticeable are Gorath (1962), Starcrash (1978) and Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957).The references are shown through the band fighting a giant crab, interacting with a furry creature and performing inside a spaceship set.

 

Murder on the dancefloor by Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Genre

Dance pop

disco

Type of video

Musical dark comedy

Target audience – primary and secondary

The target audience for murder on the dancefloor are millennials who were teenagers to young adults when the 2001 hit the charts. However, the song resurfaced for gen z enjoyers due to it hitting the charts by being featured in the 2023 movie ‘Saltburn’.

Use of camera

Throughout the whole video Sophie Baxter’s character addresses the camera by smiling and winking at it, breaking the fourth wall, making it seem like the camera is another character within the dance contest where we can see her tactics. The use of the camera highlights how she is slowly entering the spotlight by being cutthroat and ruthless to win and there being less people due to her antics.

Editing

The music video relies heavily on camera tracking as well as rhythmic cutting that is in time with the movements that sync directly with the song's disco/pop beat, making the frequent shifts between dancers feel like a natural part of the choreography. Additionally, the cutting between her sabotage attempts gives the video a literal and comedic interpretation of the title, contrasting her highly controlled movements with the chaos she creates on the floor.

 

Representation

 A noticeable intertextual reference in the music video is how it’s inspired by the 1969 film they shoot horses, don’t they? Where it portrays a dark, satirical dance competition. In the movie the dance sequence portrays a gruelling, exploitative dance marathon during the 1930s great depression where exhausted contestants had to push themselves mentally and physically to win a $1500 cash prize, showing how people will do ruthless things for money in dire times. Sophie Ellis-Baxtor conveys the same message in a 2000s disco way where she is also doing cruel sabotages just so she can win the money and fancy shoes.

 

Context

Ellis-Bextor made an upbeat disco-pop song with a dark, metaphorical meaning. It describes someone using ruthless, cutthroat tactics to outshine and eliminate their rivals in a dance competition, while also representing taking control of a night out and shutting down toxic relationships. She quotes that she took inspiration from a bad date where he kept being really controlling for the whole night.