Analysis of music video: Foals- Spanish Sahara.

I choose this music video because it is from the indie genre of music and will contain conventions of the genre which my music video will follow. The band consists of five males so expectations of conventions of male music videos is already in place. Therefore i expect the video to be male dominated with barely any women in the video, or lots of women but in a voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

The opening image is a fade-in medium close-up of mountains covered in snow. The mis-en-scene creates an atmosphere of coldness making connotations of being alone and isolated with no-one around you. On the far left-hand side of the mis-en-scene a figure can be seen walking across the bottom of a mountain. This sequence creates mystery and makes the audience question why the figure is walking alone through the mountains and fundemental questions are being thought of such as, "What happened before this?"

Once the figure has walked down to the end of the mountain, the mis-en-scene changes and a close-up of a man's face appears. The image is saddening as he is alone lying on snow with a few droplets of snow falling on his face and in his hair. The man has no emotion on his face but is looking out infront of him as if he has given up searching or waiting for something. The lyrics being sung are, "So I walked through to the haze and a million dirty waves now I see you lying there like a lilo, losing air". This gives a vivid image of death and dying and the man being alone, isolated being engulfed in his own emptiness. This relates to Andrew Goodwin's "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" who states that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, and here it is clear that the lyrics amplify the visuals.

The movements are slow, but this works perfectly for the pace of the song. A theme is loneliness due to the man being stranded, and the following shot is of an ocean with something white floating init, which looks like either a white plastic bag or a parachute, which suggests how the man arrived in the location. The shot below is a stunning sequence of mud and glass filling up with water and then draining again. The action shots are like the tide on a beach coming into shore then out again and the movement co-sides with the pace and tone of the song, which is calm and peaceful; creating a relaxed atmosphere for the audience.

Following the natural sequences of ice, water and mud (earth's elements), the man fades in; in a close-up of his face; softly singing to the camera. Making a personal direction at the audience. The motionless image lets the audience focus on different aspects in the mis-en-scene such as the wind gently moving the man's hair, or the style of clothing he is wearing- black coat. Which could be used for warmth, as black clothing soaks in sunlight whereas white clothing reflects it. It could also be used for a sense of identity, as black coats don't necessarily have a label attached to them or associate him without a particular social group, therefore this widens the target audience. The atmosphere has changed from calm and tranquil to quite claustrophobic which seems unlikely due to the location but the brightness of the lighting and the emphasis on the man being alone makes it quite claustrophobic as it seems he cannot escape the emptiness or his surroundings.

The mis-en-scene returns to the floating white plastic bag which is being washed to shore. The man then drags the bag up the shore, showing the audience that the bag contains a dog inside. The music video is very abstract and leaves much up to the imagination, but due to this it keeps the audience watching to see any unanswered questions like wondering what might happen next to the main character.
Then the mis-en-scene returns to the close-up of the man singing, then alternates between the plastic white bag in the sea, him dragging the bag containing the dog up the stone beach and then back to a close-up of him; singing the lyrics, "forget the horror here, forget the horror here, leave it all down here, it's future rust and then it's future dust". This could mean that theres something dreaded "the horror" which can create a corroding effect ("future rust") on a person or a personality, and to cause a person to become possibly 'laissez-faire'.

The use of repetition could represent how everything is the same and theres nothing new happening, i.e. he is isolated and re-doing the same things over again. However the repetition could be used to put emphasise on the events in the sequence- the dog in the plastic bag. With the repeated sequence, the music gets louder and a chorus is heard making it an important moment in the video.

As the music quietens down to another verse, the mis-en-scene changes to show more stunning location shots. There is one beautiful shot of waves softly moving made out of stones, slates and cystals. These shots could illustrate the lyrics "a million dirty waves"... "Black rocks on the shoreline surf".

The low angle- head shot followed by a close up, reflects status as if the audience was looking up at the man, showing how the film is all about him. Andrew Goodwin claims that "the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist." This music video proves that this maybe true as there are many close-ups. However this could also be used to show the audience particular themes, emotions or to illustrate the lyrics.

The mis-en-scene shows the man dragging the dead dog in a plastic bag up the mountain and the difficulty he goes through doing so. It also shows his possible pain over the dogs death suggesting that he was emotionally attached to the dog, meaning that his only companion has gone leaving him alone and suffering. "Forget the horror here forget the horror here leave it all down here it's future rust and it's future dust i'm the fury in your head" These lyrics could possibly refer to Kurtz crying out "the horror", out of "Heart of Darkness", which meant theres nothing beyond death, "the horror" is nothingness.

However the mood changes, once the tempo becomes more upbeat and faster. The mis-en-scene changes back to to him singing but this time he has more colour in his face suggesting warmth and possible happiness. Then to a fire. Which could literally mean, "burn away your problems" or there could be a more undelining message, which could be more spiritual and about life. There is an old quote, "neither fire nor wind, nor birth nor death can erase our bad deeds", implining that if he doesn't feel quilty for the animals death, he cannot redeem himself.

The above shot shows the man dragging two dead animals up the mountain, which represents death and suffering. The mis-en-scene then shows the man standing infront of the fire with what seems like two dead animals being burnt, which has a negative connotation of sadness suggesting how he might be feeling about the dogs' death, which could be that he is feeling quilty and thinks that it is his fault. "Leave the horror" could mean to leave behind and ignore the thought of God, nothingness or just death itself, due to the death of the animals in the video and the codes of conventions in indie-rock music. The genre stated a rebellious group trying to defy stigmas attached and questions all kinds of things in life, and religion maybe one of them.

The ending shot is of the waves in the sea made of stones and slates gently moving, which fades out. The song represents moving on from something traumatic and coming to peace with the past. This could link to ideas for my music video as it is about life and how things come and go and to let it happen not to suffer and engulf yourself init.

Compared to normal indie/rock conventions this music video has few as it doesn't have performances, just a story. It also isn't in black and white and colour in this music video is vital to showing emotions. The video does use the conventions of multiple use of close-ups and long shots however it doesn't use stereotypical dark location and the lighting isn't artificial.