Performance Video Analysis

Everybody in Love is the second single by British boyband JLS from their self-titled debut album. The song was released on 1 November 2009. The song became the band's second number one single in the UK on 8 November 2009, with a total of 403,258 copies being sold so far in the UK, earning the single a gold certification. I chose to analyse this music video because it was of a different genre to the indie music we had chosen therefore i could make a comparison in main features of a pop video compared to an indie video. However the target audience for JLS are the same as what we are going to aim at as they are a fairly young upcoming new boy band. The is purely a performance video with key aspects that represent this throughout.

The lyrics only have a slight connection to the music video for example "everybody in love, put your hands up" througout the video we see several background performers dancing with their hands in the air which represents the lyrics. However the words are more represented through the dance the main band members do due to being a performance video. Examples such as when the boys sing "you" they point towards the camera which implies that they are singing the song to the audience watching, this is effective as it becomes more personal and special to JLS fans. Adding to this, lyrics such as " i can't eat i can't sleep" is also represented through dance moves as the boys imitate what we would conform to being "sleep" in actions as shown in the image below.

In terms of camera angles there is a wide variety of shots however all of just the band to not take away from the performance based video. The video starts with an establishing shot of the band, this is to show the boys all together as a team and establish their look and appearance to present them as the main aspect of the video. It then shows a close up of their shoes to give a variety to keep the viewers interested then gets straight into the performance. Through camera angles mainly throughout the video there are low angle shots of the JLS performing, this gives the audience a view of looking up to the band like you would in a concert on a stage. Also without realising the viewers may interpret this as looking up to the singers perhaps as role models and idols which a lot of pop singers are to a young target audience. The focus then is made through several close ups and mid shots of each singer separately lip sinking the words, this camera angle is effective as it really shows the emotion the singers are putting into the song and trying to like these emotions to the lyrics.

As this is a performance based video not a lot of the focus is on different camera angles but more mise-en-scene for example the background and setting of the music video. As you can see there is a lot of bright colours in clothing portrays the happiness of the song, the outfits the band are wearing are very young and fashionable which is linked to the target audience and also the "reverse male gaze theory" using the look of the males to sell themselves for consumption purposes which mainly encourages a female audience. However, also the females in the video also represent the "male gaze theory" as they are dressed in stereotypical pink and red clothing which is what we expect of women and long, flowing blonde hair is stereotypical of a "trophy girl" and is what perhaps a young audience of today would see as "attractive". Adding to this, the bright background and setting containing several pretty, hanging lights gives a romantic feel which is stereotypical of a song with love and passion. The face expressions of all the actors in the music video also implies happiness and joy which relates to the lyrics of being "in love".