Textual Analysis

What is the function and purpose of music video for Hold On by SBTRKT in representing the artist? 

Hold On is a song by the musician called “SBTRKT” who’s real name is Aaron Jerome, following the hit single “wildfire” from the album; this song was released on 12th February 2012 in the United Kingdom and features SBTRKT’s main collaborator Sampha on vocals in the song. Hold On was described by some critics as “the highlight of the album”.

The song falls under the category of electronic house, this synthetic musical style is mirrored in the abstract and imaginative video for the song. As SBTRKT have only produced the track, and hired another artist to sing over it. Even though the artist doesn’t feature visually in the video, the images used strongly promote the image of the artist, as the video adds another dimension to the music behind it. As the genre is electronic house, a musical style which is more focused on the music rather than the lyrics, you can expect there to be an amplifying or illustrative relationship between the music and the visuals, and for the same to be seen between the lyrics and the visuals, which is the case in this music video.

This video is a narrative video, telling the story of a guy driving to a house to see a girl who is at home packing to leave, and how they narrowly miss each other. The theme of the video is a kind of love story; this is the first element of the film that appears to make it appeal towards the senses and feelings of the audience. 

The video starts with a high angle shot of the moon at night, the light from the moon shining through some clouds in the sky creating a gentle and sensual feeling for the viewer. This feeling is then further accentuated by the sound of the track, the soft notes that the song begins with do well to strengthen this sensual feeling in the viewer. The music and visuals on screen strongly combine to make the viewer feel particular emotions. In this way SBTRKT are promoting their image as real musicians, more as an entity than a public image, through the quality of music they produce and the effect this has on the viewer, not by how the editing and camera presents the artist as a character in the video.

The video begins to reach out and engage with the viewer’s senses initially through the mise en scene and camera work. The first 45 seconds of the video features an intercutting sequence of some shots of a house, the street outside and the interior of a car driving towards the house. The mise en scene of this section of the video is a soft, yellow, low-key lighting used in association with the house (the man’s destination).  This lighting gives the impression of the house being warm and inviting. In contrast, the shots of the car are filmed using a brighter light, and make the car, and the area outside the house seem cold. The mise en scene in terms of these two settings also appeals to the viewers senses. The viewer compares the cold looking car, versus the warm, appealing house and makes a decision on which they would prefer. The viewer then understand that the artist is telling a story about normal people experiencing normal emotions, making the artist seem more down-to-earth and in touch with the audience - the artist is showing that they understand emotion, maybe saying that the artists themselves have experienced similar emotions.  The camera work used of the shots of the girl in the house is important; filmed in slow motion this footage contrasts with that of the man, which seems to be slightly sped up through jump cuts. This may have been done because the narrative of the video seems to be that the male character gets home too late to catch the girl before she leaves. The slow motion makes it seem like there is time to catch her before she goes but it doesn’t matter how fast the man moves he still doesn’t get there in time. 

The video adheres to Goodwin’s theories throughout, the first few shots are edited in such a way that the shots cut in time with the beat,   this shows the close  and direct and illustrative relationship between the music and the visuals. Also the first lyrics of the song; “what do you mean, what do you mean you’re not coming back?”. While this is being sung, the woman has picked up her suitcase and appears to be leaving the house, this shows an illustrative relationship between the lyrics and the visuals on screen. Both these relationships prove Andrew Goodwin’s theories are being used and as they are illustrative relationships, this shows the artist’s intention of doing something that the viewer can relate to easily, furthering my idea that the artist’s intention was to make a video that appeals to the viewers senses and promotes the artist as someone who has gone through the same things that the viewer may have gone through, making the artist very accessible and in touch with their emotions. 

In conclusion, this textual analysis has made it evident that Hold On, by SBTRKT has used camera work, editing and the narrative style of music video to promote the image of the artist as someone who is in touch with their emotions and someone that can create a video that reaches out to the viewer’s emotions through colour palate, lighting, editing speed and camera work. This video also proves Goodwin’s theories with regards to the visuals on screen matching the lyrics and music of the song itself. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x6DmYxnBaI