Analysis of Music Video - The Vaccines - If You Wanna

The Artist

'The Vaccines' are an English indie rock band, formed in West London in 2010 by Justin Hyward-Young (lead vocals, guitar), Freddie Cowan (lead guitar, vocals), Árni Árnason (bass, vocals) and Pete Robertson (drums, vocals). The band have released three studio albums, 'What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?' (2011) and 'Come of Age' (2012), which charted at #1 in the UK upon its release. Their third album 'English Graffiti' was released on 25th May 2015.

The band themselves stated that they have influences that range from 50s rock 'n' roll through to 80s hardcore and pop music.

The Record Label
'Columbia Records' is an American flagship recording label, under the ownership of Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group. Some of the artists signed to Columbia Records currently include 'Beyoncé', 'Adele', 'Foo Fighters' and 'The Script'.

Mise en scene
Setting and Location
There is one setting throughout the whole music video, a stage, with different light being cast upon the band for the performance-based video. The video looks like it has been filmed in a studio with full control of lighting which enabled the band to coordinate the lighting changes with the song and rhythm of it. The fact that the music video is shot 'on-stage' perhaps also gives a sense of intimicay and also a feel of being 'really there' in a concert with the band. 

Costume and Make-up
In this way, the music video is quite typical for the 'indie-rock' genre with the casual, ocassional leather jacket look which many 'rock' bands go for. In this way, you can see influences from bands such as 'Foo Fighters' who are signed by the same Record Label, 'Columbia Records' as well as what the band themselves had stated, 50s rock 'n' roll and 80s hardcore. The band generally wear black jeans and casual shirts or t-shirt with jackets. One of the guitarists wears a red jacket with a plain t-shirt which could reflect how the band are perhaps reflecting their rock influences and also could display how rock bands are often referred to as the 'rebels' and therefore the red has connotations of this. However, it could also reflect love as the lyrics to the chorus state:

"But if you wanna come back it's alright, it's alright
It's alright if you wanna come back
Do you wanna come back? It's alright, it's alright
It's alright if you wanna come back to me"

In this way, the costume as well as the use of colour imitates the lyrics and meaning of the song.

Lighting and Colour
The lighting throughout the video is reliant on the colour which is cast over the band as they perform. As the colour fades, the silhouettes of the band is left with just the outline of their guitars and drum kit. The different colours cast upon the band relate to the meaning being portrayed by the lyrics. For example, at the beginning of the video the lyrics state 'I don't want to wake up in the morning...' as yellow fades in and out with the rhythm od the guitar thus, this imitates the colours
which you would associate with a sunrise: yellow
and orange.

Similarly, there is a blue light cast upon the band as the lyrics state 'all alone', thus, the colour used perhaps has connotations of literally feeling 'blue' and also connotes being down and, in this case, isolated.

Camera Work
Perhaps not conventional to a traditional music video, 'If You Wanna' incorporates quite a few wide-shots which are used to present the band as a whole. Despite this, it very much is conventional since generally, the amount of close-ups and medium close-ups outweigh the wide shots. In particular, there are many close-up shots of the lead singer which could relate to the band wanting to get their face 'out there' since this was one of the band's first singles to be released from their first album thus, especially since the music video is an entirely a performance based video, 'The Vaccines' are using this type of video to almost introduce the band.

Editing
The pace of the music video is generally very fast and in this way, there is use of very fast straight cuts. The use of fast cuts is particularly used when the pace of the music increases, also in its volume, the cuts imitate what sounds the audience is hearing. Thus, this emphasises the importance of matching visuals to sounds, having the cuts in-sync with the music helps the video to flow nicely and create the right meaning. since it would look odd if there where fewer cuts for a mostly upbeat song. Similarly, when the pace of the video slows down, for example where there is blue lighting and they are singing 'all alone', there is more space between the cuts, emphasising that the pace of the video has slowed. When it 'picks' up, fast cuts work with high-key lighting and lyrics to portray the meaning clearly and effectively.