Goodwin's Music Video Analysis - 'Bangarang' by Skrillex

How to analyse a music video...
Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992)

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

1. Genre Characteristics - 'Bangarang'is a song that fits into the dubstep genre. A typical characteristic of dubstep music videos and a feel of the music is that it is commonly quite dark. In the 'Bnagarang' video this is shown by a performance of children that grow into adults and commits crimes such as theft from the ice cream man and later robbery from a truck with money in. This is also shown in another Dubstep music video by Skrillex where a young girl beats up a young man who is following her.



2.  Dubstep is usually instrumental with no lyrics, unless it is made into a hybrid with garage or grime. This therefore means that the video has nothing to link to and usually shows whatever the music video producer wants to as long as it fits in with Dubstep characteristics (dark- crime, violence etc.). In the music video 'Bangarang' the lyrics say 'shout to all my lost boys' and at the beginning of the video it shows 3 different boys all out on the streets with lots of dogs which suggests they do not belong to a family or a home so they are 'lost'. It also says 'we rowdy' which is illustrated through they 3 boys then becoming chaotic and causing problems for the old man.

3. The music is fast which links in with what the boys are doing in the video; running around, trying not to get caught and causing troubles. It is filled with energy just like the boys in the video are, and the boys have a lot of adrenaline.

4. The artist Skrillex never actually appears in the video but there are visuals used which may have been recommended by the label. For example, there is a storyline which causes the person watching the video to carry on watching to see what is going on and how it ends (a bit like a book). This is a motif of Skrillex's- to create a story to go along with the music instead of having close-ups and shots of him actually creating his music like other artists like Lawson (band). 

5 Skrillex does not often have music videos for his music but when he does there is no visual effects, his videos are simple and have simple storys that the audience will understand and be able to follow.

6. There are no intertextual references within Skrillex's videos, all the stories told are made simply to go along with his videos and are made up not to link to anything else.

Skrillex