Semiotic Analysis Of Creep Music Video

MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS
Put simply a semiotic analysis can be defined as the study of signs and symbols. In order to fully understand a media text it helps to understand the semiotics, we can then decode the meanings and understand the information that has been encoded into the text. This links to Roland Barthes theory that all signs have two levels. The first is denotation, something’s literal or obvious meaning, the second, a possible or suggested meaning, values that come from the object within a given context.
Firstly I will analyse the music video ‘Creep’ by Radiohead. This video is aimed at a niche audience, as the band Radiohead is of an alternative/rock music genre. I think the mode of address for this particular video would be teenagers to young adults of both genders. The members of the band are all dressed relatively modern for when this video was produced, this shows that they also dress stereotypically for there age . The band members would be seen to be an ideal self for many people. I think it is aimed at both genders as the boys within the video can represent an ideal partner for girls, they are young and successful. They also appear moody and emotional which relates well to the song and also shows they have a sensitive side. However for boys they represent an ideal self. Many boys would aspire to live a life like the members of this band. They are successful, attractive and wealthy. As they are on a stage they also have an adoring audience in front of them. The idea of having many adoring fans is an appealing one.
There are many generic codes and conventions present in the media text I have chosen. Firstly the location for the video, it looks like a gig at an arena or club. We associate gigs and festivals with young people. The audience in the video are jumping and dancing around; we associate this with the younger generation.
The music video doesn’t have much of a narrative to it other than they are performing at some sort of gig/concert. Even though this isn’t a very imaginative video for the song, I think that it works well as the song alone is powerful. However it is the use of camera angle and lighting that make this video even better. The lighting in the video is very dark like it would be at a gig. There are coloured lights that flash around the room as they are performing, the lights are not too bright though, and are in keeping with the song. The colours used in the video are very dark and sombre; this represents the despondent theme of the song.
Mise-en-scene consists of three aspects, location, character and lighting and colour. The location of this music video is a gig. There is a main stage where the band is performing and each of the band members has an instrument. It is not necessary for the band members to have any musical instruments with them as in most music videos, the song is pre recorded and put over the video. So these are actually used as iconography to show that these are the band members. The gesture in which the band members act is stereotypical to a alternative rock band. This is how we would expect them to act at a gig. It is the temporal, spatial and geographic aspects that create a sense of diegisis and verisimilitude. The most common shot in this music video would be transitions. The cut is used a lot, we would expect this is a music video like this one as it is quite a simple video. The cut is by far the simplest and most frequently used transition, in which one shot is instantly replaced by the next. These are used because they are least noticeable. Overall the combined generic codes and conventions of this media text suit the audience it is aimed at and represents the song suitably.