Research music video 1: "Hopeless Wanderer" Mumford And Sons

The song I have chosen to analyse is Hopeless Wanderer by Mumford and Sons,  An indie band based in England. From the introduction screen here we can guess that the song is going to be based on a older style of music e.g. folk as this older theme will carry on throughout the video as that is the groups star image " a reminder of olden times" . It resembles a cinema roll from the by gone era reminiscent of the days of Charlie Chaplin. It introduces the band and the song that the video is for before we have even seen the band them selves.

The song starts off with a piano riff being played, the video shows this directly linking it to the actual music playing in the video. The shot of the hand playing the piano is framed naturally with the ornate parts of the piano giving it a vintage feel and carries on with this older style as its a grand piano instead of a smaller electrical one.


The song then cuts with a shot of actors (people like Jason Bateman and Ed Helms well known hollywood actors) picking up the bands instruments this is a form of parody as they over exaggerate the bands style and movements to entertain the audience. This is shown in is a long shot and really reflects the genre of music the band plays as you can see how the actors are dressed in an older style of clothing like shirt,tie and waistcoat, as well as the dirt coming off from the road which creates the representation of them traveling far and wide to play their music. The choice of instruments also reflects the genre as in indie folk banjo's and kick drums occur often in music.


This is a long shot as it shows all of the actors and the green landscape with the sun shining in the back ground. The sun shining in the background creates the representation of them being a positive band as light is often associated with positivity and joy, the expression from the actors also creates the idea of them fun and being positive and having alot of chemistry.



In this shot, one of the actors  is following the convention of not singing into cam, this is a convention  of the indie genre as indie is meant to push and challenge conventions instead of following them like other genres like pop.

 The music video then cuts to a change in costume, this again is very similar to the by gone style of fashion present in the other parts of the music video. It is reminiscent of the early carnival's by including this it also changes up the aesthetic of the music video as it provides a contrast of colour from the very green feel before hand to now the red and white.

The music video then made another cut to a barn with light bulbs hanging from the roof, this provides a change another change of location something along with costume changes I have noticed is very common to try and capture the audiences attention.





The exaggerated movement shown in this section of the music video is effective as it serves as entertainment to the audience to try and make the audience laugh, as music video's to hook the audience etheir try to make them laugh, intrest them in a story or offer eye candy.

In the indie folk genre one convention are long aesthetic shots like long shot's of someone playing a guitar with the sunset glaring in the back ground as instead of trying to keep the audiences attention through the "male gaze" or a story they try to use the beauty of the video to get someone to watch it.


How this has influenced my planning and creativity 
This has influenced my planing as it has given me great examples as to how set up my shot's to make them seem aesthetic and how  a opening slate can be used to communicate the feel of a video.