Music Video Analysis of 'Wasting My Young Years' by London Grammar

For our A2 media studies music video we have chosen the artist London Grammar; so I thought I would research and analyse some of their music videos to gain a better understanding of the artists video concepts and the creativity within them.

The video begins with thick sparkly confetti blowing through the room which is empty. The camera shot stays in one place but a shaky effect has been edited in to it. The shaky effect looks like an effect that would be used in a horror movie so the video can be expected to be quite mysterious and strange. As the confetti is moving, there is no vocals; just string music giving the concept an eerie vibe. The video has been edited in to black and white which portrays a dull atmosphere and intrigued me in to wanting to watching more of it.

As the deep vocals begin we are introduced to the main singer of the band; Hannah Reid. A close up of her lip syncing is used to show her serious facial expressions and emotion. The lyrics and the visuals match at this point as the lyrics "you crossed the line" is negative and she is showing that emotion on her face.













After this, there is emptiness with a person floating in the air in a paralysed/dead looking state. This is very unusual and scary looking; it as if the person is possessed and levitating as a result of possession or in a vegetable like state. What makes this visual more frightening is the use of old film tape effects, giving the video a dated, old and abandoned feeling. The lyrics 'I'm wasting my young years' are portrayed in the video through the floating people which gives the idea that these people are representing her emotions and how she feels about her 'young years'. It seems as if she and maybe other young people are stuck and unable to move emotionally, but for the video a physical representation of this has been conducted.

 

 

 A slow motion/frozen effect is added to the visual of smoke/powder in the air. It appears as if this has come to a stand still which conforms to the theme of the music video- the idea of being unable to move; shown in a physical way but mainly based on emotions.

 

 

 

The camera does a 360 degree spin around the band, showing each of them equally. This is an interesting way to show all band members to show that they are part of the song too and not just the vocalist Hannah Reid. The way in which this has been filmed makes it seem as if London Grammar are trying to fly upwards but they can't as something is holding them down; perhaps preventing themselves/people for being who they really are and embracing and making the most of what life offers. In another cut, London Grammar are in the same position but this time there is a close up of each of their faces. Close ups of artists face are commonly used by record labels to allow viewers to see the artists face(s) clearly and this helps get the artist's face recognisable. All the band members are included in this shot to show that London Grammar do not consist of just one person which many people would be likely to mistake it for.



 

 

As the video is quite simplistic, the black and white effect makes the video work because it adds a great deal of mystery which the video would probably lack if it were in normal colour.

 

Throughout the video, the visuals of the other people in the video link back to London Grammar. For example, we see other people floating in the air but further on in the video we see London Grammar in the same type of position as the other people in their video. This portrays that London Grammar are just like these people even though they may not appear like that to people in real life.

 

Here is the video: