Analysis of a Music Video.

Video Killed The Radio Star - The Buggles.

Click to watch ^^

This video was one of the first music videos ever made. It was produced in 1979 and sang by a band called The Buggles. This video starts with a close up of the main singer (Trevor Horn) in the band. The colouring of the video is rather grainy and not bright. The video has graphics suurounding it which at the time would of looked revolutionary as music videos were never heard of but looking at it now it looks rather cheap. Camera angles and shots are very limited on this video, they mostly consist of close ups, medium shots and zoom. We are first shown the main singer of the band (Horn), he is shown at a close up shot. He is wearing a silver suit and white sunglasses to match. The clothing shown gives off a kind of space theme, the silver and the sunglasses seem rather intertextual to what spacemen would wear. It also gives a feeling of something new and exciting. The clothes seem to be something different and this is exactly what the music video is. The fact the sound of the song is in an almost like robotic voice shows a sense of how the technology was at the time and it seems as if they are showing off how new they are.

The camera then cuts to two women singing and a man (Geoff Downes) playing piano. This shows the audience that the song is actually performed by a band and not just the man we see at the beginning. We are then shown Horn again this time though the camera zooms out and we are seen more of the setting and surroundings. We can see the singer has a microphone in which he is singing into. This gives off the feel that the band are performing, when actually the sound is non - digectic and Horn would have been miming.

During the video many bright lights are shown in the background. Although our focus is in the foreground these lights are still visable and the fact they shine in the reflection of Horns sunglasses gives off a feel of new discovery and wonder to the auidence as the music video would have been something new to them. It makes it feel more new and productive. Whilst Horn is singing he is not only surrounded by his band mate and the two ladies but also people we assume are their audience. This 'audience' however don't seem too excited about whats going on around them. They give off the feel that what the band is doing is normal and that the surrounding is something they are used too. This makes me think that at the time the video was shot the audience were purposfully made to look disinterested as they are showing the viewers that what is being shown IS something new and exciting but also not a one off and something they should expect to see a lot of.

The women in this video are backing singers however they are shown sexually to the audience and are not shown in the back looking dowdy. The women are dressed in short dresses of the colours red and white. White represents purity and virginity whilst the red shows passion and lust. I believe this is done purposfully to attract male attention. The lady in the white dress is more covered up then the lady in red, this woman is also brown haired whilst the other is a blonde. This is done intentionally as the sterotype for beautiful women is blonde and skinny. The brunnette lady is not conventionally pretty to society and this is how she is shown in the video. The brunnette also is shorter then the blonde as constantly seems to be looking up at her. This shows superiority within the two girls.

Horn in this video is stood remotely still, he does not make any drastic movements and in fact does not hardly move at all. This fits in with the theme of the video, the space and robotic theme. He also is shown at an angle were he is not looking directly into the camera. However when the lyric 'Put the blame on VCR' is said he looks directly into the camera. This interacts with the audience and gains their attention.

The same graphic is shown throughout the video, although not constantly it is enough to relate it to the video. This graphic would of been something never done before, people would of been amazed by it as it would be something they would have never seen. This video is intertextual and based around themes such as space and new technology. The clothing Horn is dressed in gives off a sense of a robotic theme and the voice and non digectic singing of Horn gives off this theme too. I think audiences in 1979 would have been amazed by this video and suprised it could of actually been made. This also relates with the video as robots and space were once things that did not seem real or could be explored.