Music Video Analysis

Music Video Analysis: Young Guns - Bones

By Maria Kakoulli, Louise Fisher, Joely Holder and Jake Lovelace

Relationship between lyrics and visualsAccording to Goodwins theory there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals within a

music video. They can either be illustrative, contradictory or amplifying. The music video for Young Guns song Bones, is a contradictory video as the onscreen images do not have any relation to the lyrics. The main shots are of the band members in an empty warehouse playing the instruments and singing. However there are also some shots of another character dancing, this still however has no relation to the lyrics of the song.

The music video starts of with very dark close up shots of the band members in an empty warehouse. This is a very typical scene for indie rock bands within their music videos. There are various close ups are not only of the band members, however also their instruments this is used to emphasize their status as a band which play their own music.

There is then a big emphasis on the lead singer when he starts to sing however there is also then a shot of the whole band. It is as though all the different close ups have been pieced together, the various parts which make up the band (instruments and members) come together to show the final product which is the whole band.

At the beginning there isn’t a relation to the lyrics and what happens on screen, however the onscreen actions have been edited to the beat of the music. Like the footsteps from the band members go to the beat from the drums.

However when the music starts another character is introduced within the music video. When the lyrics “down under the night sky, I lay and wait” are sang there is a shot of a girl under the sky looking up. This is amplified where the lyric and the images don’t exactly show the same thing however there are similarities.

As the lyrics progress they again have less relation to the onscreen images. We then get shown another setting in an empty, trashed building where we are again shown the female character who is alone.

The next image of the female character again alone in the building is shown to the lyrics “been crushed by its weight”. This is an amplified image for the lyrics because it shows her distressed and alone, which could be the effects of being emotionally “crushed by it’s weight”.

Again there is an amplified image, when the lyrics “I’ve seen down the end of the road” and the image onscreen is the female character looking down the end of the road from a high rise building.

Relationship between music and visuals.