Music Video Analysis – ‘Don’t Look Back Into the Sun’ by The Libertines

For my analysis of this video, I’m mainly basing it around the music video conventions given by Andrew Goodwin in his book ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’. He names the following six as conventions of music videos:

Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in rock video, dance routine.)

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals There is a relationship between music and visuals The demands of the record label will include the needs for lots of close ups of the

artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc.)

The video I’ve chosen to analyse is ‘Don’t Look Back Into the Sun’. This is because as a group we’ve made a general agreement that this type of music makes the best videos. So we’re taking our video analyses from this indie-rock genre.

If we work through the video chronologically, the first thing that really fits this conventions comes in the second shot. Here, we see a male walking down the stairs, but it’s a very dark image so we can’t really see him. The song however is called ‘Don’t Look Back Into the Sun’, so one could argue that the reason it’s dark is that he’s not looking into the sun, this character is remaining in the darkness. It can also be argued that this shot demonstrates the genre characteristics, because it’s a dark shot and this rock genre is often associated with the colour black. The character in the shot also has long hair, which is a stereotypical association of the rock genre.

The next shot also fits Goodwin’s ideas. Here, we can see two characters wearing sunglasses, which clearly links to the lyrics and name of the song. One could also argue that this is a reference to the notion of looking, as we cannot see where they are looking because their eyes are hidden, however they can see everything. We can also see a man in a white t-shirt with his back to the camera is taking a photograph of the people in sunglasses and the people surrounding them, which is another reference to the notion of looking.

One feature I have picked out during the first three cuts of the video is that they are cutting to the beat. It’s quite a middle-speed cutting rate but there is clearly a relationship here between the music and visuals. The notion of looking with the sunglasses continues. Another interesting feature, not really referenced by Goodwin is the costumes. Both of the main characters are wearing red outfits that look similar to royal clothing. This could be to represent that they’re important people and want to be noticed.

A few shots later, we have our first piece of live footage. This demonstrates the genre characteristics as specified by Goodwin. Live stage performance is very common in rock

videos so one could argue this clearly follows this stereotype. Live performance is also a common feature in The Libertines’ other music videos, so this could be another reason why it’s been featured. It’s become a sort of identity or motif across their work. We can also say that with the live performance, this is a clear link between the music and the visuals. This is because it can be interpreted as the band on-screen being the ones who are playing the music.

Interestingly, one of the people playing the music is wearing the same costume that the two characters with sunglasses were wearing earlier in the club. This could be seen as an intertextual reference to itself or it may be that this is the same character at a different point in time and the intention is that the audience realise this. However, it’s hard to work out for sure about this just yet, as we have little to go on in terms

of the whole music video just yet.

During the live performance, there is a projection behind them which reads ‘Future Rock & Roll’. This makes it clear to the audience what genre they class their music as. It could also potentially imply that they see themselves as having a long music career and that’s where the ‘Future’ comes from.

After the live performance, a brief cut is made to one of the men from a previous scene wearing the sunglasses. He is outside walking through what looks like a stereotypical British council estate, which could represent that this guy is a regular person and there’s nothing special about him; contrasting to the image of royalty and traditionalism that he is portraying through his fashion and dress sense. The British identity is also clearly shown here as there are a number of St. George’s Cross flags in the background. This could be because the video was filmed during an international event such as Euro 2002, or perhaps they have just been placed here as a set up because the producers and/or band wanted to portray the British identity.

A couple of shots later we see a variety of people walking into a shop, however the lighting is low so it’s a dark shot and we can’t actually see who they are. The assumption would be however that the first person to walk through is the man with the sunglasses and the royal outfit. The audience can make this assumption now as throughout the video he has appeared.

Soon, we have an interesting shot when the main character is staring directly down the camera. However, he is still wearing his sunglasses so we can’t actually see ‘what he’s about’ which is still creating an intense mystery about who this character is. The mise-en-scene in this shot uses the prop of a lighter to add to character’s personality. There is

a link to the lyrics here as it says ‘You’re looking rough and you’re living strange’. It kind of represents him as a bit of a stereotypical troublemaker. This links back to earlier when we saw him walking through the council estate, because these areas are commonly known for trouble.

Following this, we get an extreme close up shot. This time, the man is quite literally behind bars and we can see nothing but his face and sunglasses. There is a lack of light representing that he’s in trouble perhaps. Obviously the initial impression from the bars is that he’s in trouble and in prison. The reason that the ECU shot was used could be so that we can see the emotion on his face, which still using the sunglasses to protect the sense of mystery surrounding the character’s personal identity.

There is a return to live performance here. The repetition of this could be because they want the audience to recognise that these people are playing the song and they don’t want that to be forgotten. There is a lot of fast cutting rates, strobe lighting and camera movement here, which makes it exciting to look at and it’s hard for the audience to predict what will be coming next. One could also argue that the repetition of live performance is fulfilling the needs of the audience, because the rock audience are generally stereotypically known for loving loud, live performance. So instead of making the music massively loud, they represent this through the fast pace of everything going on, so it essentially looks ‘loud’. There are also a couple of close ups in the live performance shots, which Goodwin described one of his six music video features. This could be to give the audience a personal relationship with the band.

During this performance there is a link between the lyrics and visuals. The band sing ‘They’ll never forgive you and they won’t let you go’. This links to the previous shot whereby the man is behind bars, suggesting he has done something wrong. Therefore, he may need forgiveness from someone but the lyrics suggest he won’t get it. The lyrics also say ‘they won’t let you go’. This is a clear link to the fact that he won’t be able to get out from behind bars. He can’t escape.

The next shot could actually be considered as intertextuality. We view the two men in sunglasses in a music shop picking something from the shelves and hiding it under the jacket. We can see a number of other albums on the shelves and though the image quality is not very good and it’s hard to work out just what these albums are. Goodwin suggested that intertextuality was a common feature of music videos and this therefore is definitely a reference to that. The camera then pans to follow one of the men as he’s walking towards the exit as the other one is stealing a disc.

There is then a serious of little shots, including dancing in a lift and a couple of live performance shots. We then see the two men outside again and to create effect, there is a still shot of them walking towards the camera. To create the close up effect, instead of zooming into the characters, they zoom into the camera. The camera remains absolutely still, but they walk towards it creating a similar effect, which engages the audience and this continues the mystery regarding the two characters.

It then cuts back to the recurring theme of live performance. This is interesting, however because what I have noticed is they tend to cut to live performance during the chorus. This could be for a number of reasons, one being that it’s louder and more ‘in your face’ therefore, flashing lights and fast cutting visuals fit better with the music. There is a clear link between music and visuals here. Another reason could be that the lyrics to the verses have a bit more meaning and follow more of a storyline, therefore these can be acted out a lot more than perhaps the chorus can be. The very quick cutting rate is a link to the loud drums and pace of the music.

After the chorus has finished, there is then a cut back outside where one of the men is walking out of a shop, revealing the single that he had hidden under his jacket. There is more intertextuality here as the single he reveals is actually ‘What a Waster’ by The Libertines. Here, they are linking the music video of one of their songs to one of their other songs.

Following this, there is a bit of live performance before three quick close up shots of different people. The first man has appeared a couple of times throughout. He is a bald,

coloured man who we know little about. The next two close ups are of the two main characters. However, for the first time during the ‘storyline’ sections of their video (as opposed to the live performance sections) they are not wearing their sunglasses, implying that the mystery has now gone; we know who they are.

Following this, a close up shakeycam shot is used of the sunglasses of one of the men. And although this created mystery before, we, as the audience now understand more about the character based on the previous two close up shots. We then have a shot back outside of the two men with sunglasses leading against a wall alongside the bald man and another new character wearing a policeman’s helmet. Neither of the latter two character wear sunglasses, suggesting that they have nothing to hide, and perhaps they’re not ‘looking back into the sun’ but the former two are.

All four characters take a walk through a regular street, with the two main characters taking the lead. Interestingly though, one of them has removed his glasses, so only one of the four characters is actually wearing them now. By this time though, we’ve reached the chorus again, so a swift cut is made back to the live performance creating suspense for the audience as they want to know what else will go on in the story. When it returns to the story, it uses repetition of a very similar shot that we’ve seen already; dancing in the lift. Three of the four characters are present here, but we can’t see the man in a police helmet. However, they are squeezed quite close together so it’s likely he’s hiding behind another character.

A very quick close up shot is then used of one of the characters removing his sunglasses to reveal his eyes. This could actually be pivotal to the story as he’s no longer looking into the sun, which is what the song is all about. He also looks happy in this shot, suggesting he’s proud of himself for the decision he’s just made.

Soon after the camera zooms in very close to the eyes of a character. It’s hard to actually work out which character this is though although it may very well be the man with the policeman’s helmet. This shot however is very basic and doesn’t really have any effect on the audience because it doesn’t seem to link into any of the storyline. One could argue though that here there is a notion of looking as it focuses on his eyes, which are looking straight down a camera lens.

Another shot follows of one of the two main characters. He has removed his sunglasses though and this could be why it uses a close up. This is one of the first times we really get to see his full face with no glasses and no other distractions to cover him up.

For the majority of the rest of the video, there is a variety of shots but they are mainly mixed between walking through a street and live performance. This represents the song well and interestingly, the final shot we see of the two main characters, they are wearing their sunglasses again. This could suggest that nothing has changed since the start of the video and that maybe they had a phase where they removed them and changed their life as we saw, but in the end they put them back on and are smiling, looking like they’re having fun.

Interestingly, nearly all of Andrew Goodwin’s features were used. The only one that wasn’t really present was the voyeuristic treatment of the female body. In fact it was the

complete opposite, as there were very little females featured in the video at all. It’s completely focused around the two ‘shady’ male characters. One could also argue that there was actually a link between the live performance and storyline. As it’s the same people performing as it is featuring in the storyline, it can be argued that actually they are looking back on their life and the song is about the specific events that happen in the storyline. The performers are looking back on what happened earlier in their lives. Overall, it’s a very interesting video and though some bizarre features and frankly pointless shots are used, there is a clear storyline running throughout and when making my music video, there are a number of techniques that I think I would like to include.