Maps Maroon 5

The music video itself is a narrative based music video. Things take a turn for the worst in the music video for "Maps." The dark clip opens with Levine running through a hospital to woman that was hit by car. As the badly injured patient hangs onto dear life, Adam recounts all the events leading up the accident. One thing appears to lead to another and it's revealed that the crash victim is Levine's on-screen girlfriend. She took off from a party they attended after the Maroon 5 singer got ‘cosy’ with another lady. The unfortunate happenings in the video only get worse with each look back. The "Maps" video does a good job capturing just how quickly good things can go awry making the narrative encapsulating for the audience to watch.

Relationship between the music and the visuals

In this video the visuals link nicely to the lyrics of the song, creating a lovers chase scene to fight to regain the relationship of the couple show. One particular example of this can be seen with the introduction of the first chorus of the song. As these lyrics are being played:

‘So I wonder where were you? When all the roads you took came back to me So I’m following the map that leads to youThe map that leads to you’

The visuals on screen are showing the protagonist travelling to find his lover. If you were to break it down more basically you’d find that the lyric ‘road’ is sung when the protagonist is driving and the lyrics ‘map that leads to you’ is sung as his lover is shown walking across the screen. This music video focuses very carefully on ensuring that the visuals are telling the story of the lyrics and therefore creating a more engaging story for the audience.

GenreThis is a pop song and therefore the song itself follows quite closely to

the conventions that are featured in many pop songs. As a genre, pop music is extremely eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country; nonetheless, there are core elements which define pop. Such elements include generally short to medium-length songs, written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as the common repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and hooks. This song follows this musical structure.

• The common theme of love is a main convention in the pop genre, as love is portrayed in the majority of pop music videos

• The excitement of the narrative engages the audience immediately as they are trying to figure out the binary opposition which is in this case ‘Love vs Hate’. This video links closely with the ideas of theorist Sven E Carlsson and his theory on binary opposites within music videos.

Representation• The male character is represented as a trendy and cool character who

loves to party. • The tattoos on his sleeve would stereotypically present the character as

being from a rougher background, however they seem to give the character a sophisticated look in this situation

• Although the song is from a five member band they have chosen to only feature the main vocalist in the video as the protagonist which could be effective as he is extremely popular and the most well known band member. This also helps to reinforce the ideas of a ‘star image’ and get the audience rooting for his character.

• The woman is presented as a casual, well-dressed character who also looks as if she loves to party. The red dress she is wearing connotes lust and sexualises her character, backing up the ideas of Michael Shore that women in modern music videos are often sexualised and objectified.

• The target audience for this music video are couples as they can also relate to the situations this music video portrays. It could also be seen to be portraying moral values as couples can be learning from the mistakes made by the male protagonist.

Firstly there is a non-diegetic sound which is slow paced introducing the song. This beat is effective as it relates to the narrative of the story. We get the impression that this character is panicking due to his use of gesture and facial expression. The sideways close up shot shows the protagonist leaning against the wall impenitently waiting for the lift to open. This is effective as it creates an enigma code and tension making the audience question the characters panic.

Suddenly, the establishing shot shows the Mise-en-scene of the music video, this mise-en-scene for the first half is based in a hospital which suggests that the narrative is going to be a romantic tragedy. Throughout the music video there is

a frequent use of dark colours, connoting death and sorrow. Tension is built through the visuals and fast paced editing rather than the lyrics of the song

As the music gradually increases its intensity, we get to see what all the panic is about. The narrative of the story shows his girlfriend dead on the hospital bed, trying to be revived by the surgeons. This is effective as the high angle shot brings out the sympathy from the audience and makes the character look weak as her importance and life slips away.

Editing

• The editing in this music is particularly quick paced. This has been done deliberately to create tension within the narrative and to reflect the protagonists levels of panic and frustration. The video includes a lot of fast straight cuts between shots which speed up the tempo of the visuals to match the tempo of the song.

• What is interesting is how the editing has been used to switch between periods of time. For example whilst part of the narrative takes place in normal time, cuts have been used to show flash backs of the events leading up the accident. This hasn’t been achieved by using fancy effects but instead but using straight cuts which can be disorientating for the audience but is effective in placing the audience in the shoes of the protagonist.

Promotional Media

How this will influence my own work

• I really like how narrative based this music video is, the director and artist have clearly thought a lot about the storyline of the video and how they will get the audience rooting for the protagonist. I want to be able to do the same with my own work so that the ‘star image’ is being portrayed.

• I also like the use of flashback that is used within this video, however if I do use this technique I may make it a little more obvious so it’s not as confusing for the audience.

• Finally, in terms of digi pack material, I really like the simplicity of the promotional media for this single/album. I will use this to influence my own digi pack work.