Music Video AnalysisArctic Monkeys – Leave Before the Lights Come On

Genre Characteristics• The genre of this song/band is Indie Rock. • A large aspect of Indie Rock music videos are performance

based. There are occasional narrative or concept based videos.• The videos generally tend to focus on the lead singer.

Leave Before The Lights Come OnThis music video is quite different from the norm. Firstly, it is a completely narrative based video which is rare from this genre. Second of all there is absolutely no performance or focus on the lead singer, but on two actors hired for the video to create the story.

The two main actors are Kate Ashfield (Shaun Of The Dead) and Paddy Considine (In America, Cinderella Man).

Relationship between lyrics and visualsI think the lyrics have quite a contradicting relationship to the visuals. I think this because if you read the lyrics it seems to be about a one night stand that a man and a woman had but regret it in the morning when they realize they don’t love each other.

This contradicts the video because in the video a man sees a girl standing on the edge of a building. He runs up quickly to reach out his hand and take her from the ledge. They hug and go get a coffee together. The woman seems to have fallen for the man but he holds his ring finger up, he is married. The man backs off and begins walking away and the woman chases him constantly until the man gets aggressive and threatens her before leaving. The woman returns to the building she was on and the same cycle appears to continue with a new man.

I feel that although the lyrics contradict the visuals there may be a link between the situation in the music video and the situation described by the lyrics. One lyric, ‘And how can you wake up, with someone you don’t love?’ is sung as Ashfield tries to kiss Consadine. I think this link shows that the man cannot fall in love as easily as the woman, and sticks to his commitments as show by him showing his ring. I believe that there is a huge link between the lyrics and the visuals with the idea of infatuation in mind. Ashfield falls in love easily, which is shown through her behaviour towards the man. This could perhaps be what drove her to stand at the ledge at the beginning of the video. Consadine rejects her advances and leaves. After a chase, she returns to the initial ledge and drops her shoe in front of another man, beginning the whole cycle again.

Relationship between music and visualsThere are jump cuts as the woman approaches the ledge at the beginning of the song. The jump cuts are on a drum beat, this makes the relationship very close. This is described by the theorist Alex Goodwin as a ‘thought-beat’, which is when you expect a shot to change based on how the music is. There are a lot of fast paces shots interweaved with jump shots and the woman appears distressed. This is contrasted in the music by a calm intro and the singing of the first lyric, ‘This is a good idea..’. This points towards the fact that the relationship is close, but contradictory. The lyric could be from the mind of the woman, thinking this is a good idea. The narrative appears to be cyclical, because after the first man, Consadine, spots her shoe on the ground beneath and saves her, then leaves her when she appears to be in love with him, she returns to the initial rooftop and drops her shoe purposefully, right next to a second man.

cont

There are a lot of jump cuts during a slowly building part of the song. This adds tension to the final explosive scene, and part of the song.

Thought beats

There are a lot of thought beats in this video. Thought beats are defined by Andrew Goodwin as an expected change in shots or behaviour when the music changes.One example of a thought beat:

This is a thought beat because of a behaviour change. As the car approaches him and brakes, at the same time he flinches and jumps back. This is timed with the music at the same time as a drum beat.

Looking

The notion of looking in this video is shown at 1:59 and 2:25. Ashfield looks at Consadine as he walks away from her, first through a window then over a road after she follows him and he leaves again. I believe this shows not only the physical situation but is also a metaphor for her emotional state, personifying the feeling of abandonment.

Summary• In summary this video has a strong contradictory relationship

with the visuals in the music video. There is also a strong notion of looking present in the video which aids the feeling that the viewer is a voyeur looking in to this situation when they shouldn’t be. Thought beats are a large part of the relationship between the music and the visuals. The thought beats meld the two together to make the music video and the music have a strong relationship. The cyclical narrative also makes the video interesting to the viewer as it makes them go back and check the story which intrigues them.