DETAILED TEXTUAL ANALYSIS. By Ellie-louise Carroll

ARCTIC MONKEYS- WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN.

When the sun goes down is a song by indie band ‘Arctic monkeys’ from their 2006 album ‘Whatever people say I am, that’s what I’m not’ and was released on the 16th January 2006 for the short film scummy man. The genre of the song is indie rock.

In this music video the establishing shot is a medium close-up of the main female character. She is making direct address with the audience. This shot connotes to the audience that she is from a poor urban area as you can see the council estate I the background and her clothes signify that she doesn’t have a lot of money. From this shot we also get a look at her facial expression which is quite sad yet serious as she is looking at the camera in an intimidating way the audience can decode from this that her life is probably not the best and she has had to learn how to handle herself as her life may be a dangerous one. Seeing the facial expression on the characters face is iconography of the indie genre as it represents the emotion of the song which is what indie bands tend to want to focus on more. From these shots we do not know yet that she is a prostitute. This is shown again in the next shot which is transitioned to using a simple cut edit which goes with the strum of the guitar. The next shot we see is an over the shoulder shot of her talking through a car window to a man, this is the first hint we get at the type of life that the woman is having to lead. Throughout the video we see a lack of colour even on the woman's face this represents the lack of happiness in the woman’s life. The clothes that she wears connotes to that audience that the woman spends a lot of time on the streets as she has a lot of layers on which may not be needed if she spent time indoors.

The next shot we get is a shot of a spiral staircase that we see the female character going down. The audience can decode from this that this is a visual representation of the woman's life and where it is leading. We are then introduced to the antagonist of the music video or the ‘scummy man’ as he referred to by as in the song and the short film that the song is for. We see him consoling the woman at first we are shown a sweeter side of the man until the next shot where we see the man taking food from the woman’s plate without asking which is the first clue of how the man treats the woman. The medium close up we get of the man in the next clip is the clue that signifies to the audience that this man is not to be trusted as the lighting on his face is dark which is usually how the villain is represented in film. The direct address to the camera made by the man again connotes to the audience that he is not a very nice man as his gaze is rather aggressive like he is trying to show the audience how violent he is just by the way he looks at the camera.This shot with the feather bower also foreshadows events that arise later in the video.

In one bit we see a wide shot of the ‘scummy man’ picking up the female character and carrying her to the car, this connotes to the audience that the man thinks that he can do whatever he wants with the woman. She is his property.In the next shot we see hand held footage of a street, these shots are very shaky and blurry this is signifying to the audience how the woman’s life is getting out of control and its all becoming one big blur to her. It also fits with the beat of the song. We see the woman making some sort of dealing with a young boy the audience could decode from this that this is a drug deal which is just to put emphasis on the kind of life that the woman leads. In another shot we are shown the woman attempting to get a man to buy her services we can see by his face that he is feeling extremely uncomfortable as he tries to get past, and from the look on her face we can see just how desperate she is. Not long after that we are introduced to a new character, this is done using an over the shoulder shot. The audience can connote from the dress codes and the props that this man is some sort of quirky magician other than this his role in the narrative is a mystery at this point.

The next shot shows the man kissing the woman on the head and giving her his coat. This signifies to the audience why she puts up with everything else the man does, he is the only person who even remotely takes care of her. She has grew a sort of dependence on the man for warmth and comfort. We then see the woman in the magicians lot trying on the magicians assistant outfits. This suggests that the woman wishes to start up a new life with the magician rather than continue to live as a prostitute. A little while later we are shown the woman smiling with a man in a café, the ‘scummy man’ walks in and her smile goes, he then gives an intimidating look to the man she is with. This connotes to the audience just how protective the man is and how he drains any happiness she has in her life as when he enters the café and we see the close up of him kissing her cheek her expression becomes miserable again.

We then see the ‘scummy man’ beating up the magician. We as the audience can assume that the reasoning behind this would be that the magician could offer the woman a better life. The scummy man is not willing to allow this as it gets in the way of what he wants. In the later shot of the woman trashing the magicians lot the audience can take from this that the woman had hoped that things would change but when the ‘scummy man’ found out it all got ruined. She is mad at the magician for giving her that hope and then taking it all away. She cannot get mad at the ‘scummy man’ as she fears him. The medium close up of the magician crying shows the audience that the ‘scummy man’ doesn’t just ruin the woman’s life but anyone else who crosses his path. When the ‘scummy man’ is dragging the woman by her hair we can assume that he is feeling betrayed by the woman as he probably thinks that he has done everything he can for her then she goes behind his back and tries to leave him. One of the final shots shows the man talking to the woman and she is back in her normal clothes showing that her life isn’t going to change anytime soon.

LYRICS TO SCREEN.

Who’s that girl there I wonder what went wrong so that she had to roam the streets.

What a scummy man I bet he’ll rob you if he can.

You can see it in his eyes yeah that his got a driving ban

He told Roxanne to put on her red light.

He’s a scumbag don’t you know.

She makes a subtle proposition, I'm sorry love I’ll have to turn you down.

Because she must be f**king freezing.