Five Seconds of Summer - She Looks So Perfect
27th September 2015
Released: 21st February 2014
Genre: Pop/Punk
Written by: Ashton Irwin, Michael Clifford and Jake Sinclair
Album: 5 Seconds of Summer
Five Seconds of Summer used a performance based music video, to show off each member of the bands' musical skills. Not only can they all sing, but we discover they all play an instrument. This will increase interest in the band, as people often complain about modern artists being autotuned and untalented. From this video, people will realise this band is talented, and this will add to their appeal. A performance video also encourages fans to go and see them live, as the video gives a snippet of what they would be like in concert.
Performance style videos are very conventional in the pop/punk genre, as bands and artists often show off their ability to play instruments and sing/perform. This makes them, as an artist, more desirable.
The video uses illustrative techniques, by having a diverse range of people in their underwear. This illustrates the lyrics "looks so perfect standing there in my American Apparel underwear". By using a range of people in the video, it makes it more appealing to a diverse audience, and therefore increases appeal of the band and their music.
Christine Gledhill would argue that "differences between genres meant different audiences could be identified and catered to". By combining pop and punk, Five Seconds of Summer appeal to a wider audience.
From 0:00 - 0:18, the only people we see are Five Seconds of Summer (5SOS). This sets the scene of the performance, as we can see they are in an alley way, surrounded by flats and office buildings. The 'run-down' image of an alleyway reflects the people we are shown from 0:19 - 0:40, going about their ordinary day-to-day lives, and we can tell by the expression on their faces that they are bored and fed up. By using this link, the audience creates a personal identity (Uses and Gratifications Theory) and identifies with the feeling of boredom in their own lives. At 0:40, we connote from the change in expression of the characters and the fact that they begin to dance, that the music being sung by 5SOS has brightened their day, and changed their emotions from bored to more upbeat and happy. This reflects the genre convention of pop, as this genre stereotypically is upbeat and fun,
and gets people moving and dancing.
At 1:23, the lyrics again reflect the images shown in the video,
when it says "this dead beat town's only here just to keep us down"
and the image shows a girl bored in class, showing she's stuck in
education and kept down. By doing this, Five Seconds of Summer appeal to the younger generation, by showing they understand the struggle of feeling stuck in education, and feeling stuck in one place.
At 1:38, the characters shown in the video begin taking their clothes off. This shows their new found confidence and excitement
of life. Five Seconds of Summer show this, because they try to make it seem like they are the reasoning for the characters' confidence in themselves.
At 1:53, people begin throwing their clothes over their balconies into the alley beneath. This shows the clothes 'showering' 5SOS, making them seem important, because they are the reason for people being so happy and confident to take off their clothes.
Throughout the video, the blocking used presents whomever is in the scene as the most important part. During the performance element of the video, 5SOS are the focus of the audience, as they are positioned in the front and centre of the camera. When we are shown other characters, they become the focus, as often they are the only one in the shot or are shown in the foreground/centre of the camera. This makes the audiences' gaze radiate towards that person.
High-key lighting is used in the video, to convey the positive message of the song and video. The video takes the lyrics "looks so perfect standing there in my American Apparel underwear", and twists it to apply to everyone, no matter what they look like. By using high key lighting, this positivity is sustained, and makes people feel the message is more real.
The band are shown wearing all black costume, which would usually have negative connotations. In this situation however, it is more fitting for the genre of their punk music to wear black clothing. Steve Neale (1980) argues that "genres are instances of repitition and difference". 5SOS highlight this, by sticking to mainly the conventions of pop music, but combining them with elements of punk (such as their costume), to create some 'difference', which is "absolutely essential to the economy of genre" - Steve Neale.
From 0:03 to 0:15, a handheld camera technique is used, to fluxuate between long shots, mid shots and close ups. This makes it less formal, and shows them as more relatable to the audience, as they aren't shown straight and simply by the camera. At 0:10, a low angle shot shows one of the band members, which presents him as important and a necessary part of the song/video. The long shot at 0:15 shows the band and the location they are being filmed. This presents the band as 'normal' people, as they're in an alleyway, which is nowhere special - and ordinary person could be there, unlike if it was filmed on a stage or in a big castle for example. This makes them relatable to the audience, as they will recognise being in a similar location and form a personal identity (Uses and Gratifications Theory) with the band.
The use of cutting from close up shots to full body shots at (0:18-0:19, 0:21-0:22, 0:24-0:25) allows us to see the ordinary jobs people are doing, which allows viewers to associate with those in the video. By doing this, 5SOS make the song and video more appealling to ordinary people.
Often, the camera pans around each member of the band, to create a more fun vibe, which appeals to their younger audience. By using more technical techniques like this, the band seem younger and more modern, but also more professional, as the people assisting on the music video are obviously good at their jobs.
At 1:36, close up shots are used to show two people's feet tapping, and then their faces looking at each other. This shows how the music has changed them from their previous state of boredom and loneliness, to now being happy, upbeat and joining in with each other. This shows how the music has brought people together and changed their mood for the better.
By using a wide variety of camera shots and angles, the music video becomes more fun for the viewer, as it isn't boring to watch, Furthermore, Laura Mulvey would argue that the 'Male Gaze' would take over in circumstances like those in the video, and the camera would linger on a woman's body and curves. This video challenges that theory, as a diverse range of people are used, and the camera shots aren't different for different people - women aren't shown longer than men, the camera focuses on men taking their clothes off as much as women etc.
At 3:19, a wide-angle shot is used, to show 5SOS standing in a line, about to pull down their trousers. This shows they are the same as anybody else, making them more appealing to viewers, who will associate the band members as being similar to normal people (Uses and Gratifications Theory - Personal Identity). By doing this, 5SOS present themselves as ordinary and extraordinary (Richard Dyer) as they are doing the same thing as everyone else in the video (taking off their clothes) but are extraordinary to the viewer, as we realise they earn lots of money and perform to sold out crowds, which the other people in the video do not do.
From 0:00 to 0:03, shallow focus is used, which presents the microphone in focus, but the band in the background unfocused. This suggests to the audience that the band is all about the music.
Straight cuts are used throughout the music video, which presents the music video as more realistic than if different techniques such as fades were used. This shows the audience that the music is real and the lyrics aren't just to make money, but to convey a message to the audience - "looks so perfect". This is conventional for the genre, as often the music is written about something that has happened in the artist's life, meaning the portrayal of the lyrics is more realistic, as the lyrics are true.
Slow motion is used when the characters in the video begin taking their clothes off, to create a focus on their bodies. Despite what their body looks like, the song is still saying they look perfect, and so by presenting them in slow motion, the audience gets a chance to take in how they look and perhaps associate their own body with someone in the video. This creates a personal identity (Uses and Gratifications Theory), and helps to convey the message of the song, by making the viewer feel better about their own bodies, as they might look like somone in the video. By showing the people in the video in slow motion, they're presented as more confident about their bodies, which suggests they feel perfect the way they are. This encourages the viewer to feel the same.
Fast paced editing is used, which is conventional for the genre, to create a more fun, upbeat rhythm to the changes in scenes. The fast paced cuts reflect the tempo of the song, and also the rash acts of the people in the video, who all of a sudden have taken off their clothes.
Shallow focus is used again at 2:02, to show the younger people in the foreground unfocused, and the older man in focus in the background. As the older man is the only one not taking his clothes off in the scene, we can connote that Five Seconds of Summer are more modern and young, as it would have been unheard of in historical years for people to have such little clothing on. This makes the band appealing to a younger audience. This is very conventional for the pop genre, as it is often seen as the more controversial genre, and also contains many artists who push the boundaries and stray from the norm, such as Lady Gaga.
At 3:21, the camera goes fuzzy, which helps disguise 5SOS when they pull down their trousers. This helps to keep them absent from the audience (Richard Dyer - "a star must be both present and absent"), keeping their appeal high. This also shows the end of the video, as though the plug has been pulled on filming due to them taking off their clothes, this leaves the viewer wanting to watch more but are unable to, again increasing the appeal of the song and video.