'Popscene' - A Textual Analysis

Video release date - 30th March 1992
Produced by Steve Lovell
Genre - Britpop/alternative rock

Lyrics:

'A fervoured image of another world

Is nothing in particular now

And imitation comes naturally

But I never really stopped to think how

And everyone is a clever clone

A chrome coloured clone am I

So in the abscence of a way of life

Just repeat this again and again and again

Hey, hey come out tonight

Hey, hey come out tonight

Popscene, all right

I'm leaving town to run away

Right into your twisted arms

No queues and there's no panic there

Just dangling your feet in the grass

My lack of natural luster now

Seems to be losing me friends

So in the absence of a way of life

I'll repeat this again and again, and again

Hey, hey come out tonight

Hey, hey come out tonight

Popscene

Hey, hey come out tonight

Hey, hey come out tonight

Popscene, all right

Hey, hey come out tonight

Hey, hey come out tonight

Popscene'

The video for 'Popscene' by Blur is almost all performance, with a very small amount of narrative towards the end of the video, which does fit with the lyrics and meaning of the song. This means that the video does effectively have two diegesis, just that one is much more consistent throughout the video. In terms of the sound within this music video, there is no diegetic sound and therefore the only sound that is present is the sound of the actual song. However the sound that is used in the rhythm of the song is paced in a way which is quite quick but also contains some repetitive parts which may be the influence for the way in which the video for this song was edited together. 

The mise-en-scene in this music video is very conventional as to what we would expect to see in a rock music video with a band performance, as well as the small amount of somewhat abstract narrative which is included towards the end. The video includes a variety of shots and camera angles which show each member of the band performing with their own musical instruments in a conventional layout with the lead singer at the front, two guitarists to the right and left, with the drummer in the back, just in front of the sign that displays in bright letters the name of the song. The design of the carpet and wallpaper is also quite iconic to the era and the band themselves, as they use very similar mise-en-scene in other music videos, like 'Song 2' and 'Beetlebum'. The costume design of each band member is also what you would expect from the early 90s and possibly earlier, as well as being very conventional to the genres alternative rock and britpop which were hugely popular during this time. 

As I briefly mentioned, this video uses a good range of different camera angles and movements throughout, which is what makes it look as appealing as it does, along with the unique over-the-top editing techniques which I will come onto shortly. A very conventional camera angle in music video which is present the most is the four shot, long shot from eye level displays all the band members in the conventional performance positions and stances. As I have noted before, this makes the target audience feel like they are included in the performance, watching the band perform live, which is a big part of the ideology of this particular target audience, particularly within this time period. The video doesn't use very many close up shots, but it still does use a few, most notably of the lead singer 'Damon Albarn' and during the narrative clip, to romanticise the couple.In general, the cinematography in this music video is quite quick paced - even more so than may be conventional with music videos in general, possibly to reinforce the editing that is being used. 

The editing in this music video is probably the most notable technical element being used throughout this video. This is due to it being rather unconventional at times, as the editor has clearly made the editing and the full video in general look rather amateur in the way in which it has been created. However, this has been done intentionally and therefore it does not decrease the effect that this music video has in any way. The two most obvious points of editing that have been made are the 'loop editing' that is included, as well as the lyrics that are projected on screen during editing, in time with the song. Both these editing techniques seem rather simple to do, but are likely not very easily to execute in a way which is effective like this video has done. Be that as it may, I would be interested in at least attempting to include these two editing techniques within my music video. If this does turn out to be quite successful then they could be a part of my final product, however if not then I will include them within my blog at some point to show how the idea turned out.