Textual analysis of a music video - Counting Stars

The video that I will be analyzing is Counting Stars by One Republic, and is directed by James Lees. The music is of the pop genre, but with strong elements of folk mixed into it. The characteristics of the video are that involves some narrative, it is not all performance based, and the lead singer, is placed as the 'star' of the group. The video is set in two locations, the floor where the band is located, and a meeting room, where the narrative takes place. There is also an element of surprise among the video as there is a alligator that appears near the beginning of the video, which is not expected. At the end of the video, a hole emerges between the meeting room and the room below where the artist is placed, allowing for some narrative to take place for the artist.

When the alligator appears, this enhances the fact that the lyrics suggest that 'anything that kills me, makes me feel alive'. This means top say that dangerous creatures, like alligators, keep people alive, as they make people constantly stay on guard for the creatures. However, the lyrics themselves, contradict each other, as anything that kills you, usually does, and not 'keeps you alive'. There is then another seen that occurs in the meeting, which is being hosted by a man, who has come up with some ideas. this emphasizes that fact that he has been 'losing sleep', coming up with ideas. therefore the video emphasizes this lyric in the video. Furthermore, there is a lyric that says 'no more counting dollars, we'll be counting stars'. at this same point on the video, it shows the people in the meeting celebrate, and a woman praying, that she has done well, and will be rich. The lyrics also mention about living dreams. This is another contradiction in the video, as it shows that band in a very low quality room with cracked walls, poor electricity supplies (a single light bulb in some areas), and it overall does not look well maintained.

The visuals do relate to the music as when the the singer claps, the lights turn on, as if by magic.The video is also cuts to the beats, either after 4 beats (standard) or 8 beats in a slow motion part f the clip. The artists all star swinging their arms, when mentioning 'swinging vines', which is a link between the lyrics and the video. The biggest relationship is the water running up the wall, when the lyrics say that they 'are doing the wrong thing'. This is a clear established link which relates the music to the visuals.

The record company is looking to sell this track, by concentrating on the artist for the majority of the video. They have done this because the band is attractive, and has a strong following, so thereby anyone who likes the band will listen to the song in order to see them, and buy the song. The record label has also added advertisements to the video earning, extra revenue. They have also ensured the lyrics can be listened to by everyone, therefore not eliminating any potential sales, by including swear words, and unpopular genre of music.

The image of the band being offered is one of then dressed in casual clothing, in a run down floor of a building. This image has been chosen throughout the video as it shows that the band is just like everyone else, and is not different form the public, in terms of relating with the song, which suggests the ultimate dream of counting stars. This video is different form ones that they have done in the past, such as Secrets. The older video, is much more narrative based, and is filmed in more locations, in an attempt to reach out to more people, as they did not have as great a following as they do today. The older video (Secrets) also features the artist being involved heavily in the narrative of the video, which is far different form their Counting Stars video. There are many motifs in the video, which have been carried through from other videos, such as they feature the artist playing their song at some stage. However, the levels of narrative and the dress code that the band wear are motifs that change throughout the bands history, from suits and ties, to casual tee shirts and jeans.

Throughout the video there are no signs that any characters or the band are presented in a sexual way, or put on display in a sexual manor. The camerawork, costume and dance to not present that video in a sexual way either as the song is not about presenting people in a sexual way. There are also no shots of people looking at others, as there is nothing revealing to look at throughout the video, as it is all about dreams and ambitions, not women, acting in a sexual manor.

This video relates to many other music videos, but of a different genre. Many rap music videos, feature an environment suach as trhe one used in Countng Stars, as they are lower budget. However, Sean Kingston also uses similar settings to the ones used here as he produces some party songs such as Fire Burning