The entire music video for ‘Scars’ by James Bay is performance based where
he is singing and playing his guitar. By the end, a band have joined him on
different instruments and therefore the video conforms to Andrew Goodwin’s
music video theory as it conforms to the conventions of an indie music video.
There are links between the lyrics of the song and the visuals as James
Bay is lip-syncing the song for the whole video. In addition, when James sings ‘I
can’t make the truth of this work out for you and me’, he shakes his head,
which emphasises this link further.
There is also a relationship between the music and the
visuals. Since the song starts of slowly and with a sad mood, it is reflected
in the dark, desaturated tone of the video. However, as the music becomes livelier,
the editing kicks in and colour is added to reflect this change. Also, throughout
the video, James’ guitar playing matches the beat of the music as do the
flashes of light and the zooming in and out of the camera, before the editing kicks
in at the end the video which is also cut to beat along with the band. This
therefore conforms to Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory as the video
amplifies the music’s relationship to the visuals in many ways.
The demands of the record label are met within this music
video as even before the editing, the camera constantly zooms in to James’ face
to form close-up shots which promote him as an indie artist to fans of the
genre.
There is no voyeurism in the music video as it not
necessary as James Bay is selling himself on his music, not anyone being
sexualised. Therefore the video matches the conventions of indie music videos.
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