Music Video Analysis Improved

Don Diablo & Example – Hooligans

Year – 2009

Director - Ben Newman

Label – Data Records

This music video is both performance & narrative, but it is mainly performance throughout. A brief introduction of about 30 seconds sets up the story for the music video, where a rude boy is queuing outside a club & pushes to the front & then gets chucked in by the bouncers. This then continues to the club where the artists are performing. According to Andrew Goodwin’s points in ‘Dancing in the distraction factory’, this music video has a relationship between the lyrics & the visuals. For example when Example sings ‘loose your Rolex rip your t-shirt’ he pulls at his t-shirt, which directly relates to what he is singing. He also sings ‘where’s all the hooligans’ as all the people in the club are jumping around in the background which would suggest he is referring to the ravers at the club as hooligans as they are going crazy & all look wild & rowdy. The lyrics of the song are about people going out raving & so the video is of people at a rave, which therefore directly links to the lyrics.

A very common camera technique used throughout this music video was a point-of-view shot. This was effective in this video, as it didn’t make the music video look staged; it looked like the cameraman was part of the crowd bouncing around with the other ravers§. The video has also got good mise-on-scene as in every shot you can see that they are in the same club, it flows well & it consistent with what is going on within the video as everyone is raving & enjoying themselves.

Characteristics of the electronic dance genre include danceable electronic beats & often shouting. It also has a larger focus on the beat, & less focus on the actual music notes. This song conforms to all these characteristics & it works well.

The music also relates to the visuals because the edits are very fast & snappy like the music is which makes it interesting to watch. The editors have also managed to make perfect cuts with the beat & the ravers are also jumping to the beat so it looks realistic. Also, in the background of the music there is a loud horn often being played during the song. At about 2:32 minutes in we see a boy pressing the air horn which therefore illustrates the visual to the music.

These horns are often associated with the police & craziness & as the song is about hooligans is fits in well. Also, as the music turns to just the horns, you see clips of girls holding their bleeding ears which amplifies how loud the music is.

All these things amplify the relationship between the music & visuals & make the music video more exciting & interesting to watch.

Andrew Goodwin’s fourth point in ‘Dancing in the distraction factory’ states that the record labels demand lots of close ups of the artists in their music videos. This music video follows this point, as there are over 55 close up shots of Example & Don Diablo throughout. The camera often does straight cuts from the artists to the crowd as well as to other shots. Example & Don Diablo come across as wild ravers with a lot of energy & have a lot of fun performing & partying. This ties in well with the type of music they make. These are also sometimes seen as stereotypical characteristics of young people now days. This music video could also be seen as a negative representation of teenagers as it would suggest that they like to get drunk & go raving. They make them look out of control & like troublemakers. For example, when they are in club & a boy gets bottled, when Example sticks his middle finger up at the camera & when the boy at the beginning is rude to everyone.