The Killers are a well know Indie/rock band, they are slightly more mainstream than others and this is presented clearly in most of their music videos.
Their music video When You Were Young was filmed in Mexico. The Killers were inspired by by the films Japón and Batalla en el Cielo both directed by Mexican film director Carlos Reygadas. The themes of love and betrayal which are dominate in these films also play a huge part in this music video.
As 'The Killer's- When You Were Young' follows the conventions of a music video, it becomes easy to apply Goodwin's theory.
1. Genre Conventions
This music video is quite different from a lot of rock music videos due to the strong narrative which takes form of a mini film. Although the setting and the style of the music video is untypical for this genre, there are still many characteristics that help establish the rock genre. For example there is both narrative and performance based elements in the video which is conventional of the rock genre. Moreover the props such as electric guitars and drum kits further emphases the genre. The outfits are also help represent their rock genre, whilst also fitting in with the setting/storyline.
2. Lyrical Relationship
This is a common technique employed by most music videos as it makes the narrative and performance more clear as you can see the link between the lyrics and visuals. As well as this there are many direct references to the lyrics in the video, such as religious mise-en-scene for example the prop of the cross appears when the lead singer says, 'like Jesus'. Moreover, the image of somebody washing with water, when the lyrics say 'wash your feet, every once a little while'. This follows Goodwins theory.
3. Music Relationship
This is used just as effectivly as the link between the lyrics. When there is a drum beat in the song, the
clip, scene or the camera shot changes. This is used mainly in rock videos as the drum beats are very significant and it creates continuity throughout the video. Also, when the song reaches the bridge and begins to slow down, the footage also becomes slow motion, and the editing becomes slower and lengthier shots are used, this helps to reflect the mood. Likewise when the paces of the song picks up so does the editing and fast paced quick cut editing is used.
4. Demands of record label to emphasize band image.
Because the music video is strongly narrative based this would suggest to me that the band is already established in the music industry. So the need to have lots of close up shots isn't as necessary if it was their first music video. However towards the end of the music video there is a performance of the band. Close ups are used of the lead singer to show his dominance in the band along with long shots of the whole band playing together as a group to show their brand identity.
5. Reference to looking, and voyeuristic treatment of women
This is only used during the narrative stages of the music video as the plot is about two young people in a secretive relationship. There is a long shot of the female which is to show the main protagonists point of view. Also close ups of her face is to highlight the voyeuristic nature. Also there is a sexual representation of females, especially during the sex scene, we see one woman showed to be sexual, wearing red underwear, and another woman shown to be innocent and naive, wearing a white dress.
6. Intertextual reference
I don't think that there was much intertextual reference to a specific product, however you could say that the was intertextuality because of the influence on the western films. The setting is reminiscent of the 'Spaghetti Western' movies, such as the costume and the saloons used i the music video.
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