Hollerado - Americanarama Music Video Deconstruction

Hollerado - Americanarama

Length - 3.27

    The establishing shot is a long shot of a black square featuring lots of people. They are there throughout the video and represent a fan base which the target audience can aspire to be like. They are wearing white t-shirts at the beginning to represent their unity which they use to create the images later on in the video. A drum kit and microphone stands are framed centrally within the shot. This instantly tells the target audience that this music video will be a rock video. The video is set in the same location all the way through; a piece of industrial land with tattered warehouses. This is a very every day location which the target audience may be able to identify with. The location also links to the cities mentioned in the son, all which have a industrial element to them: "As a city in the North-East where the Power used to sit", "Poor weak New Orleans", "We're camping out in Battery Park".   The shot is not brightly lit but instead naturally lit by daylight. This helps represents both the darker side and the lighter side of the rock genre of music.

     The long shot is continued during the next section of the music video This helps to make the music video flow easier instead of having several jump cuts like some other music videos. Just before the verse begins the band run on with their instruments and start playing with the beginning of the verse. They start playing on the beat which helps the music video have a fast tempo which keeps the target audience interested. By the target audience seeing the band playing guitar/bass/drums it helps represent the rock genre. It also inspires the target audience to pick up and learn a instrument to become like the members of the band. They are framed centrally within the shot to highlight their importance and their appearance. All the members of the band have a stereotypical 'rock' look which the target audience can recognise and appreciate.  The image being made in the background links with the lyrics of the song. The first song lyrics in verse 1 are; "Hey Philadelphia you used to exist". These lyrics are made by stage hands in their separate boxes. By doing this it makes the video visually attractive and interesting to watch. It also encourages the target audience to sing along to the song getting them 'hooked' and making them purchase the song.

In this section of the music video the band interact with the images being made behind them. The lead singer in which you can see in the screen shot above points to a section of the picture which then flips to create a new image. He does this to the beat of the music to make the video flow and make it more interesting to watch.  By using interaction within the video it is a create way to make the music video more interesting to the target audience as well as other audiences which would be interested in watching the video because of the creative elements within it. The lead singer has moved forward so he is now framed in a mid shot. This highlights his appearance which makes him a aspiring figure to male audiences and attracts the female target audience to watch the video. His clothing has also been highlighted by him moving forward towards the camera. The target audience can now see his 'rocky' style clothing which they will be able to recognise. His clothing also helps to represent the genre of the song they are playing; rock. After manipulating the image, the lead singer moves centrally in the frame and plays the guitar to the time of the music. This helps to represent the guitar which is a stereotypical instrument of the rock genre.  

During the chorus of the song all band members minus the drummer move forward slightly. They are still framed centrally in a mid shot but they can be more easily seen by the target audience watching the music video.  This helps to highlight both their appearance and clothes which both represent stereotypical rock genre appearances. Their move forward towards the camera is also timed to the section of the music as it is building towards a climax at the end of the chorus. The images behind them during the chorus are a simple pattern of yellow and red blocks. This simple image they are creating works well during the chorus as it helps the target audience focus on the band while they are singing. The simplicity used here also makes the intricate patterns made at other points in the video more appreciated by the target audience.

    During the lyrics" Doot doot doo doot do doo Doot doot doot doot do doo, Lord I miss you" Both the guitarists are playing ping pong by using the images. This is a quirky retro game that will both amuse the target audience and encourage them to keep watching and re watch the video. Both guitarists have a matched eye line which shows how they are both equal in the band. They are both framed in a mid shot which helps highlight their clothing and appearance to the target audience. The ping pong ball moves to the beat of the music to help the video flow and look more interesting. The lighting in this section is the same as the beginning of the video as it is one continuous shot. The lighting  helps represents both the darker side and the lighter side of the rock genre of music.

    The music video ends with a mid shot of three of the band members. They all have matched eye lines to show they have equal status within the band. The lead singer had been framed centrally. This is to advertise him to the target audience as within a rock band the target audience tend to idolise the lead singer more than other members. The two guitarists are punching the singer while he is singing. The punching is done in a animated funny way to add a comedic element into the music video to encourage the target audience to re watch the video over and over again. Because of the way the punching is done it does not promote violence and give the music video negative connotations. The punching is in time with the beat of the music to help the music video flow. The last shot in the video is a close up of the drummer. Throughout the music video all of the band members have been seen in a mid shot apart from the drummer. Therefore by having him close the video framed centrally in a close up it helps highlight his presence within the band as well as show his clothing to represent the rock genre.

This rock genre music video preformed by Hollerado keeps to many generic conventions I have found in my other deconstructions. The visual images on screen link to the lyrics of the song which is a generic convention. The action/editing also occurs on the beat of the music to help the music video flow. The clothes Hollerado wore throughout the video also represented the genre of music they were playing; rock. One generic convention this music video did subvert was a music video having a narrative. Instead of the video having a narrative, the band used a creative alternative by creating images using people behind them when they were preforming. Even though they subverted conventions I still believe that their music video was just as effective if not more effective than another rock video with a narrative. The creativity within the video would not only interest  a rock genre target audience but other audiences would also be interested in the video, would get hooked on the song and eventually buy it.

After deconstructing the video of "Hollerado - Americanarama" I was fascinated about how they managed to create the music video. For example the unity of the stage hands creating the images was visually stunning but would have been very hard to do. On Youtube I found the video above which is the director for the music video explaining how they made the video and the complications they faced. To begin with the director created a virtual representation of what the image at the back was going to do. He counted up all the different movements and in total it came to 424. Therefore to do this the song was shot at a quarter of its actual speed. This meant the band had to lip sync the lyrics of the song at quarter speed too. By shooting it slower than it was meant to be it meant the band in the video became jerky. However I thought that this worked out quite effectively in the end and added to the unique feel to the video. The lip syncing also worked well within the video which i think is a amazing feat. In total 12 takes were taken throughout of the day, 8 of these were full takes of which 3/4 ended up being perfect shoots