Music Video Analysis- Kings of Leon

The first music video and song I have chosen to analyse is 'Use somebody' by Kings of Leon. The genre of the bands music is indie/rock. The genre can be identified by the audience when the music begins, as it has the strong, hard beat familiar to rock.

There is a 30 second instrumental at the start of song; during which fast, short shots of the band, cities and an aeroplane are seen. The shots could be short to indicate that all of these things are a part of the past.
The shots of the band is actual tour footage and they can be seen in live performances, this is used to indicate that they are an authentic band who play their own music and instruments as seen in the footage. This is emphasised by close ups of the band in performance.

There are also shots of cities used to highlight the fact that they were on tour and travelling. These were also fast shots and used many different camera shots, for example: panning shots, long shots and birds eye view shots.
There is also a shot of an aeroplane, again emphasising that the band were on tour. Between all the shots, straight cuts were used.

After 30 seconds a fade out, fade in shot is used in that the shot of the city is faded out whilst the shot of the lead singer is gradually fading in. A close up of the singer is used as he begins miming the song. When the line 'You know that I can use somebody' is sang the first shot of the singer is straight cut to a shot of him and a woman. The shot is very short, suggesting that it is a flashback of past times.
The audience is able to recognise that it is the main singer in the shot although their faces aren't seen because of his necklace, which is seen in the shot.
During the first verse of the song a shot reverse shot pattern is used between shots and the lead singer. Again the shots are short and are of the band in concert, but there is also shots of each member of the band individually. This allows the audience to see and become familiar with all members of the band.

At the start of the chorus the colour of the shot is instantly turned black and white again indicating the past. The shots are the same again of the band in concert, however they are now singing the song for the music video. They are also seen doing everything they do in preparation for the concert including: arriving at the venue, in the dressing room, on stage, looking at the arena before concert and having fun. This again is actual footage of the band; this lets the audience see the band as they are and get a sense of their personalities. The KOL logo is used frequently, which allows fans and the audience to recognise the artists instantly.

On the final verse, instead of going back to the close of the lead singer in colour, the shot is kept black and white and keeps using actual footage of the concert.
More short shots are used however this time they switch between concert footage, which is black and white, and shots of the band on a night out in a bar and also in concert which is in colour. This again allows the audience to get a sense of the bands personality by seeing them when not performing. Also by using black and white and colour on certain shots, it shows the difference between the past and present.

A shot of the singer and the woman are used again however they are seen kissing, also a shot of another band member and a woman is seen emphasising the songs meaning of them needing someone to love.

As the song comes closer to the finish the shots become shorter and shorter, which could be used to symbolise the increasing need for a woman.
The close up shot of the lead singer is used again when the line 'someone like you' is sang again emphasising the need, along with long shots of him each time the line is used.

The first line of the song is also used as the last line and the close up shot of the lead singer is used again, like at the beginning of the song.

The music video is a performance video as it has the lead singer miming and therefore performing the song to the camera. Overall I think this is a fairly typical video for the genre of the music as a lot of rock music videos tend to use actual footage as part of their videos as apposed to pop videos.