'Suede' Music Video Analysis

The music video being analysed within this post is 'The Beautiful Ones' by Britpop band 'Suede'. Suede formed in 1989 in Camden Town. Their single 'The Beautiful Ones' was released in 1996. Below is the link to the official YouTube video. Britpop was a reaction against the 1990's grunge movement from America. The songs written in the Britpop style were based on very British subjects and the era of Britpop originated from an area in London known as 'Camden Town'.



This video reflects Goodwin's theory excellently. It uses five out of six of his methods.

The first rule of Goodwin's theory is that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. This music video achieves this by the band all wearing plain black clothes but also the band shots are edited into black and white. Instead of the band doing a dance routine etc which would usually be found in a pop music video they simply perform the track which has been synced up to the song.

The next rule of Goodwin's theory is that there must be some relationship between the lyrics and the visuals on screen. This is where this video comes into its own. The music video is laced with visual images that are either the words being heard in the lyrics or relate to to subject matter of the lyrics being sung. Below are some screen shots from the video where this method is used.

A third method of Goodwin's theory is that the music video should include multiple close ups of the band/artist and that the artist may develop certain motifs/trademarks such as a visual style. This music video uses plenty of close ups and shots of the artist. One style/motif that Suede created for themselves involved their haircuts which are seen clearest on Brett Anderson (lead singer, left) and Neil Coddling (keyboard player, right).

These were typical Britpop haircuts and incredibly stylish at the time.
In the chorus there are no images used and is simply just the band performing. This gives the band a large volume of time to market themselves with interesting camera shots and multiple close ups of each member of the band. The two shots above are close ups of Brett Anderson and Neil Coddling, seen below are the three other members; Richard Oakes on lead guitar (top-left), Simon Gilbert on drums (top-right) and Matt Osman on bass guitar (bottom).

 

The last point of Goodwin's theory which is used within this video is the notion of 'looking' and voyeuristic imagery. This is accomplished through the use of objects like television sets or telescopes etc. Suede also use this method but only once. They have a television set with the bands name on it and then this television proceeds to explode. This can have multiple interpretations to the audience.

 

Another Suede music video which inspired some of our shot is the beginning of the 'Animal Nitrate'. The music video is embedded below. The shot which inspired our sped up shot is seen at 0:15-0:25. This inspired our sped up graffiti wall shot and other sped up shots which are frequently used within our edit since they conform to our music videos genre's style.