HAIM - "Forever"

Music Video Analysis 

Lyrics and Music

Lyrically, the track talks about a relationship's do-or-die moment and talks about a relationship hurtling towards disintegration. This fits the codes and conventions of the rock genre which is that the musical lyrics often stress passion, lust and hatred.

 

The band members all contribute to the music with instruments such as guitar, percussion and drums, keyboard and bass. This is supported by the theme of placing a higher degree of importance on musicianship, live performance and creates certain ideological ideas on the authenticity of rock music.

Camerawork and Editing

Whenever the band are in a shot together they are often placed in order of hierarchy.  The main singer is always at the front and guitarist and drummer will appear behind, similar to how they perform on stage.

 

The video also uses parallel editing to change from the performance scenes to the narrative scenes. The pace of the editing also fits the tempo of the song which is fairly slow., supporting Carole Vernallis theory that the editing will match the beat.

 

Close-ups of the main singer also feature in the music video which is supported by Andrew Goodwin's idea of record labels demanding the use of close-ups of the artists to develop motifs across their work.

Intertextuality

The video for "Forever" features old footage of the sisters as kids on holiday intercut with shots of them riding on their bikes and in the salon, while guys do wheelies on motorcycles. A lot of that video consists of their personal home videos, so there definitely is a strong nostalgic childhood vibe there. The use of old home videos supports Peter Fraser's idea that there is likely to be reference to intertextuality. Videos such as Eminem's "Mockingbird" and Beyonce's "Grown Women" both use home video's from their childhood suggesting a strong influence on Haim's music video. 

The performance part of the "Forever" music video is also a pastiche of Destiny's Child's music video, "Bootylicious" as they use similar dance moves and are the most important group member is placed in front and centre of the frame.

 

Narrative / Performance

In the pop/rock conventions they tend to have a lot of medium and long shots of the artists playing their instruments. This music video demonstrates the genre characteristics of stage performances which Andrew Goodwin considers a feature that can be found in music videos. The band Haim can be seen in mid and long shits performing with their instruments. The band members typically consist of a drummer, singer and guitarist.

Additionally there isn't any member of the band that has been shown more than the others, each role is equally shared. Each band member has the same amount of performance into the camera.

The balance between narrative and performance seems to be even but the visuals do not necessarily fit with the lyrics.

 

 

Star Image / The Brand

Close-ups are used throughout the video to showcase the main vocalist in the band. This is supported by Peter Fraser's analysis that the use of close-ups plays an important part of the construction of the band's/singer's image. This is something that Haim do to promote themselves as they play parts in both the narrative and performance.

 

Steve Archer also supports this by saying that the meat of most music videos cut to the close-up of the singer's face. The director uses close-ups of of Danielle singing as the voice is seen as the most important part.

Mise En Scene

In the pop/rock genre, the clothing worn doesn't tend to be high fashion or anything that is found to be trendy to society but on the other hand they do not wear completely random clothing. The typically clothing worn in this genre is denim and biker style jackets. The lighting in the music video also fits the conventions of pop/rock genre as it is natural lighting where as other genres tend to edit the lighting. In pop/rock they stick to the idea of "natural". When the band/artist are performing in their music video they have the people playing their instruments and singing in a place where the lighting is natural. This is sending the image that the band is "naturally" talented.

The settings typically used in this genre are usually set in a studio or house. This creates an image of Haim chilling and playing their instruments together.