Labrinth: Express Yourself


I have chosen this music video to present to the class, because I felt it is very captivating, fun and creative. I honestly felt that the video complemented the song very well , in fact, for me, it made me like the song more.

If i had to put this music video into a genre, it would have to be comedy as it has a lot of  amplified images that you would not see in your daily life.

Its category goes under performance as you see him performing the song (singing , with action and just having a little fun). Also narrative as you have many narrative moment of different stories but all give the same meaning.

relationship between lyrics-image-music: is obvious they have taken the words express  yourself and showed different people expressing themselves in such unrealistic ways. example the blond girl expressing her love for barbies and dressing up in pink, pink house and pink car.

I felt this video hit all top 10 features for an effective music video:

1) Instant Impact
straight away you get that visual impact as the first image is quite bizarre and so will the other images later on. this hooks the audience as it is completely something different and entertaining to their eyes. you would never find a fridge in a icy cave as it is already cold.  the door opens and the audience are reviled by the artist in a a brown chair in the icy cave wearing just a bright yellow suite. they don't leave the audience in such confusion by putting the title up on the fridge "express yourself"showing where Labrinth is coming from.Also weird alien noise right at the start.

2- non-linear editing
Very non linear as it has many different narrative stories so it cuts to different ones and cuts to the artist in different situations.

3- a sense of development
A strong sense of development as you get more bizarre narratives along with Labrinth changing his setting and costume in more interesting ways.

4- strong sense of artist identity
we immediately know who the artist is as when he is revealed so is his name. he has the most shots with a lot of close ups. His dress sense is very quirky dressing similar to Bart Simpson and will smith in fresh prince of bell air suggesting he is funny character just like them, to emphasis this he always has a cartoon background.

5- an engaging performance
I would say the narrative stories were the most engaging performance as they are very bizarre but we can still relate these images to things we know. the images make you smile and perhaps make you laugh or be confused but everyone would want to continue watching it to see what else will pop up. the artist performance is more cute and simple bet still engaging as he is very quirky with the way he performs his song  his songs. 

6- extremes, binary oppositions and repetitions (visual hook)
A lot of extremes with oppositions in this video: old people dancing with a rock star, real life barbie next to other grey and dull houses, Real life Bart "labrinth" being good and teaching to express your self, happy army person next to serious army men, paper boy being chased by a hedge instead of a dog, police vandalising their own car, emotional woman crying because of onions, astronaut on the beach, employers of a shop dancing around. We have many repetitions of the artist in four different settings.

7- Visually striking
Every image is bright colourful and unusual to the eye. captivating us but also giving a warm happy feeling. labrinth has distinctive settings, mainly backgrounds and bright costume changes.

8- Provoke a reaction
Go wild and dance as the music has an up beat being a very dance like music. It makes you want express yourself and do something outrageous and fun. Example, a lot of the fans of the artist would want to wear bright coloured cloths expressing themselves. You will also get a reaction that this video is just bizarre, and it will make you laugh or just be in shock.

9- Different layers in meaning- encourage repeat viewing)
Live an interesting life, don't be like others, be different, express yourself, If you love something like labrinth obviously likes the Simpson, be proud to like it and go dress like them. He showing how he is different from other artist and how he expresses his actual self not the made up artist.

10- Reference to popular culture
A lot of popular culture such as girls favourite toys barbies (barbie house barbie cars), boys favourite toys- green soldiers, strict army life, will smith in fresh prince of Bel air, Bart from the Simpson's.