Music video analysis - Enter Shikari

Music video analysis: Enter Shikari – No Sleep Tonight

Genre: Rock/Electronic hardcore

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            This video seems to revolve around the theme of money and class, more specifically the rudeness and arrogance of a particular wealthy man who is the main subject of the video.

            The video follows a fairly simple narrative, in which a rich business-man walking through the street barges into the lead singer of the band, (Rou) and doesn’t think much of it. 

 Rou is appalled at this mans ignorance and then begins to follow him. He discovers that this man is very well-off and doesn't have much regard for anything or anyone but himself, his looks and his money. Rou then gets together with his band and a lot of youths to play heavy music very loudly outside this mans house and keep him awake (hence the name; No Sleep Tonight) in penance for his arrogance and pompous behaviour.

In the video and the narrative, the audience is intended to empathise with Rou and the rest of the band and feel anger and dislike towards the rich man. This is achieved through the use of subtle techniques used throughout that make the reader pander towards Rou without making it blindingly obvious. Firstly the use of camera angles plays a part in making the lead singer the protagonist, as we are first shown two close-ups of each characters face, both showing clear contrasting emotions. The rich man obviously has a very smug look on his face, whilst Rou is looking fairly blasé and innocent. When the barging in the street occurs, we are also shown both characters emotions through the use of cameras positioning. This shows us the uncaring and unapologetic look of the business-man and the annoyance on Rou’s face.

            Mise-en-scene is also very important in this creation of these character roles, especially in the use of costume. The business-man is wearing a very clean, dapper black suit which contrasts heavily with Rou’s casual black polo shirt. This shows a conflict between the characters and hints for the audience to empathise with Rou more. The wife/girlfriend of the rich man is also wearing casual clothes (also contrasting with the business-man). This fact, combined with his apparent uncaring attitude towards her, sets her as a protagonist.

Props are also used which add to these themes e.g. the business-man is holding a mobile phone and his wife is holding plates and dishes. A photograph of a dead bird lying in tar is also seen on a wall of the house, and the rich man is seen smiling at it. This compliments the so-far negative view of this man and makes him appear even more cruel.

          Despite the main focus being the narrative, there are also band-performance shots throughout the video. These consist of the band playing outside the man’s house and a large group of youths dancing and causing a ruckus along with them. The words and music are synchronised with the performance, which creates a definite relationship between sound and image. The performance and narrative, although usually conventionally set apart from one another, coincide at the end of this video. This is a clever technique as it subverts the stereotype and makes the band seem genuinely involved in the story they have created.     

          The only obvious editing used in this video is the use of some powerful images that quickly flash on the screen in the middle of the song. These pictures include huge piles of litter, smoke from factories, crumbling buildings, stripped down forests, explosions and struggling children of poverty. These appear just after a shot of the rich-man smiling, which makes the audience associate the man with the pictures and really brings home the negativity we feels towards him. It also adds an element of global warming and general world-concern from the band and justifies the narrative even more.       

         I feel this video is very effective as it has a clear narrative with obvious themes and is easy to follow and empathise with, yet it also subtly represents some quite powerful and current moods and themes.