Frank Turner's music video for his single The Way I Tend To Be is a symbolic narrative video, shown through the distinct storyline that runs throughout. There are slight aspects of performance within the clip, shown through the lip sync, however this is to add to the narrative of the video, rather than to showcase Turner's performance.
The video clearly appears to fit the folk genre of music due to the locations used within the video and the simplicity behind it. This style of video is quite common within the folk genre and therefore allows it to adopt common conventions of the genre, such as the artist's clothing and the aforementioned locations. It is, however, quite common for folk music videos to have narratives which appear simple yet have much deeper meanings and this is adopted for Turner's video. The narrative appears to symbolise Turner's uncovering of the past, depicted through the digging of the hole, before walking away from it whilst the crowds of people appear to symbolise the way in which curiosity can compel us to become involved in events of little meaning to us.
The video itself does not appear to tell a complete story but rather is depicting a smaller story from within a much wider one. The video beings with Frank Turner stood in the countryside, wearing a sign, with a shovel over his shoulder. There is no explanation to why he is there which is what leads the audience to believe that the video begins part through a much larger story. The video then follows as he walks
alone a path through the countryside. There is then a shot from Frank's point of view that is used to indicate how far he has come which is followed by another section of the narrative following Frank as he strays from the path. Turner then stops to remove the sign before continuing on his way and it is seen that a female character begins to follow him. Frank then walks into the middle of a field and begins to dig a hole and the female character watches him in confusion. The remainder of the video shows Frank continuing to dig a bigger and deeper hole whilst more people begin to gather around the site, gaining media attention. The video ends with Turner climbing out of the hole and walking away. The lack of explanation to this is what cements the idea in the reader's mind that this is merely a small section of a much larger story.
The record company's role within the video is to ensure that the video reflects and compliments the emotional music. This is important for the genre of music as well as for the representation of the artist. The video features a non-stereotypical representation of gender through the way that it depicts Frank Turner as an emotional person which is usually a trait associated with female characters. This allows him to become more relatable to his audience as he displays a more honest depiction of himself. Turner has a highly active and prominent online presence through social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube which he uses to distribute his music and to keep fans updated on albums and singles being released. He also has an active blog and forum on his website which he uses to connect with fans and update them on changes in his career.
The video is set in a few similar locations in the countryside including a forest and a field. This connotes the way in which Frank is attempting to get in touch with his emotions as he becomes in touch with nature. The most dominant colours within the video are the earthy tones of nature which are present for the duration. This creates a sense of calm and simple beauty which reflects the lyrics of the song. My favourite shot composition is at 1:28 when the camera becomes the head of the shovel. This is because it creates a feeling of being involved with the action whilst simply gliding into the narrative of the video. There are a few instances within the video where the camera becomes the shovel and therefore moves with it which I have previously mentioned. Other than this, there are many instances when the camera tracks Turner which has been done to help accentuate the simplicity of the narrative and the journey that Turner is on. The editing of the video is slow-paced and on beat which reflects the song's purity and serenity.
The target audience for this video appears to be working class teens and adults, between the ages of 14 and 40, which is indicated by the people staring in the video and the simple style of the video. The people featured within the video are all from varying age groups, with no particular age group being represented more frequently. This could be in an attempt to retain his wide fan base that was obtained through continuous touring and a performance at the London Olympic Opening Ceremony. The audience are most likely to access the video through YouTube which allows them to share it across other social media platforms such as Facebook and Tumblr.
This analysis will help me when it comes to making my own video as it has allowed me to explore Frank Turner's own style of music video and therefore has given an idea as to what I should aim to achieve with my own music video for his music.
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