WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FRIENDS - analysis

WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FRIENDS - LANY

LANY are a three piece alternative indie band; the band consists of Paul Jason Klein, Jake Goss and Les Priest.
Klein is the lead vocalist, Goss is the drummer and Priest is the gutairist, keys and vocalist.
The director was Nadia Ozten.
The main performer in the WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FRIENDS is Klein.

Relationship between the visuals and the lyrics

In the music video directed by Ozten, the character that is played by Klein is stumbling around a large building, and from the audience's point of view he is looking for something or someone. Throughout the video the relationship between the visuals and the lyrics could be directly connected. It is a non-linear music video. There are cutaway shots of Klein performing the song in a room by himself. Then it continues to tell a story (in which Klein is also involved in) where Klein is stumbling around a large house with a group of people at a party and occasionally we see him sing the song to the lyrics. The lighting plays a large part in this music video. When the lights change to red Klein is frozen and the people around him move and dance. Then the lighting will change to a cold blue and we can denote that Klein is now moving and searching whereas all the people surrounding him are frozen. This enables the audiences to infer that Klein is isolated even though he is surrounded by people. Then the cutaway shot we see Klein performing the song without the other band members. This suggests he is still playing the role of the person in the house party searching for something. Therefore overall the visuals do match the lyrics due to the main lyric being "where the hell are my friends" and Klein looking around for (what we can assume) are his friends; however this is an impossible task because everytime he would freeze they would move on and he was following an empty trail.

Genre characteristics
The genre of the music video is indie. We can denote from the music video that there is a red, blue and white colour scheme. This is letting us as the audience connote that the music video is indie. The stopping and starting of the colours and the linear movement is following indie conventions of having a stop-start linear film.

Narrative
WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FRIENDS has a non-linear narrative. Throughout we see the main character stumble around a large area; there is then cutaway shots of Klien singing in a large white room. Initally we can denote that it is a linear narrative from following Klien around the building; whilst the colours change and Klien stops and stops. We can connote from the intial linear narrative that Klein is 'looking for his friends' and he feels alone and isolated.

The next linear scene is the room change but we follow Klien into the nex room through stopping and starting shots. We can denote that it isn't through the editing it is through the actual movement of the actors in the music video, we can denote this because we see the actors slight movements in the shots.

We first see Klien from behind over the shoulder the lighting is red and it is a freeze frame, there music then builds up and the lighting changes to blue and Klien starts the run up the stairs which we can see in the background.

It then cuts to Klien in a white lighted room singing to the song. Then a quick change to the blue lighting in the room, Klien is surrounded by other young people on the stairs. The colours change to red and Klien freezes and everyone around him begins to move. This is allowing us to infer that Klien is on a 'wild goose chase' to find what he is looking for.

We then see a perspective shot through the curtains; the lighting is blue and we see a wide space with poeple who are fozen in a dancing position. The we see Klien walk through the curtains. Into the room this is a close shot of Klien. He is winding through people and then the lighting changes to red and Klien freezes; the people around him start dancing. Klein grabs their clothes to hang onto; implying that he is desperate and possible struggling to stay standing.

Klien then sits inbetween two men and looks directly at the camera; this is breaking the fourth wall. It is also an extreme close shot we can only see his face and the two men in the far distance behind him.  The colours change to blue and Klien freezes; the two poeple then start to talk and Klien resumes movement when the colour changes, he stands and then gets frozen as well whilst holding up the ceiling.

Klien then kneels down to a girl sitting in the chair. We can see her but not him (the face). We can't see his reaction this is creating enigma.

Audience in the video
There are many other people in the video; they could potentially be representations of the audience. However indie has a wide range of a target audience. Indie was most popular in the 90's. However LANY only became a band in 2014. Therefore their main target audience may be people in their late teens, early 20's. The people in the music video were in their 20's. Denoting that there is some representation of LANY's audience. From what we can see from the music video; Ozten has used Klein because he is the youngest member of the group and he fits in with the age of the party goers int he music video. Ozten has also used Klein becuase he is the lead singer therefore is able to lipsync to the words of the song throughout.

Star treatment
From the video we can connote that there isn't any star treatment occuring in the video. Klein in wondering around on his own looking for something. Everytime he moves evryone around him stays still, visa-versa. He isn't getting anycloser to what he wants. We are denoting a struggle and a sense of isolation from the star. We then see Klein perform the song, however instead of following typical conventions of a performance in a music video; with a large crowd dinging along. Klein is on his own in the room with no representations of audience or that he is a star. The clip of him performing alone and not communitcating with anyone throughout the whole video allows the audience to connote that there isn't any star treatment and that actually he is alone and not getting any attention from the poeple surrounding him.

Representations
As a viewer what i have been able to infer from the video is that Klien is representing the facct that even though he may be a star; that doesn't mean he gets all the attention and gets where he wants and who he wants. From him stumbling around and freezing we can denote a struggle for Klien. This could represent the struggle he has had in the music indstry and in his personal life. The video links with the lyrics through the use of the main like 'Where the hell are my friends'. This suggests that he is looking for his friends. We can also denote from the video that he is looking for a particular person or thing amongst all these people. He could have as many friends as he wants but he is struggling to find the real friends through his personal struggle.
 Because Klien is at a party we can also assume that he could be intoxicated and the music video is about what it is like to be intoxicated. Stumbeling around and feeling isolated. Not being able to connect and communitcate with others.

Male gaze
Throughout the video we see females and males partying. Most of the people are in their mid 20's and they are dancing or talking to one another. This allows the audience to connect and relate to the people int he music video because most people have been to a party and can relate to what it is like. We can also realate to Klien looking around and feeling lost and isolated.

Pace
The video is fast pace and has many cut away shots and the variety of shots are vast due to the quick colour scheme changes everytime Klein or the people surrounding him move. The fast gittery pace lets the audience denote that it is all happening in a short space of time but we get the impression that it feels like Klien has been looking forever and eventually finds his way out. The camera shots are harsh and most are tracking or panning shots of the room or of Klien looking around. This allows the audience to feel involved and as if we were in the music video. We see a short story of Klien looking for people and by hte end he finds a way out and we see the wide shot of him walking out of the room. The pace slows and instead of stumbling out of the room and swaying. He slowly walks out with his shoulders high and the audience is able to connote that Klien is relived. Instead of looking for people he may of been looking for a way out of this situation that he felt trapped in.