TEXTUAL ANALYSIS - Bad Habits - The Last Shadow Puppets

Bad Habits by The Last Shadow Puppets is shot using a vintage style of camera, which is either from the use of a film camera, or an effect that can be recreated in editing (something that our workshops have affirmed). The effect creates a nostalgic feel within the audience, or for the teenage ‘indie’ audience that the band targets, a sense of disconformity to the current age of high quality video cameras. Toyed with the retro mis en scene - the vintage style microphone, 70s fashion sense and blue tinted, black and white aesthetic – and the use of multi-layer editing which creates colourful yet ambiguous visuals, the video creates a 1970/80 feel, reminiscent of The Sex Pistols, or The Clash.  This vintage style would appeal to some radio 2 listeners, on which the song had a good amount of airplay, and perhaps more significantly, the indie market which dominates young culture today.

The use of fast pace editing gives the song a rebellious feel, which matches the lyrical content of the song, adhering to Goodwin’s theory of music videos. The idea of rebellion is a key genre characteristic of the indie rock genre, which is almost entirely built upon the idea of non-conformity. In conjunction with the frequent use of low-key lighting, the use of close-ups alludes to the sense of  ‘the underground’, and creates a sense of claustrophobia. The idea of being ‘underground’ is a staple of the indie genre, which grew to prominence from underground venues.

The use of contrasting colours throughout the video, also creates a sense of rebelliousness. Through the entire video, the aesthetic cuts between extreme red colours, to extreme blue, and in one occasion each band member silhouetted by contrasting blue and red backgrounds. Not only does this further the rebellious undertones of the video, the colours also fuel the nostalgic feel of the video, with blue and red being colours notably exaggerated in the production of VHS, and blue and red being characteristic of the 70s and 80s through the 2D glasses that have become characteristic of the period. The use of blue and red as opposing colours is something I would be very interested in exploring within our music video

  

The use of non-diegetic sound at the beginning of the track, and the use of an initial live performance scene are further affirmation of the indie genre, which is focussed on keeping live performance an integral part of the music process. In our video we would like to integrate sections of performance into a narrative, as we have learnt that performance is often a key characteristic of indie music videos.

Alexander