Rudimental- Not Giving In. Music video analysis.

Rudimental-Not Giving In.

Genre: Dance, Electronic, and Soul.

Audience: Primarily young people. The content of the video reflects the target audience, the street/break dancing relates the video to youth culture and focuses it on a younger popular audience.

Narrative: The music video tells a narrative story. It shows the story of two brothers living in a shanty town in the Philippines. The music video shows the conflicting decisions that the brothers face, living in a poverty-stricken town. One brother chooses to learn to dance whilst the other gets involved in gang violence and the drug trade. The video cross cuts to juxtaposing shots to show this. During the lyrics ‘not giving in’, a mid close up of the ‘good’ brother is used to show him dancing and working really hard to improve. This shows that he’s determined to achieve his goals and he’s not going to give up. This then cross cuts to a mid shot of the other brother carrying drugs and handing them to another person. He’s stood with his ‘friends’ and the other gang members all encouraging him to do it and take part. This shows the peer pressure that he’s facing, they’re stood around him in circle, which suggests that he’s now ‘trapped’ in that life. This shows that he’s chose to be a part of a gang involved with drugs in contrast to his brother who doesn't want to be associated with that life. It emphasises to the audience how the decisions they make shape the rest of their lives.

Shots: The opening shot of the video is a close up of a hand flicking down a penknife. This has connotations of violence and danger. This then cross cuts to a mid shot of the two brothers sat looking miserable and scared. This introduces the two characters to the audience and straight away suggests that they’re in danger and about to face a difficult, violent situation. A close up of one of the brothers follows this, the close up emphasises the tears running down his face. This is effective as it makes the boy look vulnerable and allows the audience to emphasise with his situation. A cross cut is used after this, which shows the man that was holding the penknife, grabbing the boy’s mother and abusing and hitting her, the brothers try to help her but get thrown violently to the ground.  This is effective as it shows the audience their troubled home life situation, which makes the message of the video, and song seems more inspiring. It allows the audience to understand why the boy was crying in the shot beforehand. It also shows the objectification of women as the male showing the inferiority and abuse she faces slaps the mum. This is important as it raises the issue of inequality in their lives. It creates audience interaction as the close ups capture how the characters feel throughout the video. An establishing shot is used after this to show poor run down city, it shows how high the poverty is in the area and the low circumstances the characters face. The props and location are effective in this shot as they enforce how deprived people living in shanty towns are. Irony is used effectively here, in the background you can see the city with big buildings and lights, it shows the juxtaposing situations. It shows how close they are to civilisation yet so far away from any help.          

A medium close up dolly shot of both brothers’ shoes is shown in the video as they leave their home, this is effective as they’re both wearing old flip flops. This enhances their lack of materialistic items or general everyday essentials which further shows their poverty stricken lives. It could also represent how both boy’s start off on the same path and in the same shoes but later on in the video will choose which route to go down. It foreshadows the different directions they choose to take. Both brothers start off sticking together, this is shown through the medium two shot of them both laughing, whilst running away with drinks and money that they just stole. This is effective as it shows the audience that at the start of the music video the brothers have a close ‘jokey’ relationship, it’s not until later on that things start to escalate. The two shot allows the audience to see the body language of both characters together portraying a family bond which the audience can relate to. It highlights the comparison between the beginning and the end of the video. It could also show how pick pocketing and stealing is the norm in the characters situation. A significant shot in the video is when the ‘good’ brother is drawn to a dance off/dance lesson in the street, the mid shot shows him looking to his brother encouraging him to come watch. This is significant as it’s the beginning of him drifting from his brother and the start of his determination to dance which emphasises the title ‘not giving in’ which is repeated throughout the video in the lyrics. This is followed by a reaction tracking shot close up of his brother shaking his head and walking off with one of the gang members, the shot shows him looking back as he walks off. This suggests that maybe he knows that he’s made the wrong choice, however the gang member has him arm around him which could show that there’s no going back for him as the peer pressure has him trapped. I think the penultimate shot in the music video is the most important, the reverse zoom shot shows the ‘bad’ brother lying dead on the ground after being shot by a gang member. The reverse zoom is effective as the further away the camera goes from the boy the more alone he looks. It allows the audience to feel empathy and emotion towards him.

Editing: Cross cutting shots are used consistently throughout the music video to show the contrasting actions of the brothers, this is used especially effectively when the ‘good’ brother is dancing in the dance competition and falls to the ground (as part of the dance), it then cross cuts to the ‘bad brother’ also falling to the ground but because he’s just been shot. This portrays the ending of one brother’s life and just the beginning for the other, it allows the audience to see the characters juxtaposing lives because of the decisions they made. Slow motion is used at the beginning of the video when the brothers’ mum is being abused by their dad, this creates emotion as it emphasises the pain she goes through. It could also explain why the ‘bad’ brother made the wrong choices, his home situation could've led to him acting out. This is effective as some of the audience can relate to being in the same situation. Continuity editing is used in the establishing shot when showing the shanty town that they live in, this makes the editing seem seamless and makes the video look more realistic to the audience. It’s effective as it shows the audience that people do actually live like that currently and makes them more thankful for their lives. The audience could use this video as a form of escapism as it makes them forget any problems they have in their own lives. Jump cuts are used during the lyrics ‘I'm gunna be stronger, no not giving in’ as the ‘good brother’ goes to get ready for his dance competition, it jump cuts to the other brother who’s getting ready for a fight. It takes away the actual competition and fight to create suspense with the audience, they have to wait for the next shot to see what happens.

Lighting: Ambient lighting is mostly used throughout the video, especially during the outside shots showing the setting and when the characters are running through the town. This is to create a realistic tone to the video in order for the audience to empathise with it. Low key lighting is used during the dance competition to focus the attention on the ‘good brother’ and how he didn't give up which links to the lyrics of the song. It also enhances his skill and how much he’s learnt because of his motivation.

Costume, Connotations & Denotations and Representation: The characters shown in the music video all tend to have the same costume style, both the brothers wear baggy sports shorts and vest tops. This fits the stereotypical representation of ‘lower class’ young people who can’t afford to have the ‘latest’ branded clothing. The brother that chooses to street dance wears flip flops/ bare feet when doing so. This shows that he didn't need the latest trainers to be able to learn to dance which highlights the message of the song and the idea about working hard no matter what obstacles you face. In this video, the example being living in poverty. When the ‘bad’ brother chooses to be a part of the gang and drug culture, his costume changes. He’s shown wearing baggy jeans, trainers, hoodies and a ‘flat peak’ hat. The contrast between the clothes he wore before joining the gang and after is significant because it suggests that they’re stolen as he couldn't afford them before. Also, all the gang members wear the same type of clothing which could represent the problem of peer pressure in young people. Hoodies and ‘flat peak’ hats have connotations of being quite ‘chavy’ which represents him as being out to cause trouble. Straight away in the video, the audience are shown a violent situation in the mid shot of the mum being abused and one of the brothers trying to help. This denotes that their lives are violent and they’re treated badly. This shot is followed by a long reverse zoom shot of the ‘good’ brother looking out his small, old and worn-down house and uses a tracking shot to show the surroundings. This is effective as it has denotations of everyone around him being in the same situation which allows the audience to emphasise with him. The fact that he’s looking out of the window has connotations that he wants more from life, it could show him looking at his future wanting something better. This foreshadows the goals he achievers through dancing later on in the video.