DEAF HAVANA 'NICOTINE AND ALCOHOL SAVED MY LIFE' MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS

The music video for Deaf Havana’s ‘Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life’ is performance and narrative based and is part of the rock genre. The narrative is based on a love story. However, it is unconventional because it tells the story of a dying man and his life with his wife. Close ups of the man shows the man’s sad facial expression, it is also made evident that he is dying. This immediately sets the mood of the music video. Having the vocalist screaming makes it parallel with the visuals because it adds to the frustrated and cold atmosphere as the female character may be feeling frustrated at not being able to help him.

Close ups of the band members allow us to see them individually and so this creates the band’s image and creates their signature and so the audience are able to recognise the band. We are also able to see iconography such as guitars, microphones and drums which give an indication on the genre of the music video as well as misé-en-scene such as piercing and tattoos which are typical of the genre. The camera is constantly moving and so this makes it more visually interesting, in the performance this compliments the energy of the music as the audience are able to see the band jumping around on set.

 

The use of a medium long shot shows the woman holding her husband’s hand; this creates a sad atmosphere, it also shows their close relationship because they are positioned close together in the frame and the location is their home which reinforces the idea of them being close. The close up on the man’s hand suggests that he is in pain, this is suggestive of the genre because pain links with death and so these subjects create quite a dark or sad atmosphere which are typically seen more within the rock genre. The lighting used is soft lighting and so this makes it appear realistic for lighting within a house. It also makes the two characters appear ‘glamorous’ and quite youthful.

 

 

The music video uses quite a slow pace of edit and so this matches the sad atmosphere, as well as the tempo of the music at various points. Slow motion has also been used to give this effect and also gives the effect that the narrative is fragmented and moving into scenes from the couple’s memories. White flashes have also been used to suggest that these are memories because it gives quite a hazed and alluring effect. Tracking shots have been used on the band performance which makes it more interesting because you are able to see the condensation, this suggests that it is freezing on set and links with the memories within narrative because it shows snow outside. Seeing the condensation adds more depth to the shots and gives the audience something else to focus on.

 

Having a close up of the dictionary allows the audience to focus on the writing, which gives the audience an indication on what the narrative may be based on. It also creates a link with the title because we see the definition of ‘nicotine’ and the song is called ‘Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life’. During the narrative there is a turn of events and the use of fast pace editing gives the suggestion that the man has died and this creates a sense of panic as the woman tries to wake her husband up. It also shows a few more shots from his memories; this also backs up this idea as they could be his last few memories before he dies.

 

 

An extreme close up of the woman’s eye allows the audience to sympathise with her because we are able to see the sadness and emotion in her eyes, an extreme close up adds to the sad and lonely atmosphere giving it a darker and more serious mood. The snow in the memory scenes have been juxtaposed by the black horse, as snow is white it could suggest innocence. Whereas, the use of black implies death or the juxtaposition between death and living or good and bad and so these two ideas juxtapose each other. The horse may have been used to suggest being young and free like the character within the scene.

 

A close up of the characters’ hands implies that they are together; this is juxtaposed by a mid shot of the woman on her own. This creates quite an emotional contrast because she appears sad and alone. The fragmented narrative continues and replays in full to show the audience what she remembers and what actually happened. This music video is effective because it is different from other music videos as it looks at the theme of death but in a completely different perspective. It also doesn’t have the dark and sinister atmosphere that other rock genre based music videos have.