Task 3 - Analysis of music videos (1)

Task Three:

Analysis of music videos (1)

Name of track: Carried Away

Artist:  Passion Pit

Genre: Indie/Pop

                                    

"Carried Away" is a song by an American alternative rock band Passion Pit from their second studio album, Gossamer (2012). The song was written and produced by the band's frontman Michael Angelakos, with Chris Zane providing co-production.

The music video, directed by Brewer, was released on February 14, 2013. It featured American actress, director, and spokesperson Sophia Bush.

It was released as the fourth single from the album in 2013.

The first 40 seconds video for Passion Pit's 'Carried Away' shows the girl in the video amplifying the lyrics of 'carried away', in particular when her partner rubs lipstick off of her face, in the mid shot we can see her facial expressions turn from normal to angry (13seconds), she then gets 'carried away' and draws a line across her face to prove a point.

This is then contrasted with the following scene of them jumping onto the bed happy and making jokes.

Chart (2013)	Peak Position
US Rock Songs (Billboard)[5]	24
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[6]	19
US Hot Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[7]	5
US Adult Pop Songs (Billboard)[8]	34

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carried_Away_(Passion_Pit_song))

Features	Observations	Examples
Genre Characteristics	1.Bright and colorful 2.Aims at the teenage audience 3.Very upbeat	1.Orange walls in the couple’s house. 2.This could aim at a teenage audience because teenagers are stereotypically known to go over the top and not know the limit. 3.The whole song is upbeat and interesting.
Relationship between lyrics and visuals?	The lyrics are clearly related to the story in the video.	The lyrics “carried away” are amplified by the acting throughout. Eg. When the girl is annoyed with her boyfriend wiping a bit of lipstick off her face she goes over the top and puts it all over her cheek.
Relationship between music and visuals?	The editing at the beginning of the video makes the relationship clear straight the way	Nudge of track when the man touches the girls face.
Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?	There aren’t any close ups of the actors in the video and the only a few star image motifs.	“You make me sick” “Carried away”
Is there reference to the notion of looking?	There are very few but one would be when certain words are clearly upsetting the girl and driving her crazy.	There is a zoom towards the girls breasts where the girl is holding the words “you make me sick”
Are there intertextual references?	This suggests that women always get their own way and men are always saying sorry.	This is shown when the girl winks when she gets her own way at 1:22. The man is the only one saying sorry throughout e.g. at 1:18
Is the video performance, narrative or concept based? How much of each?	Completely narrative	There is no lip syncing, instrument playing and none of the band.

Since my heart is golden

I've got sense to hold in

Tempted just to make an ugly scene

No I'm not as proper, my money's in copper

Ripped down from the brownstones to the street

Listen, I'm your friend (don't quote me)

But not a friend worth noting

Yes, please don't ever note me as your friend

Who says we have cold hearts?

Acting out our old parts

Let's perform our favourite little scene

I get carried away

Carried away from you

And I'm hoping and I'm praying

Cause I'm sorry, sorry about that

Sorry about the things that I said

Always let it get to my head

All your appeal

Once again with feeling

Higher education making sense

Justify your thesis

Certain that you need this

Tell me what your point is in defence

Listen, I don't really know you

And I don't think I want to

But I think I can fake it if you can

And let's agree there's no need

No more talk of money

Let's just keep pretending to be friends

I get carried away

Carried away from you

And I'm hoping and I'm praying

Cause I'm sorry, sorry about that

Sorry about the things that I said

Always let it get to my head

[x2]

Wake up in the morning

Wake up in the evening

Wake up when you want to

'Cause no one's really watching

Well she'll have something to say about it but

We all have problems

We're all having problems

And we've all got something to say

I get carried away

Carried away from you

And I'm hoping and I'm praying

Cause I'm sorry, sorry about that

Sorry about the things that I said

Always let it get to my head

[x2]