Analysis of a Music Video pt 1

An intro into using media language and representation in order to textually analyse a music video.

The xx - On Hold


The first thought I had seconds into this music video was the photographer William Eggleston. Eggleston (born 1939) is very well known for his over-saturated colour in his photography, and each photo telling a story in a completely original way; capturing a moment in time. His use of over-saturated colour creates an antique feel for each photo, like the way a sepia filter does. The xx using this style feels as though they've captured this video back in the 1960s southern-state of the USA, which does fit in with their general music style of a sort of wishy-washy sound of electronic synths filtered through a dream like state.

The xx - Portrait



William Eggleston, 'Untitled', 1970-1973

Following on from their 1960s style, the props shown in the video also show this: the old car, old phone box, the old house telephone (and using it as opposed to mobile). This is fully established to be their aim throughout the rest of the video. Why they've chosen to set it in Texas, 1960s time is a question though: romantic vintage aspect?

Moving onto the structure of the music video, it's a narrative showing a relationship between two young lovers, one being on the school cheer-leading team, the other being on the american football team - the heartache all teenagers can relate to (sarcasm). We can already see a stereotypical American relationship formed here, which could be argued ridiculous for a band that are defined under 'alternative indie'. The video begins with a young man making a phone call, and ends with the young woman hanging up after no exchange of words between them, but between that we have fragments of their relationship in a general linear-narrative showing the breaking down between them which relates back to the lyrics.

There are sections of performance in this video where we have the artists singing/lip-syncing. This is alternated between the two singers becoming the young characters of the love-story, and them being silhouettes telling the story.
The song 'On Hold' is using the telephone hold call button as a metaphor for the relationship between the two young people which is why it's important to have the phone call start and end the video.

The chorus has a random series of black and white grainy video showing a party which foregrounds the occasional slip in of romantic kissing shots between the lovers. By having the two juxtaposed, it makes us feel as though we're looking back at their memories when they were happy together.

Altogether, this video works aesthetically but when analysing it analytically, it's a bunch of random shots of random places while trying to tell the underlying theme of a broken relationship between two stereotypical teenagers in the US.