This music video is completely different to the last one as it is much more based on the choreography of the dance rather than the performance of the band. We are only shown narrative and the only side of the performance that we actually see is the man who is lip syncing the words.
The message that is conveyed in this music video is to have fun and enjoy the moment. This is shown through the lack of confidence we see at the beginning of the video of the man when he has no one to dance with in but then his confidence rises and he starts to enjoy himself.
The lighting and colours play an important part in this music video as shown by the first shot of the man as he enters the club alone. He is stared at by two girls and we can see that he clearly isn't very confident as he looks around. It looks as if this music video is set in the 80s due to the clothing of everyone in the club and the style of this man's hair.
A girl is staring at him and it looks as if she is confused about why he is there. This makes the man lose even more confidence until someone else comes along to build it back up again. This connotes the rest of society looking down on people who want to be different and how people are judged for being themselves.
We are then presented with the title of the band and the name of the song which is quite interesting as it uses two different fonts. The volume of the music from the club suddenly becomes a lot louder when the title appears on the screen and the main male figure is placed in the middle of the shot with hardly anyone near him. This shows that he is the main focus of the video and we will be told a story about him.
The next shot is a medium shot where we can see the main character a bit better. This introduces him to us and we can clearly tell that he is quite shy due to the way that he is staring awkwardly into the camera. However, this does bring us closer to his character because of the intimacy with the camera.
Then we see the girl that the boy is obviously interested as he gives her a quick glance before the shot changes to her. This shows that she is another one of the main characters in the video and she is going to have some impact on what the boy is going to do. This particular character is wearing more clothes than the other girls in the club as we can see that behind her there is a girl with a crop top on and a pair of shorts. This doesn't follow the idea of the 'Male Gaze' because the main character isn't wearing any sort of provocative clothing giving the idea of innocence.
The boy is still looking into the camera while dancing when we jump into the first verse of the song. He sings 'Oh don't you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me' while looking directly into the camera which brings the audience closer to him. This builds the suspense of waiting for the two characters to start dancing together as we can see that he is clearly dancing alone and would like someone else to dance with so he doesn't look so lonely. All of the shots so far have used special lighting effects which brings the video life. They have focused around using pinks, reds, blues and oranges. Red connoting danger which will be shown by the male who is trying to get the woman to dance with him and how she could still reject him and blue showing that he is clearly lonely.
This moment is quite interesting as we have the male lead singer still singing in the song but the woman is speaking the words 'shut up and dance with me'. I like the effect that this has because it shows that they are in the moment together and it is almost like the male character is thinking about his past even though they are in the future. The woman is also very heavily made up with quite a lot of makeup on. She has very dark eyes and bright red lips which match her hair and this is where the video starts to almost appeal to the idea of the 'Male Gaze' because we can see that the woman is quite attractive even though she is wearing more clothes than any of the other women in the room. Another point that is quite interesting about this shot is the comparison to the previous shot:
The woman has a lot of people talking and dancing behind her but the man has no one. It is almost as if he doesn't have any friends at all but the other woman is welcoming him in to her life by asking him to dance.
This is where the editing becomes quite interesting as we are shown lots of shots of the male's head. I thought this was quite clever because as the audience it almost makes you feel uncomfortable for him because he is still currently dancing alone even though the woman has asked him to dance with her. It's almost like one of those awkward moments that you wouldn't want to be in.
Here is another interesting edit where we have a close up of the male's face and then two people on either side of him trying to tell him what to do. The colours are also very interesting in this shot because they show that he is in a state of confusion where he doesn't know whether to dance or to stay put. It is clear that the editing and lighting plays a very important part in this video.
The two characters are now finally dancing together which has relieved the suspense and awkwardness of the situation. This is quite a clever idea because it looks as if he is thinking about the past and the lighten up box represents what he is thinking. There is also a closeup of his face as he sings the lyrics. This music video is strictly narrative but because we are shown the lead singer singing to the camera is almost gives that taste of the performance side of music videos.
The thoughts are now on the left hand side as he sings 'Helpless to the bass and the fading light, Oh, we were bound to get together' which suggests that he is now thinking of the future with the woman who wants to dance with him. Again, the use of colours is very important here as we can see that the use of blue in the first few beginning shots showed that he was lonely but now that blue has become lighter because the woman has entered his life.
Now we are shown three different shots were we can see the main singer singing, the girl dancing and three other people carrying a stereo. This is quite interesting as it represents the speed at which he has found someone who understands him. The singer sings 'A backless dress and some beat up sneaks, My discothèque, Juliet teenage dream' and it is quite appropriate that the girl is shown in this shot because he is clearly thinking of her. 'Discotheque' means disco in french and this is represented by the stereo.
A two shot has been used quite appropriately here as the two characters have become closer through dancing with each other. We can clearly see that they are having fun because of the expression showing on their faces as they continue to dance. The people in the room are now watching the two of them enjoying themselves which connotes that people will always be there to judge you but what does it matter if you're having fun.
This moment is quite interesting as another person takes the place of the man dancing but he is wearing a glowing suit showing that the girl just wants the next best thing. This is another moment were the lighting and the editing has played an important part in the video.
The person in the glowing suit is then revealed and it turns out that it is the man she was dancing with from the beginning showing that he has evolved due to her impact on him. Again, a two shot has been used very appropriately here as the two of them share a moment.
As the music video comes to an end we can see the whole room dancing and joining in with the two main characters which connotes that society will always follow the fun and that people should just enjoy themselves.
