Haim- Don't Save Me: Music Video Analysis

Genre Characteristics:

Although Haim don’t produce exactly the same style of music as MSMR and CHVRCHES etc, they do fit into the Indie Pop genre. Their music video for ‘Don’t Save Me’ exhibits many preexisting characteristics from this genre, for example the use of strobe lighting throughout, the slow motion shots and both the narrative and performance aspects of the video. The appearance of the three sisters is also fairly typical of Indie Pop- with their long tousled hair, natural make up and styling choices. 

Relationship between lyrics and visuals:

Throughout the video Andrew Goodwin’s ‘disjuncture’ theory can be applied as the songs meaning seems to be disjointed from the visuals. ‘Don’t Save Me’ could be about life before their band grew in popularity and how they've become disillusioned with the notion of ‘fame’- suggested in lyrics such as ‘never thought that I would grow so old of seeing the gold’, ‘hungry for what was to come, now I’m longing for the way I was’ and also ‘take me back to the way that I was before.’ Alternatively, it could be about a relationship that’s worsened over time. Either way, the ‘narrative’ sections of the video display the girls playing basketball which doesn’t directly link to the songs meaning. However, the fact that the girls are shown doing a sport stereotypically thought to be 'manly' could suggest that they are challenging femininity by playing basketball which coincides with the fact that they brand themselves as being 'rock and roll' artists. 

Relationship between the music and visuals: 

Despite there being little/ no connection between the lyrics and visuals, there are various points at which there is a relationship between the music and imagery. A feature which is‘amplified’ throughout the video is the unusual dancing of the band which often creates links between the audio and visuals, as their moves emphasize certain parts of the song. There are also other small parts of the song where the sisters movements have been edited to correspond with the music, for example Este’s hair flip at 1:58. Additionally, the strobe lighting featured throughout has been set to flash on and off in accordance with the song. Lense Flares have also been used in within the video, which may have been created naturally during production or added later while in the post production stage. Nearing the end of the music video the song slows down significantly and the visuals shown in the video also become slower paced, for example we see Haim stood stationary at 3:02. When the chorus picks up again at a normal speed, the action shown in the music video also gets faster.  

Are there close ups of the artists and star image motifs?

Within the video no star image motifs are present but there are noticeable close ups of the artists, mostly Danielle as she is the lead singer. It's also significant that throughout the video there are recurring shots where the sisters are in the frame at the same time- the sibling relation between the three of them is one of Haim's largest selling points and the director has used this to his advantage, constantly reminding the viewers of their close family bond. 

Is there reference to the notion of looking?

Danielle Haim receives the most camera time out of the three band members within the video. There are various shots where she is placed in the center of the frame, while Este and Alana are less prominent- positioned either side of her. At other points Danielle appears at the forefront of the shot with the other two girls in the background. While watching the video our focus remains on Danielle and it’s obvious the director was hoping to guide the viewer’s eye toward her as oppose to the others. Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory is challenged within this music videos as although the girls in the video are attractive, the video doesn't focus on promoting them as desirable female musicians but rather focuses on them as artists and the 'artistry' they create.

Are there intertextual references?

Personally, I don’t think there are any obvious intertextual references in the ‘Don’t Save Me’ music video. 

Is the video performance, narrative or conceptually based? How much of each?

This music video is unusual in the sense that there isn't particularly a strong narrative established- however the basketball scenes can’t be classified as performance. Most of the performance revolves around the three sisters lip syncing or playing the guitar and there are very few visuals of the drummer which is unconventional for a performance video- but keeps our attention fixed to the vocalists. Due to the disjuncture used within the video it’s difficult to establish whether or not there is a narrative at all. As a result of this the performance based sections of the video are most prominent, the distribution between performance and narrative is about a 70/ 30% divide (taking into consideration that the dancing is also an aspect of performance). 

What has been learnt?

Analysing Haim's 'Don't Save Me' has demonstrated how to create an effective music video revolving around a band, which is useful as our own music video will focus on a band rather than a single artist. It is evident from the video that it isn't necessarily crucial to have the band members interacting with one another a great amount in the footage- for example frames such as 1:18 where the girls all appear quite disjointed from one another are effective. The editing in the video is also relatively fast paced which is something we could attempt to imitate in our own video as the viewers interest is retained when the imagery is constantly changing. This could be recreated in our own video in the post production stage of the process, as long as we create a storyboard which incorporates enough shots to allow us to do so.