Textual Analysis - Performance Music Video - Razolrlight - America

The first thing that can be seen in the ‘America’ music video is a projection of a slideshow showing a map of a river in America; after only one second of it being shown, it changes to a photo of an American billboard. This firstly establishes the topic of the song and video, hence the song title, but also connotes that the band are discovering places such as America because they would be touring. Diegetic sound is heard here as the slideshow is ‘flicking’ through the various photos before the music begins playing.

 The video is filmed in what appears to be a studio, there is only one set shown during the video which shows that it is a low-budget production. 70’s style sofas, lamps and carpets can be seen amongst the band’s equipment which illustrates the bands humble British backgrounds; moreover, polaroid photos of various American bridges, billboards and structures can be seen throughout the video. This contrasts with the small-budget production and dull looking mise en scene because America is famous for its big, loud and colourful display compared to Britain’s smaller and less memorable image. The pictures change in time to the beat of the song which indicates that some thought into editing was composed in order to make the video appear more professional. As well as this, the music has been visibly synchronised with the band members playing their respective instrument; for example, the beat of the song integrates with Andy Burrows kicking the bass drum, and Bjorn Agren’s guitar playing is seen and heard in sync.

 Johnny Borrell, the lead singer of Razorlight can be seen on some of the billboards suggesting that the band has ‘made it’ in America, however this is contradicted as at the end of the video we see a broken down car set up in front of a rear projection of an American road. It appears as if they’re recreating their own perception of the USA, at home in England which reinforces the bands’ dream to make it overseas. Furthermore, towards the end of the video we see the lead guitarist holding up two signs reading ‘panic’ and ‘lost’ which visually signifies their current circumstances; This also links to the line in the song’s chorus “panic in America”. We then see Borrell holding up a sign that reads ‘I feel nothing’. These notices portray that the band are unhappy with their situation even if they are a popular group.

 Even though this ‘journey into stardom’ seems to be the band’s ambition, Johnny as the lead singer is shown most in the video. We see many close up camera shots of him singing into a microphone which signifies the ‘performance’ aspect of this music video and we see multiple reaction shots displaying his physical reception and emotion to the lyrics as they are playing out.