Unit 29: Music Video Production - Task 3

ciaranfns
May 1, 2018
4 min read

Analysing the Track

The song I have chosen to analyse and make a music video on is “Heathrow” by Catfish and The Bottlemen. The song is about love and a relationship between two people, it is sang in a very dark and upset tone meaning it could be referring to the relationship in the past tense and singing about it in memories.

The instrument used in the song is a guitar consistently as well as backing from a cello at parts. The sad and depressing song is perfectly suited with the guitar playing in the background. The song is about Van reminiscing to my understanding, this is very easily shown by the dark and sad vibe given off in the song.

The song goes on to describe the relationship as Van (the lead singer) falling in love with the girl from the beginning in the line “Loved her from the get go”. He later on says that he picked her up from Heathrow which is the biggest commercial airport in the UK which would suggest she traveled a lot or she lived in a different country and they rarely had time for each other but when he did see her he did anything for her which is reinforced in the following line “Whenever she needs me”. Van says the lines “Cause she was different league and I was nothing much” in the chorus, this shows that Van seems to lack confidence and thinks she is too good for him. The line appears in the chorus which is essentially the most important part of the song because those lines are going to attract the listeners. Earlier in the song the line “Pepper up he bestfriends” is said which basically means that the girls friends didn’t like Van and thought he wasn’t good enough for her. The idea of him not being good enough for her is once again being thrown around which looks to hurt his self esteem and confidence, this is probably why he puts himself down so much in the lyrics.

The relationship between Van and the girl seem to be a happy relationship when they are together which means that together they are good but when they are apart either Van becomes self aware or her friends talk badly about him but he doesn’t seem to care because he only focuses on the good memories with the girl which is shown in the lines “Snog her in the kitchen, dance with her to Lemonworld”. “Lemonworld” is a song by a band called The National, the use of this song shows that he knows a lot about the songs she likes.

The first three lines are repeated at the end as well as the instrumental at the beginning. This repetition could mean that no matter what he does nothing will change because the outcome was still the same with what he started which adds to the theme of self doubt.

In the song there isn’t many descriptions but there are references to places in england which can give a understanding of the setting. For example in the line “Watch her on the West End” which is place in the UK where there are many theaters and plays being performed. This is supposed to be an act of love where he goes and watches her performances because he loves her and wants to support her. The use of slang in the song shows that he had a very relaxed relationship where he wasn’t forced to impress her specifically.

The word Heathrow could be used to as a metaphor to say goodbye to her because of the departing and the fact that he is waiting to pick her up means he is waiting for her to come back to him.

The song is almost 3 minutes long, compared to the other songs from the album “The Ride” it is a short song. It follows the tradition and theme of love while being one of the few sad songs by Catfish and The Bottlemen. The song essentially follows the idea of being short and sweet in the track.

The song is based in the UK mostly London with the references to Heathrow and West End. The city is the most populated city in the UK which could mean that the vibrant and loud city reflects the couple and their behavior.

Catfish and The Bottlemen are a Indie band that generally make rock songs. This sad and depressing song is not like the other songs that they have previously made. It is one of the first dejected song they have made.

The song will have a gloomy music video that will be portrayed by the actors body language and by the use of a black and white filter. It will have a slow pace with shots that last a minimum of 5 seconds to suggest the everlasting pain that people go through after break ups.

Call Sheet