Swedish House Mafia was a Swedish electronic dance trio consisting of DJs and producers: Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. Their music video for the track 'One (Your Name)' consists of a number of different styles including performance, narrative, dance and artistic elements.
The main feature of this music video is the white keyboard instrument which is of the main focus throughout whilst not revealing the identity of the person performing the song, this suggests that their music is of more significance and importance than their self image. It also helps to create curiosity and keeps the viewer intrigued in who is performing the song. The white keyboard instrument is made to look futuristic and strange which creates a technological and futuristic theme and look to the music video. The white mouse and white surrounding location has connotations of a science lab suggesting that Swedish House Mafia are experimental in their music. The futuristic theme seen in this music video a typical electronic dance convention in music video as this genre is often associated with the future through its new ideas and experimentation.
An aerial mid shot looking down on the keyboard is used for the majority of the music video, this gives the viewer the point of view of the performer and therefore gives the impression that the viewer is almost playing the instrument them self; this allows the viewer to feel more involved with the music video and find it both exciting and intriguing to watch. High angled and aerial shots are continually used throughout which gives it a unique look and individual style as the viewer sees acts through unusual and interesting view points such as the break dancer at 1:37.
The editing style of this music video is also of a futuristic theme. The close up edit of images and text on a woman eye at 0:55 has connotations of technology and futuristic style of which fans of the electronic dance genre enjoy. The music builds up towards the middle of the video and this is reflected and shown through the sudden sequence of fast paced cuts between short camera shots of abstract and obscure things; such as people break dancing, breathing fire, dancing, fighting and drinking alcohol. This music video is therefore very obscure and abstract and does not have a strong narrative or story line, this reflects and represents the chaos and excitement of the song and the electronic genre of music.
The props and costumes used in this music video follow the forms and conventions of the electronic dance music genre. Masks are worn by some actors which has a strong link to this music genre as mask are frequently used to create a sense of fear, lack of identity or curiosity for the viewer and fans. The use of green strobe lighting has connotations of a nightclub which is also strongly linked to this music genre and we found through our questionnaire results with the question 'Where do you expect to find electronic/dance music being played?'.
Overall, this music video presents the electronic dance music genre in a conventional yet obscure way through the use of a futurist and technological theme. I have also found that it is important to consider different camera angles and shots such as the mid aerial shot used throughout Swedish House Mafia's music video, to make a video look unique and visually intriguing, I will therefore consider this carefully when I come to plan and film my own music video.
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