Bondax are duo consisting of English musicians Adam Kaye and
George Townsend. They’re predominantly in the electronic dance music genre. All
I see is their 7th release since their first since in 2012. The pair
features throughout the video which has received 800,000 views on YouTube but
don’t contribute to the vocals in the song, which is quite typical of a song in
this genre as DJ’s recruit another artist to provide vocals or have a regular
singer they can call upon. The video chosen falls into the narrative category
and centres around a group of guys who are travelling across the globe and are
just generally enjoying themselves. It goes on to show an element of
performance, where the pair seem to be playing a song to an audience. Bondax are signed to relentless records, which
are an independent label who have a roster of artists similar to the genre of
bondax. The reward for being an independent artist is that you can get more
freedom of choice in your video’s and have less demands from the record label
to include certain motif’s that represent them.
Bondax (Adam and George) are being represented as a couple of
cool guys who seem to be enjoying the success that has come with their career
which is exemplified from the start to the end through a montage of them either
playing around on the beach or performing in front of a crowd in an exotic
location. However the way they are being represented is much different from the
style of representation you’d see through artists in the ‘Hip Hop’ genre who
also seem to be enjoying themselves in videos. For example, at the beginning of
this video you see the pair enjoying much simpler things like the hillside or
the sun, however in a stereotypical Hip Hop video would include the artist
driving round in flash cars and carrying massive amounts of money. One of
theorist Andrew Goodwin’s theories is that Genre is about repetition. By Bondax
using this sort of narrative, they’re sticking to the generic conventions of
dance videos. These conventions include sunny, exotic locations that get the
target audience excited for summer. So this video supports that theory.
You can see straight away in the video that the pair are
relatively up date with fashion and trends which would appeal to their target audience
of male and females between the ages of 16-24. This is exemplified through the
clean white T shirts, the shades etc. The sort of clothing they’re wearing is
casual which matches the calm atmosphere created by the visuals, for example the
wide shots capturing the guys sitting on the Cliffside under the sunset. The
video shows off their cool nature through a number of shots making them look
good, which is known as the notion of looking in terms of Goodwin’s theory.
As the video progresses, the Pair is joined on holiday by a
group of friends. A generic convention of dance videos are that they’re fun and
in the process make people want to go back to previous experiences, for example
sunny holiday’s with friends. So by casting people as their friends for the
video, they’re actually reaching out to their target audience. As this is
happening, lyrics such as ‘throwing my hands up to the sky’ and ‘all my senses
come alive’ again relating to the target audience as the years 16-24 are almost
certainly the best years of your life, which is what the artists are portraying
in the video. These lyrics on the hook later on in the song are directly linked
to the visuals as we see people partying to the song Bondax are performing,
which is another of Goodwin’s principles.
IAt around 1:24 we see the pair on the beach playing football
and drinking beer, which is another thing that would appeal to the target
audience as this sort of activity is very common for their demographic,
particularly males.
For the rest of the video we see the performance element
becoming more predominant as it moves away from the montage of the guys by the
beach and chilling on rocks. This conveys to the audience again that they’re
living the dream as the lyrics suggest they’re pursuing their dream job whilst
having a great time.
Nothing about the video is too complex. If the pair decided
to go for a complicated conceptual video, they might lose a share of their
target audience as they’d be breaking the codes and conventions of the dance
genre. This suggest that artists are bound to within in their genre and further
elevates Goodwin’s theory of genre being about repetition.
Overall, Bondax did a good job in creating a video that supplemented
their genre nicely. The most notable way they did this was the exotic locations
that appeal to the psychographics and the pair’s appearance which the target
audience can relate to. They also stuck to many principles of Goodwin’s theory
which could keep the group’s target audience engaged.
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