Danny O’Brien
Textual Analysis – Afterglow by Wilkinson
Wilkinson, or as he is better known by his stage name “Wilkinson”, release his first single in 2010. He has however only gained real public appeal as of 2013, with “Afterglow”, his 8th single being his first to break into the top 40, peaking at number 7. The single was released on 13th October 2013, as the fourth single of his debut album “Lazers Not Included” also released in October of 2013, on the 28th. For Afterglow the British drum and bass producer and DJ collaborated with female vocalist Becky Hill, to produce a drum and bass song directed by French director Remy Cayuela. The video is predominantly conceptual based with a strong element of narrative running through it, centring upon the theme of a relationship being compiled into a collection of memories and experiences. It features many of Goodwin’s conventions of music video.
As Steve Neale famously once said “Genre is all about repetition and variation”. Afterglow falls into the Dance genre, as does the music video that accompanies the song, with generic conventions evident, such as multiple scenes of dancing along to the track that is playing. The music video is of a very unique style, subsequently containing fewer generic conventions and scenes that would typically be associated with the dance genre of music videos. The uniqueness differs from a typical dance video that would feature the artist usually playing a gig or festival as the artist does not at all appear in the video. However it still contains youthful actors, locations such as parties and festivals and also slow motions on intimate acts – all generic conventions. These also help to portray the artist Wilkinson in a fun, youthful manner.
The relationship between lyrics and visuals is amplifying. The visuals on the screen somewhat amplify the lyrics throughout the duration of the video. There is similarity throughout the video in both the lyrics and visuals telling the story of a 5 year relationship that is documented in the visuals with shots of the couple partying, arguing etc. These visuals are amplified by lyrics such as “lights and action, strong attraction” and “someone hold the sunlight back, ‘cause we want this night to last” – these imply that the sunlight metaphorically provides an end or an awakening from this journey, that it is the end of the relationship. The strong attraction is mirrored in the visuals with scenes of a sexual nature that show the intimate connection between the two actors. The video conveys a message to its viewers about valuing life itself and all the experiences we share in it with people, and the importance of enjoying every moment with people, in this particular case of the video with a loved one.
The relationship between the visuals and the music is a both illustrative and explicitly obvious one. There are two main parts to the song, the chorus and the bridge, and the verses. During the verses the music has a slower tempo, is quieter and has a much more down beat tone and feel, whereas in the chorus and bridge the tempo, volume and tone all rapidly crescendo, in doing so creating a far more upbeat, happy sound. The visuals on the screen directly emulate this, exemplified at the beginning of the video for example when the verse starts there is a shot containing the two characters stood still with a slow zoom and long shot duration to make it seemingly slow paced and accompany the slow tempo of the music perfectly. As we come to the first chorus and the crescendo in volume and tempo is present the cut frequency increases with it, following the principle of motivation. Also these scenes are shot with less steady camerawork, from less conventional angles and contain a lot more movement, like in the height of the chorus there is a clip of the two characters spinning around seemingly with a handheld camera shot, wonderfully creating this fast pace to the video that accordingly matches the music.
The image of the artist is something that is portrayed intriguingly. The artist does not feature in the video, nor does he have a particular style in the way that most pop and rap artists do. The main theme and message that is ever present in the music video is about enjoying life, cherishing memories and experiences that we share with the ones. This shows that the artist doesn’t care about whether people think he is cool, or has lots of sex appeal, which in itself sends its own message to the audience about him. It also says that the record label is willing to be original and experiment with interesting ideas such as this conceptual video.
The notion of looking is frequently featured throughout the duration of the video, starting in the very opening shot. The video does have some voyeuristic treatment of the female body in it, but it is kept to a minimal as to not create a sexist portrayal of women or to signify the female featured simply as a piece of meat, or an object. It fits with the male gaze theory, as the video is shown through a heterosexual male’s perspective – with sexual scenes e.g. number of orgasms, shared showers etc. The scene of the fantasy where there are two women present seen intimately kissing is the only shot that could be considered mildly disrespectful.
This is a uniquely gripping and interesting music video that doesn’t challenge any conventions of the dance genre. It contains no intertextual references, which complements its originality and is perhaps why it has gained such critical acclaim.
Afterglow is a conceptual music video with a loose narrative but clear theme and message, portrayed expertly through the use of camera, editing sound and mise en scene. The narrative follows a structure that fits the pace of the music and features narrative progression as the ending stars the seemingly ongoing relationship not ending, contrary to what the audience expect.
In conclusion this an intelligent, though provoking video which accompanies an upbeat, feel good song. The video is used not to promote the image of the artist or of the record label, but to appeal to a wide target audience that can easily go on this journey with the video enabling them to do so, then being pleased by the video they associate this happiness with the song and therefore like the song.
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