Research - Music Video Analysis 1 - Loveblood by Sundara Karma

The first music video I have chosen to analyse is Loveblood by Sundara Karma. I initially chose this band as they are an indie rock band and this is the genre I want to make a music video for and I really love the song and the video for it.

The establishing shot shows an extreme close up of slow motion red ribbon, this immediate colour association links to the title of the song as conventionally the colour red is linked with passion, love and blood (i.e. Loveblood)






The red ribbon changes to a red background and a silhouette of the lead singer is shown through the red. This is repeated throughout the video but at times is opposed and it is sometimes a black background with a red effect. The black and red are the most important themes in the video as they represent danger and love.

Oscar Lulu, the lead singer of Sundara Karma is often one to challenge the ideas of gender norms. He breaks stereotypical gender conventions by wearing eyeliner and eyeshadows as well as painting his nails, commonly thought of as feminine things.

Another way gender conventions are challenged is the costume choice. In this video Oscar wears what appears to be a lace cropped top, as this is commonly known as something that only a woman would wear, this breaks convention and adds to the indie image, but also represents a modern society where gender norms are broken with acceptance.

The red and black representing danger is amplified in this reaction close up of a woman screaming. The montage shows a close up of thighs, hands and this screaming video. This creates an intense and passionate feel to the video, and also adds some sexuality with the bare thighs in bed sheets.

 Constant shots of the band playing instruments are used. This is quite common with the indie genre as they like to be known as a real band instead of just singers. The shots of the band almost always are through panning camera shots.

Montage shots are incorporated in this music video quite often, the montages don't always appear to have any relevance to the lyrics but it looks very dark with the use of snakes and the recurring black and dark backgrounds.

A montage is used again at this point, the lyrics "the thunder from her thighs, makes me shake" is paired with shots of a woman's thigh and leg in different positions cut together. This shot with the red lighting, along with the lyrics, gives the shot a very intimate atmosphere.

The smashing of the mirror first happens on a key point in the beat, when the song says "Hey!" the mirror is broken for the first time, this shot is repeated a few times in a sequence broken up by shots of the band.

While there is no lyrics being sung, the backing music loses some momentum and becomes slower, the montage of shots here include feathers from a pillow falling from the sky, shots of a girl in bed (pictured left) and slow motion pan shots of the band, this reinforces the passion and love behind the song and video.

The video concludes with various shots of the band. As the music picks up speed, the average shot time decreases and the shots become faster and more like a flash montage. The end of the video shows the red lighting fading and the screen turns entirely to black with the lyrics "one last kiss and away she goes, obsessed with loveblood and no one knows".










How this music video has influenced my planning
I know that this song is a very similar style to the song that I am using to create my own music video, so I feel like this will be a really great inspiration for my planning. I love the lighting and think the red and black lights were a really effective and genius way to represent the love and danger themes in the video so I will hopefully be able to incorporate something similar into my video. I also felt like the montage shots were a really exciting part of the video and the way the image linked to the lyric was really intriguing so I want to take some inspiration and apply it to my own video.