Another Effective Music Video

I believe this video - Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heroes ft. Adam Levine - is another effective video as it focusses on the narrative of two people going to meet each other whilst playing the song out of their 80's style boomboxes.
This video stands out from other videos of this genre as it shows the lyrics of the song on the screen as its playing.
I think this video is very effective and it is memorable due to the fact that the video focusses entirely on narrative and the lyrics of the song.

An Effective Music Video: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

Written by: Anthony Kiedis, John Frusciante, Flea, Chad Smith
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Producer: Rick Rubin




Instant Impact!: The music video begins with a Video Game style loading screen, which instantly grabs the attention of the viewer and makes them continue watching. The majority of the video is in the video game style, but there are occasional cutaways to the band playing in an unknown location.

Non-linear Editing: The majority of the music video is edited to make it look as though the band members are involved in a video game. Throughout the song, the "game" changes between the four band members and also cuts to the actual band playing the song. The editing is non-linear as it cuts between the characters and the band performing. At the end of the song, the game characters reach the 'video box' which then transforms them into their human forms.

Repetitions: Throughout the song the action moves back and forth between the human band members and the video game members which helps the audience to connect the band members to their personalities and also establishes the four game characters as the band members.

Strong Sense of Artist Identity: At the beginning of the video, during the introduction of the song, there is a "Player Select" screen which briefly and effectively introduces the viewer to the four members of the band. The video scrolls through the four band members, and as it does so the 'attributes' for each member appear. This reveals the job of each band member e.g. for Anthony (Lead singer) it says "Vocals: 20" but for Flea (Bassist) it says "Bass:20" instead.

A Performance: Throughout the song the band members are performing the song in a typically 'Rock' way in a box in the corner of the screen. The fact that they are all shirtless with tattoos showing appeals to the female audience whereas the video game aspect appeals to the male audience. The band members are mostly shot in MS or MCU to show their identity but there are also some CU of their faces or the instruments they are playing.

Visual Pleasures: Obviously the main visual pleasure throughout the video is the CGI "Video Game" style action which makes the video stand out as it is unique and stands out from other music videos. The unknown location in which the band are performing the song is bright and have a blue sky in the background, which is visually pleasing as you can clearly see the band performing.

Wow Factor: As already mentioned, the "video game" style and CGI help to make this video stand out from the others as well as helping to Provoke a Reaction from the audience. Provoking a reaction helps to keep the audience interested and also spreads word of mouth about the video, which helps it to reach a wider audience.

Works on Different Levels: This song has been written about the 'dark side' of Hollywood, and does this by making many references to Pop Culture.

The track makes references to:
-> Kurt Cobain and David Bowie "Cobain can you hear the spheres singing songs off Station to Station"
-> Star Wars "Alderaan's not far away"
-> Plastic Surgery "pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of ageing"
-> Star Trek "Space may be the Final Frontier but it's made in a Hollywood basement".

The CGI video game plotlines also spoof other popular video games of the 90's, as well as showing popular locations around California, such as the Star Boulevard and the San Francisco Bridge.