Music Video Analysis: Mumford and Sons

Mumford and Sons: Little Lion Man music video analysis!

Conventions:

Camera Angles:
- Tracking and panning shots of the band performing the song to give the impression you are watching Mumford and Sons play the song live.
- High angled shots of the location to give a sense of scale that would be present if you were actually at the location.
- Shots from the back of the band performing, to give a backstage feel to some shots, allowing the viewer to feel very close to the band and become absorbed in the music track even further.
-  Lots of close ups of band members playing individual instruments helps to highlight certain parts of the track and also helps to add variety into a full performance video, to help the viewer stay engaged. The unusual instruments featured in the video also make it more quirky and interesting.


Editing and Effects:
- This promo video features primarily straight cuts which match the tempo of the music. For example the song is mostly quite fast, and the shots change with the beats, however near the end of the song it slows right down and builds up, and the shots match the pacing all the way through, slowly changing faster and faster.
- There are no real effects in the video, such as multiple shots on the same frame, as most of the added effects utilise the ideas of lighting.

Lighting:
- Some shots are cleverly lit, so most of the artist featured in the frame is only lit partially.
- In the main band shots, the whole area is well lit by hanging lights, which help to reinforce the folk genre the band is famous for representing.
- The lights seem to pulse in time with the music in certain sections. These are particularly obvious at the very beginning of the video when the music starts, and during the build up section of the video at the end. This quirky use of lighting helps to make something so simple that we normally take for granted, become something that helps to draw in the viewer even further.

Narrative:
-Unusually the video doesn't seem to follow any narrative at all, and is purely performance.

Mise en Scene:
- The video uses the location of what appears to be some sort of village hall. The interior is heavily wood based which helps to tie into the folky genre the band belong to.
- Lots of lights are strung across the hall, lighting it in a very stylised and striking way.
- The band members are dressed smartly which help to establish them as presentable and professional musicians.

Genre:
- Mumford and Sons is primarily a folk bad which uses some rocky elements.