Music Video Analysis-Dan le Sac VS Scroobius Pip- Thou Shalt Always Kill

At the beginning of the video we see Scroobius Pip on the TV where he looks like the president which makes him come across as though he thinks a lot of himself. In this medium shot we can see the television set and a wall behind it with what looks like photos or paintings however it is not focused on so we can tell it is not important. We then see Scroobius Pip sitting on the sofa, getting ready to go out, he is dressed in a shirt and tie although he doesn’t look smart as he puts on a casual hat, the way he dresses and the beat at the beginning of the song tells us that the genre of this music is a mixture of hip hop and indie. The flat he is in looks like an average flat you would find in London, there is backlighting from the window he is sitting in front of and the foreground is quite dark. There is a low angle shot as he is running down the stairs towards the front door, as he reaches the front door there is a match cut of him walking out of it onto a street which looks like one of the wealthier, middle class areas of London. This street looks normal as there are cars, buildings, other people, trees and road signs, this normal mise en scene which has been used gives emphasis to the artist and his lyrics. He makes a connection with the audience as he looks into the camera at all times as it tracks him walking down the street and rapping the lyrics. The lighting is natural and we can always see what is going on in the background as the focus is always equal. He then walks past a playground and blocks of council houses, which means he is considering all social classes, meaning that more people will relate to the video. There is then a medium long shot of him walking down an alley however in this shot the camera is still and Scroobius Pip walks towards it and out of the shot, where it looks like the camera pans very quickly in a transition to the next shot of him walking past shop windows.

As he walks past a woman there is a thought bubble which has been edited in, in which we see Scroobius Pip singing, this relates to the lyrics at the time. It then cuts to a medium shot of a spotlight on his head and shoulders and behind him is a brick wall so it looks like an amateur night at a bar. The red lighting and mise en scene of drinks, sofas and another person is smartish clothes in the next shot show that they are in a club or bar. As he raps about people putting recording artists and songwriters on pedestals, we see him in the middle of a square with expensive looking London flats behind him, on a pedestal, it is a low angle shot to make him look more powerful however he still connects with the camera by looking directly into it. When it gets to the chorus instead of filming in the same style they have decided to take still frames of Scroobius Pip holding album covers and in each frame he changes the album cover and moves towards and then up the steps. There is then a cut to him in a classroom however the last album cover in the previous shot has been thrown across the top of the classroom shot which links them together. There is the generic mise en scene of a classroom which includes the blackboard and chalk, a globe, a skeleton, periodic table and Scroobius Pip is holding a pointing stick and wearing glasses. What is shown on the board relates to what the lyrics are saying however they are edited to be moving pictures. The next shot uses a photocopy of his face to emphasise the lyrics about repetitive, generic music, the copy comes out of the photocopier three times, as the line is said three times. It then goes from this to a long shot of him walking away from the photocopier and then in front of a wall, he is holding a loudspeaker however it has been edited so that his mouth is the main focus, being bigger than his face itself this makes us pay attention to the lyrics. A photo is then taken by Scroobius Pip and thrown on the floor; this is used as a transition as the Polaroid is of him singing. He then picks up the Polaroid and does a parody of two songs; Outcast’s 'Hey Ya' and Pussycat Doll’s 'Don’t Cha', for which he shakes the Polaroid and is wearing suspenders and high shoes.

Again, emphasising the lyrics the word ‘Pheonix’ is spelt out using a sparkler and then with the correct spelling ‘Phoenix’ is the font of the Oxford dictionary. We can see that he is walking on a rooftop now as there are tops of buildings and chimneys around him, there is also another woman who looks quite ‘chavy’ as she has the hoodie, hoops and eyeliner and she is used to emphasise the word ‘izzit’. The penultimate shot is a long shot where he walks towards the camera which then pans to show him standing at the edge of the building with his arms out to make him look powerful. Finally the last shot is of the TV where he is acting as the president again.

Overall the video looks quite low budget as the locations would have been easy to film in, the editing is simple and the shot of the television shows the reflection of the window meaning it is quite hard to see what is being shown. The lyrics always relate to what is going on in the video meaning that the type of video they have gone for is a narrative one which kind of follows a storyline. This is an example of Andrew Goodwin’s theory in which he believes that visuals illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music. His image is genuine as the audience can relate to him as nothing in this video is extravagant. There is also an element of John Stewart’s theory in the way that this video allows the audience to see more of what the artist is actually like than a stage performance can and that he uses well known brands and bands which has the aesthetics of a TV advert.