Music Promo RMA 2: Florence and the Machine - Dog Days (2008 Original)

The colourful music promo Dog Days by Florence and the Machine is unusually a concept, narrative and performance based video, however the most dominant is performance. This effect reveals the artists quirky style and shows off her talents. The video was not professionally produced. Florence Welch, the vocalist, produced the (original) video and used her family and friends as characters in the quirky video. This also shows her talent.

The lyrics 'the dog days are over' suggest that good is to come and the bad times are over. This could reflect on the artists life which connects the audience to the artist. The song overall is uplifting and positive and the video extends this with the use of vibrant colours and bold styling. The visuals match the lyrics well. One example is when we see Florence running away from the people we hear "run fast for your mother, run fast for your father". Another example of this is when we see all of the characters hiding and revealing themselves from behind trees the lyrics say "hid around corners". This effect creates a storyline. The concept if the video is very fairy tale like which reveals the artists personality. The music starts when we first the Florence. This is significant as this is when the story starts.

The camera angles are important as they create the suspense in the story. The most effective examples are the use of unusual angles and jumps cuts that create a faster pace matching the pace of the music. Also the use of slow motion is also used to match the pace of the music and this is effective to help emphasise the narrative so that the audience can clearly see what is going on. The location is set in a woodland area which adds to the fairy tale like story. The long shots reveal the setting well which helps the narrative. Close ups are used a lot and are focused on the artist to connect the audience to her. Another interesting camera angle is the panning of the characters. The camera pans left (backwards) while the lyrics are saying "no turning back".

At the beginning of the video clapping noises are mad the characters and hitting sticks together to make the same noise. This example of the music matching the visuals make the audience focus of the music as well as the lyrics and moving image. When the song gets to it climax and the artist sings louder, the visuals keep up by all of the characters frantically dancing. This creates an uplifting mood and the indie/pop genre is revealed.

Overall the video is a good mixture of concept performance and narrative as it has a storyline, the vocalist shows off her talent and the video is interesting and quirky to match the genre. The fairy tale like story line matches the instruments and creates a feminine atmosphere.