Analysing Feeder- Buck Rogers Music Video

This Feeder video is slightly abstract, and mostly performance based, which is typical of Feeder, and of other bands of the same rock/alternative genre.



The abstract feel of the video mostly comes from the opening sequence when an elephant walks into a room that looks slightly sci-fi. This creates a juxtaposition as it is not an image that relates to the norm. Then, as if like a space ship, a ladder drops down from the elephant and the band emerge. This relates to the sci-fi- like atmosphere, dark lighting and blue/green colours of the video. The band emerge one by one, dressed in typical rock band clothing and hair styles. The lead singer is holding a drinks cup that looks as if it was bought from a fast food restaurant, and the other two are eating what looks like hot dogs. This adds to their young rock band image, and also the strange abstract style of the video, as none of the action really adds up. As the music kicks in, it is no longer video action, but a montage of stills that are shown of the band in various action poses and with their food flying. This is unusual of a music video, especially as the images on screen don't seem to have much relevance to the song, although there is a correlation between the flashing images and the repetition of the word 'player'.



After the first chorus, when the verse comes in the song subdues slightly and the beat can clearly be heard. During this part of the song, there is an example of another still, however the singer can still be seen singing. This is an interesting and good use of effects to add to the abstract and almost super-natural feel of the video and the slow scoping of the image fits the calm part of the song. When the bridge/chorus kick back in again, there is an example of synchronised editing & action, with the images going back and forth, relating to the echoing repetition of the lyrics, and changing on the beat. The shots are short to drive the fast tempo of the song.
The lyrics in the song are not particuarly deep lyrics as the repeated lyrics, and lyrics most emphasised in the song are 'CD player' and 'lemon'. This is reflected in the video as it is not a particuarly deep video. I think that the video is just serving the purpose of a good, performance based rock video. The meaning of the video is not presented at all in the visuals, so the video has been created to show a good rock performance. This relates to Andrew Goodwin's idea of disjuncture.



The band are shot in many different types of shot- mid shot, close up, low angle & high angle. With such a variety of shots, it is difficult to say whether they are being used to represent the band, or rather more just trying to fit the fast pace of the song with lots of random shots. However there are many close ups of the instruments, which draws attention to the music and the playing ability of the band, reinforcing the fact that this video is very performance based.

Intertexuality could be something sci-fi related, e.g star wars or star trek, with the setting and space ship references in the video. The narrative in the video is unconventional, with no story line or any sense to it. The video is mostly dominated by performance and lip-syncing, therefore it relates mostly to John Stewart's theory of a music video having the aesthetics of a TV commercial as there are many close-ups and the video seems to have the influence of sci-fi cinema.
The video is very typical of a lot of rock videos. The abstract feel relates to what we would like to incorporate into our video, and it is likely that we will also incorporate performance elements too.