Music Video Analysis

This is the music video for Oh Mandy by The Spinto Band, an Indie group fromAmerica. The video uses a lot of editing, every shot is a still image and slight differences to the still shots make it look as if the paper cut outs of the band are moving. The video is about Mandy and it is represented as a little village and each passing shot shows how the village is burnt down then rebuilt. Listening to the lyrics we can tell the song is actually about a girl and she is represented as a village, she's there then when the village is burnt down she's gone, in attempt to get her back they rebuild her. A number of different camera shots such as establishing shots show how the village is set out and shows the band playing on stage and a mixture of medium to medium long shots shows each of the band members separately. It sells their image as it shows who is in the band and who plays what instrument.

The video contains things often associated with indie bands, such things as the band playing instruments to the music within the video. They are mostly all together on a stage whilst they play instruments to the sound of the music. With it being indie its also very quick with quick cuts to symbolize movement of the band moving through and rebuilding the town of Mandy. The town symbolizes a girl which the song is about and how everything seems lost without her, so when the town is burnt down they have to rebuild it. This concept to relate a girl to a village is quite weird and quirky but it works and makes people think of indie music. Following Andrew Goodwin's idea's it seems that the themes in this video follow them idea's. For example, when it says "I had trouble from the onset" The tree's of the town Mandy are seen getting burned down, symbolizing the troubles they have had. Also following Andrew Goodwin, the stage part of the video shows the band playing along to the music with the vocalist lip syncing the words. This is common as well as the other points to be found in a music video in the indie genre.