Music video genre analysis – East London ska/reggae

• Sonic Boom Six
• Jaya The Cat
• Random Hand
• Dirty Revolution
• Mouthwash
These are examples of bands linked with The Skints., our chosen band. Analysing videos from these bands will help me to understand the conventions of this genre of music in their music videos. These bands are all closely related, in that they are often touring with each other, thus videos will share similar ideas and conventions.

Sonic Boom Six – Sound of the Revolution analysis
• Establishing shot of a typical London area
• Narrative shot cut in-between the live performance in a small venue, with personal camera angles
• Narrative linked with lyrics
• Focus on the musicality of the band by close ups of the instruments, and the experience of the gig from the audience perspective
• Jump cuts during narrative to the beat multiple times – breaks conventions during the narrative section.
• Narrative mise en scene is realistic
• Band consistently the main focus of the video



Mouthwash – Dark Was The Night analysis
• Grainy, familiar area establishing shot
• Narrative short cut in-between the live performance in a small venue
• POV of the audience – shaky camera work
• Constant camera movement, whether or not anything is happening within the narrative
• Band consistently the main focus of the video



Jaya The Cat – Closing Time analysis
• Familiar bar setting with the band in the background
• Relatively dark lighting to go with the feel of the song
• Barman taps the bar – matched with the snare audio
• Focus on the instruments and the band themselves
• Shot of the band playing cards and gambling – familiar action in a familiar area
• Slow camera movement to relate to the mellow feel of the song
• Blurring of the camera to keep up aware of the video, and also to relate to the alcohol theme
• Jump cuts in narrative in time to the drum beat
• Band included in the ‘narrative’ singing
• Song fades out with the band leaving the bar into darkness
• Band consistently the main focus of the video



Random Hand - Anger Management analysis
• Establishing shot of an empty hill area – lead singer walking through
• Instant juxtaposition – singer walks into a room with the band playing
• Colours reflect the upbeat motion of the music
• Only the band shown – focus on them for the first half of the video
• Close-ups on the band members and their instruments
• Constant camera movements, even if subtle
• Camera movement and lightning becomes extremely fast once the music becomes heavier
• Band consistently the main focus of the video




Focus on the instruments seems key in this genre. Having a familiar setting keeps the music close to home and down to earth – establishing shots also seem to appear frequently. The key to the videos seem to be keeping it down to earth and about real things that it is not rare to experience in everyday life. To keep the video interesting and upbeat, fast paced jump cuts that break the 30 degree rule appear to be used. All three videos include live performances by the band.