Analysis of a Music Video

Waiting All Night is the title track from Rudimental’s recent EP ‘Waiting All Night’.

The song is typical of the drum and bass genre but also could be described as having pop elements as it is commercially acceptable whereas most drum and bass is classed as ‘underground’. Although different places where you download the song from will display different genres, such as Beatport displaying the genre as ‘Drum & Bass’, where as iTunes lists it as ‘Dance’. The video is the inspirational true life-story of San Francisco born BMX champion and actor - Kurt Yaeger, who became an amputee after an accident in 2006.
All the characters in the video are pro bmx'ers and the real friends of Kurt.

The majority of the video shows them riding around and doing tricks, as well as Kurt trying to regain his ability to ride again, which is different for a typically commercial video where the artist is usual featured in the video.

The beginning of the video where he has his initial accident, causing him to lose a leg, gives further insight and explains the rest of the video. Only diegetic sounds are heard throughout this opening sequence and the music starts when we are first introduced to the hospital scene.

It starts off with everyone being teary-eyed whilst he is unconscious and when he wakes up to realize he has lost a leg. As the video develops, it then displays everyone continuing to be happy when he accepts what has happened to him. They also continue to have the ‘do what you want’ attitude they seemed to have, especially shown when they are righting on the glass in his hospital room, which represents the freedom they have, even if the nurse frowns upon it.

It progresses on to showing him leave the hospital with him in a wheelchair, to then going straight to a party, as he is wearing the same clothing he leaves the hospital in, again representing freedom and being ‘inspiring’ as the whole video is. It shows him being a spectator for bmx’ers jumping off roofs and doing other tricks, whereas before he probably would’ve been the one doing it, displaying he has had his freedom taken away is that sense.

Furthermore it continues to display him at various parties and having fun, not letting his accident hold him back from enjoying himself. There are more shots of bmx’ers riding around at these parties, as he continues to watch on. The lyrics are not directly represented in the video, although could be interpreted metaphorically, the title ‘Waiting all night’ could represent such as the phrase ‘It won’t happen overnight’, where in the end after he waits and trains for months he is finally riding again.

There are various shots of his leg, reminding us of his injury, but also shots of him using his resources and unscrewing his old handlebars from his bike and using them to train his upper body by doing pull-ups, displaying his determination.

The next few shots project a false leg being made, and him learning to walk using it, again displaying an even happier mood than before in the video, yet still making jokes and having fun wherever they go, in this case, the hospital.

As the dynamics and mood of the song calms down, it displays him training and trying to ride his bike again, displaying him getting frustrated on a few occasions and his friends looking on anxiously.

When he finally starts riding again, it is followed by a shot of birds flying away, symbolizing he has become independent and free again.

Males throughout dominate the video, although the females are portrayed as friends, onlookers or fans.

The weather is bright, dry and sunny throughout, as it is shot in San Francisco which is a built up part of America, therefore very urban. This also adds to the high key, natural lighting. Little effects are used, which is somewhat unusual for a Drum & Bass video, although this song is very commercial and different from typical Drum & Bass songs as mentioned earlier. The video ends with the lighting fading out as if night has come, which is the only the second time there has been a scene that isn’t shot in the sun throughout the whole video, which is ironic as the song title is ‘Waiting All Night’.

During the last scenes it shows him riding around freely with his friends looking on happily, riding with him towards the end of a day a the lighting is slightly lower-key and there are more shadows and silhouettes of the people and bikes. It also shows them drinking and smoking whilst smiling, furthermore adding to the freedom and shows they are doing what makes them happy.

The camera throughout the video is mainly handheld and especially when they are riding on the bikes makes me think a GoPro camera was used to get the close shots, especially the ones towards the end when it displays his false leg pedaling. It also adds to the mood of the video as the camera used makes it look as if the clips were from random bits of footage they had collected when out and about. If a camera they use to shoot Hollywood films was used in this video it would be too large for a lot of the shots, as well as looking a bit too professional for the kind of video they were shooting.

The editing is quite fast for a lot of scenes, although does slow down for some shots to allow the viewer to see them in more detail. The camera movement and editing helps create the energetic feel which is also created from the Drum & Bass genre.