Shot Count Task - Blur (Parklife)

Analysis
'Parklife' by the four-piece band,Blur, fits in with the alternative rock genre, which is the genre I will be basing my music video around, hence why I chose to analyse this video specifically. I also chose this video because Blur were, and still are, a very influential band which a lot of people felt they could connect with due to their common background. For this task, I had to watch the video for 'Parklife' very closely, observing every shot that was used within the video. Throughout the video, overall, 155 shots were used, mostly consisting of long shots and medium shots of the band. Creative shots, such as filming a mirror and using the reflection as the main focus of that shot, were also used. A lot of close-up and medium long shots of Damon Albarn were used to show the frontman of the group.

Genre
Blur fall into the category of alternative rock. Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became extremely popular by the 1990s. The genre was limited before the introduction of grunge and Brit Pop in the 1990s. Alternative rock consists of sub-genre's such as indie rock,Brit Pop and grunge. Other bands associated with the genre are: Oasis, Nirvana, The Killers, Beady Eye and The Stone Roses.

Narrative
The video, in itself, does not have a distinctive storyline but more of a storyline which has been constructed for the audience to decide upon their own perspective. On the face of it, it's basically about two men trying to make a living as business partners, selling windows/double glazing. However, my interpretation is that the video is based around different classes and ways in the British society, in that we are all different in our own ways but are also the same, which links in with the lyrics "All the people, so many people, and they all go hand in hand, hand in hand through their, parklife!"

Audience
The target audience for this video would mainly be based around working class males, anywhere between eighteen and thirty years old. Although Blur came from a middle class background, the video is purposely constructed to fit a working class background to target that type of audience. I think the reason for this is so Blur could fit in more with the majority of society around that time, and this way gaining more fans and becoming more successful.

Representation
As previously mentioned in the audience section, this video is mainly representative of the working classes. Damon Albarn puts on a quite rowdy front in the video and the attitude of a typical working class male. However, the lyrics "they all go hand in hand" may well have been put in to show that no matter what class you are, we are all the same in the end, this making Blur very popular amongst the working classes who don't want to be treated differently because of their wealth.