Music Video Analysis - The 1975, 'Robbers'

'Robbers' is a single taken from The 1975’s, self titled debut album. The music video for this single was published on April 27th 2014 and was directed by Tim Mattia who also directed the band’s music video for their single ‘The City’ also taken from their debut album as well as the music video for their single ‘A Change of Heart’ which is taken from their second album 'I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it' which was released earlier this year. The song itself as well as the music video were heavily inspired by the film True Romance which was released in 1993 and starred Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette. Therefore there are some intextual references to True Romance within the music video by the use of similar locations/settings and costumes. 

The song is about a toxic relationship; two lovers who aren't good for each other. However they are so in love that they don't realise the damage and destruction that they cause one another. The title of the song refers to how the lovers are ‘robbing’ each other of happiness. The music videos narrative portrays the relationship of the two lovers in the lyrics, played by the lead singer of the band, Matty Healy and a model, Chelsea Schuchman. The video follows them around different settings and locations which eventually leads to them robbing a convenience store which goes terribly wrong. The video features a vast amount of alcohol and drugs throughout, this contrasts with the typical ‘love story’ narrative within the music video. The alcohol and drugs can be seen as a symbol for the toxic relationship which is referred to in the lyrics of the song. It is then assumed that the reason they are robbing the convenience store is so that they can continue to fund their alcohol and drug addiction; showing how they are blind to the fact this is causing their toxic relationship. 










This music video is a hybrid of both narrative and performance. Whilst the majority of the video is narrative, there are scenes within it which shows the lead singer, performing the song to his lover within the video; almost as if he is serenading her.  A reddish/rose coloured filter/tint has been used over the performance parts of him signing to her within the music video. These colours have connotations of romance and love, this suggests that the coloured filter/tint has been used to show how in love the couple are and reinforce the sense of intimacy which is created by how close he is to her during some parts of his performance.

Throughout the music video many locations and settings are used, such as empty streets, the house the couple live, a diner/restaurant, an abandoned house, a cinema, a skate park and the convince store.  The frequent change of location and scene could represent the changing stages within their  relationship. All of these locations are also quite conventional of the indie rock genre because they are public locations which would be relatively cheap to hire and are easily assessable for filming. This shows how they are sticking to/ following the  conventions of their genre within their music videos. The opening scene for the music video shows the couple walking through an empty street, whilst singing, dancing and clearly enjoying themselves and each others company. This shows the positive and happy side of their relationship. However in the scenes with the more ‘run down’ locations/settings the couple are shown arguing and being hostile towards each other; this shows how the location is somewhat reflective of the state of their relationship. The mise en scene helps to connote the idea of rebellion. This is done by the use of props such as the gun, the drugs and alcohol in the particular locations/settings. There are scenes which show the couple taking drugs, in public places such as the cinema, drugs are illegal and the fact that they are doing them in public shows that they don't really care which connotes rebellion. The couple being in an abandoned house also connotes the idea of rebellion because the audience doesn't think that they should be in this location and also thinks that they have possibly broken in.

The mise en scene in the music video, shows many different outfits and costumes. They are all relatively casual which shows how the music video is meant to be true/accurate reflection of real life and relationships. The lead singer wears clothing that he would typically wear such as black ripped skinny jeans, leather jackets and shirts. This is also done to reflect the lead singers star image and follow indie rock conventions of being individual and alternative. The female character within the video wears a combination clothing that is somewhat revealing as well as clothing that isn’t. For example in some scenes she wears a crop top and shorts but then in another she wears a coat and jeans. There is also some nudity within the music video as there are short clips showing a sex scene between the two lovers. This gives the music video sex appeal to different genders which will potentially attract a wider audience.

There are a variety of shots used throughout this music video which helps to make it more interesting. There are a lot of closeups used on both the main characters within the music video, this helps to show the audience their reactions and emtions to specific events in the music video. For example when Matty points the gun at the girls head; the closeups let the audience see how she annoyed at this action and can she her mouth ‘that isn't funny’ which might not have been noticeable if a closeup wasn't used. Closeup shots are also used frequently throughout his performance of the song to her, this reinforces the sense of intimacy which was created during those scenes. Long shots and mid shots are used every time the setting changes in order to help establish a sense of location and show how different the locations are from one another. A close is used on the female character and then it quickly turns into an arc shot which reveals the male character walking up to her and pulling her closer to him and then continues to move around the couple. This allows the audience to see more of the location and see the woman reaction to help pulling her close. Tracking shots are also used with the music video to follow the characters as the move, this allows the audience to follow the action.

At the beginning of the music video it starts of with a black screen and then fades into the footage of the couple. This along side the fact that the beginning of the song is purely instrumental and the muted colours within the opening scene, creates a dream like feel for introduction/beginning of the video. It reinforces how the couple are happy at that moment in time but because it is only ‘like a dream’ and therefore this feeling wont last forever.