Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody music video analysis

The first shot shows the band watching themselves pre-recorded on television. This is quite unusual as it is not common for an artist to watch, or acknowledge themselves in a music video. It may also subliminally relate to fans watching the music video, by suggesting it is something the fans would do - watch prerecorded footage of the Kings Of Leon on television. In the beginning multiple shots are used to interest, entice and somewhat confuse the viewer. The shots change between a aerial shot of an american city at night, traffic on a motorway, and live performances by the band. It then blends in to a close up of the lead singer, singing to and around the camera. This to some extent supports the Horton and Wohl "Parasocial Theory". This is about involving the audience with the video. If he singing to the camera it is as though he is singing to the audience, however this is highly associated with pop boy bands, and so for Kings Of Leon to keep it suitable for the rock genre, he doesn't cosistently look at the camera, but glances at it, and also looks around it. It builds up to the chrous where it then goes into a live perfomance of the band on stage and shows the crowd within this. This adds interactivity to the band and its fans by including them in their music video. Shots of the band backstage and in the dressing room are also shown, this again, is a plus for the fans of the band, by showing extra and perhaps exclusive footage.

As the second verse continues, scenes are still switching between the performance and the simple narrative, which is the band walking down the street and into a pub. Where it seems they are having fun, bonding and exchanging banter. And once again, when it breaks into the chorus, and the beat becomes faster, faster cuts are used to increase the pace of the video.

The whole video seems to revolve around night time with the scenes of the city and freeways. There was not one shot where it was in the day time, so overall the lighting of the video is dark, I think this is to do with the incorporation of the live performances, which are normally played during the evening. And also the video seems to focus on the band and the performances then the narrative itself.