The Libertines - Don't Look Back Into The Sun analysis

The Libertines - Don't Look Back Into The Sun

Don't Look Back Into The Sun was released in 2003, early into The Libertines' lifespan. The lack of money must have resulted in a low budget for this music video as it is very basic, both in idea and execution. Both narrative and performance feature in roughly equal amounts. The narrative shows the band going into a record shop and them stealing (and getting away with) their own album.


The performance aspect looks like it was filmed at one of their gigs, with obligatory close ups of the singer, long shots of the band and cutaways to screaming girls in the crowd. What sets it apart, for better or for worse, is the dissonance between the music and the video. At no point is lip-syncing attempted or, for example, guitar riffs accompanied with the relevant video clip. This amateur approach may be seen to be suited to the happy-go-lucky nature of the song, which is lucky considering the production values they had to work with. The shaky camcorder style used throughout could resonate better with the audience than HD visuals as it is shortens the disconnect between the band and its fans.

The costume worn by the singer, an unbuttoned red jacket, is the only link between the performance and narrative elements. The costume promotes the band's image as being quintessentially British, furthered by them being filmed inside a red phone box and visiting landmarks in London. This image feels genuine as it reflects the upbringing of the band, a similar background to what many members of the audience would feel part of.

The narrative segment is interesting as not much really happens, it's just a cameraman filming the band walking around London talking to each other. The video itself seems to refer to the lack of organisation as one shot shows not only a cameraman but also a boom mic operator following them around. This lampoons the video as what the band say is irrelevant as the song will play over the top anyway. More thought must have went into the video than they want to let on as they would also need another cameraman to film the cameraman and sound engineer filming the band.

 

To compensate for the absence of variety in the narrative, the director cuts between the narrative and performance often to keep the audience engaged. Even if the content was more interesting, the shorter shot times could be of a benefit to our video to keep the attention of our target demographic of young adults, a group not known for sustained concentration. 

The audience for the video and song is similar to ours, teenagers to young adults. Out of the three videos I've analysed (this, The Futureheads and Bloc Party), our video is most likely to be resemble this one the most. This is due to both looking rather amateurish and low budget. We don't have access to the location or big panning shots in Skip To The End, nor access to special effects such as those in Ratchet.