Analysing a Second Music Video

Eliza Doolittle- Pack Up

Eliza Doolittle’s ‘Pack Up’ is her second major music videos, and is an upbeat song teamed with a happy video, with the main feature being Eliza lip syncing the lyrics. The message of the lyrics and the video is to not care about what people say, and to throw all your troubles away. 

  Eliza Doolittle is a crossover Indie/Pop singer originally from London. From her debut single ‘Skinny Genes’, the audience knows already that her videos are usually bright and fun; not quite pop, not quite Indie style. Her songs are about not taking life too seriously and having fun instead. Her real name is Eliza Caird, but changed it to Eliza Doolittle when she first began producing records. It is not unusual for artists to change their name, but it is more unusual for Indie artists to do so, as most keep their original name. For example Pop star Lady GaGa’s real name is Stefani Germanotta, but stars such as Katy Perry have kept their original names.

  The genre of video is mainly a dance performance, but there are some narrative parts when it shows Eliza in a hot, sunny country travelling on a bus, a moped, and walking along a dusty road. The video was filmed and set in Jamaica, and all the clothing is very casual, as in most indie videos. She has one costume change, from shorts and a t shirt, to a pale blue playsuit. Both are very laid back outfits, and match with her relaxed hair, link with the casual Indie theme. A lot of the other people in the video look like native Jamaicans, and are wearing everyday comfortable-looking clothing, apart from Lloyd Wade, the gospel singer/songwriter who sings the hook, and the men in the band on the stage at the dance featured in the video. They’re dressed in shirts, ties and smart trousers to distinguish that they are different from the dancers, as they’re the band.

  The target audience for this video and Eliza Doolittle’s music in general is young people and teenagers, and because the video is so upbeat and catchy, it definitely appeals to this audience. The lyrics also appeal to this audience as they could be relating to the problems young people today have. For example one lyric is “I don’t care what the people may say, what the people may say about me,” which is relevant to young people today because there are so many rumours and whisperings going on in schools and within peer groups. This song tries to get the audience to take its advice and not to listen to the whisperings, and to “pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and bury them beneath the sea.” which is intertexuality; stealing a line from the World War 1 marching song "Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile" The other lyrics in Eliza Doolittle's song include “I like to tiptoe round the sh*t going down.” Which is saying she doesn’t get involved in any arguments that are going on, which is a very positive attribute, one that Eliza Doolittle thinks we should all take on.

   The editing to this video varies between slow between scenes, and quick when the video goes on to the dance, and it cuts between the different band players, and a long shot of the dancers. Camera tracking is used to follow Eliza as she walks or drives along on the moped, and a pan is used right at the end of the video as she walks away from the suitcase where she has “packed up” her troubles.


YouTube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTIqd9pNxnw&noredirect=1