The Use of Media Language in Gabrielle Aplin's - Home

Gabrielle Aplin - Home



Artist: Gabrielle Aplin
Track: Home
Genre: Singer/Songwriter/Folk/Pop
Release Date: 9th of January 2012 (Home EP 2012) (Debut Album English Rain 2013)
Producer: Mike Spencer

Genre Characteristics

- The main aspect of characteristic of folk/pop is the emphasis of the location and the close ups of the Gabrielle herself, its identified through the lip sync of the artist singer and the cuts between the artist buying a guitar, busking in the street and performing in the bar. This female singer would appeal to the younger female audience who are interested in listening to Pop music with the new interest in folk music that they might of not been introduced to. Another characteristic would be the narrative, many stereotypical folk songs are shot in locations such as deserts, this alternately makes the video significant.

-The lead singer is seen playing the guitar with means there is emphasis on the genre of the song, intern means that the identity of the song is being shown throughout the music video. 

- The music video shows Gabrielle performing the song in many different places which shows of the variety and structure of the storyline, the song is sung in a style which could be referenced to Passenger or Birdy. These other popular artist suggest that this style of music is very popular with demographs of the age of 15-25 year olds, meaning their is a very powerful and successful market, by showing off their genre of Pop/Folk within their music videos. 

- Folk/Singer/Songwriter, is also known to be associated with acoustic guitars and piano  mixed with lead vocals, as its the way the artist helps to make the genre its identity with the image shown of the busking scene as the guitar is used to attract people to listen, it still shows that with these  instruments are and always will be associated with this particular type of music genre, they show their importance and significance of the genre alongside their dominance in the music industry. 

-  Whereas typically when folk/singer/songwriter music is shown in a music video they're seen to be wearing outfits that are custom e.g. wearing jeans, high heels and a jacket that is significant to the location that the video is set in or a local/national team they support, in this video it represents that stereotype with the attire that she is wearing, what she is wearing is tend to be represented as being casual and up to date with fashion trends that are already being used in society. 

Notion of Looking  

- Throughout this music video there is examples of voyeuristic theasures, for example the first scene is when a group of boys steal her car and treat her with no respect, this carries on until 0:53 into the video. Their are many close ups of the singer to promote the female artist through body and facial features. For example some close ups of her in the motel of her singing in her pyjamas which relate to the exposure of the female body, her body and mouth stand out the most which can be targeted to the male audience and can also be a connection to the female audience by being upset or scared. 

- One interpretation could be that all the close ups is due to the emotions that are captured by the audience through the music video, they could also be a shown to show power and dominance but other times be shown as anger, upset or pain. Many close ups can be interpreted as a voyeuristic characteristic as males can take advantage of this for the sexual object that they see them as, promoting gender inequality. 

- Near enough all the shots are of the singer as she takes you through her struggle of not having a home to go back to and living on the road going from job to job, it shows the struggle from her point of view which shows her reaction to the poor conditions and cheap meals that she is doing, alongside the manual labour she has to do to earn enough money to live. Later on it shows that her passion is music and that is identified when she has to pawn her watch and ring to afford to buy and play the guitar.

- Close ups and medium shots are used to show the audience of her exhaustion and impatience, the medium shot can also focus on character integration or not in this case dialogue. Without a home she feels that the world around her is strange which she might not have felt, the fact that she is on her own makes her vulnerable to men and they could see this as an opportunity. The fact that there isn't any dialogue suggests that she has a persona of innocence, which can be linked to the start where her car was stolen and she is seen to be running after it trying to not give up. 

Close Ups

- The use of close ups is important in the music industry because it allows the record label to show off and promote the artist so that they are more recognisable if anyone comes across them. Close ups can also determine who the man character is or in this case who the singer is, as their is a storyline, there's cuts in-between lip sync and acting to show that she is both the man character and vocalist. One of Goodwins theories is the notion of looking, so close ups helps to identify that. Seeing as the main focusing point is the female, but males are also represented as stereotypes e.g. at the start where the group are acting childish and connoting that they are superior over woman thinking they can do whatever they want. Emphasis on voyeuristic perception is strongly used when the older man in the truck is seen to pull over on the road and pick up the young female in the car and not charge her at the end, implying satisfaction through looking is the payment he was looking for. 

Relationship Between Music and Visuals

- The music and the beat are not supposedly synchronised due to the visual performance and the strong story telling narrative, on the other hand it is clearly shown that the lip sync of the singer to the words are being sung are real and is being heard which shows a clear connection between the music and visuals. There is an image of Gabrielle laying her head down upon a pillow in a motel, the visual is shown with the line 'It's not where you lay your head' which is in the chorus of the song. The sound of the instruments picks up with the tempo of the singing in order to create the sound of the chorus being played. 
'Home' can be interpreted as a number of places that you personally call home. When you hear the first time that 'home' is mentioned it shows the visual to be placed in a long shot of the artist in her motel room, which would imply that she is in fact home to where she feels that she needs to be. Looking at the relationship between the music and visuals being in sync to a possible narrative of steps to take to show where you find that your heart is set in stone to the place that you yourself calls home, it is interpreted as the journey that she takes in order to come back home showing her struggles of trying to get to the place that she belongs.     

Relationship Between Lyrics and Visuals  

- The first lyric spoken is "I'm a phoenix in the water" this is a reference to the phoenix shown on the back of her jacket, it could also connote the freedom that she has to be able to drive and the age that she is, it could also portray the sense of being adapted to a different lifestyle with the bird living in a completely different location, this could link in with the fact that Gabrielle is in a totally different environment and has to quickly adapt to survive.  

Intertextual Reference

- One of Goodwins theories shows that there is intertexual references within the music video. I noticed that while watching the music video, it has similar references to the film 'Thelma and Louise'. In the film there is a scene where the both of them are driving through the desert while they are fleeing from the murder that Louise committed and are on there way to Mexico. Its a reference to 'Home' because there is a seen where Gabrielle is wondering through the dessert on her way home when her car was hijacked by a group of men. Both the music video and the film have similarities such as they're both escaping what just happened and their trying to escape what they've just been through.