Music Video Analysis (Sign On by Rat Boy)

The video for indie artist Rat Boy's song 'Sign On' was released in 2015.  Rat Boy is from Chelmsford, Essex, and has cited artists such as Jamie T and The Beastie Boys as inspiration to him. 

The lyrics for the song centre around lower-class life, and the video definitely illustrates and amplifies these lyrics. The narrative of the video follows around 4 young males who appear to be very stereotypically 'lower class'. The mise-en-scene backs this up, with the location being a run down housing area and high-street. 

The Burberry patterned car also highlights this idea of lower-class living, as this pattern has connotations of the 'chav', who is part of a sub-culture made up of people with little money, live in council housing, dropped out of school or achieved poor results at school and are rude and aggressive. Lyrics such as 'live my life in second hand clothes', 'pound land, pubs and wormwood scrubs'  and 'it won't be long before i sign on' echo the idea of this chav/lower-class subculture, however the video combined with these lyrics adds a sense of irony as the male characters, particularly Rat Boy himself are seen wearing expensive branded clothing like Supreme and Burberry, which are not really affordable to the lower classes. 
Another interesting point about the clothing that the band are wearing is that it is all casual wear, which is relatable to their teenage target audience as well as representing them as young and carefree.

The editing throughout the video is very-faced paced which matches and maintains the pace of the music and suggests that Rat Boy wants to be perceived as lively, fun and upbeat. This is echoed through the comical aspects of the video, such as the shot where Rat Boy is seen in a tunnel on a bike, having a beach ball thrown at him, and in the scene where he is stood holding a keyboard with the notes written on the keys (also suggesting that the audience question his keyboard playing abilities and talent) and throughout the video where the four males are seen messing around in the car. These features imply that they do not take themselves seriously as artists and have a carefree attitude, and want their audiences to understand that. 

The technique of intertextuality is also employed throughout the video, with various scenes referencing the music video for the Supergrass song 'Alright'. For example, in both videos the characters/artists are seen riding around on Chopper bikes, echoing the idea of fun, having a good time, being typical teenagers etc. In the Rat Boy video, the male characters/artists are seen riding around in an old car and in the Supergrass video they are seen riding around in a bed. These similarities suggest that Rat Boy took inspiration from the Supergrass video. 

The content of the lyrics of the song are illustrated and amplified in the first few second of the video, by the use of the growing and shrinking piles of coins as iconography. This represents the idea of finical fluctuation - one minute they have money, the next minute it's all gone ('Lost my job in Wetherspoons and since that day my bank has hit zero' and 'I've got no money, it's all gone'). The use of a bouncy castle being blown up and then deflating could also be seen as representing financial inflation etc.  This all links to the lyrics of the song as they focus entirely on money and signing on to benefits in order to get money. 

The camera movements throughout the video consist of mainly tracking shots which give the audience a sense of connection to the artist, as it is almost as if they are following Rat Boy and his band around in their daily lives. This links to the point that Andrew Goodwin makes in his theory, which is that record labels demand that the artist appears throughout the video so that the audience feels more connected to them. The video features several close-ups of Rat Boy throughout the duration, which allows for the audience to learn about the artists' identity and feel as though they know him on a personal level.