The Script- 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved'
The music video for the song The Man Who Can't Be Moved by the Irish band the Script shows 2 of the 3 ways that visuals are used to promote the song. These three traits are 1) Illustrative 2)Disjuncture and 3)Amplify.
The illustrative trait is when the music video uses certain images and shots to illustrate and explain the meaning of lyrics to their song and the genre. The disjuncture trait is when the meaning of the song is completely ignored in the music video and the amplify trait is when the images and camera shots are manipulated and shown repeatedly throughout the music video in order for the image is drummed into our vision.
In this case the music video, 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved' by the Script shows both Illustrative and Amplify traits of a music video. The music video sticks to the story of the song. The song starts off with the line "Going back to the corner where I first saw you" whilst the lead singer is clearly walking down the road in order to go back to the corner where her first saw this girl. At 1:01 he then says "and you'll see me waiting for you on the corner of the street" where he then proceeds to sit down on the corner of the street. The singer also repeatedly sings "I'm not moving" and "I'm the man who can't be moved" which at 3:09 we fully begin to understand as the singer is shown in a time lapse through different types of weather and still not moving from where he originally sat. There is also many other references of what the singer sings and the visuals on the screen.
The music video shows the cardboard sign with the exact words "If you see this girl can you tell her where I am?" alongside the sleeping bag and the man who 'can't be moved'.
'Policeman says "Son you can't stay here" and then is followed up with the image of the policeman who is looking at the lead singer and shakes her head at him. This is shown at 1:27.
"Gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows, if she changes her mind this is the first place she will go" is said at 1:35 but visuals for this is not shown until 3:18-3:30 (during the time lapse) This obviously shows how the singer 'stood his ground' and kept his word because he ultimately ended up waiting for the girl during the rain and snow.
The lyrics "Maybe I'll get famous as the man who can't be moved. And maybe you won't mean to, but you'll see me on the news" is being sung whilst the man is being shown on the news as now he is finally famous for being the 'man who can't be moved'.
These were all examples of the illustrative traits of the music video. The amplify traits were being shown whenever the the band is seen singing in the car park to signify how much the girl meant to the lead singer alongside the images of the lead singer sitting on the corner of the street as it shows how in love he is with the girl. It also signifies to the audience that the singer really was the guy who 'can't be moved' and that he really meant what he sings and kept his word. Overall this effect makes the band/singer seems real and music of better 'quality' as they mean what they sing. The audience falls for these simple media tricks like an audience falls for a magician's magic tricks.
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