Textual Analysis: Dire Straits - "Money for Nothing"

Camera

The video uses a number of close ups on the fictitious characters as well as the actual band members to capture emotions throughout the performance, encouraging the audience to empathize with the artist. Close ups are used as well as long/two shots to capture the band on stage in one shot together - as the video is a performance video.

Mise en Scene

In the real life shots, the band sport clothes applicable to 80's fashion: headbands were worn - a trademark of Dire Straits who essentially formed a subculture through their music and fashion. The instruments used are also appealing colours to maintain the interest of the audience: lavish guitars are used to look fancy and give the band a respectable image. All aspects of the Mise en Scene are relevant to the social historical context of the time period in which the video was made - fashion such as wristbands and flamboyant shirts are made more visible by the neon lighting effects used in the video to enunciate the bands identity and image - they are essentially a brand.

Sound

The soundtrack used is the original recording of Dire Straits' Money for Nothing. The video has been tailor made to accommodate the sound of the single in order for the text to transition smoothly and in synchrony.

Editing

Many quick, concise cuts are used to shift attention quickly and encourage the audience to invest interest in the video, which uses bright colours due to the vibrant animations. Many tracking shots are used to maintain focus on the band, which emphasises importance and forces the audience to concentrate on the ideas/emotions the director is trying to put accross. Neon lighting effects have been used in the shots where the band are performing (neon effects have been omitted from the computer animated segments of the video) to highlight important features such as headbands, wristbands, guitars and even their shirts - these bright accessories/instruments with undertones of eighties fashion present a clear image of the band to the audience. At the time, some form of high tech video editing software would have been utilised in order to add digital effects to the video, almost like a latter day iMovie.

This video was considered ground breaking at the time of it's release, MTV were persistent in their desire to produce an animated promo for the track, as they felt they were broadcasting too many performance videos of artists standing there and playing instruments - they wanted something cutting-edge that would break the conventions of music videos and surprise people.