The Specials are a Ska/2 tone band from Coventry, England and were at the height of their success between 1977 and 1984. This is an analysis of the music video for their song "Ghost Town" which was only ever released as a single.
The video focuses on the band all driving in one car, around an empty city, which fits with the title of the song. And we get a lot of shots looking at the band in the car, singing along to the lyrics of the song. In the case of this promotional video, i think the aim is purely to promote the band and their message (which i will come to later) and get it out to people rather than tell a story or entertain people.
The main focus of the video is on the empty town and the lyrics to the song. the song is about the themes of urban decay, unemployment and violence in the inner cities, it is a piece of social commentary as it also references the recession that the country was experiencing at end of the 70's/beginning of the 80's. therefore the central idea of a ghost town is actually a metaphor for what is happening to the inner cities at the time. this song and by extension the video, which looks at the effect of these and shows the band exploring the ghost town, is voyeuristic and has intertextuality.
In terms of keeping with the conventions of a music video, this does well. there are a lot of close ups of the artists to promote them, as well as a lot of genre specific iconography. the band is mixed race, and they are all wearing "mod style" outifits, which were common, suits, loafers, pork pie hats etc, which are all black and white. the video is shot in colour though.
There is also a link between the music and visuals, with most of the cuts in the visuals happening on the beat of the music. also the music is quite dark and serious, so the visuals reflect this, with a lot of shots of concrete tall buildings on a grey day or in the evening to make everything more serious.
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| Album cover from The Specials self-titled first album |
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