Narrative Theory

Within the Some Nights music

video

Background Information
Some Nights is a track by the Indie Pop band, F.U.N. The
artists originated from new York city and released the song on
the 4th of June in 2012.
The lyrics within the song itself, tell the story of a, now middle
aged, soldier who appears to be reflecting on his past and the
time he served. The song reveals the emotional road of the
soldier and reinforces the horrors and damage that war can
cause to those who are involved.

The Beginning
At the beginning of the music video, we gain an insight into the life
style of the main character via the close ups that we have of both
the horses and the hands on the wooden fence of the paddock.
However, there are then close ups of younger individuals who are
within close contact with one another, the shots then continue to
flick back and forth between the main character who is revealed as
an older male and the younger version of himself within a period of
war. This part of the music video represents a clear divide and
opposition between the two time periods; the brighter scenes are
present day and the darker memories of which are shown to be
graphic and damaging somewhat.

The first verse of the song is used as more of an establishing period of when
we are thrown back, as viewers, into the memories of the soldier. There are
establishing shots of the groups of men and the formations that they are
carrying out within the war. However, throughout the first verse and
linking to the rest of the song itself, we can notice a range of shots of the
artist himself. The artist portrays a general within the war; leading the men,
including the main character, into battle.
Similarly, the editing within this shot also aids the idea of the first verse being
of an establishing period. There is a mid close up, panning shot of the artist
behind the mens backs as they stand in line. This idea unites the audience
equally with the soldiers as we are placed in line also.
When linking to Goodwins theory we can notice that the first verse includes a
reference between the lyrics and the visuals. For example, we hear the
lyrics I still dont know what I stand for as we see a soldier fall to the
ground, leaving implications that as soldiers, they do not stand for long.
This relates to the overall opposition between present day and memories
due to the chaos of the memories obscuring the peace of present day.

Chorus
Aspects of opposition are somewhat forgotten in this section of the song for
the imagery of present day is less frequent. Here, instead we see a rise in
the violence and war themed imagery, as the men continue into battle.
The lyrics here that read This is it boys, this is war we can notice are an
intertextual link to the English version of Nenas 1983, 99 Luftballons as
within which the same lyrics are used in the same scenario; talking about
the issues of war.
Again, we can see throughout this part of the music video, there are similar
shots of the artists themselves. It is a possibility that this idea in the video is
due to the needs of the record label and the ways in which the artists need
to be represented.
The editing between shots also becomes a lot faster as the chorus begins
and this idea represents the narrative through, as mentioned before, the
violence and the fast paced atmosphere during war.

 The next shots that are featured within the music video are of a different
nature. The first shot that is seen as the chorus fades out, is that of the
younger male within an apparent bath tub, writing a letter to whom at this
point we are unsure. There are then equal links between lyrics and visuals
again, that link to Goodwins Theory, as the lyrics read She stops my bone
from wondering just who I am and at the same time we are given
images of the female that was seen at the beginning of the video. Therefore,
in terms of narrative, this implies that the female is also a memory in some
ways as the soldier is seen to be saddened by being apart from her.
The editing takes place along side the music in this section and so relates to
Goodwins Theory once more through the musical and lyrical references.
For example, there are three fast paced shots of different soldiers, ending
with our main character, that cut in time with three separated beats.

Ending of the video

As the ending of the video approaches, the story line seemingly concludes.
This is shown through the way that some of then men are walking away
form the battle ground of which leaves implications of them returning
home. Additionally, the letter that viewers saw earlier in the video had been
sent to the female that was featured at the beginning of the video and
therefore retells the lyrics, of which portray disappointment in the way that
the war had been presented previously. This is shown through the lyrics
that read I washed my hands of that for this? I missed my mum and dad
for this? showing that the war had previously been shown to be something
wonderful and it had now become apparent that this was not correct.
There are relations in terms of lyrics and visuals again, for we see the
calmer present day male with his horses in the tranquil environment as the
lyrics read man, you wouldnt believe the most amazing things that
can then as the second part of the lyrics reads some terrible
nights we see the shots flick back to the soldiers toward the end of the
battle.