All Time Low- I Feel Like Dancing
This is a humorous video that uses its narrative to mock the music video industry. It progresses through three stages which see the band experiment with the most popular generic ideas for popular and successful music videos. These include; product placement, sexualisation and stealing someone else’s idea. All of which are doomed to failure which secures its comedic value. 
The predominant theme of this video is to stay true to yourself and what you believe in, which means not getting caught up in the industry and not being swayed by producers or directors into the mainstream. However the subliminal theme is just to have a good time, as long as you’re enjoying what you do, others will too.The techniques used in the video help to reinforce the message and add to the humour. Mise en scene is very thoroughly planned for this video as the props, costume and make-up enhance the storyline and portray each stage and their characters perfectly. Their costume and make up changes through each stage from casual clothing during the meeting and shots of the band performing to heavily brand endorsed clothing in product placement, very minimal clothing for the extras during sexualisation and extremely good replicas to mimic those in previous videos. The character movement aids in the distinct themes for each stage including shots of the product being consumed, intimate dancing and exact copies of the choreography from other videos. Various props are used to enhance each method for example the product being advertised; energy drink, chalk board and glasses of water to represent the office and of course the bands instruments to aid in their performance.
The lighting also changes to reflect the atmosphere in each stage. In the meeting scenes in the office environment there is use of high key lighting in order for it to represent that location. However in the product placement stage the lighting is low key with spotlights used to reflect off the product. The lights are also tinted yellow to match the product. The lights are also low key and yellow tinted in the sexualisation method to reflect off the large amounts of golden skin on show. It is also a very warm colour to represent the heat increasing. However in the last stage the lighting is very high key to match the mainstream pop music videos they are imitating.The office setting is used frequently as throughout the video they go back to reflect on the failure of the method and to come up with a new idea. A studio is also used to recreate the videos they are mimicking through green screens and as a stage for the band to perform on.
The camera work helps to enhance each section of the music video. During the office meeting sequences it uses a combination of wide shots to show the location and meeting in process with close up reaction shots including shot reverse shot. The performance scenes sees close ups of the band whilst performing along with long, wide shots to show the band altogether. The video also includes pans and high angle shots to show the artist looking up in order to connect with the audience along with eye level shots to identify with the band. Throughout the sexualisation method there are frequent low angle shots in order to show the scantily clad women in a dominant light. Tracking is also used to follow the band into each method trial so the audience feel they are making the journey with tem to the set.
The editing enhances the humour throughout the video. For example additional text is used at the start of each section of filming each idea. The text is white and contrasts the dark background. It is bold and in capitals in order to stand out in a 3D like font. It appears in the corners of the frame as there is a slow motion shot of a mistake happening in that sequence. For example the lady slipping and dropping the wigs in front of the ‘METHOD 3: STEAL IDEAS’ text on screen. This layered feature makes the text appear to be part of the set and not just added in after filming. Cuts are very frequently used to show reaction shots and to change from close ups to long shots but keeping pace. For every wide shot of the band in the office, the frame has a black border in order to fade the edges of the screen out for a softer look to aid in the friendly atmosphere.
The relationship between sound and image is vital for the success of this music video. The video acts as an advertisement for the song and portrays the indented mood, atmosphere and theme. Although at first glance you may think the video is irrelevant to the lyrics ‘i feel like dancing’ as you would expect a generic video in a club, however pop punk artists have the flexibility to avoid the usual. All Time Low in particular are known for their party attitude and this video reflects their personalities perfectly. It shows they just want to have a good time regardless.
Throughout the video there are breaks and interruptions to the song to show the ideas being discussed, this makes the audience feel more involved and understand the process of the video although it is all staged. Although the pauses in music are irritating it also acts as an intervention for piracy and may cause people not to use the youtube downloader. However all of the song is played and perfectly lip synced to the band including their instruments. 
During the third method, which is stealing someone elses ideas, the band mimics and builds very strong references to other videos. The band reinact three very popular mainstream artists iconic videos. These are Katy Perry- California Girls, Justin Bieber-Baby and Lady Gaga- Bad Romance. By using such highly recognisable artists they have boosted their views and audience as fans of these artists will be intrigued to see what they have done. Also by mocking the mainstream this is highly entertaining for their audience who are usually not fans of pop music and would thoroughly enjoy All Time Lows carefree attitude that sees them dress up as females. This is what truly makes it effective, although it’s experimenting with generic video ideas, it is mocking them. This is a popular video concept and has also been done by Blink 182 in All the Small Things so it was sure to provide a very successful basis for a music video.
Kristie Henry
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