Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone

Your love alone was a track from the Manic Street Preachers album ‘Send Away the Tigers’ and the single was released on the 30^th April 2007. The music video for this song is an illustration one, showing a very basic performance from the band as well as a duet with female members of a different band.

The video introduces us to a warehouse type location which adds to the simplicity of the band and also suggests a rock genre which is further justified by the use of the lighting which is minimalistic and dark with just white lighting being used. One of the first shots shown is a zoom out of a band member’s face and as the camera zooms out, the backlights brighten and the figure becomes silhouetted. This is a very effective technique as it creates a mystery to the song and band which draws the audience in. Another shot used also zooms out to show the male artist facing the female one in a symmetrical style. The quiz zoom in’s and outs add to the beat of the video and keep it interesting as well as the other varied shot types which are required as the video has no narrative. There are plenty of over the shoulder shots as well which are shown to show the similarity between the two bands ‘battling’ off and the lighting also adds and old fashioned retro look, suggesting the genre is more 80s or 90s rock.

The attire of the male band members is presented in a way in which truly represents the genre of the Manic Street Preachers. All members are seen wearing black clothing with the main band member seen in black eyeliner too. The female members are very similar, however the female lead singer is seen in black and white to contrast and also show signs of innocence. The audience are kept drawn into the music video by the fast change of direction by the camera and also she slight shake to shots which suggests a rock genre.

If we were to take some ideas from this music video for our own I would suggest using similar camera shots such as the zooms and quick direction change ones but also show more of the instruments in these. I think the video could be made more interesting with maybe some narrative, so we may have to take a similar idea on board.