(Goodwin) Music Video Analysis: It's My Life

Lyrics and Visuals


The stills (1 - 4) to the right are shown in the music video above.
The first shows the main character (in the black) running among a bunch of marathon runner for what seems to be a charity marathon, The lyric coupled with this is 'I ain't gonna live forever'. The lyrics and visuals go well together and provide two meanings. One being the main character wanting to run to the concert because he may not get a chance to experience Bon Jovi in the tunnel - going by the quote/phrase 'life's too short, live it to the max'. Another meaning could be the obvious of running to raise money for a life saving charity.
The second shows the character 'Tommy' riding along by holding on to a rubbish collection truck going at high speed. This visual is coupled with the lyric 'I just want to live while i'm alive' - the idea behind this could be to show the essence of feeling very much alive and a rush of adrenaline by doing something fairly dangerous. This action could have ended with the character being seriously hurt but the notion was to show living life to the fullest.
The third still shows the character again in a life threatening position by nearly being hit by a car at high speed. Again this represents the notion of living to the max and living life the the way you want. This still is coupled with the lyric 'don't break baby, don't back down'. Considering the lyric, the visual supports the lyric with the car breaking to stop from hitting Tommy, but also shows Tommy not backing down from getting to the Tunnel to see Bon Jovi.
The fourth shows one of the last scenes seen. The visual accompanies the lyric 'It's my life'. The previous visuals with this lyric showed part of the narrative of Tommy reaching the tunnel, however, this visuals shows more about the life of Bon Jovi and how they live their life through gigs/concerts.

Music and Visuals

The music and visuals also compliment each other. (pictured 1 - 4).
The first still shows the main character, Tommy sliding down the railings on some stairs. This visual is coupled with a keyboard solo which gives the element of someone on a mission - the visual clearly supports this with a high action sound with Tommy re-creating scenes one would usually see in an action movie.
The second still shows the keyboard just after Tommy sliding down the hand railing. At the time, the music heard is of a keyboard, so yet again the visual clearly supports the backing music. The added blue tint to the keyboard further implements the idea of someone on a dangerous mission which sets the atmosphere for the rest of the music video.
The third still shows the drums at a time of no music from the actual song but diegetic sound from the video clip. The drums then bring the sound back to the song. At that small moment, the drums are the only sound you can hear, hence a focus shot on the drums and the drummer.
The fourth introduces the guitar just as the sound of the guitar can be heard with the other instruments. The angle used for the guitar shot further adds to the element of someone or something with the high action and high pace going on.

Genre
Alike most rock music video and especially music videos for hair bands in the 80's ,performance was an integral part of the music video, with most videos being based entirely in an arena. However, this video does not show an arena concert but more of an 'underground concert' with not many people making it look like an intimate gig, but towards the end, more and more people can be seen establishing the hair/rock band with the masses and masses of dedicated fans. As like most bands, each band member can be seen playing their individual instruments with close ups and panning shots. When this genre first came to light, most but not all video's had an element of 'rebellion' such as crowd surfing or smashing things up such as guitars, this video shows a fan crowd surfing and not the band themselves. Also there are no visuals which show the band smashing their guitars or amps, some may think this would take away the 'rebellion' phase, however, it comes across throughout the video with Tommy doing everything in his power to get to the concert on time even if his actions could risk his life. These actions account for the 'rebellious' actions in most rock videos.

Close Ups

The modern day music industry is run with money in mind, therefore, record label's tend to request more close up's of the lead singer (best selling point). With the stills on the left you can see the close ups of all band members. However, they were hard to spot, as some of the close ups were on screen for all of 2 seconds. Jon Bonjovi - being considered the main selling point is seen on screen the most followed by Richie Sambora who is the backing vocalist and guitarist.




The above is an older video from the same band dating back to 1986. The same can be said for this video, the main focus does seem to be on Jon Bon Jovi followed by Richie Sambora.

Voyurism

Voyurism is present in quite a few videos, although the voyurism is usually seen to represent something sexual. However, here it is merely seen as a live stream from a webcam to view the concert virtually for people who can't be at the concert.

References
There are also references within lyrics. not the actual video. The lyrics make reference to two people 'Tommy and Gina'. These two fictional people are also mentioned in their most well known song to date, 'Livin' On A Prayer'. The song was based around the two characters and their struggle to make ends meet. The characters are revived here, but are seen as much younger.