One Direction: Drag Me Down

• One Direction (commonly abbreviated as 1D) are an English-Irish pop boy band based in London, composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously, Zayn Malik until his departure from the band on 25 March 2015.

• The group signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records after forming and finishing the third series of the British televised singing competition, The X Factor in 2010.

• Their achievements include five Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, eleven MTV Europe Music Awards, and nineteen Teen Choice Awards out of nineteen nominations, among many others.

Analysis

• There are many different shots in the music video used to empahsise the location of where the band is performing and engaging in activities. Firstly, the opening scene is a wide camera shot (lasts approx 6 seconds) which shows the band as a unit, getting dressed to go into space. As soon as the beat of the song kicks in with Harry singing, a close up takes place of Harry looking down at the camera - placing the audience in a lower position of power, therby emphasising Harry's presence. This could suggest how Harry is essentially singing to the audience (most likely a young female), therefore allowing the audience to engage with the artist better. This similar camera shot is used for each of the band members. In addition, the band is seen as a 'unit' throughout the video, with them being dressed together, singing outside of NASA and eventually going up into space. This is a popular convention used for pop rock videos.

Representation

• This music video was the first video released with the loss of one bamd member, Zayn Malik, and is of an extremely high production value.

• This connotes that the band is just as popular with the loss of Zayn, portraying them to be somewhat of a mega-star. Furthermore, throughout the video, the band are seen to be engaging in many different activites, portraying them to be flamboyant characters.

Institutions - Who Are They?

Narrative

• In the music video, there is no specific narrative. The video includes Harry Styles training with a robonaut, Louis Tomlinson riding a rover vehicle, and Niall and Liam singing and walking around the station while also being fitted. The video ends with all boys in space gear about to board a spaceship to venture off in space.
• However, the begining of the video shows the band dressed in space suits and towards the end, the boys finally go into space hence the lyrics 'nobody can drag me down' - (Andrew Goodwins theory of sound and vision - how their is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals)

Audience

Genre

• The single 'Drag Me Down' - released worldwide on July 31st 2015, is a midtempo pop rock track.

• In a statement, One Direction's label said the song "showcases a more mature One Direction sound".

• The single itself is marked as One Direction's first single since the departure of Zayn Malik.

• The music video is upbeat and showcases some elements of pop (close ups) and rock (camera shots of the band being seen as one 'unit').

• One Directions fanbase, 'Directioners', had highly anticipated the single and the music video due to the fact that it would be their first release without a fifth band member - Zayn Malik.

• The target audience for this video is likely to be primarily female - as the band's 'Directioners' is dominated by female fans. The audience would be excited to see how the band work and come together as a foursome,, espeically with One Direction's statement of not having the intention to add another band member.

• On August 28, Vevo announced that the music video broke their record for the most likes in 24 hours, with at least one million. This suggests that the concept of the band 'hanging out' at NASA was effective, and the fact that this was their first appearance as a successful foursome, essentially enhances their 'megastar' image.

One Direction: Drag Me Down