Music Video Analysis - Mumford And Sons - Winter Winds

Throughout the video of Winter Winds by Mumford and Sons, the video evokes a folk feel to it and there are various elements, which give it this feel.

When it comes to the camera angles and movement the pace is very slow but not too slow that it is in ultra slow motion. The movement and transition from one shot to another is very ‘choppy’ and most of the scenes cut back and forth between the different scenes evidently shot at different times, whether it’s the band members running down a road or specific things happening in fields. This is reflecting the convention identified by Goodwin's theory that music videos exist outside of time. When we are seeing images of the band together it’s trying to reflect its genre at the same time. Here, we’re getting a lot of close ups of either two or three people switching back and forth, and slow movements between the two. Towards the end of video we’re seeing a lot of close ups of particular people performing, mostly on stage, whether it’s the guitar players or the person who’s playing the banjo and singing at the same time. This emphasises the importance of music. This is to create a lively feel to it, as we can also the audience dancing and the band dancing as well to show people are having a good time. It also shows the audience what the atmosphere and happenings are at a Mumford and Songs gig and generally putting the band in a positive light to the audience. It also invites the audience to go and see the band perform and to persuade the audience how different it is to another genre of band playing.

Within the first minute of the video we’ve have already seen classic iconography and representation of the folk genre, for example, at the beginning of the video we see the band running on the side of and on the road. The road promotes the journey of the band and the road trip itself. Members of the band are dressed in waistcoats, shirts, boots and baggy trousers, which are what people in the folk stereotype, would wear.

The next scene has one of the band members in a long shot carrying a musical instrument and dragging a chair through a cornfield. The cornfield itself is an iconic reference to the folk genre. We also see a low angle shot of another person walking through the cornfield again but only focusing on the legs and feet. This also happens when the camera focuses on another individual at the side of his body, but this person has a spade in his hand, carrying it through the field. Another shot is when the camera has a high angle shot of a person walking through the cornfield with the bits of corn brushing past the camera. This references the iconic rural shot screen in films. In between the focus of the man and the rest of the field, we can see the sunset in the background, which is exposed in-between the band member’s body and left arm. The sunlight here also contributes to the lighting of this shot, which then makes the ambience very low. These are all specific conventions of the folk genre, which help the video grab the folk aspect of song using these tools.

The band is represented in the specific way trying to show the audience the lifestyle of which these guys live and how it differs from an ordinary lifestyle to the typical folk way. It’s also represented through their image in the mise-en-scene as well; the specific clothing that they wear and how they’re presenting themselves as quite ‘scruffy’ and ‘messy’ and how all they’re clothing is quite similar so they all match each other. The narrative structure in this piece is the ‘journey’ of the band, especially of the shots when the bands on the road, and they’re singing to the camera and singing the backing track at specific times, when the words match what it is that they are doing. We see the band touring whether they’re backstage preparing or performing on stage in front of an audience, or when they’re performing in the cornfield. It is all represented and shown through their music and they’re performing when it cuts back and forth between each one of these scenes. When it does get to this the pace speeds up a lot and the speed has changed from what it was right at the very beginning of the music video.