1. Kendell Burgess
Music Video Analysis
Guns ‘n’ Roses – Paradise City - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbm6GXllBiw
Target Audience &
Needs
I think the target audience for this music video by Guns ‘n’ Roses is a range from teens, young adults and possibly older adults who
like listening to rock. I think this video is aimed mainly at people who enjoy listening to music featuring quite a bit of guitar
playing/guitar solos, music that has a kind of fast tempo and is loud.
Lyrics (Meaning
Implied?)
In the music video the lyrics sung in the chorus are “take me down to the Paradise City where the grass is green and the girls are
pretty,” the chorus was based on the bands frontman, Axl Rose, memories of the Midwest with images of green grass, innocence
and possibility. However, much like the bands song “Welcome To The Jungle” the song was inspired by Los Angeles, where the
band was living at the time. Most of the lyrics sung were written about dealing with the rough life on the streets. For example, “just
a' urchin livin' under the street,” “strapped in the chair of the city's gas chamber,” etc.
Tempo At the beginning of the song the tempo of the music isn’t really fast paced, it’s sort of slow to mid paced compared to the rest of
the song. After about a minute or so of drums and guitars being played the tempo picks up a little as it lead into the main riff. In
the music video when this happens the video starts moving faster, you get shown the chaos that sometimes occurred at the
shows. Gradually through the song, especially towards the end, the tempo picks up to a fast pace.
Genre The genre of the music video is definitely performance, this is clear to the viewers because 90% of the video is showing you the
band performing the song on stage to a large crowd. The only part of the video that isn’t performance is when the band members
aren’t on stage and instead you get shown short videos of them around the streets or you get the see the fans of the band
featured in the video. Because of the genre of the video being performance we would obviously expect to see the band performing
together, all playing their instruments together. Also, because performance is the genre of the music video, there isn’t really an
expected thing we’re supposed to see i.e. like whether the colours being used for editing are supposed to be something specific.
Obviously if the band is trying to give some possibly creepy vibe off then dark, cold colours should be used. I don’t feel the band is
trying to give anything like that off though. Maybe the fact they use black and white sometimes throughout the video could
symbolise how in their life of performing and trying to get through with sometimes nothing, the dark colours in those brief parts
could represent that they have hard times but I’m not sure.
Camera Technique One of the camera techniques used in Guns ‘n’ Roses music video ‘Paradise City’ is a panning shot, this shot it used to show the
viewers the stage/stadium the band will be playing in/on.
Another technique that is used in the video is a mid-shot that is used multiple times to show the different members of the band.
A two shot is used in the video for ‘Paradise City,’ this shot shows us two members of the crew who help set up everything for the
main show.
A close up was used on Axl Rose’s face at the beginning of the video, close ups are usually used to emphasis the emotion currently
on that persons face. I think close ups are good to use, especially for performance videos because some people like seeing the
passion and emotion on the singers/band members faces as they play something they’re most of the time passionate about.

2. Kendell Burgess
Music Video Analysis
Another camera technique used is a long shot. The long shot used here is used to show the members of the crew and band whilst
the get ready/practise for their upcoming show.
A zoom out technique was used in the video. I think the zoom was used here to have a brief focus on Slash as he played. A zoom in
is also used as Axl Rose is singing.

3. Kendell Burgess
Music Video Analysis
Editing There isn’t much editing that was used that is clear except for a few things. Obviously there must have been some sort of colour
correction or brightening for the part in the video where it seems to be just filmed normally. Whereas in other parts of the video
the use of editing the footage to look black and white is used quite often in this video. Jump cuts and fast cutting is also an editing
technique used in the ‘Paradise City’ video, this is a common feature seen in performance videos especially with music that is
played at this pace.

4. Kendell Burgess
Music Video Analysis
Jump cuts/fast cutting:
Use of Digital Effects I don’t think any digital effects were used in this video.

5. Kendell Burgess
Music Video Analysis