Video Analysis

Slow Thai - Gorgeous 

An establishing shot of a Union Flag with a filter starts a vintage and retro feeling to the video which is continued throughout the video. A hand drawn Slow Thai logo appears displaying the artist and rotates around the screen. The video cuts with a fast cutting rate to red phone boxes and rooftop shots across a city. A group of young teenagers wearing tracksuits in front of a grey sky and leave-less trees signifying winter. The costume of the youths is often associated with “chav culture” yet the smiling faces of the kids joking with each other juxtaposes this. This not only creates nostalgia but also reinforces the brand the artist has created. The shots move to Northampton Town F.C. as moving from an extreme long shot, to a long shot, to a close up to the badge outside the stadium. This gives the video a provincial and small town feeling as the artist has decided to use his home city instead of becoming London- centric as so many other popular artists have. This creates a para–social connection as the artist is showing the audience his world and his life to the audience. The artist first appears in the centre circle of the football ground wearing a football shirt of the same team. The overcast sky juxtaposes the yellow of the shirt and the smile of his face as he dances along with his own lyrics. The camera begins the sequence in mid shot yet moves around the circle zooming out away from him as he maintains eye contact with the lens. The last shot in the stadium features the artist drop kicking a ball from the centre circle out of the long shot. This scene paints the artist as a fun character who is proud of his home town and stays strong to his roots. After a shot back in the park with a murmuration of starlings flying behind the artist rapping there is a mid-shot of the artist shirtless with a leather jacket displaying his tattoos and jewellery with men standing above him on either shoulder. This then cuts to a tattooed arm and hand moving up to a man’s face obscured by his cap. These shots create a feeling of intimidation amongst the audience and make the artist seem like “a man of the people.” As the camera cuts and moves around the area we see that we are in a boxing club as men can be seen using the punching bags in lowkey artificial light. They are wearing sweatshirts and tracksuit bottoms conventional of the location. However, the video switches from its all-male cast when a female boxer is shadow boxing with the camera. This is a highly progressive character to feature in a video and aligns with Slow Thai’s ideology. Another quintessential British location featured is a pub. The artist is seen leaning against a pool table in a purple and black tracksuit lit by natural lighting coming through the window. The shot begins outside the room and moves through the doorway at long shot and into mid shot whilst the artist continues to rap. The videos cuts back to the boys from the begging in the park yet this time they can be seen doing wheelies on bicycles. This further reinforces negative stereotypes of young people, yet with the use of the filter throughout it creates a sense of nostalgia of boys just having fun. A few mid shots of the kids with appear with a lenticular effect as the boys eat fried chicken. The final scene in the video has the artist leaning out of a black Volkswagen outside a McDonalds restaurant. This concludes a grounded feel to a video that followed a narrative of the artist showing the audience a town he is proud to call his come whist maintaining elements of nostalgia.