Daft Punk - Around the world music video analysis

 'Around the world' is a song by abstract artists Daft Punk; taken from the album 'homework' released in 1997. The song is most recognised for its simplistic and repeated lyrics, but also for its memorable music video which was directed by Michel Gondry. The video was very unique for its time of release and took the attention of many, the typical music video in the late 90’s consisted of mainly performance from the band or artist. Around the world became hugely popular and soon became a hit song in the dance charts.

The music video contains five different groups of characters dressed as robots, synchronised swimmers, skeletons, mummies and athletes with prosthetic heads performing a dance sequence on a circle platform in the form a vinyl record. Each group of four represent a different instrument, according to Gondry the robots link to the futuristic edit use of the voice singing in the track, the figures dressed in tracksuits with prosthetic heads link to the fast pace bass guitar, the female swimmers go with the high pitched keyboard, the skeletons with the guitar line and the mummies with the beat of the drum, each of these are meant to act as a visual representation of the song. 

The video consisted of many shots angles and camera movements throughout. It was opened with a long establishing shot showing everything within the scene. Zooms in and out were used to focus the viewer on specific shots, such as individual dancers in the dance groups. Tracking shots were used to follow the movement of some of the characters, especially the robots as they are one of the3 main features in the video, tracking particularly in a circular motions to link with lyrics and title ‘around the world’. Ariel/ birds eye view shots were also used various times in the video to capture all angles of the dance being performed below as the stage rotated. 

Lighting, artificial only, was used to create a certain mood for the video and liked well with the dance style of the track; the majority of the video was shot in dark lighting with only the interchanging, flashing circle lights shining on the back drop behind the dancers on the stage. The change in the lights were edited to the beat of the song so they flashed in a different colour as the music dropped or the bridge changed; the lighting used were the main focus of the video over the dancers. 

The editing on the video was minimal other than clean cut transitions from each shot, which would typically be used to create verisimilitude but this is contradicted by the strange narrative of the video. the sound used in the video is also minimal with no added dietetic sound for effect, only the track with the use of guitar, keyboard, bass guitar etc. However the vocals have been auto-tuned and edited in a futuristic robot like voice to make the song sound quirky and unique. 

Mise-en-scene in an important factor of this music video, particularly costume which is one of the key aspects. Since this video the robots in the silver helmets are not iconic to daft punk and are related to them and used in every video since. The five groups of dancers are each individually styled with very specific costumes which make each one stand out from another, each group is used to represents the diversity of people around the world which again links to the title of the song and the only lyrics used. There’s little use of props within the video as the characters involved are dancing throughout with no need for any added props. The rounded stage used in the video is shaped to look like a vinyl record which links to the time period, the style of the music and the dancing performed throughout, the shape of the stage could also link to the title of the song ‘around the world’ the stage also included a higher platform with a set of stairs leading up to it, all in the same light grey shade to blend in with the background and not stand out too much in front of the lights used in the backdrop.