Analysis of surrealism and distortion used in the music video for the song "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?" by the Arctic Monkeys

The music video for "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High" by the Arctic Monkeys is Directed by Nabil Elderkin more commonly known as Nabil. We were initially fans of this video as we are fans of the band however we also discovered that there were some aspects of the music video which we would like to integrate into our film.
There are many surreal moments in this film video as it is about a man hallucinating as he walks down the streets of London. We were inspired by this video as we would also like some parts of our film to have a surreal, dreamy feel.

Drinking, as well as drugs is heavily dealt with in the music video. This could be used to warn the dangers of drinking and doing drugs, or it could be used to promote the idea of it. Elderkin uses Alex being drunk and high to his advantage by using a lot of point of view shots with shaky cam. This then emphasises his drunken state and puts the viewer in the position of Alex. This effect has been used by Elderkin really well to show to a viewer how the behaviours of Alex have been influenced.

As a viewer we witness a number of visual effects which help to add to the effect of Alex being high. Some of these shots are from the point of view of Alex and some are showing what he is feeling. By using these visual effects, Elderkin can show to a viewer an interesting way of looking at his video, so guaranteeing multiple views to understand the video. Through the use of these scenes surrealism is conveyed to slightly obscure the realist factor which is conveyed in the video.