Textual Analysis of White Noise - Disclosure

'White Noise' was created by electronic music due, Disclosure who combined with AlunaGeorge, another electric music duo who provided the vocals. Consequently we end up with a deeply electronic soundtrack which uses a innovative and complicated, yet catchy rhythm and hook melody. The video is heavily concept based with narrative running alongside it. Like most dance videos it has a love story between 2 characters and includes lights and dancing, but not in the conventional club setting.

There are very few direct links between the lyrics and the visuals, aside from the lyric, "You got me washed out, washed out, colour drained" which a large majority of the concept of the song is based around. The setting is in very dull, deserted and decaying buildings which seemed to have suffered from intense urbanisation. However, the man seems to have made the most out of this and instead see's the abandonment as a form of escapeism and way to detach himself from the pressures of society, everyday life and work. In terms of narrative, we assume he is a security guard from the coat he is wearing and the fact that he has access to all of these deralict buildings which would usually be off limits. It is quite an unexpected storyline; I though he was going to unlock it and either find people in there, or that he was going to set up a party of his own and hold it as the video rolls into night.


There is a much stronger relationship between the music and the visuals. For example, when the first beat drops, the man starts dancing as if he were listening to the song, which is portrayed through the prop of headphones. When the beat slows down and the more mellow bassline is playing, the man goes back to his more everyday life, which shows him walking through various parts of town which furter establishes the desolate setting, for example, close up shots of people smoking, a dog barking aggressively behind a wire fence, graffiti etc. It seems to be as if when the music drops, he drops his ordinary life in order to be isolated within his dance.

All of the characters within the music video are actors rather than the actual musicans themselves. However there is an additional concept involved, which disclosure use within all of their content, including other music videos such as, "F For You", "Latch" and, "You an Me", which is that they somehow embed the disclosure logo - a white outline of a face - into the visuals. This is a combination of clever marketing and also adds to the narrative as it kind of represents a spark between two people, which would be appealing to the audience as it is what most people are looking for. There is hardly any reference to the notion of looking apart from the section towards the end of the narrative where the man is dancing for the woman and she is almost admiring him, despite her slight embarrasement.


Overall, the video is narrative and concept base, with no performance of any kind. This music video grew on me as at first, I found it a little repetitive and cliché however after analysing it further it makes sense. The representation is perfect for the setting whcih again contributes to the success of this music video.