Mumford and Sons - Winter Winds (Music Video)

Mumford and Sons are a British folk rock band that have been around since 2007, the band have one studio album entitiled 'Sign No More' which was released in 2009. The video I have chosen to analyse is that of the song 'winter winds' the video has a mixture of Narrative and perfomance as it is appears to show the band trying to get to a performance before it starts, but also shows some narrative that links in with the lyrics of the song.

The music video for winter winds is set in the countryside and in a small town, which is what you would associate with the genre of the music. The video starts off showing the members of the band running out of the woods covered in straw. The band are dressed in collared shirts, waistcoats and trousers, and look like the 1930's working class, although at the same time they still wear clothes which come from the current era like the straight cut jeans worn by Marcus Mumford throughout the video. The haircuts that the band have are also similar to that of the 1930's which was when folk music was most popular prior to its comeback through folk rock. The clothes and haircuts are only references as they are not exactly as they would have been in 1930's which can be seen through the hair products and shoes worn by the band members.

The opening of the video shows an establishing shot of three characters who turn out to be the band members, they run out onto a road and the camera zooms out to give a better of view of the setting of the characters. The camera cuts to Marcus Mumford walking through a corn field carrying an old chair and an acoustic guitar, the camera is zoomed in to show only his waistcoat, the edge of the guitar and the handle of the chair. Establishing shots and zoomed shots are very popular for the genre, this is because they can be used to show the typical countryside/village envirionment that is common within folk music.  

Throughout the Narrative of the video the band continue to appear as though they are the working class from the 1930's. Marcus Mumford can be seen dragging a chair and holding an acoustic guitar whilst walking through an overgrown field, he then has a spade and starts to dig at something but is then shown walking off again. The video looks as though it is going to stick to simply being in this 30's sort of style but then the band are shown laughing with a security guard at the entrance to a gig, and then walking onto the stage. The band are also seen travelling to that performance in a car and on a train.

Two different time periods are going on at the same time in the video, the one that is showing the band travelling and appearing at a modern day performance and the one of the band travelling in the 1930's. At some points in the video the two can't easily be made out from  one and other until something else happens and allows us to see them either in the countryside or shows a hint to the modern day lives on the band. 


The travelling to the show which the band are going to play could also represent the bands rise to fame, as they are shown having fun all the time along the way there. The fun they had whilst making an album and become well known was mentioned in an interview with Marcus Mumford and this could be a reference