The video that I chose, Foux de fa fa by Flight of the Conchords, has several important details. The most obvious detail in the video is that very little of it is spoken in English, most of the video is in French. The first time that I saw this video was in my French class, and the more words that we learned in French, the easier it was to understand the hilarity of the video. If you don’t understand what they are saying, while it is a very funny video, you will miss many of the humorous things that occur. For example, at the end of the video the dark haired girl asks the man with sideburns “parle vous francais?” (Do you speak French?) and he says no, even though he has been singing in French for most of the video. This is just one example of how important spoken language is to the video, and how it enhances the quality of the video.
Another important element in the video is the focus. I am drawn to the guy with the sideburns to me he appears to be the main character in the video. Even when they are at the supermarket and he isn’t talking, he is still the focus in the background and his presence adds to the overall image of the video.
An additional detail that helps to complete the music video is the way that they make all of the colors brighter and more exaggerated when they start speaking French. The fact that they keep repeating phrases over and over make the tune catchy and also help you to understand what is happening in the video, even if you don’t speak French. Even though this video is intended to entertain it has elements that allow it to be educational, such as repeating phrases, to help learn French, it also has artistic elements, changes in color, that make this video much more than just entertaining if you study it. When I first watched this video in French class, it never occurred to me how it could contain so many different elements in just a simple video.
