Analysis Of Existing Videos

FIRST ANALYSIS

The first video I am going to analyse is 'Die By The Drop' by The Dead Weather, this video also has a 'teaser trailer'; which I have included here.

The Dead Weather - Die By The Drop (2010) [3:40]

          The video for 'Die by the Drop', by The Dead Weather was made in 2010 and features the two band members; Jack White and Alison Mosshart. The Dead Weather are of a similiar genre to The Kills, hence why I chose to analyse this video as oppose to a traditional pop video. This video follows an almost monochromatic colour scheme with the lack of colour, everything's pretty dark and gloomy; this fits in with the song and the type of band they are. It also shows a lot of character which can relate back to the artists in the band, as they themselves are very iconic amongst the music industry.

         

          This video starts with a 5 second shot of Jack White with a large ball of light, this shot is quite jerky, which matches in with the beat of the music, this is a good intro as it sets the theme for the rest of the video.  

  At seconds 5-6 there's a shot of Alison Mosshart looking at people wearing masks, this is quite odd and unusual, this shot is also very dark with not much lightingm, as the previous shot was also.

  There's then a cut back to a close-up shot of the ball of light, this is a quick shot and we then get a shot which appears to be onlooking Jack White from inside this ball; which seems as though it's almost made up of string. The focus in this shot alternates between Jack and the ball, this also matches the beat of the song.

  After this there's an out of focus medium shot of someone looking down with nothing else in the mise-en-scene, this is a short shot and lasts for no longer than 1 second. There's then a straight cut to an out of focus close-up shot of an instrument being played, this shot then comes into focus. We then get a 1 second, long shot of two figures between open 'creepy' gates surrounded by smoke in the mise-en-scene. The lighting in this scene comes from the smoke almost and it appears to be back lit.

  It then goes back to a medium shot of Jack White spinning the ball of light, this is a reoccurring scene in the video so far and has appeared 3 times within the first ten seconds.We then have a medium shot of Alison Mosshart looking up, we then get an eyeline match to what she is looking at; this is a tracking shot showing people wearing quite 'african-style' masks with instruments.

  We now have a close-up shot just showing Alison's face with eccentric make-up, this then cuts to a long shot of her stood inbetween the gates seen previously, this shot is also lit from behind where the smoke appears to be coming from.

  After this we get a cut to a medium-long shot of Alison sat in an old fashioned style chair. This shot is quite jerky and matches the music. We then get a close up shot of the same instument as before; this appears to be a practically identical shot. This shot follows the rule of thirds as the instrument is in the left third, whilst the middle third is a lighter background, then the right hand side third is black. This shot pans across quickly to somebody with what appears to be facepaint or a mask on.

  We then have a shot again of the group of people at the gates walking closer towards the camera, in this shot they are silohetted against the backlight. This then cuts to a shot of Jack White in the same chair that we previously saw Alison in. This shot starts off quite faded looking and light, but then on one of the beats in the music it goes darker and then cuts away again. It cuts to a shot of Alison on her own and then the figures at the gates even closer, so they're now filling the whole shot.

  For a second here the shot is black and we then get a medium, upper body shot of Alison Mosshart as the lyrics to the song begin. This shot lasts the duration of the whole first line before cutting to some of the people with instruments and then cuts to a shot of Alison in the chair again for the next line of the song. When this line finishes the shot jerks and shakes, in a ghostly way as the shots appeasr to overlap ontop of each other. This then cuts back to Jack with the light ball again, this is a shot from inside the ball.

  The rest of the video seems to follow a similiar pattern with these being the only locations/shot types being used.
          There are some other interesting shots within this video. One of these is the shot at 49 seconds, this shows Jack White sat in the old fashioned chair; in this shot there's another shot in the same place but with Jack doing different stuff overlayed. I'd like to use this effect in my music video as I like the idea of how the different layers of video work. In this music video it looks good as an effect but I don't think it would work with some songs in different genres and with different styles of video. It's quite an 'edgy' thing to do and fits in with the 'creepiness' of the rest of the video.

  Another visually interesting shot would be, at 54 seconds; this shot is also in the chair, at the beginning of the shot it's Jack sat in the chair, and it then merges into Alison within a second. I like this shot as it makes the video more exciting for the audience. The change also matches in with the change of vocalist, as when Jack's on the screen he's singing, but then Alison is singing as she appears.
 
          This video as a whole has a very dark mise-en-scene and doesn't use many different locations, there's also a limited cast. This is a good video for me to analyse as when I'm making my own music video I will be restricted in locations and cast memebers so this has shown me how to make a good video even just using a couple of different locations.
  The video is all quite surreal, with the strange people with instruments and the props, such as old dead tree like structures. These all relate back to the song being odd, also the title of the song is 'Dead by the Drop', the word 'dead' tells us this video and song aren't going to be the happiest of things.
  The editing in this video is all quite edgy and odd also, there's lots of different cuts to the beat of the song. As well  the camera goes in and out of focus to the beat of the song, I haven't seen this happen before in music videos; so it makes this quite a unique video.
  I like this video as it's unique and stands out against the majority of music videos out there.

SECOND ANALYSIS

The second video I am going to analyse is 'Peacebone' by Animal Collective, I have included this video below.

Animal Collective - Peacebone (2007) [5:14]

     The video for 'Peacebone', by Animal Collective was made in 2007, so is now 4 years old, however; this is still an iconic music video relevant to what I want to do now. It's quite an odd, surreal video, which is what I am hoping to achieve in my video. Animal Collective are on the same record label as The Kills, so it has the same institution and is of a similiar genre and style, this makes it relevant to the song I've chosen to do. This video has some large heads in, seemingly made of paper mache, I found this video after I had the initial idea to do this, and now I've found this video it's made my idea more solid as it works well for this type of music. The video also has some locations similiar to where I'd like to do some filming, for example, in forested areas. It also has some quite abstract shots, this is something I'd like to recreate in my own video.

      This video starts off with some shots which are sped up, a lot of these are establishing shots of locations and characters, the cinematography of these shots is quite jerky and are seemingly filmed with a handheld camera deliberately quite shakey and amateurish. Some of these shots are in 'negative' as oppose to how we would normally see it, these shots add interest to the video. All of these clips are edited  in timing with the opening fast music, this lasts 27 seconds; at this point in the song a slower drum bassline comes in and the shot edit changes get slower and the shots get longer.
  There's a shot which starts at 29 seconds and lasts until 35 seconds, showing an upward tracking shot of a tree, this is the longest shot seen so far, this makes the audience believe that the lyrics of the song may be starting soon. We are then given a 5/6 second shot of a muddy water, at the end of this shot the lyrics begin. This is were the character of a man with a large 'fake' head on is seen walking across the shot, this relates to the man singing the lyrics of the song.
  During the slower lyrical parts of the song the editing is slower and the shots are longer, but then as some parts are sang quicker the shots are also cut quickly.
  At 1:00 into the song there is a burnout flash over the top of the whole shot, this is at the same time as a high beat in the song. It is also at the same time as the character bangs into an electricity pilon. This effect happens also at 1:07, when the higher beat in the song also occurs, we also see a quick shot of the electricity pilon at this point.
  At 1:30, we see the character take his human 'fake' mask off, underneath is a strange creature, it could be seen as him trying to 'fit in' and being ashamed of the way he looks. We are given some medium shots of the creature on it's own with a plain black background. At this point in the video it is getting picked up by a girl in an expensive red car. There are some faster shots when the end of each line ends and this is repeated a couple of times.
  There's some quite surreal shots of this strange girl with the creature having a picnic in a forested area with quite calming lighting as though it is sunset. We then see them both running through a field together, this is almost a parody of the traditional 'love scene' seen in a lot of videos.
  We also see shots of them together with the same black background as earlier seen of the creature on its own, this puts all of the audiences attention onto them.
  At 3:04 in the song we see a strange/surreal shot of a creature coming out of the girls mouth, it then appears to make noises which are in the song. We are given medium shots of this and then long shots of the other creature and then close up shots of the girl.
  We then have sped-up shots of a car going through a road at night, this just shows the lights going past and creates a starnge effect which goes with the beat of the song. At 3:25 we have a long shot of a fair at night, this is also sped-up, this is also an establishing shot as we are given shots of the girl and creature at the fair next.
  After about 30 seconds we are given shots of them both with the black background again, followed by shots of them breaking up mailboxes.
  At 4:40 in the song we are shown them being chased by police, and as we are given shots without the police car in, there are reds and blues over the top of the shots to give the audience the impression that the police car is still there without being actually in the shot.

     This video as a whole is an interesting video and keeps the audience intrigued even though the song is 5:14 minutes long. The video starts off happy and with a lot of light colours within the mise-en-scene, however, as the song gets further along it becomes a lot darker, this relates to the storyline of the video. I'm using this video as inspiration for my final video as I'd like to create something quite surreal and strange.
  I like this video as it's quite abstract and surreal, however it still has a structured storyline to it. When making my own video I may attempt to incorporate some sort of storyline into it, but I'm not sure yet whether to have it just very unrelated an surreal.

THIRD ANALYSIS

The third video I am going to analyse is 'Still Life' by The Horrors, I have included this video below.

The Horrors - Still Life (2011)

     The video for 'Still Life', by The Horrors was made this year in 2011; so it's up to date with the current music scene for this genre. The Horrors are of a similiar genre to The Kills, who I have chosen a song by to create my music video to. The whole video is quite abstract and surreal and doesn't really relate to the lyrics as such. The Horrors are on XL Recordings, so are on an independent label, like the previous bands I've looked at. The majority of this video has multiple layers to it and this is something i'd like to recreate in my own video. I like this video as it's quite calming and goes well alongside the genre of the song, this video has inspired me to change my song idea from 'U R A FEVER' to 'Tape Song'; I've decided to change the song as Tape Song is a much calmer relaxed song, so I can make a video more like this for it.

     The first ten seconds show a rough rising sun, with colour visualisations over the top, this sets the theme for the rest of the music video. We then are shown different flashing lights until 0:19, this is where we first see the main singer of the band who is the main subject of the video.
  We see the main singer of The Horrors flashing slowly behind the colour visualisations; he comes in and out of focus at different points. At 0:20 seconds we see a light in the centre starting to get bigger, this carries on as we see the singer fading in out out of shot in a close up. This carries on for 15 seconds, when it fills the full screen up, at this point we see some of the different band members in close up behind the colours. We then have some close up shots which fade in and out in black and white, these show the different band members.
  At 0:45 seconds the main beat of the song comes in, at this point we have an upward shot of the clouds going by, this is sped-up, and it's as though the camera is rotating. Over the top of these shots we have colour visualisations fading in and out of different colours. This carries on, and we see the main singer through the clouds as a different layer.
  At 0:58 the vocals come into the track and the singer takes the main focus of the video. The background is a plain colour as to not make it so confusing against the different coloured layers. Also, at this point the face is overlayed multiple times at different levels, this makes the video quite surreal; it makes the video more interesting as it's not just a straight close-up of the singer singing the vocals.
  At 1:10, we get a medium shot of a different band member with an instrument, this changes into a different band member with a different instrument. Over the top of these shots we can still see a silohette type outline in colour of the main singer still.
  At 1:43 we are given a long shot showing the full band, this tracks around to show us all of the members performing the song. There's some cuts to medium shots of different band members with their instruments. Each of these shots lasts around 5 seconds, which is quite long, but maches with the pace of the song.
  At 2:47 there are some interesting shots of the band members with a 3D cellophane effect over the top, this adds interest to the video and turns a typically boring shot into one which is quite odd and surreal.
  At 2:57 we are given shots of the sea and various underwater scenes.These scenes then turn quite scientific and look like cells and stuff moving in pyschodelic colours. We then have shots of bees, and flowers; the sky shots from the beginning of the video then come into focus over the top of the shots.
  From here to the end a lot of the shot types are very similiar or the same, a lot of this video is repetitive compared to the previous two videos I've looked at.

     Through a lot of this video it's just colour visualisations and the lead singer, however this seemingly 'simple' idea makes a fitting and interesting video to go with the song. I like the different effects added onto the 'normal' shots in this video, it makes for an interesting video which matches in with the song genre.

Audience Research

For my audience research I have asked a range of questions to help me decide which type of music and music video to do. I have also asked an age related question to see the demographics of my audience, as most people will be between 16-19; they will be students, which is in group E on the National Readership Survey's socio-economic grades.


POLL!!! (write about results of poll)

History of Music Videos

  In the crudest way, a music video can be seen as simply just a promotional piece to increase the sales of a song, to make record companies and artists more money.  Although, over the past 50 years they have become arguably more important than the song itself.

  Music Videos date back to as long ago as the 1930s, with short films being played to music in jukebox type devices; these were called ‘vita phones’; however, these aren’t really included in the music video history.

  Music Videos, as we know them were first established in the 60’s through the form of films and documentaries, from musicians such as; The Beatles and Bob Dylan. The 60s was when the music industry first kicked off so there was more need for music video’s to promote musicians, for record companies to get sales and money, music videos also allowed the population access to view musicians as oppose to just hearing their songs on radio.

  Through the past 50 year’s since then music video production and the consumption of them has vastly changed. It can be debated whether music videos these days are better or worse than back in the 60’s but they certainly are a lot different.

     The first glimpses of what could be seen as a ‘music video’ came around in the 60s, this was in the era of The Beatles, at this time The Beatles were a huge band not just in England but worldwide. To keep up with the demand of fans wanting to see them perform they made a series of self-featuring films. These films included sections which showed the band performing their songs, this allowed more people access to them as a band. One of their most famous video’s from these is for ‘I am the Walrus’; this song was in the Beatles' 1967 television film and album Magical Mystery Tour.

  As well as this other artists began touching on ‘music videos’, for example DA. Pennbaker directed an introduction video for Bob Dylan’s documentary; this showed words on cards being shown in time with the song played over the top.

     In the early 70s music videos took a whole new level, with the likes of David Bowie releasing videos like ‘Space Oddity. This video was futuristic for it’s time and showed Bowie performing his track. Although looking back at it now this video is awfully put together, at the time this was all that technology allowed.

    Later in 1975 we had Queen’s, Bohemian Rhapsody; this is widely known as the first ‘proper’ music video. It broke all boundaries of videos before it and cost £5,000 to make, which was a lot of money at the time. It shows voyeurism and narcissism, as the audience are looking at this performance without the artists knowing. The camera work and mise-en-scene in this video also raised standards of what was seen before. In the mise-en-scene we see advanced lighting, dry ice and more expensive performance equipment. The camerawork gives us low angle shots to show how the artist is dominant and also a Kaleidoscope effect is used.

 

     The 80s showed us a whole new batch of music videos in a different style. Through the 80s a lot of music videos showed narcissism as we had seen earlier in the Queen video, this became a trend as so many videos used it.

  In the early 80s we had the likes of Wham! Making videos such as Club Tropicana, this even has a narrative at the beginning which leads into the song. It uses voyeurism as the audience are onlookers onto what’s happening into the video for enjoyment.

  Later on in the 80’s we had Duran Duran releasing their video for Rio. This shows a luxury lifestyle and the band on a yacht, this isn’t something that the everyday public would be able to experience. It’s showing a better way of life and gives the audience pleasure from the fact they’re watching this in the video and can aspire to have a lifestyle like what they can see in the video.

  In 1986 we had Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel which broke many conventions of music videos at this time. This unusual yet iconic video set the standards for all future videos. This was really the point where music videos became more important in the music industry. Most people even nowadays know about this video as it has left an impression on the public, this is what all artists aspire to do with their videos.

     The 90s saw the start of videos really breaking conventions and challenging ideology within society.

  The early 90’s saw bands like REM making music videos which show beliefs and challenge conformity. For example, the video to Losing my Religion shows a challenge of the concept of religion. This video went were other videos hadn’t been before as no other mainstream video had questioned religion in this way. There’s visual symbolism in this video also, as the objects on the window fall off and break, this can show the idea of religion breaking. This video relates fully to the lyrics of the song in a serious way, this hadn’t really been seen before.

  Through the mid 90s we saw a spur of more artistic videos, for example Street Spirit by Radiohead, this video is shot in black and white and shows lighting movement and fades/overlays.

  In the mid nineties bands such as Green Day released quirky videos which broke conventions, for example ‘When I Come Around’ and ‘Basket Case’. This shows how different genres of music had different videos to appeal to their relative audience. These videos are quiet surreal and appeal to a more niche audience than the usual mainstream stuff of this time.

  Towards the late nineties we saw the birth of the iconic Fatboy Slim videos as he released Praise You, which featured ‘flashmob’ dancing, in the middle of a public place.

     The ‘noughties’ saw Fatboy Slim go on to release more iconic videos, such as Right Here, Right Now; which showed the evolution of mankind. Also we had the release of Weapon of Choice, which can be argued as being the best music video of all time. This depicts Christopher Walkin dancing through an empty hotel lobby and flying through the air. This video shows humour and voyeurism as we are onlookers to the action. This was directed by Spike Jonze, as was the later released Buddy Holly by Weezer. This video related back to ‘Happy Days’, a TV programme from the 50’s, this idea hadn’t being done before.

  The late 2000’s saw more artistic videos break through, with the likes of Arctic Monkeys releasing Crying Lightning and Cornerstone, both of these were Directed by Richard Ayoade, who is most well known as being in the comedy IT Crowd. Both of these videos are so bad they are actually quite intriguing. For Arctic Monkeys their videos probably aren’t all as ‘promotional’ as more mainstream music as their videos are rarely aired on major music channels so they can play about more with their videos. Their Crying Lightning music video can be related back to Duran Duran’s Rio, in a spoof-like way; as they are on a boat through a stormy sea with fog. This type of video however fits in with their music, if a more ‘pop’ song did this video it would probably be highly unsuccessful.

     Music video’s have changed so much over the past 50 years, and nowadays we have access to hundreds of music channels, alongside the likes of youtube; so there is no end to the vast amount of videos we can watch. Also, with the music industry so huge it can often be seen as the music video being more important than the music itself, as popstars are selling a whole ‘package’ not just a song. This can be seen through the Lady GaGa videos, when she puts a mediocre pop song with a music video with high production values it becomes an instant success. 

Brief

For my A2 media studies coursework I am creating a music video for an existing song. I will also be designing it a digipak cover and a magazine advertisement for the digipak release.