Thursday 29 September 2011

Music Video Research: Video 3- Kasabian, LSF




There is no specific image that goes with the chorus or verses as the performance and narrative are linked. However the music and narrative are strongly linked when the drum beat matches when the prisoners ram the door. We see the story pretty much all the way through, from the start of the song to when they break out. We do not see why the prisoners are there but it is suggested from the song lyrics as they involve drugs and prostitutes.

The star is presenting a "rebel" look as his clothes are very casual showing the band are not "preppy". Also their attitudes and actions during the narrative show they are rebels. The use of close ups during the narrative suggest the audience should sympathise with the prisoners and the band this links with the lyrics as we are supposed to sympathise with them "we've got our backs to the wall" and possibly idolise the band. The location of the video links with the lyrics as well, as the song refers to drugs, bomb and prostitutes.
Andrew Goodwin would say this video is amplified as it is linked to the song but does not act out every line. The video is suggestive to the lyrics, suggesting the women are in prison because of drugs and prostitution however we still sympathise with them.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Music Video Research: Video 2- The Kaiser Chiefs- Ruby




There is no specific image to the chorus or verses as the performance and narrative are entwined and cut between them regularly. The narrative of the video is an city being built from scratch with the band in the middle. However the narrative does not follow the story of the song.

The band have equal camera time and this suggests the band are the stars rather than just the front man. This could also suggest they want to focus on the music. The costume is not showing the band as stars but as ordinary people, there is no costume changes or fancy cars etc.

According to Andrew Goodwin, this video is disjunctive as it has no link to the song's story.

Music Video Research: Video 1- The View, Same Jeans



The images follow the song's structure as during the verses we see the singer walking around his hotel room, the video then flows into a underground gig as the music goes into the chorus. The video follows this pattern throughout, so when the chorus is played it is at the gig and when the verse is played we are in the narrative part of the video. Also the editing responds to the pace of the song. During the chorus, the edit becomes faster paced and during the verses the edit is slightly slower.

The video follows the story of the song as we see the singer (object of the song) at parties and gigs without going home or changing and we therefore assume that he has had "the same jeans on for four days". However, the song does not take the lyrics literally, the images do not follow the lyrics but suggest that is what they are doing, Andrew Goodwin would call this amplifying.


The star's image is meant to look slightly bohemian and "indie". He had no costume changes as this would counteract the narrative. The image of the star is that he likes to gig, go to parties and drink. This fits with the "indie" lifestyle of bands and fans.
The use of cinematography helps the audience to understand the narrative, like when we see him drunk the camera is wobbling. The cinematography also allows the narrative to flow easily, as the camera zooms in and out of the singer and reveals him in a different place. Also the location and lighting during the gig suggest it is an underground, illegal or secret gig which goes with the "indie" lifestyle.

This video is definitely amplified, as the images do not follow the lyrics literally but suggests the story of the song through image. It could be suggested that the video is slightly disjunctive and the gig had nothing to do with the narrative.

Friday 23 September 2011

Andrew Goodwin- Research

Andrew Goodwin says that the video clip responds to the audio. The five key areas to a music video are synaesthesia, narrative and performance, the star image, the relationship of visuals to the music and technical aspects. Synaesthesia is when you "see" the sound, narrative and performance is when the narrative is hinted at then filled in with performance. The star image is how the video shows the "star" so big label stars will have close ups and cars etc whereas independent bands might focus more on the music, technical aspects hold the music video together. The one we have focused on is relation of visuals to song, a video and can be illustrated  (the video copies the song word for word), amplified (where the narrative is hinted) or disjunctive (the narrative has no link to the song).

Thursday 22 September 2011

Analysis of Busted Video- Planning

I think we did well with the video, the video looked professional. I think I worked well with the team to plan however, I think I underestimated how much planning there needed to be.
I have learnt that you need to plan thoroughly and next time I will spend more time planning and organising.