Two Door Cinema Club - Music Video

Something Good Can Work




The reason I chose Two Door Cinema club to analyse is because there are elements of the video that are quite like ours.

The simple background does not change, except in colour, throughout the whole video. There is a part in our video that is a simple background and it continues to reappear throughout the video. The effectiveness of using a simple background like this with just the band/artist is to focus mainly on them. This would be more useful once the band has gained some status and reputation and secured a place within the industry - it isn't necessarily to impress the audience with money but to impress them with the personality of the band. It is also done by a lot of independent record labels to save money, and like this band, it can be done quite early in their career - with this genre, a simple music video often works very well and becomes very popular.

The use of very fast shots through the chorus makes the band look like they are almost still images that are being changed. It's quite like a part of our music video, it will be located in the woods and the lead singer will move around different parts of the woods in this way. It's a more exciting tone for the band to go with in their music video - especially if it is simple like this one. 

Blur - Parklife music video analysis

My partner and I have chosen our song that will be creating our music video to, which is Alright by Supergrass. 
I have chosen to do an analysis of Blur as they are very close in genre and style of music - Park Life particularly because it, much like Alright, is a fun, care-free song and I thought the music video could influence some of the themes or conventions we include in our own. 

The video has very bright colours, which show the fun individual feel of the band. Their image is very clearly being shown through this music video as the type of band that doesnt take themselves 'too seriously' which is quite like the video we wanted to create. The camera stays static through quite a lot of the video, not following people as much as it stands and has people pass it. This is to show the idea of all the different people that go through their 'Park Life' and the fun part about this video is all of the people are quite random in what they do in the video. For example, one of the band members randomly takes his glasses off and puts it up to the camera, while at another point they twirl in a shopping trolley past the camera and out of view again. This adds a very young, fun, yet slightly rebellious feel to the band - much like their target audience may have been perceived. 

The music video includes some stereotypical British aspects, such as a letterbox, ice cream van, buses, black cabs and British style houses. This is to show the ‘Commoner’ style of music and to show the band as not only fun and carefree but proud to be British, which would have gained a lot of enthusiasm from their target audience at this time. 

 
The music video includes a lot of close ups of the singer, which follows the conventions of a band, though having him pulling a lot of funny faces or posing adds to the carefree image of the band.  Other conventions that they include is the enhancement of lyrics through visuals, singing to the words and the reference of looking.

Strange camera angles make the video seem less ordinary and make it more interesting to watch. This and the use of different lenses which distort the image. 

 
 
Having the band members be quite active with the walking or moving that they do within the video not only makes it more interesting and humorous for the audience to watch but also resembles how they act when playing live. This is something that would definitely appeal to audience members that had seen them live as they would recognise the personality coming through and feel like the video and artists are more personal to them. 

This music video has definitely given me some ideas on how to incorporate random, quirky and fun things into my video while keeping it in line with the meaning of the song.

Artists That Fit in and Go Against Adorno and Horkheimer

Pixie Lott is a prime example of artists that have been processed through the 'machine' as we can see the before and after. When Pixie first became big she was quite the adorable, cute character - often wearing classy, cute outfits with the odd bit of leg or chest showing. Now that Pixie has made it even bigger you can see the transformations beginning. Pixie in some of her more recent videos and concerts has been wearing tiny shorts that reveals a lot of her thighs and low cut tops - all to sell her sexuality and further sell her act as a whole. From this: 

To This. Not only has her look changed but she's dancing more provocatively and has now collaborated with a rap artists, which isn't necessarily her kind of music - another choice the 'machine' would have made.

An artist that completely goes against this theory - and finding more than a few proved quite difficult - is Ed Sheeran. Ed Sheeran writes his own music, the style and/or genre of which has not changed and he wears exactly what he wants, uncaring of whether it will 'attract' the people to his music or not. In fact, he is so casual about his look that he turned up to an award ceremony wearing a hoody - surrounded by artists in suits and tuxedos. The fact that Ed doesn't have to try over do it or try to hard makes his music even more personal to him and more real for the audience that watches. 

Ed Sheeran differs from Pixie Lott quite a bit, even in his videos the record label have allowed him to wear what he always does - even his most recent, most successful videos such as 'Small Bump':

Ed sheeran is a good example of what type of individuality we would like for our band, we don't want the band to be seen as any kind of sell out, we want them to be true to their music, fan and image - having their own style and having created their own personality for the band. 

Coldplay - Paradise

• Paradise - animals, elephants are all typically what an exotic paradise would look like - just like the beautiful orange sunset

• Animals being caged up like people within society

• Animals being caged up like people within society
• Worlds link with visuals - cardboard box - intertextual reference to other music videos
• Orange sunset is a goal for elephant to get to 
• 'dreamed' - lyrics and visuals suggest the mix of fantasy and reality 
• Concert links into conventions of a band

• 'Madagasca' intertextuality
• Intertextuality with a film as it is made to look like an advert
• Music band are an elephant family with different characteristics - band takes lyrics seriously but not themselves - adds to the image of a carefree, fun band that are serious about the industry
• Visuals do not completely illustrate, they enhance and give another meaning.

Jay Z - 99 Problems

• There is a large number of cuts which could represent the fact that he has '99 problems' - there is so much going on in his life (lyrics and visuals matching)
• The lack of Scopophilia, considering it is a hip hop song, reinforces the idea of women not being a 'problem' for Jay Z
• The man Crunching up the heart represents how love/women are unimportant

• Though there is a close up of the $ chain, there is not all that much again considering it is a typical convention of this genre. That could be to show that he has problems, such as being from the poorer more gangster parts of America
• The visuals of police and what is being said link with lyrics
• The word 'bitch' is said just as a dog shows up, then there is a cut to a shot of women dancing, perhaps to be offensive to women.
• rapping about being 'papped' by the paparazzi as the visuals show police record pictures being taken - that was their claim to fame

• hip hop genre shows a typical 'thug life' graffiti, police, criminality, derogatory treatment of women - women in bikinis - illegal dog fighting, prison, fences, setting - Brooklyn - run down, basketball courts, balaclavas, shooting, street dancing

• Record shop repeated throughout - old school - keeping it real - representing him as having musical integrity 

• Black and white is quite ghetto like. 
• black and white could also be seen as opposing old romantic new york films
• race tensions - police are all white (portrayed as the bad people)
• exit signs crop up throughout - occurring motif  

Purpose of a Music Video

1. To create a recognisable image that will appeal to the target audience
2. Marketing tool for the artist/band
3. Increase airplay of the song
4. Create more interest in the album
5. Sell singles, albums and the band/artists (brand)

Andrew Goodwin - Theorist

1.  The record company's demand for exposure of the artist will mean a lot of close up shots of the singer or band
2. There will be a relationship between the music and visuals 
3. There will be a relationship between lyrics and visuals 
4. There will be genre characteristics for example - rock music will have a live performance
5. There will be references to the notion of looking eg. television screens, mirrors, people looking at each other/at the audience
6. There will be some use of intertextual referencing