DW: 'So Calm' by Cave Painting - Genre and Representation

This is the conceptual video for 'So Calm' by Cave Painting, a song taken from their first album Votive Life.

Genre

• According to Andrew Goodwin's 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (1992), music videos tend to comply to a certain set of rules, that can be found in all genres in some way. Being an indie rock band, the fact that this is a conceptual video is quite common and, despite being signed to Third Rock Recordings, having no band appearance in the video is also rather conventional of the genre. However their disjunctive style does actually promote the bands image; it seems to suggest that the band do not want to comply to mainstream music conventions and selflessly promote themselves by appearing in the video, instead they rely on the obscurity of the video, perhaps, to promote their band and their image. 
• Goodwin's "notion of looking" can be applied in this video; the old television set that shows images of the women involved in the video gives the impression that the audience is being distanced from the action - watching it through a second screen rather than first hand through just the audience's computer or television screen. This adds to the disjuncture in this video, its aim is to not involve the audience physically, to in fact involve them emotionally by the creation of enigmas, revolving mainly around the mystery of the female characters who don't appear filmed in a voyeuristic manner - even with the occasional focusing on the women's lips or legs. 
• Despite the visuals not being a physical illustration of the lyrics, or necessarily an amplification of them, the music still fits. Its disjunctive nature anchors the varying pace of the song and intensity of the instruments, therefore increasing the repeatability factor for this video which, is ultimately what the record label and indeed the band, want. 

Representation

• Richard Dyer wrote extensively about the idea of being a 'Star', stating that the star image is 'incoherent' and one that is incomplete and somewhat 'open' to interpretation. He then devised two paradoxes about the star image: 'The star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary.' and 'The star must be simultaneously present and absent from the consumer.' The latter, especially, applies to this video; there is a complete absence of the band, physically, yet still the creativity and obscurity of the video leads the audience to understand the bands message and meta-narrative - making the audience feel as if the band are still there. It can be inferred that they don't want to be recognised as a commercial success at the fear of tainting the personal aspect of their music.  
• The second paradox also, on some levels, applies. However only the extraordinary element can be counted for. The video is quite peculiar, the disjuncture and the disregard for any real form of narrative structure, make this video both hard to follow and creatively challenging; therefore, to say that it is ordinary is far from the truth. If the video did fully comply to that paradox, it wouldn't be so artistic or visually arresting as the audience wouldn't be constantly questioning what is going on. 

• Throughout the video, there is a definite contrast between scenery and props. The scenery is very much rural and abandoned, the intense sun and dusky surroundings connote a remote and untouched area; which is why the high heels, the television, the toaster and so on and so forth that are littered around the frame boldly stands out and very much ruin the tranquility and prehistoric nature of the setting. 
• This is where the dominant ideological discourse can be found; these filler shots of random props on the scenery represent the destruction of untouched land by modernistic behaviours, that technology has ruined our creativity, and that our pioneering has upset nature. So instead of targeting one singular social group, this video addresses society as a whole. 
•  Goffman et al's theory of women in popular culture further progresses on the aforementioned argument. The physical dismemberment, where parts of a body are displayed rather than the whole body, of people, just having arms laying about in the scene as if coming up from the ground connotes an idea of today's society being buried - as if nature is having some form of revenge. The reason why this is suggested is that the dismemberment of the women is far from voyeuristic; it challenges Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory that states that the dismemberment of women displays how men view women, in a purely lustful way. Despite no male presence in the video, there is no objectification of women, nor are they seen as weak; they don't really seem to be presented with any dominating emotion, other than complete control of what they are doing. 

DW: 'Flaws' by Bombay Bicycle Club - Institution and Audience

This is the music video for the title song of Bombay Bicycle Club's second album, 'Flaws'. It is purely a performance video.

Institution 

• The band are signed on to both 'Island Records' and 'A&M/Octone Records' to cover their worldwide releases. Due to New Media Technologies at the time of the promotion of this video (2010), especially the smartphone, has allowed the record label(s) to make this video and this single accessible to anyone, anywhere. It can be viewed on the popular video sharing website, Youtube, which also has a mobile app - enhancing the positive technological determinists use of smartphones that can exploit this app.
• Furthermore, Web 2.0 as a whole has allowed this video to be shared virally; with links being posted to the likes of Twitter and Facebook amongst other social media websites which, a vast proportion of the audience for this genre of music is likely to consume.
• In addition, 'iTunes' has been known to promote this artist on their 'iTunes Store', meaning anyone who uses this function of the software is likely to be aware of them, being able to hear a preview of the song and then buy the song and/or the album.
• Then, through the oldest method of promotion - word of mouth - the band are likely to be spread at work places between colleagues, at schools between friends and just generally friends between friends.
•  It is also important to consider magazine coverage, such as NME and Q, alongside Music TV channel's such as MTV rocks - both methods of ambient viewing, unknowingly consuming the band and their image, unlike the aforementioned methods which are more focused, fully concentrated and aware. 

Audience 

• Bombay Bicycle Club are a band that don't have any niche age group that they want to appeal to; their easy listening indie rock doesn't restrict who typically will listen to them.
• Despite that, when studying their band image and perhaps considering the types of people you see at their concerts, it can be assumed that they are of a younger age bracket, typically between fifteen and twenty five.
• This audience consists of both male and females, the lyrics are far from offensive or sexist therefore appealing to both genres and, as earlier stated, most ages. The band themselves follow the latest fashions and look the way that is conventional of their genre - a style that is considered 'indie' which, is subsequently replicated through their fans.
• As stated in the 'Institution' paragraph, the accessibility of the band through New Media Technologies further supports the idea that the audience will be of a younger age perhaps. 

DW: 'First Fires' by Bonobo ft. Grey Reverend - Narrative and Media Language

First Fires' is a narrative music video for trip hop artist Bonobo, with vocals provided by Grey Reverend; it is taken from his most recent album, 'The North Borders'. 

Narrative

• In terms of narrative, there are two theories that can be applied: Roland Barthes' and Bordwell & Thompson's. Roland Barthes stated that a narrative consists of multiple codes or strands, that interlink to form "a weaving of voices"; from this, he developed five codes: enigma code, action code, semantic code, symbolic code and cultural code. The most noticeable in this video are the enigma, semantic and action codes. 
• The audience are constantly being given situations in the video between the two characters that establish numerous enigmas; why are they fighting? are they married? why has the woman gone to a club? why has the man gone to a burning forest? what are all these flashbacks? alongside all of this is the fact that in reality, there is no narrative closure at all, in fact all of the aforementioned questions seem to combine to form one: what happens next? This is what establishes a repeatability factor for the video, and is why it is so effective for the song. 
• The lyric, "like a first fire" seems to allude to some of the pragmatic meanings for this video and is also physically amplified by the images of fire. Fire has the connotation of burning, hot, flames and so on, words that are often used to describe a new love or a new passion. The audience see shots of the couple when they appear to be younger, when they had just fallen in love; when this is juxtaposed against the shots of the man and woman alone as a separated couple, one can assume that the video revolves around the couple looking back and lusting for their early romance. The sequence of the car in the ocean has the connotations of love being washed away; when put in to contrast of the sequence later when the couple are messing around in the sea this suggestion is furthermore emphasised.
• Despite no dramatic, fast paced action, there are certain shots in the video which evoke emotion and are extremely strong. This predominantly comes from shots of the couple apart at locations that we later see them together at, as a flashback. A vicarious relationship is formed between the characters and the audience, a suspense that makes the audience wonder and want the couple to reunite as it shown to them how happy they once were. More than anything, mise-en-scene is the reason why these shots are so effective; classic romantic locations such as the forest, the beach, the club are all used to create verisimilitude in relation to this couples relationship. 

• Bordwell & Thompson's theory stated the difference between story and plot in the diegetic world of the narrative. They did this through their creation of the 'Fabula' - the chronological series of events shown i.e. the story - and the 'Syuzhet' - how the events would happen in real time, i.e. the plot. 
• The syuzhet for this video would be the transition between the couple being together to when they are apart. When they were younger and first in love; the audience see them cuddling by a fire, playing around in the sea and so on. We then see them separated, noticeably alone due to the restricted framing and the blocking of other extras that could have been present. The change of emotion between the shots of them together and apart shows the downfall of their relationship, they were once happy and now they are quite simply alone, revisiting places that once made them happy.
• The fabula on the other hand, is what creates disjuncture and actually makes this video a work of art. There is no logical line to the video if the syuzhet is not considered, in fact it takes a few watches to fully understand it. There is an amalgamation of shots showing the couple as in love, and then not together. As a result, there is a constant change of emotion and a constant breaking down and re-establishment of both happiness and sadness. It seems to represent the ups and downs of their relationship; revealing their joyful moments that then got crushed by their fights and splits. The final shot of the man alone seems to suggest that the relationship never got back together, but because of the earlier stated enigma code, the audience can never be totally sure - reflected by the fabula, how they keep changing between together and apart. This is where the art and disjuncture comes from, the audience are completely thrown by what's going on in the video, yet each shot and sequence represents a different emotion which, is what art is all about.

Media Language

• Due to Bonobo being a singular artist and in fact a DJ, as with all of his videos, there is no particular presentation or promotion of artist image - other than that his music has a distinct emotion or message he wished to get across. Considering this, the key theme that is in 'First Fires' is love and loss - something that as an audience of people who are more than likely to have a relationship of sort in their lifetime can relate to. 

• Camera techniques are fully utilised, the framing in particular is excellently composed. The vast array of close up shots seem to lie heavily in the romantic scenes where the couple are together, which connotes intimacy and love; this is then juxtaposed by the long shots and mid shots of the man and woman as individuals when they are apart - due to the lack of other extras in the frame, this suggests loneliness felt by each character since the split. Camera movement also plays a key part in evoking emotion in the video. Whilst there is a lot of pans and tilts of the scenery and of the characters, the most affective shots are the ones that are tri-pod shots; the ones that are perfectly still and focus on one single image, which tends to be one of the characters. The contrast between the movement and the stillness alerts the audience as to what to focus on; this ranges from a piece of scenery, to a close up of a characters face. These are the shots that are most the emotional in the video - as all concentration is devoted to this character or object, the connotations of which provoke happiness or in some sense, depravity. 
• There are no over-riding special effects or complicated editing in this video, yet the way it has been edited is excellent in reflecting the theme of the song. The slow pace of the editing alongside the match of cutting rate to the song's beat anchors the speed of the song rather than speeding it up; it is as slow as the song itself and therefore portrays the emotion in the track and spotlights the audiences attention to each frame and each movement to grip and move them. There is a definite change in colour grade as well; there's an orangey, warmer wash to the happier scenes and a blue, cold wash to the sadder ones. The connotations of these colours to their corresponding emotions pinpoints the visuals meaning, giving a further degree of understanding to the audience. 
• Mise-en-scene, as briefly touched on, is important to the conveyance of the characters change in emotion. The same locations are used but either in different lighting or just generally shot differently. The happy scenes are shot with rich lighting, with the couple positioned so they are close together in plain, ordinary costumes; this reflects the characters being in a relationship and being together, as they are dressed similarly and positively lit. This changes when the couple are split: there is less lighting given so the scenes seem more distant and colder, the costumes are different and there is a strong sense of solitude. Most striking is the change in the use of fire; when they are together it is a small fire in the woods to keep them warm at night, lighting up their cheerful faces. When the man revisits the forest alone there is a much more sinister use of fire, here it is used to burn the forest down as if burning away his memories - yet somehow the lighting seems colder despite the orange glow reflecting on his face, it contrasts more than it compliments. 

• Whilst different to most videos of today, there is a definite intertextuality between this video and how we treat relationships as a society. Here, is shown the peaks of a relationship -  something that is quite certainly common of music videos in popular culture. Also, the pitfalls of a relationship is shown - again, something common of music videos in popular culture. Rarely, however, do we see the aforementioned combined to create an enigmatic situation that leaves the audience wondering, what happens next? To reiterate an earlier comment about this video being art is once again relevant; the fact that is creates so much confusion, that there is a vicarious relationship to the characters and a visceral pleasure for the audience through the creativity of shots and content, certainly makes it artistic and far from commercial. 

   

AY: Moodboard

DW: Mood Board

 

HW: Moodboard

 

AY: Track Ideas

 

'Oblivion' by Bastille

 

• There is a very obvious accompanyment which I think could work well as a performance based video
• The lyrics do not have an obvious meaning giving us the opportunity to create a video with lots of disjuncture making it more repeatable
• On the other hand I think that we would have to make the video visually arresting so that it does not loose the audience's interest in what is going on
• We would also have to try and steer away from the classic 'boy meets girl' scenario

 

'The Great Escape' by Woodkid

• I like the contrast at the beginning of the song as it goes into the main harmony
• It is a very uplifting song and I feel that we could amplify the lyrics and link it to someone 'breaking free of society'
• The fast pace of the song would mean that the cutting rate would be very fast to match this so we would need to capture lots of footage
• I think that this track is very contrasting to Woodkids other tracks and therefore we could incorporate our own visual ideas to make it more interesting
   



 

 

'No One's Here To Sleep' Naughty Boy ft Dan Smith

• I like the lyrics of this song and I think we could use some creative ideas to amplify the track.
• It is inkeeping with the indie genre
• The slow pace of the song would allow us to use time expansion as it would fit with the song.
• Having said this the song is very long so we would have to make sure that we collected enough footage to fill the track. This also means that we would need to think of some interesting conceptual ideas to keep the audiences attention and increase repeatability.