Mood Board

We wanted to portray a sense of fear, confusion and the concept of fantasy vs. reality through our moodboards. It links directly to our final idea, and shows the way in which we want our music video to go.

Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I Am

Ingrid Michaelson - "The Way I Am"

These are stills from Ingrid Michaelsons - "The Way I Am" music video, the video is shot at a party in a school hall, the artist Ingrid is the only person at the party without a clown face indicated that she is alienated. Some of the shots of the clown faces are particularly striking, and I found the still of the girls in the bathroom very appropriate to our research as we want to have a bathroom scene in our music video.

Target Market

Our song choice is the main component which deciphers who is most likely to be our target audience, the choice of Two Door Cinema Club's Single I Can Talk means that the music video targets an audience of Alternative, Indie, Electropop music enthusiasts. As the music does have a dance/electro edge to it, it can also be appealing to lovers of dance and pop music, making the single quite dynamic in which types of music listeners it appeals too. To truly identify who Two Door Cinema club's main target market are our group have decided to look at a source who are currently promoting the band, NME. As a magazine NME's target market is males between the ages of 17 - 30, 73% of their readers are male and 27% female. Therefore we can approximately guess that a majority of Two Door Cinema Clubs fans follow this trend. Furthermore they are currently touring around clubs and bars, which again shows them to be hitting a teenage/young adult target market. Therefore Our music video must appeal to this target market of mostly male, 17 - 30 year olds who are interested in alternative music. A website called UKTribes describes today's 'Indie Kids', who we believe would be likely to listen to and purchase Two Door Cinema Club's music

Two Door Cinema Club

Two Door Cinema Club are a three piece up and coming band in the UK indie music scene. They are signed to the prestigious indie music label Kitsune, their music is upbeat with electro synths and beats, targeting their music at teenagers and young adults, with their music being used in clubs, and playing at various festivals. Members include; Alex Trimble, Kevin Baird and Sam Halliday. Their music has been loosely compared to the likes of Death Cab for Cutie and Broken Social Scene but without a definitive capacity to be pigeon-holed. Melodic vocals, which hail from all three members of the group, infused with guitar riffs that have been described as “oceanic” and rhythm described as “pulsing”.

I Can Talk is the second single by the

Northern Irish electropop band

Two Door Cinema Club.
The single was released November 23,

2009 by the Kitsuné Records.

Music Video Analysis

Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down

The video I have chosen to analyse is Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down, the song was the second single for the Sheffield band to release, following a performance based debut single. However in this case the video has taken a narrative route rather than a performance based route, which links it to the direction that we would like to take our music video. The videois basically about a prostitute who as the lyrics say roams 'the streets'. Though the video does link to the overall story of the lyrics, it does not follow the lyrics completely, the exact words of the lyrics are not reflected through the video. The genre of the music video would be 'indie' and I think this is represented quite well through the mise-en-scene, the setting is in a city its easy to relate to, the shots are quite gritty with a greyish tint to them which adds to the overall raw edgy tone of the video. It's shot almost like a student video, it has a trendy cool edge to it which would be appealing to their audience of indie/alternative music lovers around the ages 17 - 30 who are very interested in style, and appearing to be individual and 'cool'. This video definitely is individual, it is not the common performance based, superficial music video that most musicians have, which sets it apart and gives it a selling point.

The video opens with a stunning, high definition closeup of a average looking girls face with her hood up, with a back drop of a council estate, tying in directly with the opening line 'So who's that girl there?', adding intrigue for the viewers. The shot is not conventionally appealing, it is not bright or exciting, but by starting the video with a closeup the viewer immediately becomes attached to the character, and the realness of the shot makes it quite intimate, and relatable. The shots that follow are set out in a slow montage, all in everyday locations following the initial girl, and a suspicious looking older male, again creating a sense of intrigue, and maintaining the audiences attention. The lead actress makes frequent eye contact with the camera, as though she is aware that she is being watched, but the expression remains passive and vulnerable, again creating an intimacy between her and the viewer, and compelling the viewer to watch the video, and find out what is going on.The editing follows the slow paced music, the shots are long, and each cut hits the beat, creating fluidity.

After the slow montage of shots the pace of the track changes and becomes faster, with this there is a swift change in shots, the shots become handheld making them shaky, and are point of view shots from a car, through city streets. The colours are bright, and the movement of the camera is disorientating, contrasting dramatically to the slow and static shots from the introduction. More shots of the girl in an estate location, and city are used, she is mostly alone or with the suspicious looking male, as the lyrics state 'scummy man'. She is never place in warm mise-en-scene or in a home at all, she is seen to be standing on street corners and making 'subtle propositions' to males, there is subtle hints that despite her casual attire of a duffle coat and track suite bottoms that she is a prostitute. There are hints that the suspicious male is her pimp, in most of the shots that they are in together he seems to have a dominate hold over, frequently actually physically taking hold of her but in a menacing way that could not be mistaken for affection. The subtlety of the hint increases the intelligence and overall edginess of the music video.

The video then becomes integrated with shots with brighter lighting and a homely mise-en-scene with soft browns and red colours, contrasting to the dark and moody tone of the earlier shots. The new shots include a magician and confetti, and the girls costume changes from being dark and dull to wearing a pink tutu, I think these shots add a new dimension to the video which is slightly fantastical, and suggest perhaps a happy ending for our troubled girl. The shots become are rapidly edited towards the climax of the video, keeping the viewer absorbed in this mini film, the shots become so short and fast that it is hard to understand quite what is going on, there is a lot of physical violence and more handheld shaky disorientated shots. The main purpose of this is probably to prompt the viewer to re-watch the video to gain more understanding of what is going on, which would mean the viewer would be listening to the song again, pushing them to buy the track or the video. The video ends on a terrain of sharp and short cuts of closeups and shaky handheld shots of a forceful, violent argument between the girl, the magician and the suspicious male. The video ends with the return to the darkly tinted, desolate looking shot of the girl sat on the street with the suspicious male dominantly holding her beneath his arm, indicating a continuous loop of events which takes the viewer back to the start of the video and again prompts them to re-watch it.

Overall the video holds a very dramatic and captivating mini-film, the plot is not in depth, the shots are vague and confusing but this all adds to the mystery and intrigue of the video. The lead actress is captivating in front of the camera, her frequent looks into the camera immediately place the viewers in her positon, and makes them relate emotionally to the video, and hope for her to have a positive ending. I think this video is definitely something that our group can look at and be inspired by, the video ticks all the boxes and leaves the viewer feeling satisfied, yet craving more.

Vlad the Impaler - Kasabian

As we have decided to do our music video to I Can Talk by Two Door Cinema Club, I decided to look at Kasabian's music video's as they are also an Indie band. Vlad the Impaler captured my attention as the video details a narrative of a the killer 'Vlad the Impaler' hunting and killing people. I thought this reflected our finalised idea of featuring an assumed evil clown, and also because the video is set mainly in a wooded area, which is where we would like to set our video. Furthermore the video is solely narrative, the artists do not feature in the video at all, which is perfect as our video will be solely narrative. The overall colour of the video is very antique, with a slight brownish dull tone to it, and erratic editing. The shots all have a oval shape to them, with the black disintegrating into the shot, it is very nostalgic of old aged films in cinemas. The editing is very fast paced and erratic, making the narrative quite nonsensical, yet incredibly captivating. The lyrics do vaguely reflect the narrative, with violent lines such as 'All my friends are as sharp as razors, cut you down if you touch the fades, High class girls hung in elevators' and 'Cut throat this blood runs thick'. However the Narrative does not follow the lyrics in a linear way, for example on the line 'I'm frying in the heat in the cauldron stir me' there is not an image of a cauldron, the lyrics are not reflected exactly in the video. I really like the overall colour of the video, and the dark attire of the lead actor playing 'Vlad the Impaler'. I think the footage in the woods is incredibly striking with the blueish light from the moon shining between the branches and silhouetting against the white shirt of the man walking through. I also like the point of view shots in the wood, showing the light of the torch through the dark dense trees. I like the shots where the focus is pulled, and the extremely fast zooms into Vlad's face, and into screaming mouths/faces, adding intensity and drama. I also think the shots of people running through the woods with the yellowish spotlight that looks like a flashlight also adds to the drama of the situation, whilst looking interesting. Furthermore I like the repetitive shot of Vlad walking along the road, giving it the feeling that hes omnipresent, and always hunting people. The shots are mostly handheld, which adds real drama and authenticity to the shots. Overall I really enjoy watching the video, I think it is re-watchable, fascinating and will be a helpful video to re-watch during the process of making and editing our music video

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Vlad The Impaler

Here are some shots that I specifically liked.

Conventions of music videos dependant on genre

There are many different conventions for music video's depending on the genre. Through looking at music videos from different genres of music, I have developed an understanding of what genres of music expect from their music videos
I have briefly described my understanding of the codes and conventions of music videos, according to their genre:

Rock/Metal - Through looking at rock/Metal artists music videos, I have developed an understanding of the traits that are present in most of this genres music videos. The hue of the videos are usually quite dark, but with high contrast levels, to give the video an overall dark and edgy tone. The music videos are usually incredibly performance based, shots covering the whole band playing, yet focusing mainly on the front vocalist. Narrative music videos are also used, however I would say it is very likely that a narrative video would also show many shots of the band performing. The story lines are usually dark, to match the dark sound of the music, and dark meaning of the lyrics. The performance it's self usually has a dark and 'scary' tone to it, the performers are usually dressed in completely in black, appearing as stereotypical rock/metal listeners/performers with multiple piercings, dark makeup, and a dark and edgy demeanour. The editing is usually snappy and fast paced, to match the normally fast tempo of rock/metal songs.

Pop - Music videos that belong to the genre of pop are usually extremely performance based, with the singer, or band lip syncing throughout the song, as well as performing via dancing or in a narrative story that reflects the meaning of the lyrics. The overall tone and hue of the video will be very bright, with the artist wearing bright trendy mainstream clothing. If the lyrics are or a more sad nature, the overall tone of the video may be brought down a little, but will still be quite bright. In pop music videos the main artists are almost always present in their music video in some shape of form. Pop music videos are usually fun and light hearted to appeal to a younger audience.

RnB - This genre of music video usually has a light tone to it, the hue is usually bright similar to pop videos. Typically the video will involve the artist in a narrative setting or simply performing in a setting such as a nightclub, mansion, beach etc. There are usually dancers present, to reflect the sound of the music. The clothing is usually revealing on women, and show the wealth of the artist, with lavish jewelry and expensive cars. The narrative of the story usually reflects the lyrics of the song, and like pop videos usually the artist will lip sync throughout the video. Again similar to pop music videos RnB videos have a good, positive, lighthearted feeling to them.

Indie - This genre of music videos has a huge variety of conventions, the hue can be dark, bright or black and white depending on the tone of the lyrics. Indie music videos are also split generously between being solely narrative, and performance based, sometimes the artists do not even feature in the music video for their songs. However Indie music videos can be performance based either featuring the entire band, or simply featuring the main vocalist. Narrative music videos in the Indie genre are typically quite arty, and symbolic, rather than spelling out exactly what the lyrics say.

Conventions of music videos

All music videos have to represent certain codes and conventions.
The 5 main music video codes and conventions are:

1. Lyrics - They establish a general tone to the song, and address the storyline or subject matted. Key lines sometimes play a significant part in the visuals, but rarely would there be a full interpretation, and sometimes the lyrics do not directly correlate with the music video, it may just be the tone or mood of the lyrics which is conveyed in the music video

2. Music - The tempo of the track should drive the editing of a music video, fast paced music should mirrored with fast paced editing, and slow paced music should be accompanied with slow paced editing. furthermore particular sounds in a track may be foregrounded and emphasised on screen, for example if the video was performance based there would be a close up of the guitar or drums.

3. Genre - Each genre carries its own codes and conventions, a viewer would expect to see. This would be reflected in the mise-en-scène, the camera work and editing style. I have highlighted the different codes and conventions of music dependant on genre in a separate post.

4. Camerawork - How the camera is used and how images are sequenced has a significant impact on meaning. The angle, movements and shot distance would fluctuate depending on the music. Up beat tones are likely to require more dynamic camerawork.

5. Editing - In the process of filming the director and camera worker must film to edit. Some music videos would feature fast cut montages (sometimes containing of random images). This then encourages repeated viewings in case the viewer missed anything the first time. The editing helps to establish the mood, and is sometimes is used to fragment the narrative.

Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Therefore music video's will usually include the artists, to allow the viewers to identify with the artists and aspire to be like them. Therefore music videos have to be incredibly aesthetically appealing and captivating. Once an artists is established they can then use narrative music videos rather than performance based music videos, which is virtually a short film that corresponds in some way with the music, perhaps the tone, the actual lyrics or just the sound of the music. Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation , live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film.