Music Video Analysis

This video by two door cinema club which is I can talk is within the indie rock genre. The music is quite jerky and fast paced and can runs under the heading of amplification as it symbolising what the music is intending to symbolise. Firstly i has fast cuts at the start of the song to symbolise the speed of the lyrics being said, also the opening sequence has a kind of film start feature as it looks like a start of a film as it says I can talk in big yellow bold letters and copyright which is typical of start of films. Throughout the music video there is flashes like when a camera takes a picture, spinning camera shots, zooms, close ups of guitars and meat shots , fast paced jolts and movements with the camera. It has some aspects of switching between narrative and the performance as it has just the lead-singer, lip syncing the lyrics then in the chorus all of the band are singing the song while playing the instruments.

In his book Dancing in the Distraction factory, Andrew Goodwin points out characteristics and features that can be found in music videos. Firstly music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, In I Can Talk there is a certain genre such as flashes and showing them playing the song in the chorus which is typical of indie music not like metal videos showing them on stage or a dance routine for a girl/boy band. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals is shown when the lead singer walks down the stairs and says 'coats' and his coat flies off another Andrew Goodwin theories of music. Another Andrew Goodwin theory is the relationship between the music and visuals, the tone and atmosphere is fast paced with flashes, twists and shakes all the way through the song to go with the tempo of the track as its quite fast paced, and when the pace of the song speeds up in the chorus from the verses so does the editing this also shows the relationship between the music and visuals. The demands of the record label is clear as it clearly focuses on the main singer Alex Trimble, as through the verses he is the main piece and its shows him getting changed and singing into the camera with loads of meat shots and close-ups; but in the chorus it focuses on the others as well as him so i think the record label are more interested in the front man than the others. There is a inter-textual relevant prospect in the opening scene of the music video to a film as it has opening credits like a film. One of the opening credits is 'KITSUNE presents' this shows it has a reference to a film.

Music Video Analysis

This is a music video for teddy picker by the arctic monkeys which falls into the indie genre too. This video is mainly a band rehearsal getting an in-site of the time in the studio and how they record there tracks which would be on a day to day basis for them, it is like behind the scene footage of this famous band, such as seeing his lucky crocodile head. The editing cuts are fast paced at the start of the video like one every second and slowly slow down, the camera shots have loads of meat shots as they are showing the emotion of making the track and them performing/ Alex singing, as the record distribute demands it as it will sell the song. The mise en scene is very weird as they are all wearing different clothes, like Alex the singer is in a shirt and trousers, but the drummer and bassist are in casual clothes like jeans on a t-shirt, but the guitarist is in smart casual a mixture of the two. The full music video is like a first person narrative of their everyday life, such as the studio and the pub, the camera shots are shaky and use of some blur and could signify dancing and closing eyes.


The media conventions of Teddy Picker, can be viewed through Andrew Goodwin's theories. One of them is, the relationship between music and visuals such as when they are pointing at the top 100 songs as they want to be there, this is illustrative as its illustrating the relationship between the visuals and lyrics, there is a lot of thought beats throughout this Arctic Monkeys track such as when the drummer pauses and then hits the snare and tom to start the verse. Another one of Goodwin's theories is the relationship between the lyrics and visuals, like when Alex starts singing the next verse the camera starts focusing on his face with a meat shot, with a shaky action. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, this is true as there dress such as hair style and what they are wearing like shirt and jeans will signify the indie genre, also this video signifies the genre as it has no dance routine like in pop girl/boy band or stage performance in metal videos, but its in the studio and very common through the indie genre. The demands of the record label is present as there is a lot of close-ups of Alex singing, and the instruments being played to sell the song and image of indie. the visual style of this video is relaxed but formal as we are sitting in on there performance.

Shot Count Task

Approximately 171 shots, jumping around bouncing up and down and going from person to person with the mood of the song really.

Magazine Advert Analysis

This is a killers advert portraying the new album which was released in 2009, it uses vibrant colours such as deep purples and yellows and the album cover is made up of bigger and smaller circles to give a collage effect of the dusk moon like its just setting. The only bit of the c.d. cover is the 'Day and Age' wording which is in normal font i think this is important as it stands out as it should. Then as a whole its an advert shows the recent release of the album, showing the album cover and giving hints of what is on it like at the bottom it says 'featuring the single human' to tempt in buying the c.d. as they might have heard the single track previous as it was released into the charts before the album was released, this in a whole is what adverts do, persuade the audience to buy the item which it is showing. This killers advert is quite clever as it uses different colours and shades to give the setting and the effect of the use of the circles give it character like it something thats never been done an exclusive album, to go with there image e.g brandon flowers.

Digipak Analysis

Arctic Monkeys - Humbug Digipak

A digipak is a cardboard version of the cd casing instead of the plastic ones used in most retailers. Some companies use this to give a limited edition feel if its a new album or just to save money. Most digipaks have a content's booklet with lyrics and maybe facts of the band, also include a lot more images within the casing as its cardboard.

Images used are of the band in like a chill out place maybe outside there studio in the corridor or in the pub or something as they are in their casual clothing and having a laugh. The colour is cream with a kind of baje tint to it not like there other album covers its like they are taking a new direction. The text is pretty basic just in normal black writing except to Arctic Monkeys name, which is in red and a kind of graffiti style writing, the arctic monkeys name is bigger than all the rest as that is supposed to catch the eye of customers, also on the front cover the name of the band is on a cream background in this case his cream jacket to give it more emphasis and to jump out, this is a key relationship between the text and images (Anchorage).The positioning of the images in the casing are pretty stationary and straight. The cd cover is a pie with AM on to obviously be Arctic Monkeys which in my opinion is like a laugh to, to go with the whole digipak concept. I think that this digipak does symbolize the independent genre as its a laid back approach and its all about the music and not there image as shown in the front a laid back image for the front cover. This certain digipak concept says a new direction cd as its not like there other albums and could be linked to mainstream relevance for institutional context. The target audience is mainstream and specialist as i think its trying to attract there fans but also trying to catch the eye of new fans to promote there new style/approach.

9 Frame Analysis

This is a nine frame analysis of the song 'Take me out' by Franz Ferdinand. It uses the colors grey, white black and yellow throughout the song which is quite basic compared to the complexity of multiple computer techniques used in the music video. The video is used on a mixture of takes of the band and using Andrew Goodwin's theory of visuals relate to the music as the words appear on the screen as he sings them such as 'Leave here' and shown in one of the screenshots. This video uses all sort of images and shapes like lines in bold and a lot of circles mixed together throughout. In this video of 'Take Me Out' there is also like symbols of the music like a contrast between black and white as shown in the 6th frame with a boxer in a mirror image. There is also the band in like robotic form like sort of bones and parts and this could symbolize the the song title, there is a lot of close-ups of guitars and the main singer singing a key aspect of indie music.

Music Video Analysis

This is the music video for Oh Mandy by The Spinto Band, an Indie group fromAmerica. The video uses a lot of editing, every shot is a still image and slight differences to the still shots make it look as if the paper cut outs of the band are moving. The video is about Mandy and it is represented as a little village and each passing shot shows how the village is burnt down then rebuilt. Listening to the lyrics we can tell the song is actually about a girl and she is represented as a village, she's there then when the village is burnt down she's gone, in attempt to get her back they rebuild her. A number of different camera shots such as establishing shots show how the village is set out and shows the band playing on stage and a mixture of medium to medium long shots shows each of the band members separately. It sells their image as it shows who is in the band and who plays what instrument.

The video contains things often associated with indie bands, such things as the band playing instruments to the music within the video. They are mostly all together on a stage whilst they play instruments to the sound of the music. With it being indie its also very quick with quick cuts to symbolize movement of the band moving through and rebuilding the town of Mandy. The town symbolizes a girl which the song is about and how everything seems lost without her, so when the town is burnt down they have to rebuild it. This concept to relate a girl to a village is quite weird and quirky but it works and makes people think of indie music. Following Andrew Goodwin's idea's it seems that the themes in this video follow them idea's. For example, when it says "I had trouble from the onset" The tree's of the town Mandy are seen getting burned down, symbolizing the troubles they have had. Also following Andrew Goodwin, the stage part of the video shows the band playing along to the music with the vocalist lip syncing the words. This is common as well as the other points to be found in a music video in the indie genre.

Music Video Analysis

This is the music video A-Punk by Vampire Weekend. The camera within the video stays in the same place but the band members move making the camera show different shot e.g. at the beginning its a long shot but during the snow part its a medium shot. The video however is mostly edited to make the music video appear quirky. Some of the frames have been taking out of the video to make the band members moved in a jerky motion and the final outcome has been sped up to make it fit with the music.Its all set in one room but making the screen blue and band members using their fingers as fish makes the video appear in a different place. This is similar to the snow part of the video also because the light dims and snow falls whilst the band members have scarfs and hats on.

According to Andrew Goodwin's views this music video displays the characteristics of a indie band. Throughout the entire video the band are seen playing guitars and drums which is a gesture of every indie music video. Furthermore, the music video seems quirky and weird which is a theme of indie music videos quite often. Another theme that follows on from Andrew Goodwin's points is that the video includes relationships between lyrics and visuals and relationships between music and visuals. An example of lyrics and visuals is when snow is mentioned and it starts snowing and an example of visuals and music is when the lead singer head bangs the screen during the sea part of the song.

Shot Count

This is the music video Generator by The Holloways. There is approximately 186 shots in this music video, wih the shots getting faster when the beat picks up.

Digipak Analysis

This is the image used on the digipack Resistance by Muse. As we can see with the image its very bright and colourful using a mixture of colours from green to red. This would draw attention from the customers and will make people look at them and maybe buy it. There are only three words on the digipack, these being: Muse, the and Resistance. The band name Muse is slightly bigger than the resistance and is placed in the top left hand side of the cover whilst The Resistance contrasts this being put in the bottom right corner. The band name is in a more significant place and people will see their name first, it promotes their band further. It represents an indie genre as its weird/quirky and the fact there is a man in the centre of it all shows he is the resistance to something unknown. ON the title Muse there is a line above and below it, this is a trademark of Muse as they always have the two lines. Muse already have a huge fanbase so this digipack is used to show the fans their new stuff and the colours will attract new fans.

Magazine Advert Analysis

This is an advertisement for the arctic monkeys album suck it and see. Similar to the digipack in the way that the band name is the biggest writing on the screen followed up by the name of the upcoming album. Its a black background whilst the writing is a mixture of about 4 colours with trees silhouetted with in them. Its quirky/weird and fits in with the indie genre as these are major conventions within the genre. Its for a main stream audience who follow the already huge arctic monkeys but the quirkiness off it is bound to bring new followers to the band and its all in capitals to make it seem its jumping out to catch attention.

9 Frame Analysis

This is a 9 frame analysis of the song Brimful of Asha by Cornershop. Throughout the song the band are seen playing to the song but moving on album covers they have made, this is seen in screenshots 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9. Screenshot 3 shows the names of the members in the band with the lead singer singing next to it on the album cover with a girl dancing to it in the background. It promotes the band and shows how many are in it. Screenshots 7 and 8 show how many records they've got and showing one of them being played on an old fashioned record player which were more popular when the song was released.

Music Video Analysis

This music video mainly contains medium shots of the band members playing their instruments. This follows typical genre conventions of rock music videos as 50% of the shots focus on the band. There is also a relative amount of close-up/meat shots of the lead singer, again following music video conventions as the lead singer is usually the main focus and seen as the 'most important' member of the band. The featured song is the soundtrack for the movie 'Jackass 3' and therefore has an intertextual reference to the film; the other 50% of shots are clips from the movie and clips of the stars from the film singing along with the band during the chorus (which contains gang vocals, thus making a link between the music and the visuals.) another link between the visuals and the music is that the fast, upbeat punk rock sound of the song matches the Mise en scene of the music video (clips of people riding skateboards, BMX's and doing stunts.) The song is the type of music that you would listen to whilst skating and BMX-ing etc, and that is why it is perfectly suited to put the in the music video; it's the perfect genre of music for this style video. It is also likely that the fans of jackass are fans of the band, it is therefore probably not a coincidence, but a choice by the record/ film producers to use this band for the song/ video. There is a link between the lyrics and the visuals; the main line in the song is 'Memories, make me want to go back there' as it shows clips of the jackass stars looking back over making the Jackass films.

9 Frame Analysis

This music video is both narrative and performance based, often with the two interlinking. The narrative follows the man in the second shot, but the band are performing in his back garden and in certain shots the band members and crowd are shouting the lyrics at him through a window etc. There hasn't been any effect put on the footage, so all looks very natural and simplistic, but effective when it comes to combining the performance with the narrative so closely. The favourite shot that i picked out is probably the bird's eye view of the crowd and band members singing along in slow motion. it's the only shot like this throughout the video and also does a pan from left to right, creating an effective atmosphere in the video. another good shot is when the lead singer is shouting the lyrics into the woman's ear and she is oblivious, this is another good example of combining narrative performance, as well as good acting. The band don't remain chronological continuity during the performance part of the video, quite a few times in the video, the performance switches from a daylight setting with the crowd, to a night time setting with no crowd, and powerful lighting.

Digipak Analysis

This is the digipak for Enter Shikari's 3-disc CD/DVD "Live From Planet Earth." The case is made from cardboard rather than plastic and the artwork has been printed directly onto the cover. This could have been done to give it a limited edition feel as it is not a studio album, but a live promo package. Another reason could be that that the band own their own record label specifically for their music and it was probably made from cardboard due to money-saving purposes.

The artwork is made of images from the DVD footage, but the images have been faded and the brightness has been increased. This is effective as it looks good and makes it much clearer to see the big bold band name that stands out against the light background. This style is also employed on the inside of the cover, the back of the cover and on the actual discs. This design of packaging is useful because it shows off the band's great live performances as well as giving the target audience a preview of what to expect from the product.

As expected, the band's name is the biggest piece of text on the cover. The text is in a font unique to the band and has now become one of their common logos, meaning that it will stand out and is easy to spot for the fans. The text below the band name is in bold and capitals, therefore it still stands out and is easy to read without taking attention from the band name.

The back cover's background

has an image of the live footage, but had not got as much effect on and is still quite dark, making it hard to read the track listing that is overlapping it. If i could make one improvement on the packaging it would definitely be fading and brightening the background image more. The packaging has followed typical conventions by putting the bar code and record label(s) on the back cover.

Shot Count Task

The shot count for this video is 214. this is a very high amount of shots, for any type of music video. I very much struggled to count the shots, but when just watching the video for entertainment purposes, i think it definitely works and suits the fast paced rock song. For our music video it would definitely be a good idea to use a lot of shot in order to create the same effect as this music video and suit the genre conventions of rock music.

Shot Count Task

the shot count for this video is 94. this is quite low for a rock music video. i did notice that even though the music was fast paced throughout, the shot changes sped up and slowed down. most of the quick changes happened at the beginning of the verses; every time they shouted 'yeah' in the song, the shot changed to that beat, but in most other parts the shots were long winded and weren't changing to the beat.

Magazine Advert Analysis

This magazine advert is very similar to the actual album cover itself, in fact, ifyou cut off the bottom section with text,you would be left with the actual album cover. i think this is a good way of advertising and promoting the album as it will be easily recognisable. The advert has a green(ish) background that is designed to look like an old map, as well as black text that helps the album name and artist name stand out against the light background. The band name and album name intentionally stand out as they are in a larger font than the rest of the text. I also noticed that the text was in a personal font that had been designed specifically for the album cover. the big red british lion in the centre of the advert is commonly known as the band's logo as their lyrical theme is very political and the band are very proud to be british, which comes across in the advert. The image of the lion is linked to the caption "the lions are at the door..." which is a recurring lyric in the album, giving the audience some kind of preview and showing them what to expect from the album. The advert may serve a secondar target; it may interest casual readers of the magazine, making them look up the band and potentially become a future fan.

Lip Sync Task

This video clip from youtube is our finished lip sync video. The task was to lip sync on camera using a variety of shots, then edit the clips to the song. This task was mainly for practice when it comes to being filmed and when it comes to editing the video, as it can be tricky to edit the lip sync to the correct part of the song. Something that helped us overcome this difficulty was that we played the song out loud and next to the camera whilst filming, so that we could match the audio to the actual song whilst editing. We then deleted the audio from the video clip so that we were left with the finished product. Another technique we used was matching the shot count to the pace of the song. As 'Bohemian Rhapsody' has slow parts and fast parts in the song, in the slow parts we used a low amount of shots, and then, when the tempo increased, we increased the amount of shots. this conforms to the regular expectations of a music video.

Personal Skills Audit

Personal skills audit

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