Tweedaa Music Permission

So far in regards to planning our project we have focused primarily on rock music, since me, Katie and Barry have all done our research in regards to rock music it meant that we began searching the internet drastically for cover songs of artists that we enjoy personally, after scanning the website YouTube we found a couple of cover songs that caught our eye, we knew it would be unlikely that if we emailed an actual professional band such as Muse or Linkin Park then there would most likely be no response whatsoever and if there were to be a response then it would most likely be no which would mean we would put all our time and effort into planning a video for a song we would not have permission to use. I myself therefore decided to email a couple of artists with covers of songs that we like; so far we have had the positive response from “Tweedaa” (YouTube username being “Tweedaamusic) that we can use his music, his music includes many cover songs such as a punk rock version of Wonderwall as well as another song which I personally feel is better than the original which is The One, a song originally performed by Limp Bizkit. Due to almost every typical rock song featuring a live performance I feel it is very important for this to be done within our video. The feeling of isolation and rebellion of young people I think would be a good choice of theme for us to use, this would have to be orchestrated by a narrative with support from a live performance. Some examples of Tweeda’s covers can be seen below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kfrzxe2oEI - Wonderwall Cover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhrrS1PdPYY&feature=relmfu - The One Cover

Here is reply I personally recieved from Tweedaa after asking for permission to use his music.

Practice Video

Here is a video me, Katie and Barry made just before the summer holidays, this video is taken from the song "She Don't Want Nobody Here" by Counting Crows, when Katie reccomended the song the beginning instantly I asserted with empty halls and scenes of a school, due to the isolation hint of the title I felt that the video should at the beginning be a few scenes of empty buildings and hallways which would then gradually begin to show a person isolated within the building, since the song is about  girl it therefore subjugated that a girl would have to be the lone memberthe building, since me and Barry do not qualify for this then Katie was the one who had to be the girl. The live performance was done by me, I feel as though this is a good first start for us, some aspects of the mise en scene is not very well matched with the song such as the clothes of the people, however this is a minor nitpick, the overall synchronisation of the lyrics I felt was acheived very well, many who have seen the video including friends and family have complimented the synchronisation. Also the narrative is very simple yet effective, one shot imparticular where the girl is walking in the a room is edited vastly to highlight the white lockers but also the black doors to indicate mixed feelings and emotions of the girl, the shot makes it look like she is walking into the light and happiness but because of the dark area around her she is still stuck with some dark emotions or at least a dark past. It was admitedley Katie's idea to include a time-lapse type shot (of which can be seen in numerous Linkin Park videos such as Numb), I was skeptical as to how this shot would be achieved at first however overall I feel it has been done to an overly satisfied standpoint, I am very happy with the shot and I think it helps indicate a similar emotion of isolation towards the female character as the Numb video did (see Numb article down below). I think this was overall a very good preview of what we can acheive and with proper planning and communication as well as an effective song which links towards the themes of rock musc I feel we can make a video which excells our expectations.

Uprising - Muse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8KQmps-Sog

Muse is an alternative rock band whose music is very often link to rebellion, the lead singer of Muse himself Matt Bellamy has stated that he considers himself a libertarian, someone who has a political belief focused on freedom. Many of Muse’s songs are therefore not only linked to rebellion but also help arise a revolution of freedom, Uprising is one of these songs; the lyrics themselves have very revolutionary overtones and focus vastly on the rebellion aspect. The video begins very strangely, since Muse are often very flamboyant and unique in terms of sound since the lead singer is thought to have a vast vocal range and plays multiple instruments that range from an electric guitar to a harmonica it means their videos often are very artistic but lack any sense of narrative depth in order to make things look as good as possible and as peculiar but also very effective. The video begins with a miniature version of an empty garage with a life sized electric wire burning, as the camera continuously pans it reveals a whole miniature city made up entirely of miniature figures including dolls, trash cans, houses, etc. As the wire burns it stars to decrease in size similar to a wire connected to a detonator as though the whole city is about to explode. Eventually the band is shown to be doing a live performance of the song but interestingly enough they’re shown to be a part of the miniature world however instead of being motionless dolls they’re their live selves and are therefore unchanged, apart from the world around them, they’re riding on the back of a miniature truck, they appear to be unfazed by these very strange circumstances and continually carry on to play the music, not paying attention to the surroundings and being completely focused on the music is a typical convention for rock music specifically. As the wire continues to burn the camera continues to pan this time revealing a building with a “going out of business” sign, this sign is made to show how the political fathoms of the government is not working and that the whole city (metaphorically the country or the world) is crumbling due to a lack of freedom or lack of guidance and that the government is forcing innocent people to lose their jobs due to their mistakes, the lyrics “they will not force us, they will stop degrading us” means that the song is working against this world in the sense that the world as it is now is crumbling and the song is trying to revolutionize the world to make the world free. As various long shots, mid shots and close ups show the fire continually burning across the streets of the miniature world with a few cross cuts to the live performance eventually there is a high angled shot which shows the line still burning but also shows a sign that says “building for the future!”, the sign has a pig headed man next to the slogan and black crosses for eyes, this is to show how politicians regularly lie and “degrade” the public and how they will proclaim to be fighting for them and for a better future but overall remain spiteful liars whose words are meaningless now as the people can see who they really are, in this case a pig, something which is often shown to be very selfish and careless towards other things, something the government tries to be the opposite of. The band is then shown to be in a camp fire type place with a fire around them and tents again they remain in sync with the music, the band being in this environment instead of usually being in an authority area shows that the band is part of the rebellion and they’re part of what the government has done to the public. In one shot a miniature caravan is shown to almost blow up in an explosion, later on the band are shown to be playing the music inside the caravan indicating again that the band is part of what is happening in the world. The world continues to evaporate with some long shots showing the aftermath of the burning buildings whilst in some shots the live performance is still played on the back of the truck whilst others show them back in the burnt caravan, later a long shot shows sparks spraying from the outside of the caravan which then cuts to Muse performing in the caravan in which sparks are flying everywhere which again the band appears oblivious to as though the music is what matters and that is what they care about and are focused on despite the fact that the caravan is probably about to blow up as the music picks up dramatically. A very dramatic shot later shows a large fire with what looks like piles of ash underneath it burning uncontrollably whilst miniature dolls stand around it with some leaning forward as though trying to save people from being burned alive, the fact that the dolls are obviously motionless could represent the common everyday people as having no power over the government as they literally cannot save their friends from being burned. Another pan shot shows a woman doll’s face with half of it torn off as she lays close to the fire, more and more of people’s faces continue to burn with some looking as though they’re leaning in towards the fire as though they’d rather die than live in this world. Another shot which is seemingly completely unrelated shows a large teddy bear rising from the surface of ash, this is very peculiar and there is no real reason as to why the teddy bear appears however later on more teddy bears break through the surface and are shown to be very gruesome and satanic looking, these bears are shown to be bigger than most of the miniature buildings and because they’re frequently destroying everything it could mean that they’re a vague metaphor for the government being monsters and destroying everything amongst the motionless people most likely represented as the general public.

As referred to in the blog, an image taken near the beggining of the video highlighting the miniature aspect as well as showing the flame passing through the city.

The first image of the band's live performance, as referred to in the blog this is a typical characteristic of alternative rock music videos.

As referred to in the blog the flame continues to transpire throughout the city, in this still from the video there can be seen a store with the sign stating "going out of business" as though a revelation and rebellion is needed reflecting Matt Bellamy's (the lead singer's) libertarian views.

An image referenced in the blog depicting a very 'flash' scene of the live performance, on it's own this shot could help reflect a party atmosphere typical of alternative rock however in the context of the video it appears that this reflects more the fact that the flame has reached it's detonation point and is about to explode metaphorically reflecting a rebellious nature.

A very grim image referred to in the blog possibly representing how the common man cannot save or stop their fate of death from happening and subsequently have no power.

An image taken of the teddy bears coming alive and destroying every aspect of the city symbolising the destruction of the country thanks to the government and possibly showing how something typically very playful and child like has turned viciously evil due to the government or indeed any political power.

Numb - Linkin Park

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXYiU_JCYtU

Numb is a song by the heavy metal band Linkin Park, the song is very aggressive and deals with the rebellion of teenagers and how they wish so desperately to be themselves but due to their parents or some sort of authority continuously getting in the way then they can never be themselves. The video for the song begins with a mid shot of a young girl standing on a bridge looking over the city of which is quite clearly Prague. The camera cuts to various different buildings of the city before cutting back to the girl in a high angle mid shot as though emphasizing the world is looking down on the young girl symbolising how the world looks down upon young people and teenagers subsequently highlighting their feeling of isolation. Afterwards a high angle shot reveals the band’s live performance of the song by revealing a section of the equipment directly before another high angle shot; only this time a long shot shows the whole band all playing live and in synchronisation with the music. The area the band is playing in is very peculiar in regards to typical conventions of rock music as the area the band is playing in is shown to be an old church; this does not conform with typical conventions in regards to mise en scene for place in which the live performance takes place as usually this happens in a very urban area such as an old factory or middle of the streets. However analytically this would link to the idea that the band is preaching some sort of belief, in this case most likely being the belief that teenagers and young people should be allowed to do whatever they like without the limitations of people around them, the church element therefore helps highlight the sense of strong belief system the band and song is trying to portray. Multiple shots are then shown of the band cutting from various long shots and close ups of the band playing instruments, this is just as the tempo of the music begins to increase. The narrative begins to show the girl in a classroom therefore clarifying that the girl would most likely be a teenager, she does not show any real contact with other students and another high angle close up shot reveals the teenager to be drawing angels onto a notepad creating an impression that she is seeking hope from somewhere, notably the girl’s wrists are shown to have scratches on them indicating clearly that the girl has cut herself frequently in what is most likely frequent suicide attempts, this would overall suggest the girl is going through a vast amount of emotional pain which has caused her to delve herself into physical pain representing teenagers as very emotionally torn people who aren’t listened to or cared for in anyway therefore showing them to be isolated. The girl is shown to be laughed at and taunted by her fellow classmates reflecting the emotional torment the girl is suggested to be going through. The band is frequently cross cut between the live performance of the song by the band throughout this video, the narrative now begins to focus on the girl travelling throughout the city with her notepad continuously drawing images taken from very religious statues. Another shot later is a time-lapse type shot in which a class full of students all leave the room whilst the girl stays, the classmates are blurred as though they cannot wait to get out of the room and leave the girl, and never does any other classmate acknowledge her existence emphasizing further her isolation from the rest of the world. Another shot is similar to the time-lapse but instead this time the girl is seemingly deliberately knocked over and the time-lapse begins as soon as she falls over, again no one acknowledges her or helps her up despite her considerable pain. Another panning shot is again similar to the time-lapse shot as it pans the school pupils walk down and up the corridors in a fluid motion referencing how no one is again helping her emphasizing her isolation even more. Whilst at home she does not have any proper communication between her mother highlighting again her isolation and that no one really cares about her. The time-lapse type shot again occurs to indicate how the mother is in an almost routine day and does not have anything to slow her down whilst the girl is still continuing normally as though her world is slowed down making her pain of isolation seem even more drastic. A close up shot of her mother shows her in a red shirt seemingly complaining about something, the fact that the mother is complaining most likely about something unrelated to her daughter indicates that the mother does not care about the emotions of her daughter or isn’t aware of her pain because she never communicates with her daughter, clearly she is not openly talking pleasantly to her daughter due to a reaction close up shot of her daughter whose face is emotionless as though the daughter just wants her to shut up and listen to her, she is wearing a sleeveless black shirt, the dark nature of her clothing would help indicate that the strong but dark emotions she is feeling at the time whilst the fact that her clothes are sleeveless help suggest that the daughter is essentially screaming out for her mother to notice her pain but is instead to focused on her own self to listen to her. Multiple more time-lapse shots show other girls at her school walking away as soon as the main girl sits down and more panning time-lapse shots show the school casually going through their day whilst again no one pays any attention to the girl. The girl eventually ties her hair behind her back and begins to throw rapidly stuff across her room (of which is covered in her pictures of angels from before) as though she is attacking her own self metaphorically as well as physically and therefore emotionally. She begins attacking the drawings in a slashing fashion as cuts towards the live performance becomes increased as the music tempo begins to increase, the slashing motions reflect the slashes the girl has done to herself. Eventually the girl suddenly appears inside the church where the band is performing, she runs up towards the band just as the song is about to finish, this helps highlight how the young girl is finding solace and hope with the fact that the location is in a church through Linkin Park’s music, the random nature of this ending (of which is quite abrupt) highlights as though the girl has been transported into the music world just before the song ends, the fact that this is a church plus the fact that the last time the girl was shown she was in a very emotional state suggests that the girl may have perhaps killed herself in order to be transported into this world.

 

A typical image of alternative rock videos, showing a close up or mid shot of the instruments before they are actually shown as the full band in the live performance.

 

A shot shown directly after the first image, this shows the full band in a long shot of the live performance, an isolated environment is shown which was also referred to in the blog.

 

Damage - Fit For Rivals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xusC01JShvU


Fit For Rivals is another rock band in the music industry, in comparison to Oasis their style is completely different due to this band being far more heavy metal and aggressive, however I personally feel that the themes created in this video are fairly similar, this may make it difficult for us as a group to clarify a specific genre within rock music however I’d argue profoundly the fact that it is all part of one overall entire genre and the themes expressed throughout each individual sub-genre is still vastly similar if not identical, I feel as though the only different is some themes and styles are expressed much more vividly or with more passion, an example of this is the link between Lyla by Oasis and this song. Within Lyla the whole message of the song could be argued upon however the general consensus is the downward spiral of drugs and unstable emotions of a female character which is exactly the same concept which occurs in this video for Fit For Rivals, the only difference is that this video is much more aggressive and dark and sinister from the start whilst Lyla gradually developed into being dark. The beginning of the video starts with a young girl in a stray jacket who is clearly been delegated to being in a mental hospital, she begins to sing the lyrics of the song as the camera zooms in towards her, there is then a cut to the guitar player playing his guitar followed by another shot of a drummer playing the drums. The setting of the live performance is notably far different as the walls are very grey and appear looks like an old factory or urban area, a typical feature of many rock songs being the urbanisation effect. As the camera cuts back to the lead singer zooming in further there is another cut to an extreme close up of a man playing the guitar which then quickly jump cuts back to the mental hospital, however now the girl is standing up and shaking mimicking like she’s trying to escape from her jacket, this then quickly cuts back to her lying down on the floor singing and zooming in helping express a conflicted mind/thoughts of the girl. After this there is then another shot taken from the same scene in the mental hospital however now it is a close up of her face standing up and she appears far more aggressive due to her dark, black hair, black eyeliner and facial expressions, again there is another cut back to the factory-type area where the girl is now shown with a microphone singing the song in a close up whilst the band members can be seen behind her, before the shot ends there is an extremely quick pan to emphasize the blur and create a disorienting and intense factor towards the video. After this there are frequent cuts jumping from extreme close ups of instruments and general close ups all being played, it is important to note that this is all being done in sync with the music, since the tempo of the song is very quick and loud the fast editing towards these different appears justified. Eventually when the singing stops for a brief moment and the guitar riff begins to appear then there is finally a long shot of the band, this again reveals the factory-type area and makes the band appear quite secluded, again the shot uses a zoom before again it once again cuts to the instruments being played in more extreme and general close ups. Afterwards there is a quick shot of the girl in the mental hospital screaming and looking very nervous and scared, flashes appear in the background to help emphasise her fear and bewilderment. Eventually a narrative is formed after a high angle long shot reveals the singer in the fetal position on a bed with two people seemingly older (possibly her parents) laying next to her, the room is a mess and the mother character has an empty bottle of alcohol caressed in her hand as she lays sleeping, the father character is laying as far away as he could from his daughter indicating a sense of loneliness towards the daughter highlighting a dysfunctional family and isolation amongst the daughter. The man also has various tattoos on his back, typical representation of large men covered in tattoos tends to be a representation linked with criminality and aggression, therefore the daughter is clearly a part of an unstable, emotionally torn and alcoholic fuelled family. The girl walks into her bathroom and stares at herself in the mirror before she begins to run a bath and take numerous pills from the kitchen cabinet. After there are more shots of her inside the mental hospital in the stray jacket indicating a sense that the girl is starting to lose her mind and become very unstable and emotional. Shots cross cut repeatedly from the performance, the mental hospital and her now taking a large amount of pills more as an attempt to commit suicide. Her dark clothing she wears in the narrative would help imply her very dark, emotional standpoint and isolation, a typical feature of many rock songs being the isolation of teenagers, though in other cases the use of drugs and/or free lifestyle is seen to be celebrate. The music continually picks up at this point right after a shot in which the pill bottle (now empty) drops on the floor as though now she is ready to die and it’s too late to save her. A low angled POV shot of the girl in the bath then shows her mother character, now awake, walking in and noticing what her daughter has done, a high angled shot also highlights the girls full body in the bath with her eyes closed and without her moving clearly indicating that she is dead. Interestingly enough the entire bathroom is very clean in pristine white whilst the girl (who is still in her clothes) is still wearing very dark clothes showing her isolation and darkening emotions. The father character then rushes in and carries her out of the bath. Strangely another POV low angle shot shows doctors flashing torches into the girl’s eyes whilst she is lying in a hospital bed being carried off somewhere. Later on as well there can be seen cross cut shots of the same doctor injecting her with a very large needle and her struggling reaction; this is still cross cut with her in the mental hospital implying that because she tried to kill herself her parents then sent her to a mental hospital to cope with her unstable emotions, however it could also be interpreted to mean that she is dead and gone to a hell-like place as there was no shot of her actually recovering or her parents actually placing her in the hospital as she just appeared implying the hell teenagers always appear to go through and the unstable mind of teenagers (or at least teenage girls).

A shot taken from the begining of the video, as the camera zooms in the girl continues to mime the song just before cross cut shots are shown of the band playing the song in a live performance.

A close up shot of the guitar shown directly after the previous shot, this is clearly a typical characteristic of these videos along with the cross cut of the narrative, as the song progresses the camera gradually goes from a close up, to a mid shot and finally to a long shot showing the entire band in the live performance.

A close up shot of the singer as part of the narrative, at this point the video is still being frequently cross cutted with the live performance of the song.

As stated before, as the song progesses the shots are placed more further away and become mid shots rather than close up of the instruments and the band members playing the music, here two instruments can be seen as well as the body of the musicians rather than just the guitar on it's own.

 

The first full shot of the band in a long shot, this clearly shows how the progression of the song in alternative rock videos change the variation of shots from a close up, to a mid shot and then finally a long shot.

A shot as referred to in the blog revealing a possible family with the father passed out with a large tattoo covering his back and the mother seemingly passed out with an empty bottle of alcohol in her hand whilst the 'child' figure lays beside them wide awake craddled like a small infant indicating the isolation and bewilderment of youth.

Lyla - Oasis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQZQ5MHehes

Lyla is an indie rock song by the popular Britpop band Oasis, the song does not have a clear meaning, Noel Gallagher (the writer and performer of the song) has stated that the song does not have an official meaning and prefers that the song is “open-minded” as though the audience can have their own interpretation. Many indie rock songs by this band specifically do not have a clear meaning, other songs such as Don’t Look Back in Anger, I Wanna Live in A Dream In My Record Machine and Whatever have all also been referenced by Noel Gallagher as having no real meaning. However the music video of Lyla would indicate a clear narrative to the song although aspects could be interpreted to mean other things. The video begins with a CGI building in black and white ‘kitchen sink’ gritty imagery, the camera pans upwards very quickly as the music begins whilst zooming in towards the building, then shot of the building begins to pan downwards extremely fast almost mimicking a film print as though the video is shouting at towards the audience as though it understands itself as a music video and isn’t trying to be anything different. Eventually a window appears and two people can be seen inside a living room, in the room there is a book shelf where none of the books are level stylising a slightly awkward feel as though something isn’t right about the room. The original window shot revealing the two people is a long shot/POV as it clearly highlights the room and the character’s full body but there is also a clear tree branch above the top of the window as though an actual person is peering in towards the window (subsequently mimicking the audience’s perception). The camera then zooms in and becomes focused on the woman; since the music is still playing at this point it means there is no dialogue whatsoever which means the interactions between character’s can only be shown by body language and general mise-en-scene. From this the man character can be seen waving his hands in an aggressive, angry manner at the woman character, the man character is black and is wearing a tracksuit jacket, this would indicate that the area is most likely working class, this would be added upon by the fact that the building appears to look very much like council flats indicating a working class area. The clothing of the man although typically working class is still very clean with a seemingly gold necklace, this would imply that he has some sort of rich status in the household as the girl character’s clothes is very dirty and her hair is very messy and unhygienic, this would also show a representation of women in this video as clearly the man character has an authority over the woman despite the fact that their age appears similar. As soon as the camera starts zooming in on the girl character it creates the impression that the spotlight is on her and helps create sympathy as the audience have not seen her do anything wrong and yet she is being aggressively shouted at by the man character, there can be seen a few quickly edited shots of the girl characters point of view, this includes another man on the couch which then pans down to an aggressive dog barking directly at her, this would indicate that she is either in severe trouble or the woman is in a way being held captive against her will. All of the video remains black and white still adding to the very gritty, ‘kitchen sink’ appeal. The woman character then glances at the TV screen where Liam Gallagher (Oasis lead singer) can be seen singing the first lines of the song, the dog continues to bark and the girl character is seemingly becoming more and more worried and concerned, she starts touching her hair and grabbing it as though frustrated, frequent back-to-back cut close up shots of the girl character and the dog highlight both of them becoming more reckless, the girl is becoming more worried whilst the dog is getting more aggressive, the man character then pushes the girl character out of the way like he is deeply angry with her, she seems to be almost begging for him to not be angry despite her clear emotion of sadness. As the man character goes into the bathroom there is a shot of the other man in the room (the owner of the dog) sitting down with a knife in his hand, due to the stereotype of working class areas, plus the fact that the main man character went into the bathroom to take out something supplied in the cupboards would imply that there is some sort of relation to drugs, as the main man walks out of the bathroom the camera is focused on the girl characters face and begins to shake replicating her frustrating and unstable emotions, more shots of the dog indicate the dog also becoming even more reckless and aggressive. The girl character then appears to have an emotional breakdown and screams at the other man character with the knife sitting on the couch, waving her arms frantically and starts to kick him out of the flat whilst crying, the shots and editing her is very interesting as it cuts quickly from POV shots which are very blurry and hard to make out (similar to the girl’s conflicting and confusing emotions) and clear shots of her aggressively forcing the men out of the flat. This overall highlights a rebellious attitude, a very popular theme of rock videos, however usually rebellion is celebrated in these types of videos as though they’re proud of what they’re doing with supportive music towards their aim, whilst here this isn’t shown very clearly, due to her unstable and frantic emotions plus the fact that music is fairly uplifting if listened to on its own then it makes the girl’s rebellion not something to be proud of nor disgraced of which is very peculiar for rock music in general. The camera shakes more and more as more close ups of the girl’s face is shown indicating her further anxiety. She forces the men out of the flat and forcibly shuts the door behind them, she then walks into the bathroom and takes narcotics, they’re are shown to be illegal necessarily and there is no shot of her actually taking them, however the fact that she takes the drugs directly from the bathroom cabinet and suddenly massive effects begin to occur would imply illegal or least very hard drug use. The camera stays focused on a close up of the girl and begins to pan around her whole head as though she is being transported into a new world, then there is a big explosion and a door producing a mass array of different colour comes apart and people are shown to encourage her to walk into it (as though saying “walk into the light”, typical religious iconography), once she walks into the door then suddenly the whole video is in colour, her hair has changed to a much more stylistic look and she has a very fashionable white dress with a princess tiara, this is just when the music begins to increase its tempo increasing the party atmosphere. From then on the whole band of Oasis can be seen cross cutting between the band playing and the girl walking around the party with numerous random people all dancing to the music. As far as I can tell this is a fairly unique concept, not fully unique but it is fairly rare to have the narrative of a video link directly with the live performance, usually the performance could be considered like a form of escapism from the narrative and although is filmed in a similar style there is often little correlation of interaction between the two. When the girl first enters the music continues to play but the other people at the party stop as though the spotlight is on her, however after a few seconds they continue to dance as though she has been accepted by them, the fact that the girl has clearly taken drugs to influence this shows this is probably the environment she wants to be in I.E she wants to be excepted by people and wants to have fun and party to the music and be beautiful indicating the escapism effects of drugs. The people at the party all seem to have strange, large masks on and dark clothing; this is probably done to keep the attention focused on her as there doesn’t appear to be any major conflict between the girl and the other party goers. Frequently there are side angled close up shots of Liam Gallagher indicating typical iconography of rock music. The girl throughout the party begins waving her arms and stretching as though she is now finally free and has released all her worries and stress. POV shots of the girl indicate other members of the party smiling at her as she glances over them and dances thus involving a pan effect from the camera as well as frequent shaking. As the song continues the editing becomes faster and it becomes difficult to conjure up what is happening in each shot, whilst the performance by Oasis stays essentially the same using basically the same shots and being very clear, the attention on the girl changes, suddenly more POV shots show that the faces once smiling at her have become very grim and snarky, very quick shots also show a large, obese man as though he is about to vomit creating a very distasteful and horrific feel to the video. This is done to represent the downwards spiral of drugs, as the girl was feeling happy and free originally she is now feeling worried and has stopped dancing and started twisting and turning her body to watch out for the people around her, suddenly members of the party begin to grab her as the song goes into its solo guitar performance creating a sense of urgency and intensity, as she tries to wrestle them off the images become far more darker and sinister as though the members have become like monsters, the lighting does not differ for the live performers creating an effect that they’re in another world whilst the girl is starting to panic and get really scared of the dark, stark lighting and scary images of men grabbing her and pulling evil faces directly at her. Superimposed images are placed during the end whilst the girl is running away, the images seem to highlight very ghostly images and even a shot of the girl running away makes her face appear as though it’s a ghost again adding to the downward spiral of drug use and how the girl is coming back to reality after taking the drugs. Once the girl escapes the party room she arrives back in the original black and white flat and begins to stare at the window where the words “Don’t Believe The Truth” is shown in bright yellow and black letters on the building opposite, the words are taken directly from the album which the song is from therefore integrating a link between the album itself and the song as a whole. Overall the song presents the notion of drug use in a very bad and sinister light and highlights how although it may be escapism for a brief moment it still has a notably horrific consequence and can lead to very upsetting, sad and stressful imagery. I personally think that the words “Don’t Believe The Truth” have any real link towards the song, although it could be interpreted to mean that the girl’s real life could be in either world and she just doesn’t know it, I feel that because of the style of the band and the fact that they personally prefer to leave question marks and cliff hangers towards these concepts then it’s just a phrase to keep the audience guessing as well as use as a market ploy to increase the sales of the album now that the audience know the name of it.

Here is the first shot taken from Lyla, it shows a long shot of a building in clear black and white imagery, the building is zoomed in very quickly before the camera pans down towards a particular level revealing a couple of people in one of the flats arguing.

The shot revealing the "Lyla" character aruing with her apparent boyfriend/drug dealer, this shot as referred to in the blog seems like it reflects the audiences point of view as though sneaking to have a look at what's going on, the tree branches in particular reflect a very dark atmosphere which in turn reflects the state of affairs the "Lyla" character is currently in.

This shot is another zoom shot but this time directly onto the "Lyla" character, her torn, raggedy clothes, messy hair and facial expressions suggest that she is in a depressive or stressful state. The amount of zooms already done at this point (along with the fact that so far there have been no edits) make it seem like the fast zooms are done in order to reflect a stylistic approach to the video.

An even more closer close up shot of Lyla is taken directly after her boyfriend/drug dealer pushes her out of the way  to get into the bathroom (to get drugs), before he tried to get in the room she repeatedly pleaded for him not to go in, this type of shot reflects her turmoil as though the whole world is turning against her further reflecting her stress and isolation.

A shot taken from when "Lyla" is getting her drugs from the bathroom cupboard, this shot is very brief however her hand does look fairly devilish like a claw reflecting her monstrous approach to drugs and her addiction turning her into something else.

The first zoom in close up shot of "Lyla" when she is transported into the other dimension (which is obviously in colour) showing the same stylistic approach again however the use of colour appears to show a more playful and more positive look towards the video.

A shot revealing the live audience and the band performing, a typical image of alternative rock videos.

A typical side angled close up shot of the singer as seen within many alternative rock videos.

A 'full circle' vibe reflected through the fact that "Lyla" is back in the black and white dimension as well as the name of the album Lyla is released on shown in bright orange writing at the very end. Incripting the name of the album/name of the song appears to be very typical of alternative rock videos.

Conventions

Overall our group has decided that we must focus our song and music style on rock music or at least some form of rock music, so far we have focused primarily on the indie rock genre and alternative as well as some grunge. Most of these sub genres have similar conventions since they all belong to the same primary genre of rock music. After researching through several music videos it has become apparent that the live performance (or at least a vocalisation of the lyrics) is very important, in a vast variety of examples the band (as is most often the case with rock music) can be seen performing the song. The narration of the video is often some sort of visualisation of the message of the song, due to the very fast tempo of the music the editing is often very quick and coincides with the music, rarely will a single shot last over 5-10 seconds unless the shot is focused on the lead singer singing the lyrics. Common shot features include close ups, in Sum 41’s “In Too Deep” multiple close ups of instruments and singers can be seen throughout the video. The areas seen in the videos are often associated as being very urban, in many videos such as “In Too Deep” or “Smells Like Teen Spirit” a large crowd can be seen dancing and jumping to the music, this is typical iconography of the genre, this often helps express a more of a ‘party’ atmosphere, again another typical feature of the genre. In terms of the live performance in which the band plays the music other areas often shown include streets, rooftops, abandon buildings or factories or actual live performances from an arena, occasionally other areas are utilized such as a sound studio. During the narrative it is more difficult to conjure up an image of typical areas since they’re associated with the message of the song and therefore will be vastly different, however common messages of rock music include rebellion, exploitation of partying or typical teenage antics such as drinking alcohol, having sex and taking drugs. Rock music bands are very notable for having a target audience of teenagers, bands such as Sum 41, All American Rejects and Blessthefall often feature very young teenagers to link with the target demographic. In terms of clothing and style of the videos, most videos are very distinctive as many rock bands are often linked towards their own style, along with different variations of rock music there comes different styles and fashion trends associated such as heavy hardcore rock music having links towards goth culture with the clothing colour black and dark imagery whilst alternative, indie rock having more of a laid back approach with simple jeans and a t-shirt. There are no specific shots which are necessary for a rock music video; however there are still common shots used in rock music videos such as a dolly shot, pan, zoom, extreme close ups and regular close ups all of which are typically edited very fast to emphasize a very fast, quick atmosphere interlinking with the ‘party’ and fast tempo characteristics of the song. Recently in rock music it has become popular to effectively produce a short film, Blessthefall’s “Hey Baby Here’s That Song You Wanted” and 30 Seconds To Mars’s song “Hurricane” are both short films lasting just under 10 minutes, whilst the songs which they’re made for only last around 3-4mins plus they have both been made within the past 2 years, in these types of videos the scale of the video appears upgraded, the video for “Hurricane” for example features many special effects and editing techniques such as slow motion and a very large cast, however this is only some of the artists and does not reflect the whole culture of rock music videos.

The History of Music Videos

First of all, need to apologise to Mr. Earl for not telling him about my internet connection problem over this past summer holiday, this very unpredictable connection has meant that it has been very hard for me to post blogs throughout this entire summer, however luckily I have still had connection to Microsoft Word where all my data has been stored so I shall continue to post blogs from now on, apologies to any frustration I may have caused Mr. Earl within these past few weeks. So anyway, the history of music videos. Music videos have a very influential and substantial history in terms of the media and the impact on society, however interestingly enough the first ever music video cannot be dated back to a specific date or specific video; this is due to the question of what actually is a music video. Certainly technology has vastly influenced the evolution of music videos and their stature in the media world, beforehand and during the 1950s music videos were little more than simple live recordings and performances often with the band or artist simply standing beside a microphone with their accompanied instruments and they’d play the song, the Beatles music video for the song “Let it Be” is a prime example of this, there is no real indication of a narrative or story and is just the musicians playing the music they’re selling to the public, the video scans through with little editing shots of Paul McCartney and John Lennon singing and playing the guitar and piano, there is very little in regards to technology such as transitions of shots or anything like the matter. Even throughout the 1960s this was still a prominent form of music videos, however with the rise of technology and sub-genres within music (particularly rock music) a new wave of fashion and style began to emerge within videos, editing in the videos became slicker and more ‘in time’ with the music than before, The Beatles song “Help!” still utilized the same style with just the band performing the song, however the editing is noticeably much more ‘in time’ with the music with much faster editing and cuts adding a new style towards the previously style of just a band performance and nothing else. The whole idea of a music video being a vastly important concept in relation to the music being sold was not considered in great proportion until the rise of MTV in 1981, trivially the first music video featured being The Buggles “Video Killed The Radio Star”, since then music videos have arguably become more important (or perhaps more famous) than the song. Narration and story was suddenly evoked and music videos became effectively like short stories telling an all around beginning, middle and end. There were now different styles and conventions different music genres adopted in their music and there were many different styles utilized in the structure of them, some videos were still a simple performance by the band but this time there was more style, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is all a performance by the band however it emphasized styles and conventions of grunge music such as very dreary, brown walls and a very bland and very miserable scenery to add to the message of the song. Before MTV there were still some music videos which were not just a single performance by a band or artist, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in 1975 was neither a single performance nor a narrative, although it still had a performance in it the most infamous part of the song features just the heads of the band members all singing a verse of the song with a black background, a very stylish and artistic convention which was not typical by any means at the time. However music videos were evolving many claim that Michael Jackson’s short film and title track “Thriller” helped pave the way for narration in music videos, the video was overall around 30 minutes long whilst the song itself is only around 3-4mins long, the story includes Michael and a girl visiting a film at a cinema and later on in the night Michael turns into a zombie and begins to dance and sing the title track, subsequently the song and video became synonymous with all music videos and has been voted the greatest music video of all time in a number of surveys such as “rockonthenet” survey counting down the 100 greatest music videos. This influence has meant that music videos now often have a narrative structure, some recent infamous examples include Ed Sheeran’s “The A Team” which has amassed over 20million views on the website YouTube, this video does not feature any live performance of the song by the singer and instead tells the story of a young girl who happens to be a drug addict and the song follows her throughout a couple of days in her life. Other videos in recent years have decided to mix the live performance and narration in order to provide a story but also highlight the band or artist performing the song, this is particular popular in rock music and alternative rock and indie music, 30 Seconds to Mars frequently utilize this in music videos such as “The Kill” and “Kings and Queens” by crossing over a narration of a story with the singer singing the song and sometimes featuring the band playing the music with their instruments. As of 2012 music videos are one of the most important aspects of the ‘marketing ploy’ developed by musicians, since the arise of YouTube many music videos have since become very controversial and are no longer at limits to a particular audience, many recent controversial videos often enhance themes linked to sex, drugs and violence, Rihanna’s video for the song “S&M” utilized many sexual elements which caused it to be banned in many countries around the world. Music videos are becoming increasingly popular on the website; many music videos in recent years have vastly surpassed 100 million views, a feat enormous by any standards in the music industry, songs like “Bad Romance” have more than 500 million views and even songs considered less serious and more humorous such as “Sexy and I know it” have surpassed over 200million views. Overall the YouTube and internet culture has allowed music videos to span across a vast variety of different areas and meant that music videos have become increasingly more important, award shows such as the VMA’s being made specifically for music videos of artistic or story driven value indicates clearly the level of significance music videos have now, clearly the evolution from them being a simple live performance has vastly altered at a humongous rate, not only is there now much more use of style and artistic license such as utilizing mise-en-scene to match with many aspects of the genre of music, the editing as well has evolved to become much more slicker and often keeps in time with the music thus making the video more significant to the song instead of having it be an effectively useless package to be added along with the song.