Saturday, 20 August 2011

textual analysis - two door cinema club - what you know

How has the band two door cinema club used the medium of music to promote their single 'what you know'?


Two door cinema club are an indie rock band from northeren ireland. They became a group in 2007 and released there debut album in 2010. They are sighned to two record labels called Kitsun'e Music and Glassnote Records. Being a new group theve made there selves well known and have played at big festivals such as Reading and Leeds. There music is becoming much more known with more and more people becoming fans and listening to the indie band. Im looking into there song called 'what you know' that came 64th in the charts. The song 'what you know' postioned two door cinema club through the medium of music video as a band who can make a wide range of good songs.

The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, is that they are illistrated and amplified, and you can see this at the start of the video where the lead singer says 'realise its right before your eyes' and the visual of this is in the video as hes staring at a girl  in front of him, resembling to the lyrics.This helps create a better flow and understanding of what the song is about creating a visual of the lyric itself.

 There is also a relationship between the music and the visuals. At the start of the song, when the beat starts kicking in there are people moving to the beat of the song. Once the main drum starts to come in  a perosn in the video also starts hitting a row of drums in rythm to how it is in the song. This shows a connection between the two. Throughout the song, all three band memebers are playing guitars in the video which is showing how they are serious about there music and care more about the actual song than how the video is. Everyone in tyhe video is in sync with the song so it helps represent the ryhtm and the beat to 'what you know'. In parts of the song, the lead singer has close ups of him when he is singing which helps represent his role and also gives it good flow.

There are many shots of the band throughout the whole song. This is because they are trying to promote the song as well as the band. They also do this by making it more genuine, with who they are rather than conceentrating on the video. The clothes they wear are stereotypical of a indie rock band in the wsy its smart, but with skinny jeans to giver them that pop look on stage. They are all using guitars in the video as well, which helps show they are all good with instruments again promoting the band.

The video is very performanced based but has some narrative to it in the way the lyrics to relate to the video and helps show whats happening in the video. However i think its using this stlye to help promote them positively as it looks more at them thereselves. It brings them acroos as them being more interested in the music itself, instead of the video. Using this method helps create a good image on the band itself.

In conclusion i think that two door cinema club are represented positively and this is trying to acheive a good image of them. More and more people are starting to like them, due to the quality of their songs. The song 'what you know' has relationships between both lyrics and visuals as well as music and visuals, helping present the video in a positive way towards the song itself and the overall image of the band.

Friday, 12 August 2011

textual analysis - Kings of Leon - Pyro

Kings of leon - ‘Pyro’



Kings of Leon are an American rock band that formed in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee 1999.
The band is composed of brothers Anthony Caleb Followill, Ivan Nathan Followill and Michael Jared Followill, with their cousin Cameron Matthew Followill. In the video ‘Pyro’ I will be looking at all aspects that make up the film, and In detail analyse each concept of all the areas.At the start of the video, it begins with a man walking towards the entrance of the bar, the lighting is dim and the bar sign is very tacky which immediately gives you some from of setting and the kind of society that its in. He then helps a low life out just before entering the bar. This suggest that he’s a courteous person and straight away draws the viewers attention to him. While he is walking towards the door the music is building up, but is very calm and no real beats have kicked in yet.

Just as he walks through the bar doors the music kicks in, this works really well as it links both with the video as well as picking up pace in the music. Linking them both together like this helps the balance and flow of the video in my opinion. The video itself is very dull, lacking colour which relates to the song. This is very useful in getting the lyrics across in a way that resembles back and forth to the song.

As soon as your in the bar there is a big pan of the camera, that carry’s on for some time showing you around the bar, at different characters and types of people. You notice as the camera is panning that the characters are all lower down in society, alcoholics that have seen better days. It helps set the seen, and is very stereotypical of the type of bar and structure that is originally set earlier in the video. Its a very significant part of the video while its panning, as you get a good sense of what the place is like and the atmosphere within it. They have left this shot as one whole cut which is very unusual, as it goes on for longer than 30 seconds. In doing so, it creates a mellow mood that links with the song and helps set a scene for when the chorus kicks in. As the man starts to walk through, you see him walk off while it pans away to other people around the room. Before he walks off the screen you notice a man and a girl arguing at the bar. This just gets into the shot, which could suggest that it could come important later on.

As it carry’s on going around the bar there is a local band that are performing in the bar. These are the artists of Kings on Leon, but are playing not as them selves but as a casual, local band in the local pub. You don’t see them a lot at all which shows that there more current and urban, wearing rough clothes, as if there to be not known. They don’t put themselves out there in there videos, which suggests that they love there music and it shows this in that scene. It creates a good contrast between them being in their own video, but acting out as other people.

It then goes back onto the man who initially entered the bar. He walks up to the man who was arguing at the start with the women. Its very interesting as you see a glimpse of this at the start, so its very good in the way it links both parts back together connecting the whole video itself. Here it starts to get a bit more violent, and eventually the cut changes for the first time. It then hit’s the chorus, where the violence fully begins. Both the chorus and the fight kick in at the same time. And while this happens its all in slow motion. There is a contrapuntal sound, with the violence and the calm music. Both elements contrast against each other that makes it a very clever scene, and kick starts both parts to the song off. The slow motion carry’s on for a while, where it goes around the room showing the reactions of the other people around the bar. It helps the video flow with the song and works really well, following the contrast as they carry on fighting and the music carry’s on more emotionally and calmly.

As the song gets further into it the man ends up beat up in the floor and four men are standing around him. The chorus is louder now, and almost sums up the man on the floor, as it seems depressing. The line say’s ’I,I don’t wanna be holding on’ this helps the audience understand what’s happening, and you think that he has no hope. It then moves on and the song goes into a set lyric that’s repeated. While this is getting repeated the man starts floating in the air. I almost think this resembles him eventually breaking through with him getting lifted out of the situation. The repeated line is ‘want your love, can you feel it?’ As he rises, so do lots of other people around the bar. But some are not, which I think represent them showing their love to the person getting lifted. However the man rising is contrasting against this as he hasn’t got anyone that’s in the bar who‘s with him, which is why I think the lyric is being visually shown on the video the way it is. While the music is calmly dissolving away, he rises more to a bright light that’s above them. This signifies him getting to where he wants to and eventually the music cuts out and so does the light, linking both together.

After analysing the video I have noticed that its very obvious that the editing links the music, and this is relevant because it allows the song to relate to the video. I also found that though out the song everything is in coordination with the beats so that it all works together. I also think that the actually video is very interesting to watch, as there’s a lot happening but at the same time everything relates so it flows really well. Its very narrative based video, however there is a slight performance based side to it with the band playing as a local pub in the video. I video like this is very relevant to the indie rock genre that they are part of.

Tuesday, 2 August 2011

Textual Analysis - Jamie T - Sticks and Stones

Textual Analysis - Jamie T - Sticks and stones

Jamie t is singer/songwriter, who was born in Wimbledon, south London. He is 25 years of age he first started his career in 2005. His first few songs were ‘Sheila’ and ‘if you got the money’. The performing band are known as ‘the Pacemakers’ when he performs live. On the 29th June 2009, Jamie released his single ‘Sticks and Stones’. It reached 15th in the uk charts, and also reached 14th in the Triple J hottest 100, which is one of the most popular voting countdowns in the world.

The video starts off with Jamie t and another person dressed a clown. This firstly set the scene, and some of the characters that are going to appear in the video. There is also mist in the background, behind them. When the guitar strum kicks in for the first and second time, the mist goes up, then pauses and spreads, in tempo with the guitar. This helps the flow of the video link with the song itself. It then cuts to a tracking shot, that’s unsteady, and in black and white. The editing is fairly quick and makes the video seem quick. I think its done in black and white to link it to the lyrics. It says ‘as soon as I see the dust settle’. This is represented by the everything being black and white in the video at this part. It then cuts to Jamie t in what looks like a station. This is visually showing the lyrics, as it kicks in saying ‘I took a train’ The camera shot looks as if its in the train and he’s running after it. It goes along with the pace of the song, which makes it look really effective. Along with this, he’s at Wimbledon train station where he was born. Making the video where he lives shows he loves the music more, rather than making a video that has no relation to the music. It then cuts back to him and the clown. He’s sitting down singing the song, which shows that this song is performance based in a way that he sings all the lyrics, Its good as its different because its not performance in him playing the guitar. The first few opening parts of the video have unsteady cuts. This helps represent him figure in the industry, and shows how he is as a person, everything not being straight and perfect. The song is also like this, very messy and a general laugh to make.

Just before a minute of the song, it cuts to Jamie T in town with all the his mates, some of them being part of ‘the pacemakers’. This relates to the lyrics yet again, as he say’s soon as I see the dust settle, out in the town trying to find trouble’. This verse goes on with it saying, ‘hope I don’t miss the train. Ill be stuck in Hampton Wick’. The video is of him in Hampton wick at the train station. This then cuts back to the group of boys, all throwing stuff at the camera, which cracks. The whole way through the song so far, the lyrics match the images your seeing on screen. This helps make both of them flow, as they relate to each other. You get a sense that its meant to be made for the night out that he is having in the video.

The next scene is of him and another person at someone’s flat, where he says he feels most comfortable. The editing in this scene is being fast forwarded in sections, of him walking towards the camera. It cuts back and forth to him sitting down with some of his mates. It jump cuts when he walks towards the camera, and is also sped up. This is a good effect that helps represent them being youngsters and making trouble, and also relates back to the lyrics. I lighting so far looks all original, and untouched as if to show how his music, and how it is unique and original.

The next chorus cuts to all the places that they have filmed. In the flat, town, alley and garden. In the town with his mates, there all throwing beer and bricks at the camera, casing ‘trouble’. In this part it cuts to them in the same place at night and at day. In the night scene, they have red smoke in the background, resembling them causing trouble in town with the shot being seen through the cracks and holes through the camera. He talks about ‘boys like us’ in the chorus, which I guess represents how there’s not a lot else to do than cause trouble as there no one else to ’fight’. It represents his song perfectly set in London, explaining what him and his mates do.

Expressing a night out, the words make this whole song appealing to the audience. The instruments aren’t playing that much, with the bass playing one chord in verse 3. It’s the way he raps his verses that make this song how it is. As if he is producing a separate beat while singing. Having the band there adds to the song, and compliments the chant that Jamie has throughout the song.

The whole song is a representation of him and his mates, and what they do. The lyrics are shown perfectly through the images in the video, and the editing just makes it all flow well together. The whole song has been thrown together I think to help show a wild night out, and is demonstrated none the less. it’s a very fun and uplifting song that fit’s the image of himself and ’the pacemakers’. The editing definitely links the music, with all the lyricas matching whats on the video. Its hard to say weather this is a performance based or narrative based. Although hes not playing the instruments, neither is the band, he still sings the lyrics through out the whole song. On the other hand it could be narrative based, as its representing hima nd his mates on a night out in London. It tells a story, that is in the lyrics but also shows him singing it along side this. Therefore you could say that this video is both performance and narrative based.