Change of Group

Change of Group

Under careful consideration, I have chosen to change group, to Katie’s and Reece’s group,  Looking through their blog, and talking to them about their project so far, they have told me that they are going to be doing a video based on the Alternative Rock genre, which is not too different from my old research as they are both sub genre’s from a bigger genre = Rock.

My old  research won’t go to waste as both genres draw conventions form each other, such as dark lyrics and artistic imagery as well as reliance on characters and a linear narrative (usually). But looing into their research they have done, they have looked at bands such as Linkin Park and Blink 182 as inspiration and analysed those video in depth and also looked into album covers produced by these bands.

Things to come!

Solitaire Unraveling Analysis

Solitaire Unraveling - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U45NfWSX-Vk

Mushroomhead, a masked band from Ohio in the USA, started out in 1993 and are my favourite band. Their style of music is a mixture of industrial metal and old rock singing with part rap, and their visual style has been always that of ‘Horror’ and ‘Fear’, beginning with simple X-face masked to their latest masks of mutilated skulls and pig faces and army helmets.

0:00 -0:06
 

Instantly we are introduced to medium shot of a bizarre creation (It’s a wooden Rabbit, but I didn’t know that till I googled it) As the medium shot lowers we see a young boy. This immediately introduces the audience into a dystopian or wasteland setting with the ruined trees and the surround desert. The young boy in the dystopian setting is a common theme in films etc as it shows innocence in a world of chaos.

0:06 – 0:10

After a very quick cut, we are shown a few quick scenes, one from a very high angle, zooming into the drums and then a close up of one of the singers (J-mann) with everything apart from his face is blurry. I quite like these shots as their shortness and their ‘different’ styles of shots jumping around add to the atmosphere as ‘Deranged’ as the music begins.

0:13 – 0:16

 Adding further to the deranged and surreal atmosphere, the shots indicate that there are two copies of each of the members (possibly an alter ego, which links to the scenes later), I like the idea of somewhat subtle changes to the characters and make the audience think about the differences and why they are different.

0:17 – 0:22

In this shot we see the giant sculpture being pulled by the small boy, this shot could represent, and relate to third world society where it is a literal dystopia and they have child labour. I also believe this shot is quite effective, because it acts like an establishing shot, but not at the beginning of the clip.

0:30

In this shot it details numerous meanings, as it has the band members coming out of the statue, and each ‘Alter ego’ are linked together but are unchained by the small boy. This could represent the shackles of slave labour (which I said before about the child) being freed.  This shot also holds the connotations of the industrial metal genre; heavily edited and a surreal atmosphere with a dark twist.

0:33 – 0:45

These collection of shots are possibly my favourite of the video, as the vocals become more aggressive and become more of a ‘growl’, fighting breaks out between the ‘Alter Ego’s’ occurs which gets more fierce as the vocals get heavier. As well as snappy shots of each band member which last no longer than half a second each, but these shots really keep up with the style and tempo of the song.

0:48- 0:56

Here we are introduced to an darker and even more surreal area, with the other lead singer present, the bizarre imagery portrayed links in well with the rest of the clip aswell as the usual conventions of industrial metal (Dark Imagery, odd costumes relating to the dark imagery).

1:40 – 1:44

I think this part is excellent; here we have the ‘DJ’ of the band ‘Stitch’ staring into the camera which is at very high angle (directly above him), and it slowly zooms into them changes as it fixates on his face whilst still lower, I also like how when the guitar riff it changes to an alternate shot of the band  keeping in line with the music.

2:04 – 2:11

Here we see a high angle shot with the words ‘Condemned’ appareaning in the sand, this can be related to the representation of what I said earlier of slave labour etc. It also however links to the lyrics aswell. (On another note I also really like this part of the song because of the amazing growl J-mann does).

2:53- 4:09

Around this point it appears it is near the end of the song, it takes a different twist and turns into a faster paced with both singers , before you saw one of the normal people point a finger (at whom you do not see), and J-mann replies ‘I’ve suffered’, this could mean that they have also suffered and are just repeating the same process to the ‘normal’ people. As they dismantle the statue they eventually enter it, and it is pulled by an older man. It becomes apparent that these people pulling it are all the same person, and they are still controlled and a slave for their whole life and the cycle continues until they die (which is portrayed when the old man collapses).

Skindred Analysis

Skindred analysis (Youtube Link will be posted later in comments section)

Skindred‘s ‘Warning’ Is from their highly successful album  ‘Union black’, and the band is known for their alternative metal with reggae influences, and their highly stylized videos and over the top clothes.

0:02

Immediately we are introduced into the normal conventions of metal/rock videos, a highly stylized 3d environment is seen through an establishing shot. This portrays a futuristic dystopia as in fades in and rises upwards, and the audience can instantly grasp that this is going to be a very modern and most likely a heavy beat and fast paced music video. Afterwards we are introduced into an extreme close up of the main singer, wearing shades and still having the heavy red saturation effect. Then sharply cutting into a slanted shot of the band playing. This jarring transition of shots gives the effect to the audience that this is not a normal music video/band as it is very erratic and different.

0:12 - 0:16

After shifting into many different views of the 3d renders and special effects (Such as a birds eye view and pan shot) we are introduced into a long shot of the silhouettes of the band, furthering the view of a dystopian style of and continuing the modern visual style (It’s almost a cel-shaded style render) as these shots of the 3d renders give it a vibe of technology (much like a darker side of the Tron effects). The speed of the cuts and the shorting times of each shot emphasize the speed of the guitars.

0:21 -0:23

Possibly one of my favourite shot of the whole clip, the high angle of the shot slowly rises revealing a very dark urban surrounding, with a very heavy lens flare, illuminating a small portion of the area,  adding to the effect of a dystopia with a ‘Light of hope’, but this light is quickly diminished as it zooms into the surreal 3d model of ‘tentacles’ shifting and moving.


0:24 – 0:37

In rapid shots we are introduced into a variety of different shots which each last no longer than 2 seconds each, but varying in angles, as you can see starting from a medium shot into, close up of the singers face and a different angle, then tracking the evolution (which could resemble the how the song is getting further in, it is evolving throughout leading up to the chorus)Then going to a medium shot but in the opposite angle to the close up shot. An interesting idea could be that the the raw destructive 3d model is like the how metal music is portrayed, rough and erratic.

00:56 – 1:01

when the chorus actually kicks in, the lyrics ‘Warning, Warning, it’s dangerous, it’s dangerous!’ are said and the full form of the 3d model  is there and is causing havoc. The havoc it causes is in line with the theme, with the build up of the song and hitting it’s climax. The special effects are rather nice and have a retro vibe to them, they aren’t detailed and quite blocky but it is evident what it is. This shot also feels the longest and the shot is slowly zooming, giving the effect to the audience that the ‘havoc’ and the intensity of the music is pulling them into the video.

1:11 (again at 1:17)
This shot and style varies from the rest of the clip and only occurs in this instance for less than a split second, it gives the effect of a very techno and digital vibe (as described before). The shot reminds of a old 90’s electronic billboard, with it’s dead pixels and very disitint and large pixels. It still keeps within the theme, and almost looks like a hidden voice within all the madness and chaos. The last one with the zig zag lines could represent how it’s getting worse with the chaos and that it is effecting those who want a voice.

1:40 – 1:43

Quite a nice pan shot here, reminiscent of the very first establishing shot, but obvious with the creature taking over, this is more like a ‘Before and after’ or even a ‘Before and now’, giving the effect that the music is spreading like a wildfire.

2:11

The most distant view of the band playing live, showing the creature around the band moving around  faster as the chorus is playing around them. Showing the full extent of the creature and the very height of the music.

2:35

Straight after the chorus the tempo changes and it soley becomes the guitar with different riffs, the camera changes to different members of the band, as they start to change (the guitarist puts his hood up and his eyes turn white, the drummer start to have thunderbolts around him as does the lead singer.) This change represents how they are changing the tempo and fighting back the creature, linking back to before how the light is hope against the creature and the ‘dystopia’.

 

2:49

One of the best parts of the whole clip, the music changes into somewhat a very crude stop motion, like different parts of movement happening, whilst having very stark and bold stripe sint he background and lens flares, and flashes in the background. It keeps in the theme but gives it even more of a ‘comic’ look, it’s a welcome change to the clip as the whole clip becomes repetitive with the same shots usually throughout repeating and variety starts to spread thin.

3:18 – 3:55

Very similar shots to very early in the clip, except that the ‘shards’ are there instead, emphasising that it could be reversing back to the original state without the creature. The music becomes higher pitched and eventually fades to black abruptly.

Overall, the clip is decent, I wouldn’t say it’s the best clip, due to it’s repetion of it’s shots (same close ups of the lead singer all the time) , and how the special effects are overused and how the red begins to get tedious over time. I also thought there was little narrative, not that it needed any, but the clip seems to feel that it’s jus t a little bit there for the sake of it.  However, I really like some shots (especially the high angle zooming on the 3d creature) and the comic book style shot near the end was very nice (One of the things I may borrow for my own).