Textual Analysis of The Captain by Biffy Clyro

I'm going to be analysing one of my favourite songs at the moment which I'm a bit obsessed with after seeing them play in Norwich just the other week :D - The Captain by Biffy Clyro.

The video, directed by Andy Morahan who has also shot videos for artists such as Wham and the Pet Shop Boys, is based around a pirate theme. There is a loose storyline whereby Simon Neil (the lead singer of Biffy Clyro) plays a pirate being captured and tortured by naval officers, he then gets rescued by his fellow bandmates and pirates. The video is both performance and storyline based which I felt worked really well, especially as performance is more conventional of videos for rock bands.

Camera :

Alot of blurred/soft focus is used in the video, partly to keep the audiences attention and partly to portray the fact that Simon Neil's character is clearly in pain. This may be to show the audience the world through his eyes, acting almost as a point of view shot. An example of a focus pull is shown below. >>>>>





I particularly loved the shot composition of shots including Simon Neil. As the main character in this storyline, he is always placed in the corner of the frame, which i feel is meant to represent his isolation as a prisoner.



Another area of the camera work I love is the use of handheld (from 2.25 secs to 2.29) in the part where the lead character is locked in a wooden cage, in particular a low angle shot of him. It really keeps the viewer involved and gives the feel of perhaps a rocky pirate ship. It also keeps the focus on the lyrics and the meanings behind them as we get a full view of Simon Neil's facial expressions as he lipsynchs.



Shots of random objects such as skulls and cannons were included in the video, I found this worked as the props went with the theme of piracy yet were also randomly placed. The use of random props is something we ourselves have included in our music video as we have liked the involvement of these in many videos we've analysed.

Editing:

As in most videos, the editing is paced to fit with the song, thus getting faster as the chorus gets faster. I really like how this works in the video and I also really enjoyed how the editing was nearly always cut on the beat. In particular a part in the song where the lyrics go "woo!" (at 24 secs) and it cuts to the band singing and playing their instruments, then cuts back immediately to Simon Neil as he starts to sing. This is very conventional of music videos for bands but I liked how throughout the editing seemed to always stay on the beat, even as it got faster.

Sound:

I thought the start of the video was very effective in terms of sound. It was completely silent and then slowly faded in with the sound of stamping feet combined with shots of feet stamping. This shows use of music being linked with visuals (one of Goodwin's six). In nearly all of the video's we have seen and liked, shots of feet have been included for example Katy Perry and Florence and the Machine and this is something we have incorporated into our video as well.



Mise en Scene:

I loved how the props and costumes were all so authentic and linked perfectly with the theme of pirates, which in itself links to the title and lyrics of the song. For example "angels fall to the floor, like they would if I was captain". I think the combination of the old pirate ship, props and costumes and the modern song and incorporation of drums and guitars is very postmodern. I think this shot displays this, with the mixture of typically piratey objects and the modern guitar.



There is a good mixture of locations in the video, although they're all set in the same place (the pirate ship), there are several smaller locations within this idea such as below deck in the prisoners cage, on the top deck where the band play, and by the wheel etc. This is also something we tried to use in our music video and we had many different locations such as in town, against a brick wall, on the beach, by seaside houses and on the shell sculpture at Aldeburgh.

I particularly love the lighting in this video. There is a contrast between natural light below deck which creates the feel that Simon Neil is trapped and can only see natural light through cracks, which cast shadows on his face and the strobe effect lighting used for the performance based shots. These strobe effect lights create the impression of a thunderstorm at sea.
Examples of both lighting techniques are below.





will post more soon xxx

Success at the beach!

Well well well, Friday was a complete success and we all had a throughly enjoyable and tiring day!! It feels so good to know that we have captured some excellent footage not just for the music video but some evaluation pieces and lots and lots of photos :) Which I am sure will be on here in no time at all!

Overall the day worked excellently, Nev and Susan at the cinema were expecting us and were so so lovely :) they took our details like what school we were from etcc, so that they could talk about us when they report the cinemas educational involvement! So it was nice to know that we were helping them out a bit too! We are going to send them a thank you note next week and then a copy of the Music Video when it's done :)

The timing worked well - and we had time for fish and chips :) each location was great and we found a few hidden dimes that we hadn't planned and managed to get shots of! We eventually ended the day at the big shell sculpture and here the lighting was low as it was around 4pm but this seemed to work beautifully with the landscape :)

All in all we are tres tres happy! And can't wait to get editing and using our photos for the ancillary tasks!!!

Jess :)

heeyyy, so shooting went really well yesterday, we managed to find some great locations and despite some funny looks in town it all ran really smoothly! so tomorrow is the big day at aldeburgh, the cinema hasn't been able to give us written confirmation yet but they gave me a call today to confirm it :) so its a bright and early start as we're leaving at 8 to get to aldeburgh on time and we start shooting at 10 in the cinema. so so so excited!! xxx

Masking the final prep!

Time has finally come to start filming! We are off to town tomorrow to get those shots done using the look below, so excited!! Jess is picking us up at 9am which means i have to be up and about really early in order to do my hair and make-up, but i can't wait!

I've just made the mask (the one of myself, not the animal ones!) ready to be used tomorrow here's a sneeky peak >>>




Not sure yet as to what colour to use. I think the black and white would visually be more interesting otherwise the colour one may just look exactly the same as me! But we'll take both and i'll discuss it with the girls!

Today we finalized the shot list for tomorrows day of filming. We have two locations, the big brick wall near Jess's house for the brick wall only shots, and then the second shot list is for the shots in town by the alleyways and billboard.




These shot lists also include the costume ideas and props list so we do not forget anything!
The HD camera is charging as i speak, wish us luck!! :D
Lorna.

Getting the look for the town scenes!

Hey, just a quick post to show you this video i made whilst trying out the hair/make-up for the scenes in town! Watch and listen guys!



Also, here are some photographs demonstating these ideas further!


In these portrait shots you can see the electric blue wig i am planning to wear for town! with the long feather eyelashes, however i think i will wear coloured lenses rather than eccentric eyelashes because the hair isn't the most subtle thing! Also, i plan on using the bright blusher, glitter and pale pink lipstick!



I will be wearing the coat (its not real fur!!) with pearls and blonde hair for the cinema scene to go with the vintage look of the cinema location and overall elegant appearance.


I discovered a shot similar to this in the Florence and the Machine video that i talked about and really want to try it out!


We are going to play around with the idea of having playing cards (these will be at the beach though!)
By the way, you may have noticed the silver harmony mask im wearing in some of these photographs, i dont think we will use this - because we are using the animal ones! but i forgot to take it off for a while! :P

I can't wait :D
Lorna.

Textual Analysis - Paloma Faith

I decided to look at the music video for New York by Paloma Faith - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki0xBb2wbr4. Not only because I quite like this song, but because she is an up and coming artist who therefore will be looking to use cutting edge methods within her music videos, which I hope we can take inspiration from :)

Camera-work -

• At the beginning of the video the camera doesn't show Paloma's face until she starts to sing. This entices the viewer and also establishes the singer as the key part of the music video as so much attention is placed around her without even seeing her face yet.
  
• There is also many close-ups which relay focus directly onto Paloma.

• There is also a large amount of wide shots, which are framed by the New York landscape either side and special amount of lighting. Here we see the bowling alley also centred and Paloma in the middle. This combines very excentric ideas, something we are hoping to use effectively within our music video :)

• Furthermore many over the shoulder shots are used, imparticular from behind the man who is featured throughout the video - placing Paloma in a position of importance over him as we can see her face, therefore she is the focus of the shot.
  

Editing -

• The first shot we see goes from a blurred and soft focus to a visable image, this relays the audiences focus on the revealed image, which is this case is various shots of the singer, I really like this idea however I feel I don't think it would be right for our Music Video as it seems to suit the more classy and elegant videos such as 'New York'.
  
• Another part which I particularly like which uses focus again, is when both characters are looking away from eachother out of focus and then as their heads turn together with a couple of seconds of music that has no lyrics. This I think is an effective way to use the music as it is an memorable shot.

• The song itself has a reletively slow pace, however by the end the straigh cut edits pick up and so does the tempo, this is clever and effective and a method which I have seen in many Music Videos to create pace. This is something we will be using in ours too :)
  
• Another piece of Editing which I thought was imaginative was when a choir came into the song and then we saw them within a bowling ball, and then the next shot showed them in full screen singing. This is similar to the use of a mobile phone within Katy Perrys video and once again it is used very effectively to link two shots together.

Mise-en-scene:

• Paloma Faith is wearing glamourous make-up which is very straightcut and illuminating. Furthermore her costume also includes classy earrings and ball/prom style dresses. This is a good link with the theme of the song 'New York' as a uptown and glamourous city.


• Lighting throughout is very bright and distinguishing, especially the use of neon sign lights as a intertextual link with New York, these are bold and a re-occuring theme throughout. Similarily there are many themes linked to New York which run alongside the whole Music Video, these were picked up when I did some Audience Research surrounding this music video. Here two students commented on the different links to New York for example: Statue of Liberty, Times Square light and the Brooklyn Bridge. They both agreed that this was a clever way of manipulating the song title and grabbing viewers attention.


• One focal use of lighting is a spotlight placed on Paloma in many of the bowling alley shots where she is sitting on the lane in a performance based shot singing to the camera.

Sound -

• The opening sound to the song is very delicate and this is complemented beautifully by focus being pulled in and out of shot, it establishes the song well and works excellently.
  
• As the first line of the song starts, there is two discrete ding noises in the sound, here we see the back lights of the bowling alley flash on and off, this is a great and simple example of a reletionship between sound and visuals.


• We also see a shot representing a reletionship between lyrics and visuals where you see Paloma Faith 'act out' pouring a drink for the line "she poured the drinks and she poured the power" It works well linking the lyrics to thw moving image of the video.
  
  
  

Jess :)

Textual Analysis (Florence and the Machine)

I am going to analyse the music video by Florence and the Machine for their second released song, 'Dog Days (Are Over)'.
Directed by Keith McCarthy, featuring acclaimed performance artist, Theo Adams.
This is a concept based alternative rock/indie themed video.
Here it is; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ZPTFfpO40 please watch!



MISE-EN-SCENE;
The video starts off with a wide shot in a colourful woodland forest that has been scattered with party streamers, flags, confetti, coloured leaves, tinsel, ribbons and kitsch decorative bird cages. This wide shot instantly sets the scene, and as the viewer we know this video is going to be a very conceptual based idea. Also, with regard to lighting, the first part of the video appears to be naturally lit, in this shot you can see the sunlight shining through the trees towards the camera.



After the initial establishing shot, we then see a close up of a woman walking in a white dress towards the camera which suggests ambiguity, we want to know who she is and what she is doing there.



When Florence (lead singer from Florence and the Machine) is introduced, she is situated lying beneath the decorated tree, blindfolded by the woman in the white dress and then lead to the depth of the forest where other abstract characters surround her. The abstract "carnival type" characters link in with our own ideas for using masks and hiding the identity in our own storyboards also, i feel that this character type reinforces the theme of confusion throughout the first part of the video.



At the beginning of the video we see that Florence wears black trousers, a dinner jacket and a bow tie, along with the bottle of champagne in her hand, this could be symbolic of "the morning after the night before" when she would be feeling dazed and confused, adding to the dream-like element that is a recurring motif throughout the video. The surrealism of the entire video reminds me of the works of Kinga Burza by the way she uses kitsch elements that stand out.



In this shot we see the camera tracking around Florence's face, showing her facial expression and she discovers where she is for the first time.


SOUND;
Director, Keith McCarthy has used the abstract characters within the video to show instrumental beats, whereas most performance based videos would use a close up of the actual instrument, he has shot these characters hitting the kitsch instruments together to reinforce the beat in this particular bit of the song.



The first chorus is very significant within the video because it is the first time Florence takes off the blind fold and is exposed to the surreal surroundings and creatures. The lyrics for this are, "The dog days are over, the dog days are over, the horses are coming, so you better run" at this point Florence is looking around, and begins to run away. This lyric reflects the idea that sometimes the solution to witnessing things that are wrong, is to run away from them completely. The lyrics following this are "Run fast for your mother, fast for your father, run for your children and your sisters and brothers", Florence is then seen running faster and faster, whilst being chased down by the characters in the surreal forest. The edits become even more fast paced at this moment as the tension and suspense build up. Eventually Florence falls and becomes smothered by the abstract characters.





CAMERA;
The close up of the arms smothering Florence as she lies on the ground (above) leads into the calmer, slow motion part of the song where we establish that Florence has in fact been changed by the characters, her simple black and white attire has been transformed into one of them by a colourful clown-like jumpsuit. After this initial transformation, the pace of the song increases dramatically. The fast drum beat comes in with the lyrics "Happiness hit her, like a bullet in the mind", this is a mid shot of Florence lit up, central to the composition. I think this lyric is conceptual in the way that the idea of happiness can be taken away so easily, in a way that a bullet to the head takes life away instantly.




Followed by another mid shot of Florence in the forest surrounded by the characters circling around her, yet she appears to be in the centre of it all moving slowly and waving her arms in the air.




I particularly like the shot above, where she is central again to the framing and looks directly into the camera lens with her arms stretched out to grab the viewers attention. Keith McCarthy makes particular use of handheld camera work which i really like as it gives a sinister and atmospheric feel to some of the shots. The wide shot at the end of the video shows Florence, the girl in the white dress we saw at the beginning and the child we often see throughout with the outrageous characters all holding hands and walking off into the darkness (notice Florence carrying one of the bird cages, which could be symbolic of her now being free)


LIGHTING;
Initially at the start of the video as Florence wakes up, the lighting is very bright/natural and dream like but as the song progresses and she becomes transformed we then see more cutting between the two locations. one being the bright colourful forest setting and the other being the dark, more atmospheric forest setting in which we see the mid shot of the character throwing glitter onto his face. i love this shot! its probably my favourite from the whole video, the low lighting captures the shimmer of the glitter. The cutting between the two differently lit scenes shows the duration of time she has been in the forest.



EDITING;
The editing is fast paced and consistant throughout the entire video. Going back to the first half of the video when Florence is establishing where she is and the abstract characters are cautious of her, there are various characters peering from behind the trees to get a look at her. These shots are very voyeristic, this is one of Goodwin's features in a music video. Another one of Goodwin's features i have recognised is the link with lyrics and visuals, even though, as i have explained previously these lyrics are far more conceptual in relationship with the visuals.





Above are some exmples of voyerism within the beginning of the video.

Thanks for reading, Lorna :)

STORYBOARDS!

Finally, here they are!
I have completed the neat version and made them lovely and colourful for your viewing pleasure! (all 11 pages!)
Here you will be able to see step by step what we are going to shoot and where! I've also made a draft of the shot lists. One for the beach, one for the cinema and one for town. It is important to have our shot list accurate so we do not miss out anything!!
Ok so here are the storyboards, followed by the draft shot lists. Everything is coming along nicely! (the image has been cut off, to see the full image click on the image and it should come up on photo bucket)














Draft shot lists;