Final moving image

Conventions of form & alternative rock genre using textual analysis of videos

(taken from blog.)

Artic Monkeys Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re

High? (2,753 words)

Also advertising their own products, but through audio rather than a poster

Artic Monkeys - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?

Initially on the picture we are presented with a medium close up, this shot is specially chosen so we can see his outfit however the main focus is him.  The close up makes us feel more of a personal relationship with the character in which through out the video one of the main aims is using camera movements/edited effects to help us see what he is experiencing.

Shallow depth of field is used blurring out the background so he is the main focus however we still pay attention to it because there's a lot of bright lights suggesting what setting he is in, he is in a city at late night.  He isn't looking directly towards the camera (in fact, he doesn't once throughout the whole music video) suggesting how he is 'spaced out' throughout the whole night (video) a side effect of the drugs.  As he is wearing all black he doesn't exactly stand out in this frame, however high key lighting is used on half of his face in order to make him more significant within the frame.

The background is blurred as although during the music video the surroundings around him are an important factor, the main focus is him; he feels isolated as no-one else can see what he is seeing.  However, this is ironic how the audience do due to mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound.

Daisy has a fake nose piercing in mine, and is silver matching the conventional jewelry within the genre

Comparing with my music videoPreviously, I looked at the conventions of form and alternative rock genre and did a textual analysis of alternative rock band Arctic Monkey's 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?'. In my blog I have taken shots from Arctic Monkeys and tried to incorporate them into my own.

I analysed each shot carefully, thinking about why they used certain angles, or different effects. I acknowledged the dark lighting, and dark moods within the mis-en-scence, whether it was the location or clothing, there was a cohesive pattern which I could identify as the universal stereotype of Rock. I liked this shot of Alex, how you could see his reflection and how he makes stern eye contact with himself in the mirror.

Of course, my video had to be different and unique, but I could still incorporate certain aspects; such as this shot. I thought it was effective in representing how she is self reflecting, perhaps, seeing her self as disgusting and hating on her self, resulting in the urge to harm herself by over dosing and taking excessive amounts of drugs/alcohol.

I also like how it is postmodern, she is analysing her self, as we are analysing her. This is shot in a pub toilet, likewise to the shot of Alex. White bricks are used, and a plain mirror, you can not see anything else in the shot, it is plain in order to emphasise the focus on the protagonist; how they are on their own, excluded in fact, as the high is personal something which you can only feel your self. Yes, other's may have experienced similar feelings, but no-one else will have felt the EXACT feelings - they are isolated.

Another small aspect I had to consider was the way her hair was parting, it had to be in the direction it is in the photo so the media audience can see her face - as she has lots of hair, and thick too. Dark eye makeup, black leather jacket and messy hair are all conventions of the Alternative Rock aesthetic.

Alex is positioned to the left of the frame, with his reflection being within the central-right frame. Every aspect of Artic Monkey’s shot is featured in mine to the right, from his shoulder being cut off in the mirror to the door being shown in the reflection.

Though, I did not end up using this footage and the still images within my video I evaluated other media products trying to represent similar, if not the same ideologies within the genre.

Aesthetics

Exaggerating the use of heavy eye makeup to highlight convention

Daisy follows the same style by wearing dark eye makeup, a leather jacket, and having her hair down and messy. In the picture to the right that is not how she usually had her makeup in the video, only in a few shots where it is not really that noticeable. I took pictures of her with this makeup in order to experiment with the makeup itself, and which eye-shadow I preferred in regards to what black eye shadow came out darker, and which was easy to smudge etc.

During pre-production I planned featuring Daisy smoking, making sure she had a lighter on her. I also planned to use a BnB room at the Windmill Inn Pub in Beverley at the initiation of my video, similar to this door. The colours were the same, and it had a number ‘9’ on. During production, I took many takes of the door using panning shot, tilts, even using a light in many different angles as it was shot late during the night the lighting was very low key, but I did not use this footage in my final video as I thought the footage of her smoking was more effective and was in sync to the music also.

From the official

video

My footage

Shallow depth of field

Laid down

Direct eye contact

Overlay

Breaking the conventions stereotypes

Daisy, my artists breaks all of the conventions of a typical female. Females are associated with being neat, pretty and innocent. The concept that females are “lady-like”, respectful and self-conscious about their image is completely ignored as Daisy violates those descriptions as she is messy, not classy, has no self worth, wears dark clothing and does not care about her appearance. Her character could not contradict the stereotype anymore. She is the conventional attractive female appearance wise, with long curly blonde hair, sliming figure and blue eyes.

I like this shot as she looks really disinterested, her hand is on the bar as she is eager for a drink; her hand gesture represents how she is impatient and bored of waiting.  I got a video, where I directed her to tap her fingers on the bar, as the rest of her body is still and her fingers are the only thing moving, this then draws your attention to where her hand is (next to the

Coors Light drip trays) in which the drip again, emphasise the connotations of a pub. The people in the background creates verisimilitude as they are customers, a connotation of a pub.  They are all middle aged, and men,

which fit the customer profile within a pub; the setting looks natural.

This natural effect is also created as no-one is looking at the camera, they are engaging in conversation within their own groups.  Although, the man

to the left looks at Daisy, the artist, another stereotype within the customer profile is that men are "sleazy", this conforms to both Laura Mulvey's 'Maze Gaze’ theory as Daisy is seen as objectified, and Tesser

Perkins stereotype theory as I just labelled men as having the stereotype “sleazy”.

Tesser Perkin’s stereotype theory can also be applied to Artic Monkey’s video, as woman are stereotyped to be promiscuous, and the colloquial term “slaggy”; doing this to a man in public whilst he is driving is for one, dangerous, and two, shows how she does not have the most self-respect.

You can see the takeaway signs in the background on the still shot previously shown from my video, similar to how you can in the Arctic

Monkey's video.

I acknowledged the dark lighting within the Arctic Monkey's video, especially within this still wide shot as the natural lighting was off the

bandit/jukebox (can not work out from image).  Therefore, I wanted to use natural lighting within my video, not focusing on using any other lights.

 Pubs are usually dark places, and there is a dark atmosphere to the song "Medicine" along with the rock genre anyway.

Takeaways in the background of my music video

Black and red are conventional colours within the Rock genre. A red lights shines on Daisy’s face, this is a subtle but effective way of reminding the audience of the genre. There is predominantly more red in the artic monkeys video, the subtle amount of red in mine represents how the Alternative Rock genre features Rock aspects, but is not Rock completely.

Mine follows the same conventions in regards to the lighting as dark lighting is used cohesively throughout, only really using natural light and not artificial.

Start of the music video

Towards the end of the music video

At the start of the music video Daisy shows many moody and angry facial expressions, representing how she feels negative in her own body and not happy; this is also represented from the dark low key lighting. As the video progresses, we see her smiling and laughing excessively showing crazy and psychopathic tendencies.

Expressing similar

attitudes to Daisy

at the beginning of

the music video

Taken from blog when analysising genre

I originally looked at the forms and conventions within Taking Back Sunday - Cute Without The "E" but found it quite boring to analyse as it was roughly the same throughout.  It consisted of performance but was also over layered with narrative which was quite effective through the use of fast pace cuts to create a flashing effect.

Though, the analysis of the video did not go to waste as I incorporated this flashing effect into my own work.

In my textual analysis I also went on to look at Radiohead - Creep which I also found mainly consisted of performance and was quite dull to analyse in comparison to Arctic monkey's - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? With this, I went onto looking at Rise Against - Savior which I found ALSO mainly consisted of performance.  I came to the conclusion that this is typical within the Alternative Rock genre, though I looked at the dates and Arctic Monkey's is a lot more recently dated in comparison to the others and the quality of the other videos are quite low, there's a lot more narrative and structural focus into Arctic Monkey's.

My music video challenges this convention as there is not much performance included, although there is, the video is abstract with the main focus being Daisy progressively damaging herself, and enjoying it for that matter.

The same style of shoe is used in my music video that is featured in Nirvana’s, this was an intentional decision. However, I decided to develop mine differently as high key lighting is used and white converse, where as very low key lighting is used and black converse feature in Nirvana’s.

Close up of shoes taken from The Pretty Reckless video

Textual analysis of Bring Me The Horizon - Can You Feel My

Heart (2013) -975 wordsPreviously, I analysed the full music video for Artic Monkey’s “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?” where as I only analysed a small section of Bring Me The Horizons. I did this as I had already grasped a lot of conventions within the genre, which Bring Me The Horizons also displayed. I thought there was a lot more narrative in Artic Monkey’s so it would be more interesting to analyse. Something which I really incorporated from Bring Me The Horizon’s is the use of low key lighting throughout, lighting is something which caught my attention cohesively throughout this video. Below, I have cropped an example of how I tried to incorporate this into my own work. (Bring Me The Horizon’s displayed to the left)