Marcos SiegaMarcos SiegaMarcos Siega was born in New York City on June 8, 1969. He’s well known for being a television, commercial, film, and music video director but has also worked as a producer and a musician himself. In the1980’s he helped form Bad Trip, releasing two full length records and a number of EPs. He’s worked with a huge range of bands, largely from the rock genre such as Blink 182 but also many bands from other genres too. His video for “All The Small Things” was nominated for three MTV Video Music Award and also his video for the Papa Roach video "Broken Home“ was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2001, he signed with award winning Hungryman Films commercial production and has gone on to direct films and one of the films he directed was nominated for Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival. He even directs television series, including True Blood and Veronica Mars. He is the co-executive producer of The Vampire Diaries and also directed the pilot and several episodes.He usually producing quite mainstream music videos for bands well known in the genre of rock mostly, with a few exceptions. He has quite a distinct editing style as you will see from the example of his work I’ve given in the next few slides.

Marcos Siega has work with bands such as Alien Ant Farm, All American Rejects, Blink 182 , Buckcherry, Hoobastank, Kelly Osbourne, Maroon 5, P.O.D, Papa Roach, Paramore, Sara Bareilles, System Of A Down, Weezer, Will-I-Am and many more.

Bands Marcos Siega has Bands Marcos Siega has worked withworked with

Alien Ant Farm – Alien Ant Farm – MoviesMarcos Siega directed the music video for Movies by Alien Ant Farm and the main idea of the video is to create parodies of popular movies at the time. The editing in the first part of the video is something that really appealed to me. It was a really clever way of interpreting the song and creating a video that worked with the song. The print screen to the right showing the band members jump into the screen at the cinema is really clever editing and something I think work really well in this video and would appeal to the fans of such a band.

Marcos includes content that would be popular with the fans of the band, such as the sign of the devil that the lead singer is making to the left. Again, I really liked the editing in this section and how his hand comes out of the screen atthe movies which just makes the music video a little different from the conventional pop video.The shot composition in this frame is also something that I liked. I liked how the hand was the most important thing in the frame and the lead singer was in the background. Giving the sense that to them the music and the rock attitude is more important than fame, which suits the fact that Alien Ant Farm weren’t in the charts but were quite well known in the rock scene.

Marcos tends to use implied narrative instead of a strong story the whole way through the video. For example, in this video it’s implied that it’s a visit to the cinema. This adds something to the video so it’s not just the typical live performance shots typical of the rock genre. He uses films that would appeal to the audience such as Ghostbusters which was a huge hit when this video was made and something that’s still remembered today so even an audience that haven’t watched the film with have an idea of who they were dressed up at in the print screen to the left.

He does however include live performance in his videos too. In this video, I like how he’s combined a normal live performance with live performances of the band dressed as characters from a movie. This adds a humorous

element to the video which is something that would appeal to the fans of Alien Ant Farm who are well known for not taking themselves too seriously. I really like the styling of the band in the print screen to the right compared to the normal styling of the band and how it markets the band in a positive light. It’s obvious they just want a laugh and aren’t worried about looking good the whole time. It’s more about the music than how they look which is quite typical of the rock genre.

The All American Rejects – The All American Rejects – Dirty Little SecretDirty Little Secret

Marcos Siega directed the music video for Dirty Little Secret by The All American Rejects. In this video the main idea, similar to Alien Ant Farm, is strongly connected to the title of the song which is a trait typical for music videos by Marcos. He’s worked with an art project called PostSecret for the secrets included in this music video and this is something that would appeal to the fans of The All American Rejects. I really like the range of shot Marcos used in this video, such as the long shot shown in the print screen to the right. This was the establishing set and I think it works well at setting the tone for the rest of the music video.

Like most music videos from this genre Marcos includes a live performance, print screened to the left. The lighting and editing in this section is typical of Marcos’ style and how it’s quite dark but with highly contrasting bright lights which really give the sense of a live performance. He follows the usual conventions with the use of close-ups of the lead singer and this is something that I really like about his videos. The styling of the band is typical of the genre of music The All American Rejects are from and would appeal to the target audience for this music video, along with the representation Marcos has chosen for the member of the band and their attitude.

I really like the shot composition in the frame to the left and how the secrets are fore-grounded and the identity of the person hidden. The use of secrets that the audience would be able to relate to show Marcos’ knowledge of this genre of music and what they expect or enjoy from music videos, which is obviously something the band really value when working with him. Similarly to the Alien Ant Farm video, Marcos uses an implied narrative as the viewer follows the secrets but there isn’t a strong storyline like there is in some music videos. This makes it slightly different and this would appeal to the target audience.

Blink 182 – All The Small ThingsBlink 182 – All The Small ThingsMarcos Siega directed the music video for All The Small Things by Blink 182. This music video has a strong humorous element to it which is something Marcos does quite a lot in his music videos and is something that I’d quite like to incorporate into mine. As you can see from the print screen to the right, the band are more than happy to have a laugh and it’s obvious that they don’t take themselves too seriously and this is something Blink 182 are renowned for and is one of the reasons so many of their fans enjoy their music videos. The styling of the band in this video is quite different from what you’d expect from a rock band but this is done deliberately and you can see a strong contrast between the humorous clothes they wear and their actual clothes worn in the live performance section.

I really liked the editing of the shot to the left and how it’s made to look like you could actually be spying on the band and creates a point of view for the viewer. This also adds to the humorous element apparent in this music video and portrays the attitude of the band. The styling of the band again shows us that they’re not too worried about what they look like, they just wear jeans and t-shirt which makes them seem like they are just one of us. This is something that would really appeal to the target audience and makes this music video seem less like an advertising tool for the band and their image but for a source of entertainment for the fans of the band.

I think in this music video you get a strong sense of the personality of the band which is something Marcos seems to include in a lot of his music videos. I think this works really well as it gives the audience an sense of the people behind the music they love and publicises the bands in a positive light heart manner, which is something that really appeal to the target audience for these types of bands. The shot of the lead singer in the pose to the right is used to imitate the typical shots seen in other music videos around at the time, typically made by boy bands. I like how it was filmed seriously until it zooms and you notice that they are just standing under a ladder with a man and a bucket of water, this adds to the highly humorous music video Marcos has created for Blink 182

Papa Roach – Last ResortPapa Roach – Last ResortMarcos Siega directed the music video for Last Resort by Papa Roach and in this video you are watching a live performance for most of the video and then you’re made to focus on a certain member of the crowd and you see them in their own environment. This adds an implied narrative which is a technique that is often used by Marcos. The idea behind this video would really appeal to the fans of Papa Roach and matches the lyrics of the song which is about how they are struggling with putting up with everything and this is probably something a lot of their fans would relate to. It’s also made obvious that music is their escape because of how happy they are in the live performance shot contrasted to expressions like the one the girl is making the right.

The main focus of this music video is the huge live performance and the crowd. The live performance isn’t typical of most though as the stage is in the centre of the crowd and you can see he band directly in the middle, as you can see from the print screen to the left. This make them the main focal point and the first thing you notice especially with the lit up stage and this is typical of music videos as their main purpose is the advertise the band. This makes the composition of the frames quite cluttered and busy which adds to the feeling that you’re actually viewing a live performance because this is how it really is in a concert environment.The styling of the band is also very typical of the genre of music and their style of performance is also typical of the rock genre which would appeal to the viewer.

The use of a fisheye lens is obvious in the print screen to the left and is something I found really interesting. It’s a really clever technique to use to fit in the whole crowd and to still make the artist the main focal point of the shot. It also makes the shot a lot more interesting and completely different from more conventional music videos.

Marcos includes an environment and attitude that the audience will be familiar with and would therefore appeal to them and the use of just typical fans of this kind of genre make it seem more real and less like a stage performance which again would appeal to the audience.

Paramore – That’s What You GetParamore – That’s What You GetMarcos Siega directed the music video for That’s What You get by Paramore and the style of this video is very much of a home movie, something that could have been filmed by a regular person instead of a camera crew. It makes it seem more personal which suits the nature of the song and is something that Marcos seems to do with nearly all his music videos. In the shot to the right I really liked he lighting and how you can only see the silhouettes of the people in the shot. This shot really feels like a home video that someone would have

filmed themselves to remind them of a time they really enjoyed and this again fits with the tone of the song and the lyrics.

I really liked the editing in the shot to the left and how it uses split screen to show you two things going on at once. Typical for Marcos, this music video has a narrative element but the band are included in the narrative instead of just being the soundtrack to a story like some other music videos. This makes the video flow better because it’s not just a story with the band live performance shoved in the middle. I really like the filming style that’s apparent in all of Marcos Siega’s music videos.

In the shot to the left Marcos uses a fisheye lens like he did in the Papa Roach video and this again creates a shot that isn’t quite as conventional as the shots used in other music videos and makes it more interesting to watch. It also shows you more in the shot so creates a more interesting frame than a normal lens would have done. This is a stylistic feature that seems to be typical of Marcos Siega and I think it works really way, especially in the way he uses it. If I could this would be something I’d really like to do in my music video too.

In the shot to the right you see the lead singer pulling a funny face, this shows the personality of the band which is something Marcos does a lot in his music videos. It’s also the last shot of the video so you’re left with the image of the lead singer in your mind and this shows her as the typical woman her age and is something the fans of hers would like. It’s got a different feel from the rest of the video so it makes it stick in your mind which works well as advertisement for the band because the last thing you remember is the lead singer’s face.

Reasons for looking at Reasons for looking at Marcos SiegaMarcos Siega

I chose to look at Marcos Siega because he has directed some of my favourite videos and one that I looked at earlier on in my music video analysis. He’s also worked with a lot of rock bands which is the genre of music I’m most interested in and are the majority of bands I listen to regularly. Another thing I really liked about Marcos Siega’s music videos were the regular use of implied narrative or a narrative of some kind. This is something I definitely want to include in my music video because I think a video works best which the visuals work in sync with the lyrics or the title of the song, as Marcos does.I also like his editing style and how he tends to make music videos that are more artistic than the usual Lady Gaga type videos, where it becomes more style over substance occasionally. I like how he focuses on the music and creating a video that fits with the feel and nature of the music and the band themselves but still making videos that are interesting to watch and not just the usual live performance. I also like his filming style and how he creates a point of view and with videos like That’s What You Get by Paramore even makes it feel like it could be a home video filmed by the band themselves which makes it more personal. This is something I may well be interested in using in my music video because I think it makes it a bit different and would make it stand out. I also like the filming techniques he uses, such as the fisheye lense, and the depth of field use in certain shots, in The All American Rejects video for example.