Analysis: Somebody Told Me

At the beginning of the video we can only see the silhouettes of the artist. I think that this is a convention of music videos as I have watched many that obscure the artists face at the build up to the vocals or until the music picks up. The effect of this is to build up tension and get people excited to see the artist. This builds on the artist's star image too. This is also meant to symbolise how the song is only just beginning, like the visuals are only just starting too.

This is a nice shot using the rule of thirds. The main colours here are black and red. These colours connote blood, death and violence, linking with the name The Killers. The band are also wearing suits (or something similar) which is a convention of the genre. It perhaps also links to the song, which is about persuading a girl to go out with the singer - something you may dress well to do. We can see here that the band is also on the screen at the back. This advertises the band even more, but also adds to the story. The fact that the screen shows a version of the performance in the day could show that the singer has been repeatedly trying to gain the girl's attention.

There is some voyeurism in the video as shown in this shot. The attractive silhouette is emphasized by the pink lighting. Pink is a girly and passionate colour, emphasizing her attractiveness. The types of lights shown in the background are also used a lot throughout the video. This is because they connote the rock genres as well as the artists logo. Pink is also quite a pop colour though, meaning the lights are mix between pop and rock - which is basically new wave.

The band are set out in the conventional way, with the vocalist at the front, flanked by the guitarists with the drummer behind. I thought I'd mention this as it will be important when filming my music video. Interestingly this shot is a high angle whilst the one on the screen at the back is a low angle. This along with the difference in lighting creates a contrast within this shot. I believe that this represents the contrast in the lyrics "boyfriend who looks like a girlfriend". 

All These Things That I've Done

This isn't really an analysis, just an idea. This music video by The Killers doesn't really make sense when you first watch it. However, YouTube comments reveal that the video is not actually in order. At the beginning of each scene of the video, a woman is seen holding up a number. These represent the order in which the events take place. By watching it in this order, it reveals a story of a man (the vocalist) who get's caught cheating on his wife. When in the shower, falls and bumps his head. He then has a dream that he is in a band of cowboys who have a fight over the Killersluts sign. It's a bit random, but its an interesting idea. Anyway, I thought that I could do something similar with my video. For example, there could be a scene of the police catching the 'psycho killer' at the beginning and a scene where he actually kills someone at the end. This would create mystery throughout the video and encourage viewers to watch on to figure out why the character is a 'psycho killer'. The cryptic way in which this video is put together also creates repeatability of the product as you have to watch it numerous times to understand it.

Analysis: Once In A Lifetime

The wavy background in the first shot denotes water, linking to the lyrics and meaning of the song. It also kind of reminds me of cells or enzymes or something biological, which links to life in the lyrics. The sounds at the beginning also link to the water idea as there are sonar type sounds. The actual music that follows this - when the guy pops up - sounds like something from a science programme, linking to the biological idea. The character himself pops up and down as if his upper body were circling round and round. I like weird effects like this and know how to do them.

To me, this is an intertextual reference to the Ministry of Silly Walks, but I doubt that that was the intention as it doesn't really fit the theme of the song. However, this action does link to travelling which represents the lyrics 'how did I get here?'. The artist is wearing a suit, which is a convention of the genre, it hides his body form and makes him seem more middle class. The use of a grey suite may also link to the idea of going on through life without realising how you got there, just going with the flow doing normal routines in a normal way. Grey is quite a boring colour so this fits.

In contrast to the grey suite however, the artist is doing something decidedly abnormal. This also links to the idea in the lyrics of waking up from normal life. The people in the background could also represent repetition. The song is about people 'letting the days go by' and following normal routines their whole life. Repetition, as denoted by the figures in the back are a part of this. Furthermore, the fact that the artist is out of sync with his clones means that he is losing touch with normal life. Though it's not too good today, the effects used to create the figures in the background were very visually appealing.

The use of what I would call 'archive footage' from around the world connotes life itself. It is varied and is all around us. The video takes snippets of unusual footage in order to question normal life and normal ideals. The artist is also shown to do this by copying actions from the videos. This shot makes it seem almost as if the artist is a teacher, showing us how to wake up from reality by doing these actions.

This clip showcases several close up. The artist appears the whole way through this video, and there are numerous close-ups. The purpose of this is to advertise the artist and build up a star image. The clip also shows how the artist is tossed around as if the music is controlling him. This links to the lyrics 'letting the days go by', 'let the water push me down', as they suggest that the flow of life (like a water stream) controls your actions in life. Similarly, the guitarist in The Sounds also acts a bit like this in Living In America. Thus, this could be good for my own music video - I think it could work too as a "psycho's" actions might not be their own...

Guitar #1

I got me an electric guitar, yaaaaaaaaay!

Analysis: Here With Me

Though not strictly a new wave song, this is one of the most interesting music videos from new wave band The Killers. It is directed by Tim Burton and is set in blackpool. This itself makes the video appealing to brit fans of The Killers, as they can relate and feel noticed by the band. The main actor is also welsh. Burton said that the 1935 film Mad Love influenced him, so there is some intertextuality as Goodwin would predict.

The video fades in to reflect how the music slowly comes in. A fade would not work so well in my video as the music is pretty abrupt. However, I do like how the first thing visible is the band logo - a trademark of the Killers. I haven't created a name or logo for my band yet, I will have this clip in mind when I do. The initial setting is a theatre, which suggests that this is a dramatic song, as well as giving it a sense of prestige. We also see the band in this first shot, which creates star image and confirms to the audience who is in it - creating hype and attracting fans.

A lot of fades are used in the beginning of the song. This is so that the transitions match the slow pace of the song at this point.

Effective lighting is used to shade half of the subject's face. This suggests he has a darker side and connotes insanity. This is could be useful for Psycho Killer. The dark red in the background denotes blood and connotes pleasure or indulgence, with a hint of danger. This sets the creepy atmosphere for the rest of the video. The actor uses stiff body language to seem inhuman and creepy. The use of an actor means the artist takes on the role of a storyteller, making the narrative more powerful. His glasses link to the lyrics and show how he is hypnotised by the woman.

This is a good example of what I am now calling 'match-on-sound' where something in the visuals links to a change in the music. Here, the song goes all rocky upon the visual entrance of the woman. Since the song is all about this woman, it fits that the song would get more emotional and powerful when we see her. This links with the lyrics. Another link with the lyrics is seen here as pictures are being taken of the woman, whereas our male character and the song; 'don't want your picture'.

This is a cool effect I'd like to use. All the people in this shot are actually the same woman. I think I know how to do this; providing that the setting, background, lighting and camera angle don't change, you can film the same thing but with someone somewhere else or in different clothes. You can then layer these clips onto one another to become one video. I'm not sure how you do that on premier pro, but I'd still like to do something like this to connote insanity.

Well, this bit is a tad weird... This could be telling us that the character's turn to insanity is complete. Candles could also represent obsession - you indulge by lighting the candle to create a pretty flame, but if you do it to much the candle dies, thus, obsession kills you. The fact he is a candle is significant as it reflects his obsession, and the fact that time is running out for him. Low key lighting is used for the creepy atmosphere. The mise en scene in this shot is pretty basic and replicable, it might be an idea for my video.

Analysis: Road To Nowhere

This is a preliminary shot. This suggests that the video will take a narrative approach.The setting does not seem particularly interesting, and the building appears to be in an arid desert-like landscape, linking to the idea of 'nowhere'. The sky is completely blue, connoting infinity, which also links to the theme of the song.









This shot has clearly been done with a steady cam holder thing. Using one of these might be useful for my own video. The mise en scene in the film is specifically uninteresting. The clothing can be described as normal, which links to the lyric 'nowhere' as this clearly isn't anywhere you would have heard of. Furthermore, this links to the style of music used in this clip. The props used enhance the normalness of the clip. To add to this, the lighting is neither high key nor low key. This shows a white gospel qoir which links to the music in the clip. The fact a 'white' gospel qoir is used links to the white middle class background.

Actually I'v decided to go through it in a video but am reluctant to get rid off everything I've just put; so here it is:

Analysis: Living In America

This is another song by The Sounds. Like the last one it is solely performance based but it does offer some interesting ideas and camera angles.

I'm going to put some screen shots into a PowerPoint again because Blogger is not letting me put images into this post directly.

Website: Wix Website Creator

The way I will be creating my website is through the website creator Wix.com. Therefore, I thought I would take a look at some of the website templates they offer.

This is one of the templates I noted. It has a pretty basic design, but matches the colours I have seen on the website of The Sounds. 

Here is another template. This one has a darker tone to it and offers easy access to pictures, music and news.

Analysis: Painted By Numbers... by The Sounds

I like this intro of the vocalist walking up to the mic. It relates to the music as the music is just beginning to build up to the vocalist. I think this might be good for my music video intro, as my song also starts of acoustically. On top of this, this would fit in well with my existing ideas for this first bit, which include having shots of foot tapping and instruments without revealing the artist.
Some other aspects of this clip is the voyeurism. The camera focuses on the female vocalist's groin area as she bends down (rather impractically) to get the mic.

This quick tube chop just shows the transition that is used here. The transition is merely to a closer view of the same thing, but I think the use of a transition here works well. It makes it more visually appealing. The transition itself links to the theme of boxes throughout the video.
I decided to point this out as transitions is something I haven't thought to much about. I'm not really very imaginative when it comes to transitions and i am in danger of using generic fades too much. Thus, I am looking at videos for inspiration in different transitions. This particular transition might work well with the shot that I pointed out in Analysis: Human.


This thing with the boxes would probably be quite easy to do. I think that I would only need one of those boxes and could just film the song for each band member individually. I imagine that I could then do the moving effects in After Effects or something. For the later scenes, which include black boxes. I could do the same thing but repaint the box black. I do like this box idea as I believe I could use it in my music video. If the band members wore straight jackets or something, and there was crazy writing all over the walls, it would create an asylum-type look.

Here is a slideshare listing a number of shots and their effects from this video.

Website: The Sounds

What I forgot to mention:

The way that this news page is laid out makes it look like a window, or french windows. This is a notion of looking, a convention of music videos. This suggests that the band is super arty and all about looking.

What Can I Take From This?

• Well, I like how there is a picture of the band at the top of every page as it puts so much focus onto them. This is important for unknown indie bands such as this, and such as my band would be.
• I also like the colour scheme of this website, though I would like my own to match my video, which may not fit with the Sounds' colour scheme.
• The way that the site is so visually orientated is also appealing to me, I believe that a visually appealing site is more liklely to stick in the minds of viewers rather than a more wordy one.

Website: Gary Numan

A Bit About Genre

Gary Numan is mostly a punk rocker, though he has dabbled with New Wave. Interestingly, he could be classified as 'dark wave'. The dark wave genre is essentially new wave but with darker lyrics and undertones of sorrow. I don't think dark wave was really established at the time Psycho Killer came out, since they were only the early days of new wave itself. However, I feel that Psycho Killer could actually be classified as dark wave since the song is about a psycho killer and it can't really get much darker than that...

Now the Website

http://www.numan.co.uk/

Like The Killers' website, Gary Numan's is dominated by the large promotional picture which advertises some element of the artists career. As with The Killers' this also has four in total that change every few seconds. The general colouring of the site is mostly black, reflecting the artist's gothic genre. The background appears to be a wall from an abandoned or derelict house, in keeping with Numan's recent videos. The nav bar includes the areas of the website which fans of the artist would be most likely to visit.

The colour red is used for links and headings as well as the section on the left to make it stand out. Red also connotes danger and fury, which again matches the genre. This website, like others I've studied, has what i call a 'Twitter Thingy'. This is essentially a part of twitter in this website. It shows Gary Numan's recent posts and encourages twitter users to follow him. I think this is a convention of these websites and something I should put in my own website. This allows for a closer relationship between the artist and his audience.

Another thing that has peaked my interest is the use of Soundcloud here. Most websites I've explored use iTunes, but I actually prefer soundcloud as it looks more visually appealing. I can't put psycho killer up on Soundcloud nor can I find the original on their, but perhaps I could create a video that looks like I have done?

As with many sites I have looked at Gary Numan actually has a separate website for selling merchandise. This site follows the same theme and aesthetic style as his main site. I think it may be worth me creating a second site, a very basic one, for the sole purpose of apparently selling merchandise (I probably won't be able to actually sell merchandise). This site also gives me ideas about what the term merchandise may include. Obviously I had thought about CDs and T-shirts but I had not considered posters or DVDs.

Aside from all the above, the website has the usual convention; News, music, videos, tours, store. However, it doesn't appear to have its own forum. I believe this is probably because it relies on Twitter, as proved with the Twitter Thingy.

Analysis: Human

Human by The Killers is a modern New Wave/Dance Rock/Synthpop song. I think I would be interesting to see a modern perspective of my genre.

This clip was of interest to me as it actually reminded me of Talking Heads. Though it seems that no intertextuality was intended here (wikipedia says nothing) it means that if i do this its double points for me for referencing Talking Heads and The Killers. I also thought about what else I could do with this. It might be an idea to have faces of famous serial killers on the pictures instead. This would amplify the lyrics of Psycho Killer.

I also want to point out this part too, as I thought that the lead singers dancing was interesting. As I said in my 'My Genre' post, music journalist Simon Reynolds described New Wave as jittery and twitchy. He said that this often took the form of "robotic or spastic dancing". I think that this is a good example of this, and its something I'll be telling my performers to do in my music video.

This image allows us to get a clear view of what the band members are wearing. Three of them are wearing suit-type things, which Reynolds said was a convention of the New-Wave genre. However, I feel that these costumes are more style orientated than designed to hide the body as Reynolds would say. None the less, I want to present a modern image of the new wave genre, and who's to say that it hasn't evolved since the seventies?

Website: The Killers

http://www.thekillersmusic.com/

This is the whole of the Home page for The Killers' website. It takes on a modern look with the sections at the bottom in neat boxes and columns. This layout reminds me of the new Windows 8 layout. The modern look would be appealing to the young target audience the band is aimed at. The aesthetic uses the colours blue and black which together create quite a digital look in my opinion. Black connotes death which could link to the artist name whilst blue is a decidedly masculine colour, also linking with the artist. At the bottom we simply have 3 sections; news, videos, and Twitter. The font is basic, as per usual with these websites. This could be so that it is easy and relaxing to read. Most of the page (a whole computer screen's worth) is taken up with the promotional pictures. There are arrows at the side to navigate the 4 headline pictures. 

The nav bar is at the top of the page, it uses personalized idioms (if you can call them that)

of the band such as 'THE VICTIMS' and 'SWEET TALK'. To you and me that's 'subscribers' and 'forum'. The use of these show how popular the artist is and is unique to fans of The Killers. This personalization would be appealing to fans. I haven't decided on the name for my band yet but I think it would be good to use something allowing me to make a unique name for fans of the artist. The logo for the artist is displayed here. This connotes the artist's indie-rock genre as it denotes stage lighting from gigs.

Website: Blondie

http://www.blondie.net

The Blondie website takes on the form of a noticeboard with an array of leaflets, newsletters and photos pinned up. The largest thing on the page is the Blondie logo, to advertise the brand. Underneath this are news stories which you can scroll through. Blondie is an active band so there is a lot of 'Latest News'. The other things pinned up on the so called notice board all have pictures of the band members, primarily Debbie Harry the lead singer and most memorable of the band. This advertises the band and makes the band memorable as you know what it looks like. All of the 'notices', aside from the news, you are able to click on which takes you to another part of the site. There is also a button that allows you to follow Blondie on twitter. The general aesthetic of the site seems very rock 'n' roll to me and i like the effect with the apparent lighting. The page is lit up with a spotlight coming from off screen. This connotes showbiz and creates a low key atmosphere which is conventional of music videos. The use of a notice board design suggests that the band is busy and therefore popular. The website is fun to uses as the notices are interactive.

On the right is the navigation bar. The font is neat and modern whilst also standing out. There are the symbols for two social media sites; facebook and twitter which allow the site visitors to share their experience and love of the artist. This also creates a very up to date and modern persona for the band, something which may be key for a band formed in the seventies. All the words are of similar length; merchandise has been shortened to merch. This makes it look visually appealing. I think that the navigation bar is probably the most important part of the website as it is always there, therefore it really needs to be visually appealing. The font is also quite big, this is to make it stand out and easy to find. My mum also points out that it may be because some Blondie fans could be quite old and their eyesight might be going. The navigation bar operates independently to the rest of the website as it never moves from the right of the screen, even if you scroll down and the rest of the page moves. I really like this effect as its a lot more interesting to look at, its almost 3D.

As you can see with this image, you can scroll down the website to get to another page, though I'm not sure if this actually counts as another page. Clicking on the link on the nav bar to one of the scroll 'pages' automatically scrolls you to the correct place. This makes the site a lot nicer to use with a good sense of continuity. I would like to have my website like this if possible.

Clicking on 'MAILING LIST' in the nav bar takes you to this site, as you can see here: http://blondie.fanbridge.com, this is a different website, powered by Fanbridge, which may be worth keeping in mind for my own website. Anyhow, this page lets you subscribe to Blondie as either a fan or promoter. I think a subscription option is a convention of these websites.

 This is another non scroll page; the News page. This takes on a blog format of news, like this blog. There are links to social media at the top as well as youtube, which shows you a list of Blondie music videos, themselves adverts for the artist. There are also links to other parts of the website in the 'photos' to the left of the main part of the page.

Also on the news page was this, a.... ummmm.... Twitter thingy. This shows the recent tweets made by Blondie and would encourage any twitter users to follow blondie on twitter. I think this would be a pretty good thing to use on my own website. The tweets themselves are basically news updates.

Website: Talking Heads

The general aesthetic of the Talking Heads website has an alfresco look in my opinion, which wouldn't really be very good for my own website, since my artist's only song is psycho killer. I think that the serene, relaxed tone of the website probably reflects how the band has stopped making music and is now quite old, I think a current band's website would be a lot more lively. The website makes lots of puns and references to the band's career, for example; 'The Name of this Site is Talking Heads' refers to the band's live album 'The Name of this Band is Talking Heads'. The home page is essentially a News page with the pun heading; 'Talking Headlines'. It's safe to assume that there isn't much news about the band now, or any time after 1991 in fact, thus there is no need for a separate News page.

The banner of the site features several pictures of the band members. These are all close-ups of their faces which illustrates their name 'talking heads'. This could be something to do with my own website, as it advertises the band members. This also emphasizes the need for a separate photo shoot. Furthermore, the talking heads website uses a quick animation using the band members' heads at the top. This puts a further element of fun into the website and perhaps reflects the comedy of the seventies, because it reminds me a lot of Monty Python animations. Though an animation may be a good idea for my own website, I think this is too dated and laid back for my own artist.

The left side bar contains links to the rest of the website. This includes basic biographies of the band members and the history of the band. For obvious reasons, I could not have a section on the history of my own artist. However, things I could take from this are the: member bios; lyrics section; music videos section (duh); photo gallery, shop (though it may need to be a fake shop); and social forums (bulletin boards, polls, etc.). I also notice that you can subscribe to be emailed about upcoming news on the website. This would be a good idea to put into my website as it would cement a firm fan base for the artist. The subscription process for the site seems to be incredibly simple. You can either subscribe or unsubscribe simply by typing in your email address, clicking on whichever option you want to do, and then hitting subscribe. This is hassle free for the fans. The option-clicky-circle-thing is automatically set to subscribe rather than unsubscribe. This suggests that they get more people subscribing rather than unsubscribing, making the band seem more popular and perhaps making unsubscribers think twice. The process is made easier for subscribers via these circles, since they don't have to click anything. Unsubscribers on the other hand do have to click, this gives them more time to rethink, and the process of clicking makes one feel like they are going out of their way to do it and... I don't know how to describe... It's like... you are physically betraying them? I don't know... It becomes more personal?... anyway...
In general, the bar keeps in fitting with the general aesthetic of the website. It is placed on the left where it is clearly visible next to the main central bulk of the page. This makes it easy for fans to navigate the website as well as piquing their interest in other pages.

On the right there is an advert for Talking Heads merchandise which links to the website's shop. I mentioned earlier that a shop would be a good idea. This adds to that as I could put my own adverts throughout the site. Below this there is a link to facebook. It is conventional for most websites to have links to social media, as it is a place that fans can come together to discuss the website's focus and is also useful for promoting. Social media is a big part of advertising through web 2.0 and can relay adverts to countless people all over the world in just a few seconds. Below the facebook link there is a search bar. In my experience search bars are usually at the top of the page, though I've not yet researched any other music websites. Perhaps there is less need for it to be at the top as the left side bar makes it so easy to navigate the site anyway. The heading 'WHERE IS IT?' seems odd to me and is perhaps a reference to songs or song lyrics by the band. Similarly, the next section is titled 'ASK YOURSELF...' which refers to the Talking Heads song  'Once in a lifetime' in which the lyric "you may ask yourself..." is repeated. This section shows just one of the polls you can take on the Polls page. A poll can give crucial information to a band regarding their music, however, since the artist here is no longer active, it has more of an entertainment value for the fan.

The font used here, and on the rest of the website, is probably Times New Roman. It is very plain and formal which perhaps reflects the nerdy, middle class conventions of the New Wave genre. It also matches the font generally used in the Talking Heads logo.

My Genre

This Prezi will explore the conventions of my genre, as well as touching on areas such as target audience which I will do posts about later.

Intertextuality

My Song

The Theory/Guide-Thing of Steve Archer

This guy is almost as majestic as Andrew Goodwin, this bubbl thing I made sums up his thoughts on music videos:

Annoyingly, it has decided to be weird at the bottom of some of the boxes... or bubbles or whatever. Click on the image for a bigger pop-up.

Analysis: Vogue

Something I forgot to mention: the fades a references to film and photography link to the notion of looking.


Just in case YouTube decides to block this video (it plays for me but that might be because it's just me) then you can also view the video HERE on Vimeo.

Analysis: Around The World

I put everything into the video this time. Although this is more efficient, it does mean there is no Andrew Goodwin O-Meter. 'Tis a sad day

OK, apparently this video is infringing copyright or something and unfortunately, the lovely people of 'WMG' (Warner music group) have decided to ban it in the US, US outlying islands, and Bermuda.