Matters At All - Kids In Glass Houses Analysis

This band is similar to my artist but differs from You Me At Six. This is a good example of comparing it to the other band and seeing what is different.

The storyline of this song is a more traditional take, one about finding love. It starts with an establishing shot of the band setting up for a performance. The video takes the conventional 'finding love' story and flips it with an interesting use of cinematography to allow the plot twist to make sense. The video is in two parts, the part from the protagonist; a woman who keeps walking into a man and has long emotional  contact with at various locations: A Park, Grocery Stall and Cafe. We see all this from her point of view and understand that the man is leading her on as she is to him, and it seems to have a classic relationship story.
However halfway through the video we discover that she is a lonely woman who is following this man around and obsessing with him after finding his picture on the floor and misinterpreting it as a picture of her and him instead of what it is: him and another woman (his girlfriend). Here the previous shots shown early on now are taken from different angles and show him with his girlfriend who at the start is out of the shot because of the way its filmed.
The lyrics of the song are linked closely with the plot, "Not that it matters at all" She loves him but she has imagined it and he doesn't love her because he is with his girlfriend and always has been from the start of the video.

Is it so hard to remember

When we go back to September

We were

We were like.

You're a throw back to forever

In your denim jeans and leather

Yes you

Yeah we were like.

All these things that you like to leave behind

All these things that you like to leave behind.

And if it matters at all

If it matters at all

You'll wait until your first time

You'll wait until there's something wrong

Cos you'll always be the one who says

Goodnight, Goodnight, (Goodnight).

I'm watching

I'm choking

As you took a draw back on a cinder

Hanging limp between your fingers

We were

Yeah we were like.

As you crashed out as a heartthrob

When you woke up in a day job

We were

Yeah we were like

We were like.

All these things that you like to leave behind

All these things that you like to leave behind.

And if it matters at all

If it matters at all

You'll wait until your first time

You'll wait until there's something wrong

Cos you'll always be the one who says

Goodnight, Goodnight, Goodnight.

And if it matters at all

If it matters at all

You'll wait until your first time

You'll wait until there's something wrong

If it matters at all

If it matters at all

You'll wait until your first time

You'll wait until there's something wrong

Cos you'll always be the one who says

Goodnight, Goodnight, Goodnight

Goodnight, Goodnight, Goodnight

Goodnight, Goodnight, Goodnight

Goodnight, Goodnight. 

These are certain shots from the video that interested me in how they developed story and were filmed.

The first shot is an establishing shot of where the band is playing, its a fairly gloomy set but it isnt as "heavy" or quirky as "You Me At Six's" video

 There are constant close ups/medium/long shots of the band playing throughout the video to maintain a brand image and have recognisable members. 

 This is the first shot we see of the protagonist you can clearly identify with her.

 This starts of her obsession with the man when she finds a picture, supposedly him and her.

In the first half of the video the first shot here is shown but on return you can see the man is clearly with his girlfriend and is trying to get the protagonist off his back.

 Again the use of camera angle allows us to believe it is just him and her in the first half of the video

 These close ups really allow the characters emotions to be shown in the Cafe scene, the first time we see it it is the protagonsists face not the face of the girlfriend that is shown above ^.

 The protagonists relation to them together in the Cafe shows her sadness and jealousy of the other woman I also love the shot of the coffee mug smashing in slow motion and I'm interested in applying something like that in my final project.

The final scene of the video is the confrontation of the man and his girlfriend and they realise that the woman is insane and ignore her and go on to be together. The photos she finds have the picture of the man and his girlfriend not her leaving her painfully heartbroken by something that never existed.

 "If it matters at all"

You Me At Six - Bite My Tongue Analysis

This was a band I found whilst researching which has a similar vibe to that of y artist. It is - unfortunately - more  rock based than mine but it is still a close match.
The first thing worth mentioning is the story which is being portrayed, influenced by the props, location and aesthetic.
The story appears to be about a mad scientist who has created the band and is controlling them like puppets and in turn creating the music they are making. The musicians are flailing around held by bonds which the scientist controls. The scientist appears to be the lead singer of the band as well, did he want a band to play with. He gets overtaken by power and someone comes and stops.
The way the band is introduced is rather clever, it starts off with the protagonist or lead singer lip syncing with a few shots of his experiment hinting at the eerie yet cool vibe accompanied with different editing after effects such as shaking the shots, focus change and blur. When the first chorus is sang the band comes to life restrained by their restraints they comply and play the song,"You keep me on the edge of my seat" they have no choice they are stuck there. "I cant take the ones who made me" he is going mad with power and the band are annoyed with their creator. When another character comes along and defeats the scientist he puts him in the restrains where he will be controlled and die at the end. Killed by his own creation.

"Bite My Tongue"
(feat. Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon)

I hate to break it to you but
You're just a lonely star
I try to bring you down but
A level isn't good enough
You always do as you please
So I'm going to follow suit
And take a seat
And watch you fall apart
'Cause in the end
What are you without me?
I slow this down 'cause I know that you can't keep up
Oh maybe I, maybe I was wrong from the start
I might be proud, but at least I'm proud of something
You've taken pride in becoming nothing

You keep me on the edge of my seat
I bite my tongue so you don't hear me
I wanna hate every part of you with me
I can't hate the ones who made me

You keep me on the edge of my seat
I bite my tongue so you don't hear me
I wanna hate every part of you with me
I can't hate the ones who made me

I'm married to the music
For better or for worse
You say that I'm privileged but
My gift is my curse
I can't recall the last time
Someone asked me how I was
Last I checked I was a fucking wreck
I called for help and no one showed up
I sit in the dirt

You keep me on the edge of my seat
I bite my tongue so you don't hear me
I wanna hate every part of you with me
I can't hate the ones who made me

You keep me on the edge of my seat
I bite my tongue so you don't hear me
I wanna hate every part of you with me
I can't hate the ones who made me

[Oli Sykes]
Just forget what you've learned
Just forget what you've heard
The truth just confirmed
I can't bare the sight of you anymore.
You've become what I hate
Sold yourself for a bit of fame
Now that the wolves have closed the door
You wanna drag me down some more
Fuck you
Fuck you

You keep me on the edge of my seat
I bite my tongue so you don't hear me
I wanna hate every part of you with me
I can't hate the ones who made me

You keep me on the edge of my seat
I bite my tongue so you don't hear me
I wanna hate every part of you with me
I can't hate the ones who made me

Here I have highlighted some key shots from the video which I will comment on:

This is the first shot of video, a close up of the lead singer and protagonist in this video. Already starting with brand Identity he is also lip-syncing to show his relevance and importance.

 This shot signifies the start of his experiment, the doctor observing his creation whilst also being an establishing shot of the location the whole video takes place in.

This Medium shot is used throughout the video and is used on all the members of the band as they are playing and waking up but especially when for example they have small identifiable riffs over the main tune, and these shots are also edited in time to the drum beat.

Here is the introduction of a new character (Oli Sykes), possibly someone that could save the band from its fate foreshadowing his event in the future we are slowly shown him as the video progresses this is the first reveal shot of him, he seems scruffy and "untamed". The shots of him walking towards the protagonist are edited to slow motion which gives a nice contrast to the otherwise fast paced editing, its also worth noting that he is incredibly calm as he approaches.

A Close p again of the protagonist this is quickly spliced throughout the mid section of the song as it symbolises his going crazy with his experiment.

An over the shoulder shot of Oli approaching the main from behind, increasing tension and ending with him throwing the scientist down and taking over his madness and power.

Oli brings a more heavy rock feeling to the whole video, dressed the part with scruffy clothes , tattoos and piercings. You instantly relate to the genre of the song.

The closing shots are of our scientist who has been put into his experiment and is being controlled by a bigger evil; Oli. The maker has met his match and is trapped in his invention when he fails to escape he appears to die at the end.

Looking into the alternative scene

For my video it was hard to find other bands to sound like mine, so I decided to look further into the alternative genre. One of the bands I found which have a more heavy sounding chorus was 'You Me At Six' their style fits my needs rather well and gives me more ideas especially for genre and album art.

Another band with a similar sound and feel to my band and 'You Me At Six". The band is called 'Kids in Glass Houses' and looking at their album artwork its apparent they are going for a quirky/cool look at edited photos and don't have a picture of the band.

The Killers - Day and Age Poster Analysis

I am researching adverts for CD's and albums, to find out how to correctly promote my band.  And I have come to the conclusion that most adverts in magazines are just a larger image of the album cover itself. It manages to promote the product with a recognisable image.This allows direct correlation between the poster and the box art.

The words "Day & Age " are portrayed in the box art using  an aboriginal style of art. The moon in the sky represents a juxtaposition of the "Day" and the foliage on the floor looks like a desert. In their video for their single "Human" the main setting is the desert. But the lack of civilization in this image also may represent a previous age before humans got there.