Permission For Song Choice

In order to create a music video for a song, we needed to gain permission from the artist who wrote and performed it. We asked Lewis Watson, the artist, on the social network; Twitter. He replied to us fairly quickly and said he'd "be honoured" for us to do it. Below is a screenshot from Lewis himself giving his permission to create a music video for his song 'Windows':

Artist Research: Ben Howard

Benjamin Howard, 1987, is an English singer-songwriter who is signed by Island Records. His musical influence originates from his parents love of acoustic soul musicians from the 1960's and 1970's such as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.

Ben Howard's indie/acoustic songs along with his powerful renditions of pop songs like 'Call me Maybe' and 'Video Games' make him a strong indie artist with an ever-growing fan base.

Music Career

Despite only establishing himself in late 2011, Ben Howard has already released his first ablum - Every Kingdom - in October 2011. His record label Island Records signed him due to their previous history with UK folk singers such as Nick Drane. His singles 'Old Pine', 'The Wolves' and 'Keep Your Head Up' have been performed on shows such as BBC Radio Live Lounge and Later With Jools Holland. In the past year he has played at Latitude and Glastobury as well as performing multiple gigs all over England.

Artist Image

Another aspect which highlights Ben Howard's indie/folk image is his appearence. The rugged- folk look comes from his casual and loose clothing accompanied with his preferred instrument; the acoustic guitar. As mentioned before, his inspiration comes from artists like Bob Dylan which show in his appearance.

Music Video Analysis Of: Linkin Park What I've Done

The genre of my coursework will be Indie, however in order to gain inspiration and a greater knowledge of how different genres, such as hip hop, pop and heavy metal, produce music videos. Therefore the music video I have chosen to analyse is Linkin Park's What I've Done as the yare a hip hop/ alternative rock band from America. This video was nominated for the 'best hard rock performance at the 52nd Grammay Awards' which comes as no surprise as the band and production team have clearly produced a inspirational music video.

Narrative

The music video has a strong political and historical motif carried throughout with its editing technique of cross cutting from a live performance from the band playing in a desert interspersed to clips of infamous world leaders such as Hitler to enviromental problems; thus dealing with the worlds issues surrounding global warming, racism and other crimes commited in the world. The opening clip shows a revearsal of grass sinking into the ground which is juxaposed at the end of the video when it is growing again. This visual editing technique gives the impression that the band has to let the world hear its video in order for it to be 'reborn'. The establishing shots of the live band performance within the baren desert emphasises the abscece of life as if to imply that if the world carries commiting these sins against hummanity then the world will indeed become a desert; a desolate world of nothingness and destruction.

Prsentation of the Band

The picture on the left highlights the Mise En Scene choices in the video, the close up shot of the lead singer, Chester Bennington, wears avaitor style sunglasses to cover up his eyes which can be interpreted in numerous ways. Firstly, sunglasses restrict the audience from seeing his eyes however allowing him to see his audience. This implies a unwanting of puplicity or personal recorgnition from his audience. Secondly, the songs meaning resolves around the ammitance of past sins and being able to "face [yourself]" for what you "have done", therefore the glasses could be used as the artist is ashamed for what he, himself, has done that he cannot bare to reveal himself fully. Or thirdly, he is disgraced at how hummanity has becoming and it's colelctive sins that he cannot bare to look at them or for them to look at him. The band themselves are all dressed in black clothing which has connotations of a funeral (where everyone wears black suits). Therefore it could be concluded that they are hinting or foreshadowing, as their video suggests, at the inevitable destruction of the world.

Lighting

The live performance from the band is emphasised by the artifical light from the spotlights beaming onto the band as if they were performing to a crowd and a festival or gig.  However, as shown by the establishing shots, there is no audience in which they are performing to therefore, it can be interpreted as if they are performing to everyone and anyone who listens to this video.

Camera

At the start of the video, there are various camera shots such as panning around the musicians, close ups and low angle shots which highlight each musician within Linkin Park and the role in which they perform in the band. This way the audience are able to gain a greater knowledge of each individual within the band and not just focus on the lead singer; a typical feature for this hip hop/ alternative rock genre.
The injection of other close up shots of cogs and wheels which are used in clocks adds another insight to the narrative of the music video; how people are easy to fixed a routine and live their lives  like clockwork.

Following this is a series of time lapse shots (which is when a camera is fixed on a specific location and films for hours upon end and then in the editing process, the footage is sped up) which deals with the idea of time and how it is forever progressing. Alike the clockwork point, the time lapse shot also implies a fixation on a certain way of life without change as well as how time is forever progressing, quicker than everyone can grasp; which the enhanced speed at which the shot is being played at implies.
There is also a frequent use of establishing shots showing memorable and well-known locations from around the world which are highlight from the use of jump cuts to them. This, therefore, allows anyone watching the video to be able to relate to it in some way; as a result of this, the audience are able to share a common ground with the band themselves and feel a part of the video. The image on the right taken from the video shows Stonehenge, a well known yet mysterious location in England.

Editing

Editing, like most music videos, is a big part, especially in this video. Here, editing techniques such as jump cuts are used frequently and at a high cutting rate in order to convey as many images of either environmental issues, historical events and locations around the world as possible. Reasons for this could be to give the impression that there is so many issues which are taken place as we speak such as famine, unpredictable weather disasters like hurricanes and poverty, that the world needs to 'face [it]self' and see 'what [it's] done' to their planet. This is a very strong message the band is trying to highlight and the editing is relied on to emphasise the importance of the topic being raised.

Below is the video being analysed:

Choice of Genre

As my media group as been comfirmned, we were able to decide firmly on a genre: which is indie. The reason for doing this is purely because myself and each member in my group has certain and specific strengths in which they can bring to the music video and which will be well-suited for indie style. For example; from researching what it is to be 'indie' I found out that there is a heavy reliance on artistic skill such as vintage, watercolours and filters. Futhermore we also have a passion for symbolic lyrics which Indie songs have a strong inclusion of. Also, this will allow us create an artisitc video which can relate to the lyrics being sung.

Interview Number 2: Gill Willson, 44

What music were you into?

"I enjoyed listening to soul artists such as George Benson, Luther Van Vandross and Dione Warick. I also liked the groups Sister Sledge and Cool In The Gang"

How did you access it? 

"I listened to the radio. On sundays Top of The Pops station was played and I use to tape the songs so I could listen to them freely on my cassette player. I tended not to go to gigs. However I read smash hits magazine"

Did you consider yourself a follower of a sub-culture? 

"For a short time I was a modette, so I wore lots of black and white which were the 'mod' colours at the time. Style Council were a group that I loved it while I was a modette and we were known to ride around on scooters and vespers, a common thing that they were associated with it"

How long did this phase last?

"I stayed as a modette for a couple of years for the Style Council type of music. But I still follow soul music to this day, I always get excited when I song I used to listen to comes on the radio!"

Interview Number 1: Andy Willson, 45

What music were you into?

"I liked to listen to punk rock, psycho billy and new wave music. Bands included; The Clash, The Cure, The Smiths and The Cramps"

How did you access it?

"I accessed it through records and LP's, live performances where I went to numerous gigs. Around every week I saw a new group as it only cost around £5. The odd TV program had some bands which I liked listening to however there were few and far between. I read the 'new musical express' (NME) because it contained news and reviews on bands albums and concerts as well as offering adverts about when they were playing. As it was not always that easy finding out when bands were playing"

Did you consider yourself a follower of a sub-culture?

"I was heavily influenced by punk music but not just then music; the style, clothing (I had drain pipe jeans and combat trousers), hair cut, places we would go and visit; I visited Camden market various times and I didn't go to night clubs as it wasn't the punk scene as such. Even the way I acted was influenced by the punk bands and music I listened to!"

How long did the 'phase' last?

"The punk style only lasted a few years, 3 years at most, as mainstream started becoming more popular as I grew up so I went to a fair few concerts to see bands such as Madness, The Pretenders and The Jam" 

Florence + The Machine; Rabbit Heart Music Analysis

The video starts off with an extreme close up of Florence’s mouth with the rest of her face covered by a piece of cloth. The camera then pans outwards as the cloth is lifted into a medium close up. This draws the audience’s attention to the opening lyrics of the song. The cloth covering her face has multiple connotations such as a possible desire to be unknown (as this was one of her first videos, she could potentially want to maintain a less well-known image) or be mirroring a wedding veil which then carries implications of joyfulness and sincerity. 

 However a few moments later a mid shot of Florence shows her removing the veil. This, therefore, maybe her showing rebellion or that she does indeed want to be in the spotlight. Her costume is a light silk material which creates a flowing movement in the wind or when it is being spun. This reflects Florence's characteristics of being somewhat of a 'free spirit' as well as conforms to certain indie conventions which her music, generally, seems to be. 

The frequent use of tracking close ups and medium close up’s are regularly used throughout the music video of Florence making her constantly the centre of the audience’s attention. This potentially implies that she is also the centre of the band 'Florence + The Machine' as well. As of present, Florence Welch is the only member of the band to have stayed since the beginning; the musicians have been changed a few times. The image on the right shows a significantly detailed use of cross fading, switching from a mid/ tracking shot of Florence dancing in the centre of everyone to a close up of her hand resting on the side of her face. There are potentially many reasons why the director chose to use this editing technique however one reason could be for textual or lyrical cohesion. The song 'Rabbit Heart' repeats the line 'Raise it up' multiple times which, I believe, to have some spiritual significance. This theme is carried throughout the video as another time she is pushed out to sea on a coffin-like box which has biblical references. Therefore, this combination of directorial, Mise-En-Scene and editing choices give the impression that Florence herself is somewhat religious or has her own spiritual beliefs which she intends to portray in her videos. 

The close up shots of interments such as the one shown in the video, a harp, conforms to the indie genre as a typical convention of indie music videos is that their videos contain frequent references or shots of instruments that the band is playing. Therefore this further insinuates that Florence has an indie aspect to her. However as their isn't a strong motif of shots of the instruments it could be argued that their is a certain pop element to her as well. Thus the video itself in terms on Mise-En-Scene and editing does give the impression of a indie style and genre.