Textual Analysis of Angel Eyes by New Years Day feat. Chris Motionless

New Years Day are a female fronted rock band. This video and song has the lead singer of the heavy metal band Motionless in White performing withing it.
The video is both performance and narrative, it fits with the conventions of a rock video due to the live performance by the band.
It has a typical narrative that is seen in a lot of female front bands which is boy meets girl but boy doesn't turn out how they wanted him to. This is twisted to be more gore and horrific to fit with the persona of the band and the style of music they produce.
There are direct links between lyrics and visual when she is singing about descises and hiding and they are at a mascaraed party with them all wearing masks. This has connotations that you don't know whats on the inside everyone is hidden my the mask they wear.
When the singer sings reach inside my chest there is a close of of a woman's chest. This is a clear show of male gaze. This also shown at the beginning when she is getting ready in a bath room standing in just her underwear. Being a female fronted rock band it is hard to get a strong male audience so by having alot of male gaze in videos it means they can try and build that following by having half naked attractive girls in the videos. Meaning it gets more views and downloads on the Internet.

Also the last time she sings 'Reach inside my chest, you can have whatevers left, cause baby I'm possessed' Chris Motionless reaches into her chest and pulls out her heart. Once he leaves she looks up and her eyes are blacked out showing she is possessed this is a direct relation to lyrics. It is con-notating that he took what he wanted and had her hook straight away. Showing men are manipulating to get that they want. 

At the beginning there are a lot of Dutch angles which connote its not quiet real. These angles are mostly used to show a character is drunk or drugged, making them seem confused and disorientated. But in this video the characters are shown to be sober, the use of the angle gives it a unreal and otherworldly feel.

The camera angles between the female and male characters are pretty level through out never really giving anyone dominance till the end. This connotes that you never know the balance in a relationship till one does something to prove for tilt it. In this there is only one very quick low angle on Chris which gives it away other then that it is pretty balanced throughout.

The editing starts off being rather slow a the beginning but speeds up with the tempo of the music. As the song gets faster and louder the editing gets quicker. This really helps the narrative because the story get more intense when the music does, making the whole piece flow together nicely.

There is pretty even amounts of air time between Chris and Ashley. Obviously with Ashley being the lead vocalist of the band she has more singing time and slightly more air time but Motionless in White are a bigger and more well know band meaning he will gain them views by being in the video. Due to this he has a large part in the video.

  

Analysis of Plan B

Writing's on the Wall was the sixth single from the album released on 7 March 2011. The single did not chart on the UK Singles Chart. Two versions of the music video were released; the first available in February 2010.
This song is from a concept album, this is when an album tells a story. This album follows a story of a soul singer who gets sent to prison.
The album tells the story from the first-hand perspective of the soul singer, a character played by Plan B. The album's opening songs, "Love Goes Down" and "Writing's on the Wall", are love songs sung by the singer at a concert. They follow him as he celebrates the success of the concert with a night out which finishes with him having a one-night stand with a woman, cheating on this girl friend/wife.
The phone call gives the video more of a feel of a film because you can hear the voices over the music. This fits well because all the music videos from this album fit together to give that feel. Also the sound of the boiling water at the beginning.
The relation between lyrics works because he singing about how a relationship isn't going very well and that its not over yet but its heading that way. This is shown by showing her putting loads of effort and him not caring and going on a night out.
This mixture of narrative and performance works really well because the performance is part of the narrative.
The opening shot sets the scene and narrative making it clear and easily followed.
We did this in Class to help us get a good understanding of a good music video and how we can take parts of it to really help our video when we film it.

Analysis Arctic Monkeys

The video was directed by Paul Fraser and premiered on MTV2 on 21 December 2005.
It starred Lauren Socha and Stephen Graham. The music video used footage from a film, Scummy Man, which used the same actors who appeared in the video to tell the story of 'Nina', the nameless "that girl there" from the song.
The lyrics and video tell a story in the point of view of a someone who was approached by a under dressed girl, implied to be a prostitute and he sees a "scummy man" who has been hanging around. The man is either the prostitute's pimp or a 'client' who is picking her up. This beginning of the song consists of just vocalist Alex Turner singing with a electric guitar chords with a oddly soft tone. After the line "I said he's a scumbag don't you know" the song then changes into a heavy rock style with a fast beat and guitar riff which is also played on the bass guitar. When this happens the shots change from slow paced cuts and pans to a julty hand held in a speeding car, this shows the change in tempo and shows the narrative picking up pace.
In the songs lyrics, the prostitute propositions the song's narrator and he turns her down politely; he then observes the "scummy man" arriving to pick her up in a Ford Mondeo, this shows relation to lyrics and visuals because she speaks to a younger looking boy and he rejects her. After that you see her being picked up by the 'Scumbag' whilst the boy sees. The girl is "delighted when she sees him" because "she must be fucking freezing, scantily clad beneath the clear night sky" also showing relation to visuals.
The song's chorus consists of the repeated line "they said it changes when the sun goes down around here", noting the stark difference between the appearance of the city at daytime in the video and the dark prostitution trade the narrator observes in the lyrics.
After the second chorus, the song goes back to the style of the introduction. The last line "I hope you're not involved at all," is either the narrator expressing his disappointment that the girl has turned to prostitution or a warning to the person to the narrator is telling the story to, who also may be involved with the 'scummy man' or the listener themselves.
The setting is in a city, most of the areas they use seem rather run down. This works because the main character is meant to be homeless and you wouldn't see her in a well built up area.
This will help me be more creative by looking at different genres and seeing different concepts and narratives.
This will help me because they have very good relation to lyrics and a subtle link in story line.

Real Media Texts - The Only Excpetion - Paramore (2010)

The music video opens with Hayley Williams waking up on a couch next to a guy and writing a note that says "I'm sorry". Then she walks to the next room and hugs a man, based on the lyrics, is her father. There's a conversation with Hayley showing him a photo of someone, guessing her mother. Before she goes into her room and sticks the photo to her mirror, singing about how love doesn't exist. The photo shows who we guess is her mother and father standing together. This connotes and follows the lyrics showing they are behind her disbelief.
She then goes through a costume closet and into a restaurant set, where a rotating cast of men pose as her date. She then moves into the next room, where there's a wedding, everyone is wearing white, but she is dressed in black. This connotes her disbelief in love and makes her sad expression stand out from everyone else. She flees the scene when the bride enters.
 During the chorus of the song, the clip cuts to the scenes where she sings "Darling, you are the only exception" while lying down on a giant pile of Valentine-themed cards. She is also dressed in lighter colour foreshadowing her later belief in love.
Throughout the video, clips of Hayley singing with the rest of the members of Paramore in a low key background are shown, such as Hayley sitting down singing into a microphone, and the other members playing instruments. These are typical live performances of the genre.
In the video's final moments, Hayley spots the same guy she woke up to at the beginning of the video in the crowd at a rock show. After fantasizing of the two being together, she then makes her way back through the various rooms to the original set in the beginning of the video. When Williams sings "And I'm, on my way to believing", she returns to the couch where the guy is still asleep, and hides the note she wrote in her pocket as she lies back down next to him. Connoting her now belief in love because of him.
The camera shots are mostly mid or long shots to show everything that is going on around Hayley. The only shot that really just focuses on Hayley's face is when she is on the cards.
The transitions are mostly cuts for continuous tracking. This gives the video a surreal effect.

Real Media Texts - Sieze The Day - Avenged Sevenfold (2006)

Directed by Wayne Isham, the video shows a couple, the vocalist of Avenged Sevenfold, M. Shadows, and his wife (real life girlfriend at the time) Valary DiBenedetto, expecting a child. The rest of the band come to his house and invite him to go out with them, which is later revealed to be a robbery of a liquor store. In the process, Matt gets caught by the police while the others drive off, leaving him behind. Matt goes to jail and his wife comes to visit him. They get into a fight. While driving home, she is killed in a traffic accident. At the funeral her casket is lowered into the ground. Synyster Gates is shown playing the song's guitar solo on top of her casket, but is also in the crowd. In this scene, some one can be seen holding an child, presumably Matt's prematurely born child saved during his mother's death. After the funeral, Matt is in jail suffering and remembering all the good memories he has of his wife. At the end of the video, Matt is at her grave, and the rest of the band comes over to him along with a small boy. Matt picks up the boy and they all walk away.
Some of the video is shown to be filmed by a hand held camera. This fit with the narrative and how shows the relationship between Valary and Matt.
During the shots of the band playing in prison the the video is edited so that the colour is washed out and dull. This contrasts to the high key lighting of the rest of the video, connoting that his life is now drained.
There is a screen in screen when Valary is shown watching the news showing Matt's arrest. This shows the narrative as well as her reaction.
The transitions are mostly cuts, fades and fade to whites. The fade to whites make the clips seem more life memories or dreams making the video more surreal.
The music stops when Valary gets hit by a van. This is more like something that would happen in a film then in a music video.
The shots of Synyster Gates doing a solo is typical of the genre because a guitar solo is a big part of a rock song so they tend to high light this in a video to show off their abilities. Also shows his iconic guitar one of their motifs in their videos.

Real Media Texts - Nothing To Lose - Blilly Talent (2004)

The video was filmed at Central Technical School in Toronto, Ontario in Canada and directed by Sean Michael Turrell.
 It is in black and white and follows a boy in a black hoodie which hides his face (the suicidal teen). The video alternates between the band playing in the basement of the high school and the boy in classes and halls. Throughout the video the boy is writing in a notebook which we see bits of the song's lyrics and drawings. He gets picked on in the hallway by a group of kids who take his notebook, and runs away. At the end of the video the boy goes to the school's garage, attaches one end of a long tube to the exhaust of the car, and brings the other end to the driver's seat with him. Then he starts the car, causing the gas to suffocate him. The last lyrics sung say "There's nothing to gain/And I just died today", showing that the boy had suffocated himself successfully.The line "Who'd know it put me underground at seventeen" also meant that he was 17 when the kids who teased him made him kill himself, underground showing connotations of him being buried. Also near the end the boy's notebook is open to a page where a drawing can be seen showing the suicide. On the same page there is a suicide note that reads: I will do it, I will show you, you will know who I am, you will read this and know who I am, my death will heal this pain, there's nothing to lose and I can't fight this pain anymore. Part of the lyrics are "There's nothing to gain / My notebook will explain"
Text also appears at the end of the video:

THERE'S LIFE BEYOND THESE WALLS

KIDS HELP PHONE

JEUNESSE, J'ÉCOUTE

1 800 668 6868

www.kidshelpphone.ca

The whole song and videos purpose is to gain awareness to bullying and suicide.
At the start of the video there is a lot of establishing shots showing the school and boy. Most of the camera is shown as the point of view of the boy showing his struggle but cuts to long shots of the boy showing his situation but never showing his face. This connotes his lack of identity. Whilst being the point of view of the boy there are a lot of close ups showing his everyday life and struggle.
The transitions of the videos are mostly fade to blacks. This really works because it fits with the tempo of the song and helps portray the narrative in a sutler and effective way.
The use of black and white represents the lack of colour in the boys life and how he feels like he has nothing to live for. 

Green Day-Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) 1997 Video Analysis

Genre
Green Day would be classed as Punk/Rock. The Video its self is both performance and narrative.
This does fit in with some of the conventions of a rock video because it shows live performance by Billie Joe. The narrative of the video itself isn't typical of the genre because Punk itself is known to be very angry at the world but the song and narrative is trying to make you appreciate it.

Narrative
The narrative is to make the most of what you have. This is portrayed by showing people doing all very mundane things, ranging from different social classes, all having very blank and sollum faces. This is in contrast to the lyrics which are all about making the most of your life and making it the best it can be.  Band members Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool make appearances in the video as a person pumping gas (Dirnt) and an injured bike rider being attended by paramedics (Cool).

Representation
The artist Billie Joe is constructed to be quiet a normal person. He is shown in quiet a run down house/room. He doesn't seem to show any emotion, much like the other people shown in the video, this connotes that he is no different to anyone else. This is contrasted by the lyrics he is singing because he is saying to make the most of his life and enjoy it but he is shown to be expressionless.
The band are all shown to be anonymous in the video, this is against a typical rock video. This is because in most rock videos the artists are shown as a celebrity to show the reaction they get from crowds. 

Visual Codes 
The visual codes in the video are all very mundane e.g. bed room and a street. The bed room Billie Joe is shown in is very run down and dark. This connotes that the character he is playing is in a dark place contrasting with the optimistic lyrics. The room also has a big contrast to the out side world shown is the other clips. The room is shown to be really dark, whereas everywhere outside is shown to be bright, this connotes that once you get out in the world life is easier and brighter.

Technical Codes

There are various shots of Billie Joe ranging from close ups to long shots. These are inter-cut with 'pull in' shots of various people. These shots really capture your eye and make you see the expressions of the people, making them standout in your mind. Makes them seem lost and alone since the focus of the camera is solely on them. The editing is quiet slow which fits well with the tempo of the song.


Audience
I think the target audience is about 16+ people who are starting/are looking at the real world and are trying to make it somewhere. This is targeted by the lyrics and how they are trying to inspire. Also the age of the people shown in the 'pull in' shots.


Institution
Reprise Records decides how they promote themselves and how much airtime the band members get. In this video the band are sold as normal people there isn't a 'Star Image' shown, the members aren't glamed up they are shown as normal people.

Music Video Mind Map

This mind map is a mind map of all the things i associate with music videos at this time. It has everything that i know about music videos and their purpose. This helps me understand my basic knowledge of musics videos and know how i can expand this knowledge in class and in research.

Name and Candidate Number

Rebecca Murden 7475