Deconstruction - The Wombats

Tokyo Music Video - 

Synopsis -  

The music video for Tokyo is a narrative based video that follows the band members running away from their manager and going out clubbing and partying. The video is set in Tokyo, Japan.

Timeline -  

00:00 - 00:19 →  The band members are sat in a limousine and their manager is talking on the phone. There is no music at this point, only dialogue. The words 'JERRY KLEIN, Rock Manager' are shown at the bottom of the screen. When the manager says 'the boys' the names of the band members appear on the screen. 'MURPH, DAN & TORD, The Wombats'. At 00:12 the screen goes to black and the title of the song appears on the screen 'TOKYO (VAMPIRES & WOLVES)'. It then goes back to the inside of the limo and the manager finishes his phone call. He then begins to get out the car.

00:20 - 00:32 → The music starts straight away and the new setting is introduced. 'MIYAKE-JIMA HOTEL, East Tokyo'. The manager enters the hotel and is passed by two women. A tracking shot follows him up the stairs. He is on the phone again. When he reaches the top of the stairs he turns around and sees that band are missing. He runs back down the stairs and shouts at the camera man and sound man "Where the fuck are my boys?". He then exits through the door.

00:33 - 00:58 → The boys are in the club drinking and doing drugs with other people. At 00:39 the manager has arrived at the club and the setting is introduced. 'KAKOYOKU CLUB, Northwest Tokyo'. There is a Japanese man running karaoke. Lead singer Matthew Murphy (Murph) takes the microphone and Lip-Syncs to the words. The manager finds the boys in the club and tells them they have to leave.

00:59 - 01:11 → The band are in a new setting which is introduced by the text on screen. 'TOSHI'S SHABU CAFE, East Tokyo'. The boys, camera man and sound man are eating with chop sticks. The restaurant owner answers the phone, points to where the boys were sitting. The camera pans round to show that they have gone. The camera man and sound man pick up their equipment and leave. 

01:12 - 01:41 → The setting goes back to the club and the boys are partying, drinking and doing drugs. At 01:15 there is a brief shot of the boys walking down the street. It then goes back to the club. There are a few shots of Murph Lip-Syncing. At 01:35 there is a change of setting. The manager and sound man are sat in the back of a car. The manager points to something and the driver stops the car. They all get out of the car and run up the road. The manager is stood on a street corner with the camera man laid on the ground next to him. The location is show on the screen as 'ICHIGAYA SQUARE, Northwest Tokyo'.

01:42 - 01:53 → The pace of the music increases and the speed of the transitions increases. There are quick changing shots of the band members back in the club drinking and doing drugs. This times they are doing Nitrous Oxide (Nos). 

01:54 - 02:20 → The setting changes back to the hotel. 'MIYAKE - JIMA HOTEL, East Tokyo'. The manager is walking down the corridor with the camera man and sound man following. He turns to look into the room where the boys are staying. He then walks into the room followed by the sound and camera men. He walks around and looks at the devastation. There are two women in the bed with only their underwear on. There are quick shots of the state of the room including a smashed TV, loads of empty bottles, a dead fish, a gun and drugs on the tables shaped to spell the word 'SATAN'. The manager runs to the window and see's one of the boys stood at the side of the pool joking about diving in and a body floating in the pool. The manager runs out the door and there is a brief shot of the sound and camera men still in the room. 

02:21 - 03:53 → The setting goes back to the club. There is more Lip-Syncing from Murph. There is a shot of the three boys outside a Japanese restaurant. It then goes back to the club. The manager arrives at the club and starts taking the drugs off of the boys. At 02:48 there is a woman in a pink wig sat knitting. There are three men sat behind her dressed in traditional Japanese clothing. There is more Lip-Syncing from Murph. The transitions are slow to match the pace of the song. At 03:14 the pace of the song picks up and so the transitons between shots speed up. There are lots of shots of the band members drinking and partying. There are shot clips of the manager walking down the street on his phone. The manager arrives in the club and gets dragged into the crowd and he joins in with the partying. The shot cuts to black and the music begins to fade.

03:54 - 04:18 → The setting is back to the limo from the beginning. Two out of the three band members are already in the limo laid across the backseats. The manager is trying to get Murph into the limo and is grunting whilst doing so. The music has faded out by 04:02. The manager gets into the car and tries to close the door behind him but it doesn't close properly. He says "airport" and the limo begins to move. The manager then closes the door properly and the screen cuts to black. 

Mise-en-scene - 

There are lots of different settings used throughout the music video. The video was shot in L.A. but set in Tokyo. Each new setting is introduced with the name of the place appearing at the bottom of the screen. The first setting is inside a limousine. This suggests that the have a celebrity status as this is often how celebrities travel. This is reinforced by the fact that 'The Wombats' have a large fanbase in Japan and would be treated as celebrities. Another setting used is a club. This links to the lyrics 'let me go back to that bar in Tokyo'. There are outside settings which suggests the rough and ready persona associated with the indie genre.

Costume and Make-Up - 

The costume is mainly casual clothes which is a typical convention of the indie genre. Some of the extras in the club are wearing more party and going out wear to fit in with the stereotypes of that setting. The make up used is minimalistic but some make up would have been added to make the band members look tired and hungover. However, 

• Murph told Spinner UK about the song's music video. "We shot this video in L.A. over two days," he said. "It was shot in the Geisha House on Hollywood Blvd. After the first day of filming, we all went out and had a massive night out. Ironically, after first thinking that perhaps the concept of the video was a little inaccurate in its a depiction of a night out with the Wombats, they didn't need to use much makeup to make us look rough the following day..."

Key Shots, Camera Movements, Edits - 

Album Digipak - 

The front cover of the album digipak has the band name and logo at the very top. Underneath this is the album name. These are both written in white writing and so clearly stand out against the blue background making it easy for the consumer to read. The rest of the album is covered by a picture of people all hiding their faces. This could be a symbol for the fact that when online you can choose to be anonymous or be whoever you want. The picture looks as though it has been painted rather than created digitally which reinforces the fact that they are an indie band.

The back cover uses the same blue as the front cover. This helps when the album is on sale as the digipak can be recognised even from behind. The band name and album name are also on the back of the digipak which also helps with brand identity and the album being spotted on the shelf even if its been turned the wrong way round. There is a track list on the back cover to allow the consumer to easily navigate the CD and play their favourite tracks. There are two record label logos on the back. This is because 14th Floor Records is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Music. There is also the bands website details and the record labels website on the back incase the consumer want to find out more information about either or these. 

The CD colour is a complete contrast to the colour of the digipak. This helps it to stand out when the digipak is opened. The use of the grey for the robot also stands out against the yellow background making it easy to see and easily recognisable. The fact that the robot is hand drawn helps to signify the fact that the band is independent and may not have the budget to pay for animators to create an image. The band name and album name is also stated on the CD. This makes it easily recognisable even without the digipak, helping to maintain brand identity.

Magazine Advertisement - 

The magazine advertisement for the album release uses the same blue colour as the album for its border. This immediately makes a connection between the poster and the album cover that the audience can pick up on and remember when looking to purchase the album. The poster also uses the same image as the poster which creates a visual link and makes it easy for the audience to recognise the album in a shop once it has been released. The band name/ logo and album name are also featured at the top of the page. This helps people who may not of previously heard of the band and may influence them to listen to their music. At the bottom of the page is information about the release of the album. The date helps the already existing fan base to know when the music is due out and creates a sense of excitement and anticipation for the next album. It also features some included tracks which also helps to create excitement and anticipation within the fanbase. Lastly, the bands website and the record labels website are featured at the bottom of the page. This allows people to find out more information about either the band or the record label prior to purchasing the album.

Deconstruction - Arctic Monkeys

Do I Wanna Know? Music Video -

Synopsis -  

The music video for 'Do I wanna Know?' by the 'Arctic Monkeys' is a concept based music video with no narrative or performance aspects included. The video uses the same black and white colour scheme as the album cover and magazine advertisement. It also features the same sound wave but instead of being a static image it has motion.

Timeline -  

00:00 - 01:12 → The first minute and 12 seconds of the video are the sound wave moving in time to the music. The music starts straight away but the singing doesn't come in until 00:30.

01:13 - 01:34 → At 01:13 the Pre-Chorus starts. When the questions are being sung the waveform line goes blue with a white line through the middle. When the questions are being answered the waveform goes back to white with a blue line going through the middle. At 01:27 the lines go back to being white with no line running through them. 

01:35 - 02:00 → The chorus begins and multiple waveforms appear on the screen. First  white one on the first syllable of the word 'crawling' followed by the blue waveform on the second syllable of the word 'crawling'. Next is the red wave form that appears on screen on the word 'back'. Finally, the yellow waveform appears on the word 'to'. On the word 'you' an animated boot steps onto the waveforms flattening them into straight lines. A pair of animated feet in boots walk towards the front of the screen as white lines appear to be moving backward. At 01:43 the boots stop and stand in a wide stance. A car tyre then rolls between the legs and is stopped by a girl. Then many animated women place tyres in front of the previous one. At 01:53 a tyre is rolled across the screen and is stopped by a girl. The screen moves up to reveal the girls face and she blows smoke into the sky. This then levels out to form a line.

02:01 - 02:21 → From 02:01 - 02:10 white waveforms are in time with the music and then coloured lines appear and then flatten out. At 02:11 animated legs are formed from the shape of the waveform. The legs cross over and then transform into a vertical waveform. At 02:15 a speaker goes from the top of the screen to the bottom and then a pair of lips appear. The waveforms continue with the coloured lines. 

02:22 - 02:46 → 4 different waveforms are all on the screen at once. The top is white, second is red, third is blue and last is yellow. They each keep in time to different parts of the music. At 02:29 the lines merge to form the outline of a woman. The woman then splits back into the four colours each in the shape of the woman. They then become solid lines again and are vertical waveforms. At 02:42 the merge and form a checked pattern which turns into a flag held by another woman. 

02:47 - 03:29 → It starts off with a simple waveform which morphs into a women figure pose in a sexual position with the held tilted back. This flattens out and a waveform starts again. This then morphs into a car with a woman sat on the bonnet. This flattens out and a waveform starts again. This then morphs into a woman smoking a cigarette, she blows the smoke and then cars start driving out from behind it. This then morphs into a woman wearing jean shorts. Then another woman appears. A tyre comes across the screen and flattens the women. This then becomes a race track for cars and then a car comes close the the front of the screen and we see a mans face. The mans face becomes a women's face, which becomes another person with their mouth open. Then it goes into the mouth and through a whole which shows pipes which pump out smoke. The screen moves close to the back pipe where a women comes out of the smoke.

03:30 - 04:26 → The pre-chorus starts and the first sign of colour is introduced into the video. The video changes from colour to black and white throughout the rest of the music video. The animations are moving a lot quicker and incorporate the use of waveforms to link them back to the music videos. 

Key Shots, Camera Movements, Edits - 

Album Digipak - 

Front Cover - The whole digipak is in black and white. This is a common convention is the indie genre. The use of black and white is good because they are contrasting colours which makes it stand out to the audience or consumer. The image is a sound waveform which is a characteristic of an amplitude modulated signal, hence AM. The simple and minimalistic style helps to separate the their new material from the old material. Finally, the front cover doesn't feature the band. This could be due to the fact that this is one of their later albums and they already have a big following and so don't need to promote themselves as much as a new band or artist would.

Back Cover - The back cover includes the bands logo at the top of the panel. This makes it easily recognisable front the back of the case. The track list allows the consumers to easily seem the names of the tracks included in the album. The use of black background and white writing allows the writing to be clearly seen. The back cover also contains all the copyright information that keeps the bands music safe from being stolen. 

CD - The CD uses the same image as the front cover. This means that is is easily associated with the album and band without the digipak. 

Inside Panel - The black and white image keeps in line with the rest of the digipak. Two members of the band are looking away from the camera and two are looking into the camera. The two members looking at the camera are the lead guitarist and frontman. This signifies there importance over the other two members.

Magazine Advertisement - 

There are two magazine advertisements for this particular album. 

The poster on the left uses the same colour scheme and image as the album cover. This means the audience instantly associate it with the album and therefore know what to look for when it comes out. The band logo is at the top of the page which helps to promote the band and keeps the brand identity. This means that if someone did not recognise the image they would recognise the logo and therefore understand the advertisement. At the bottom of the page is the information about the new album such as, the name and release date. Overall, the magazine advertisement is fairly simple which follows the theme of the album digipak, but also gives all the required information. 

The poster on the right is also an advertisement for the new album. This however, does not use the recognisable colours and images that the audience would associate with the 'AM' album. Instead the poster features a picture of the lead vocalist on stage surrounded by a crowd. This may appeal to the audience more as it helps develop a sense of excitement about going to watch the band play their new album. The use of the logo helps it be identifiable as the 'Arctic Monkeys' as not everyone will instantly notice who is in the picture. This poster also includes the information about the release date and album name. 

Deconstruction - Vampire Weekend

Oxford Comma Music Video - 

Synopsis -  

The video is a 'concept' video that follows lead vocalist and guitarist, Ezra Koenig through a large field. The video is shot as one continuous shot. Throughout the video we come across lots of different characters from all walks of life. About half way through the video Koenig rejoins his band where they all play together. He then continues to walk through the field introducing more characters. The video ends with Koenig getting back into the car he started in in the beginning and being driven off. 

Timeline -  

The music video is shot in a long take and doesn't cut throughout the whole music video. High key lighting is used throughout the video. 

00:00 - 00:16 → This first shot shows a white car being driven. This goes from being an  extreme long shot to a long shot. At 00:03 the words 'CHAPTER ONE' appear on the screen in large bold writing. At 00:08 the music comes in.

00:17 - 00:37 → The band member exit the car and walk briefly into a mid shot. A tracking shot is then used to follow lead singer Ezra Koenig as he walks further into the field. At 00:25 Koenig begins singing.

00:38 - 00:48 → The tracking shot continues as a mid shot. 3 new characters are introduced who seem to be playing the roles of the press and tv crew however, they have old fashioned video cameras. 

00:49 - 01:03 → A new character walks into shot and hands Koenig a  guitar. Koenig stops walking and stands still whilst he passes the guitar strap over his head. The camera then carries on moving to the right where a new character is introduced in a close up of her torso.  She then pretends to shoot the man. Finally, the words 'CHAPTER TWO' appear on the screen. 

01:04 - 01:37 → This is a continuous tracking shot of Koenig walking through the field. He passes a man holding a cow who begins walking behind Koenig for a short while before coming across a man in a suit who passes him something (mid shot). He then walk past a cow shed and some other characters playing chess before reaching his band. We see the man dressed in police uniform running into the shot. He walks in to join the band. 

01:38 - 01:53 → Koenig reamins in the same place whilst playing with the band. The other guitarist (Chris Baio) begins to walk forward towards the camera as the camera moves backwards (zoom).

01:54 - 02:21 → The camera begins to pan right following a group of children dressed in cowboy costumes. At 01:56 the words 'CHAPTER THREE' appear on the screen. At 02:00 Koenig walks across the front of the shot giving a close up on his torso. At 02:02 the camera tilts upwards to show Koenig's head. A tracking shot follows Koenig until he reaches a band of guitarists at 02:08. As he walks past them they mimic his movements. The camera then continues to follow him until 02:21 when it begins to pan away from him.

02:22 - 02:31 → The camera continues to pan around until it is facing the opposite direction. The words 'CHAPTER 4' appear on the screen as the white car from the beginning of the video enters the shot from the left. The car is followed by a tracking shot until 02:29 and then the camera pans right to show 3 men stood round a desk and Koenig approaching them.

02:32 - 02:45 → Koenig approaches the desk and three men and hands the man opposite him his passport. The men at either end of the desk then lift the desk up and a tracking shot follows them until 02:45. 

02:46 - 03:10 → The camera pans back to Koenig and then through the use of a dolly another tracking shot follows Koenig moving until 3:04 where he gets off the moving platform and gets into the white car and closes the door. 

03:11 - 03:39 → The car then drives off. At 03:14 the word 'EPILOGUE' appears on the screen. The camera then pans to the right and the car continues to drive off with all the characters running after it. At 03:20 the music stops. At 03:28 the screen then begins to fade to black. 

Shot Types - 

Extreme Long Shots - 1
Long Shot - 1
Mid Shot - 3
Close Up - 2
Tracking Shot - 7
Pan - 6 
Tilt - 1
Zoom - 1

Mise-en-scene -

The whole music video is set in a field. Although there are no geographic markers we can tell this is set somewhere in the countryside rather than in a town or city. The opening shots show a small country road running along side the field. 

The high key lighting reflects the freshness and cleanness of the air that is associated with the countryside.

As Koening walks through the field he passes a cow shed and barn. These things help to signify that he is perhaps on a farm. This reinforces the fact that it is set in the countryside rather than in a town. 

Independent music videos are often shot outside. This is because they have low budgets and so cannot afford big studios and sets to shoot their music video in. It is also easily accessible and they may even not need to get permission to use the area.

Costume and Make-Up - 

In the video Koenig is wearing a white suit. This is more smart than most of the other characters in this music video. This could be to signify he is more important than the others as he is lead singer. Another band member is wearing a black suit and tie and another is wearing white trousers, a top and a white cardigan. The final band member is wearing a police man's outfit. This could show a hierarchy between the band members as suits are often associated with business men and higher class people, where as police men are seen 

to be lower class than this as they serve the community. 

Key Shots, Camera Movements and Edits - 

 

Album Digipak - 

"Vampire Weekend is the debut studio album by the American indie rock band Vampire Weekend, released in January 2008 on XL Recordings. The album was produced by band member Rostam Batmanglij, with mixing assistance from Jeff Curtin and Shane Stoneback."

Vampire Weekend (album). n.d. In Wikipedia. Retrieved 23rd June 2017. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Weekend_(album) 

The front panel of the digipak is a complete contrast to the 'Oxford Comma' music video. The music video is shot all outside with high key lighting. The front cover image is clearly taken in a house and the shadowing suggests that low-key lighting was used. 

The band name is written down the side which makes the rest of the back cover stand out as it is central. The use of the dark background makes the white writing stand out and easier for the consumer to read. The colours all compliment each other which makes it more aesthetically pleasing and therefore may entice more people to buy it. 

The CD is mainly yellow in colour. This compliments the front cover as it is in keeping with the yellow/orange colour theme.  The writing is a similar colour to some of the text on the back cover which means it ties in with the whole CD digipak. The track list being on the CD is good as it allows the consumer to easily see which track they want without having to use the digipak. 

Magazine Advertisement - 

I could not find a magazine advertisement from this artist for this album. However, I did manage to find a magazine advertisement for another album from the same artist. The album covers are very similar. 

The use of simple layout and minimal information means that the image of the album cover stands out more. This is good as it draws the attention of the consumer and means they are more likely to remember this image. This in turn means that they are more likely to recognise the album in a shop and therefore may buy it. The use of simple layout also reflects the album cover as there is little text and a simple image of a girl. 

Genre Analysis -

I have been doing some research into common codes and conventions of my chosen genre. I watched 15 music videos from the Indie genre and made notes on the most common settings, lighting techniques, props and icons, costumes, camera shots, transitions and editing techniques. 

Overall, I found that the majority of the videos used a narrative concept with performance included. This helps the audience to connect with the song as they can understand the lyrics better. The performance side helps to advertise and promote the band which is good as they only have a limited budget for marketing being an independent band. I also noticed that all of the music videos contained the band or artist at some point, not only in the performance side of the video but also as part of the narrative in some cases. 

Transition Recreation -

Whilst working on this task there has been both successes and things that need improvement.

A good thing about our transition recreation is that we managed to get a good depth of field and recreate the cross dissolve transition used in the music video.

The piece starts off in time however, as the clip carries on the timing becomes off. This is due to the fact that the performer spoke the words which meant they words were too fast. To try and overcome this issue I slowed the clip down but this in turn meant that the clips were not perfectly synced. 

To improve next time, I will ensure that the performer sings along to the song to make sure the timing is correct and will line up better in editing as this will give our final music promo video a more professional look.