Contrast in Genres

In contrast to the heavier sounds of Architects, the video for Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' is a much more mellow affair. Here I will highlight the general differences between Metal and Pop videos.

• The pace of the song is slower so naturally so is the editing.
• There are no instruments so instead we focus on the singer in different locations and a random woman.
• The shot lengths are much longer which distances us from the action.
• It is more like he is performing for us rather than us partaking in the action.
• No instruments are shown due to the vocal driven nature of the track, so instead most of the time the camera shows Rick and his infamous dance moves.

In conclusion we are far more likely to tak influence from Architects and will not be including any of the dancing involved in 'Never Gonna Give You Up'.

Confined Spaces

I am personally a fan of music videos that cram the bands into small spaces which gives over the sense of claustrophobia and feels more personal with the audience. It also provides great opportunities for close ans interesting shots. A perfect example of this is the video for 'Writing on the Walls' by Underoath which also contains an intriguing narrative. All in all a splendid spread.

Analysing Performance

Here is the video for the single 'Always' by Architects. As this video is largely performance based I thought that we could gain some inspiration towards what our video will look like. I will pinpoint specific moments and also general techniques used.

• The majority of the shots are tight in on the instruments and range from CU to ECU.
• Another obvious point is that the band is putting in a lot of energy and effort to make it look convincing. The measures of this can be shown by the fact that the vocalist went through six red shirts on the shot due to excessive perspiration.
• There is much more focus on the instruments than the band members, apart from the vocalist as he is obviously using his mouth.
• When a specific instrument is prominent in the song it is often shown visually, this can be seen at 0:46 when the guitar is shown.
• Although the general editing pace of the video is fast, there are shots that break the speed such as the aformentioned one which shows a slow motion strum to match the drop in the track.
• During the breakdown the commences at 0:52 we see the band headbang in unison. This is a technique that we are likely to utilise at some point and is common to the genre.
• There are no absolutely still preformance shots in the video except for the long shot of the band. This has, however, been edited in post-production to give the impression that the room is shaking.
• The drums are the only instrument which has more than one angle taken of it. This may be due to the size of it and that there are many different elements including the main drums along with the pedals.
• An interesting moment in the video is the still frame of black that appears during a slight pause in the track. This occurs at 1:54.
• We could also attempt some microphone stunts in our video as in slow motion they look fairly epic. Examples of this are at 3:17 and the climax of the video at 4:03.

I believe that we can learn a lot from this video and that the types of shot we use will be very similar to the ones used here. We can also learn that if we put a lot of energy into the performance we can make it look genuine.

Alexisonfire

An alternative to Architects could be Alexisonfire (pronounced as "Alexis On Fire") who hail from Canada. Here is a brief overview if the band.



History

They describe their music as "the sound of two Catholic high-school girls in mid-knife-fight" (a reference to their song "A Dagger through the Heart of St. Angeles", also the inspiration for their debut album cover art). When the band came out of the underground like an "utterly captivating car-accident-in-progress" in late 2001, it was enough to impress critics and attain a gold certification for their self-titled debut album.

The band has released three more very successful studio albums: Watch Out! in 2004, Crisis in 2006, both which have achieved platinum certification in Canada and Old Crows/Young Cardinals in 2009.

Discography

2002 - Alexisonfire

2004 - Watch Out!

2006 - Crisis

2009 - Old Crows/Young Cardinals

Line-Up

George Pettit - Vocals

Dallas Green - Guitar/Vocals

Wade MacNeil - Guitar/Vocals

Chris Steele - Bass

Jordan "Ratbeard" Hastings - Drums

Architects

It seems that our group are almost certainly going to be making a video for a song by the Brighton based band, Architects. So I thought that I would do some background research on the quintet.

History

They are currently signed to Century Media Records worldwide and Distort Entertainment in Canada. The band have toured the UK and Europe with the likes of Bring Me the Horizon, SikTh and The Chariot. They have played at a number of independent UK festivals, as well as the prestigious Download Festival in 2007 and 2009. The band have completed a European tour and a Canadian tour, receiving great receptions from crowds in different countries and gradually spreading their fan base. They released their second album Ruin on June 26, 2007, and released a split EP with UK band Dead Swans in 2008, following the release with a double headed tour of the UK.

The band has recently recorded their third album, 'Hollow Crown', which was released in the UK and Australia on January 26, 2009.

Current Line-up

Sam Carter - Vocals
Tom Searle - Guitar
Dan Searle - Drums
Alex Dean ( Ali Dino) - Bass
Tim Hillier-Brook - Guitar

Discography

2006 - Nightmares
2007 - Ruin
2008 - Split E.P with Dead Swans
2009 - Hollow Crown

Lip Sync

Here is me and Nick's joint efforts of being a couple of spritely young lads from the welsh valleys.

The Blackout - Its High Tide Baby!

Playlist

At the right side of the page is a playlist of possible songs for our music video. I will update by adding and deleting songs as appropriate.