Music Video Analysis

Biffy Clyro – Mountains



The video is mainly performance based; a lot of mid and close up shots are used throughout the video. These are effective because they showcase the bands energetic performances. This is something that will probably be used in our video due to the song being energetic.


Shots are changing frequently, and snap on to pushes in the music, these keep things hectic and up-beat. In order to keep our video fresh and interesting, I think successions of quick shots should be used.
The amount of seconds per shot varies throughout the video, nearer to the end, when the music gets busier, the amount of seconds per shot decreases rapidly, and at one point 3 shots are used in a one second space. There are times when one shot is held over 2-3 seconds as well. With the song in our video being quite up beat and poppy, the camera use will sway towards using more shots per second.

The transitions of shots during the band performance are snappy and look like hand held cam shots; they feel a little bit wobbly and swing around quite a lot. This could well be a shot type and transition we use in our video. Jump cuts are frequently used as well.

The four pictures above can provide an insight into the jump cuts, follow from left to right, then bottom left to bottom right and it shows type of cuts that are used and what sort of shots are linked together.





Twin Atlantic – What is Light? Where is Laughter?



The video is a healthy mix between band relaxation shots, live performances at Glasgow QMU and a staged performance set. The song is quite summery and it helps that the video style isn’t aggressive like the Mountains video, the blend of relaxation and live performance complements the song and the band very well.


There is frequent use of hand held cam angles during the band’s cutaways when they’re on the beach. This provides the effect that it’s home-made and personal; this might be a camera shot we use in our video, especially for the cut away band shots.

There is also frequent use of live shots, this would be really good to use if we could do it, and they show the energy the band has live, but there are also staged live shots later on, which are probably an easier thing to do. These still stage the bands live presence and is probably the favourable of the two live shots.

There’s a succession of jump cuts with different guitars that link in with the accents in the song. This part is very creative and unique; if we could incorporate something into the video it would look really good.

Kids In Glass Houses – Youngblood (Let it out)



This is an incredibly new video from the band and it showcases live staged performance. The director uses lots of jump cuts and varying shots to create variety and keep a relatively simple video, fresh and interesting. The use of lighting immediately appeals towards me and the use of flashes are something that would look good and effective.

The video is very simple, and low budget, so using ideas from it aren’t going to break the bank. The camera angles are very effective in keeping it fresh. It switches from long shot to close up, then mediums frequently. In the live performance in ours, a wide range of camera shots will be ideal in keeping the video exciting and fresh.


The main thing I’ll take from this video is the use of different camera shots to keep the audience captivated and keep it upbeat and exciting, it really works well in ‘Youngblood’ and I think it will in ours too.




We then researched various different camera shots, angles and transitions, not all of them will be used in the music video but we intend to use as many as possible.

Common shot sizes:

· Extreme close-up: Focuses on a single facial feature, such as lips and eyes.
· Close-up: May be used to show tension.

Medium shot: Often used, but considered bad practice by many directors, as it often denies setting establishment and is generally less effective than the Close-up.

Long shot

Establishing shot: Mainly used at a new location to give the audience a sense of locality.

Mise en scène" refers to what is colloquially known as "the Set," but is applied more generally to refer to everything that is presented before the camera. With various techniques, film makers can use the mise en scène to produce intended effects.

Camera view, angle, movement, shot

Aerial shot
Bird's eye shot
Close up
Crane shot
Dolly zoom
Dutch angle
Establishing shot
High-angle shot
Long shot
Long take
Low-angle shot
Master shot
Medium shot
Pan shot
Point of view shot
Reaction shot
Shot reverse shot
Tilt (camera)
Tracking shot

Transitions

Editing and transitional devices
Cross cutting
Cutaway
Dissolve
Establishing shot
Fast cutting
Flashback
Jump cut
Master shot
Point of view shot
Sequence shot
Slow cutting
Split screen
Wipe

Influences

Biffy Clyro have a range of influences, alot of the bands that influenced Biffy were grunge bands, mainly seattle bands such as, Nirvana and The Pixies and then from the ashes of Nirvana, the Foo Fighters. Biffy's music is heavy and agressive, they use varying time signatures and staccato accents. These styles are drawn from prog rock and experimental rock music.

This page was constructed so that I can understand where the band’s ‘roots’ have come from, it also means I can look at videos by the bands that influenced them and look at styles used and what goes on in them. For example, Nirvana had frequent ‘performance based’ videos and not much acting in their videos. Videos that show this are, ‘Smells like Teen Spirit,’ ‘Lithium,’ and ‘Come As You Are.’

The common setting is primarily live playing, but the song we have chose enables some sort of narrative to be worked. The images used on this page are primarily black and white; I think we should include quite a few black and white shots in the video. We could include these during a turn of events in the song, when something negative happens. These pictures also have a lot of props in them, especially sunglasses. This is potentially an idea we will include. The pictures show Simon Neil shirtless and bearing tattoos. Sadly we don’t have tattoos! But live shots shirtless could be something we might include.

Lyrics and Analysis

Lyrics and Analysis

"A Whole Child Ago"

I don't want to let you know your hearts an attraction

But I know what you're looking for

It's me you're waiting for

You're not allowed to live anymore

And a whole child ago I would sleep all day

Doing handstands in bottle bins

To prove that I'm sane

And I'm not fooling around

Looks like we made it

I can tell that she'd been flying

Looks like we made it tonight

I'm the second devil on your right or left with an eyeball

Melting out the corner of my mouth

The wings are bleeding

You're not supposed to fly anymore

And a whole child ago I would sleep all day

Doing handstands in bottle bins

To prove that I'm sane

And I'm not fooling around

Looks like we made it

I can tell that she'd been flying

Looks like we made it tonight

Looks like we made it

I can tell that she'd been flying

I saw her in the sky

Why don't you just ask her yourself

Why don't you just ask her yourself

Why don't you just ask her yourself

Why don't you just ask her yourself

Why don't you just ask her yourself

Why don't you just ask her yourself.

The lyrics for ‘a whole child ago’ can be interpreted in a few ways. Firstly lots of the lyrics reflect the idea that the song is a love story. This could be included in the acting part of the video. It could be genuine love, or twisted love. In addition, there is a theme of the character going crazy, this could be included with use of camera angles and lighting. Close up shots and flashing lights are good techniques to show a character going crazy. There are also elements of evil in the song, the lyric, ‘I’m the second devil on your right, or left with an eyeball.’ There’s also element of the character being trapped and trying to break free. This could link to the love ideas as well. The love appears to be resolved nearer to the end, but there’s also a feeling of insecurity and lack of confidence in the lyrics, ‘why don’t you just ask her yourself.’ This could be linked to the ideas of him being crazy because he can’t find this love with the girl who leads to him doing things to be noticed. A story line of love, madness and insecurity could be sculptured from the lyrics.

Background Info on Alternative Rock

Here is some background info on Alternative Music and the roots of the genre Biffy are associated with.

Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. Alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge, Britpop, gothic rock, and indie pop. These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk rock, which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s. At times alternative rock has been used as a catch-all phrase for rock music from underground artists in the 1980s, and all music descended from punk rock (including punk itself, new wave, and post-punk).

While a few artists like R.E.M. and The Cure achieved commercial success and mainstream critical recognition, many alternative rock artists during the 1980s were cult acts that recorded on independent labels and received their exposure through college radio airplay and word-of-mouth. With the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became commercially successful.

The grunge explosion

Other grunge bands subsequently replicated Nirvana's success. Pearl Jam had released its debut album Ten a month before Nevermind in 1991, but album sales only picked up a year later. By the second half of 1992 Ten became a breakthrough success, being certified gold and reaching number two on the Billboard 200 album chart. Soundgarden's album Badmotorfingerand Alice in Chains' Dirt, along with the Temple of the Dog album collaboration featuring members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, were also among the 100 top selling albums of 1992. The popular breakthrough of these grunge bands prompted Rolling Stone to nickname Seattle "the new Liverpool." Major record labels signed most of the prominent grunge bands in Seattle, while a second influx of bands moved to the city in hopes of success.

At the same time, critics asserted that advertising was co-opting elements of grunge and turning it into a fad. Entertainment Weekly commented in a 1993 article, "There hasn't been this kind of exploitation of a subculture since the media discovered hippies in the '60s"The New York Times compared the "grunging of America" to the mass-marketing of punk rock, disco, and hip hop in previous years. As a result of the genre's popularity, a backlash against grunge developed in Seattle. Nirvana's follow-up album In Utero (1993) was an intentionally abrasive album that Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic described as a "wild aggressive sound, a true alternative record." Nevertheless, upon its release in September 1993 In Utero topped theBillboard charts. Pearl Jam also continued to perform well commercially with its second album, vs. (1993), which topped the Billboard charts by selling a record 950,378 copies in its first week of release.

Alternative rock in the 21st century

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several alternative rock bands bands emerged, including The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol and The Rapture, that drew primary inspiration from post-punk and New Wave, establishing the post-punk revival movement. Preceded by the success of The Strokes and The White Stripes earlier in the decade, an influx of new alternative rock bands, including several post-punk revival artists and others such as Modest Mouse and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, found commercial success in the early 2000s. Due to the success of these bands, Entertainment Weekly declared in 2004, "After almost a decade of domination by rap-rock and nu-metal bands, mainstream alt-rock is finally good again."

Background Info on Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band from Ayrshire, comprising Simon Neil (vocals, guitar), James Johnston (bass, vocals) and Ben Johnston (drums, vocals). The band expanded their following significantly with the release of their fourth studio album, Puzzle in 2007. The album was released to widespread critical acclaim, and went gold in the UK selling over 100,000 units. This band's popularity was built upon further in 2008 and 2009 with the release of the singles "Mountains" and "That Golden Rule", which both reached the top 10 of the UK singles chart. The band currently have a new album out as of November 9th called 'Only Revolutions.'
The band's sound is characterised by a heavy, yet melodic, mixture of guitar, bass and drums, with all three band members contributing to vocals. They are known for complex and interwoven guitar riffs, chord sequences and melodies that often change throughout songs Formation and early years: 1995–2000 The first incarnation of what would eventually become Biffy Clyro was formed in 1995 by fifteen-year-old Ayr-based guitarist Simon Neil, who recruited Kilmarnock-born Ben Johnston and someone known only as Tatts on drums and bass respectively, calling themselves Screwfish.[4] Tatts was soon replaced by James Johnston, Ben's twin brother, and the three spent the next two years rehearsing, writing and covering songs. Simon Neil has commented on this period of time, saying: “ At that point we probably sounded like every other band who'd ever heard Nirvana. We were just discovering distortion pedals, really. Then we went slightly more punky for a time. I guess it takes a while to work out exactly what you want to do. At the start you just want to sound like your favourite bands, but after a while you realise, maybe you could become your favourite band ” On 31 January 1995, they played their first gig under the name Skrewfish as the support for a band called Pink Kross at the Key Youth Centre in East Kilbride, now known as Universal Connections East Kilbride. In 1997, the trio then moved to Glasgow, where Neil went to the University of Glasgow and the Johnston twins went to Stow College, studying Electronics with Music and Audio Engineering respectively. After playing gigs around Glasgow and receiving positive and enthusiastic reactions from the audiences, the band were spotted by Dee Bahl, who soon became their manager. Bahl offered them a chance to release an independent single on Aereogramme's Babi Yaga record label. "iname" was released on 28 June 1999, with Northsound Radio's Jim Gellatly (later of Beat 106 & Xfm Scotland) giving the band their first radio play. This first release led to the band being chosen by Stow College's Electric Honey record label to release a record. thekidswhopoptodaywillrocktomorrow was released on Nerosa on 13 June 2000, and after hearing it, BBC Radio Scotland DJ Vic Galloway gave the band airplay. A few days prior to the release of thekidswho..., the band were spotted at the Unsigned Bands stage at T in the Park 2000 by a Beggars Banquet representative. Soon after, the band was signed to the independent Beggar's Banquet. The band themselves cite influences ranging from heavy metal luminaries like Metallica to prog legends Rush, while reviewers are often quick to link their sound to the likes of Nirvana and Foo Fighters — particularly in their use of shifting dynamics which the latter adapted from Pixies and Fugazi. Members of the band have been reported to listen to bands as diverse as Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, Far, Jawbox, Lightning Bolt, Kerbdog, Red House Painters and Weezer.

I have conducted this page in order to find out background information on the band, how close they are to fans and, how mainstream the band are. It has also proved useful in finding out what image the band has. This is important and can help aid the mise-en-scene. Thus helping me understand what image to dress the people starring, and the type of lighting and background to use.

For this I will ensure we use the style found in the images, things such as skinny jeans, hoodies, long hair and converse. We could include the lighting types/mise en scene. Which would be dark lighting and close up shots, the band are quite grungy and punky so these types if mise en scene would work well, warehouses are used to create this setting. For example in the video for ‘Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies’ video.