Music Video Analysis:1) Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.

2) Bombay Bicycle Club – Luna3) Bring Me The Horizon – Shadow Moses

By Jack Brooks

Gorillaz

Feel Good Inc.

Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.Camera WorkThis music video has no camera

work, as it is all animated. Gorillaz always animate their music videos and most of their live shows are projections of the characters performing live.

The video starts with a series of close up shots of the Gorillaz playing instruments. This is used to show that real people aren’t playing the instruments and to give a clear view of the animation. From the outset it is clear that this video is animated and the

close ups reinforce this idea. Also close ups were used to show off how good the animation is and to involve the audience.

This is an interesting shot as it is as if a camera was attached to the end of the guitar. It shows the gorilla playing the instrument and he also has a woman

gorilla next to him. This shows that there is a world of characters created in this Gorillaz video and that this character clearly attracts women. This idea of a

womanising character is continued in all of the Gorillaz music videos, leading to a

long story being told of the band members. By having this shot near the

beginning it shows the intent of this character.

A rap group called De La Soul collaborate in this song, and appear on a TV in the

background, but the animated Gorilla is there dancing. This is a mixture of

animation and real life. The shot is a medium shot and gets both people in. The TV behind is computer generated but the video of De La Soul is a real camera used

clip.

This shot is a surrealist island in the sky. It is animated and is a

reason for the video being animated and cartoon. It brings the production cost down and also would be very difficult to

shoot with a camera.

Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.Editing

The majority of the video is straight cuts, however there are a few fade to black shots and a few fade across each other shots. This shot below is a shot where two separate clips overlap and create this effect. Then the first clip fades out to leave the second clip on its own as normal. It looks smooth and works well in this video.

Some shots cut to beat and are edited on straight cuts to the beat of the music.

This is common in fast pace music and gives an exciting tone to the video.

As the video is animated, the editing and shots must appear as if the animation was real and being filmed., even though the image are being created on a computer. This gives an effect of a camera presence.

In this shot, as the feet slam on the floor the screen shakes. This is done in the post-production in the editing and gives the effect that the floor was hit very hard.

In the slow parts of the song, the clips are edited together with fades. This gives a smooth effect and is not jumpy. Therefore the visuals connect with the music and the editing reflects the sounds of the beat. This happens on the chorus’.

Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.Genre Conventions

• As part of this is a rap song, the rap parts involve the rapper performing to the camera at a low angle shot. This is common in rap and the low angle shot is intimidating and makes the audience feel like they have less power compared to the rapper.

• The rest of the song is alternative rock music, and even though the video is animated, you see the ‘band’ playing the instruments and ‘performing live’. This converts to the normal rock video conventions.

• Also, the bass playing Gorilla is moody and mysterious and he seems to have a lot of female attention in the video, like a normal rock star.

Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.Intertextual References

• De La Soul, a rap group, perform the second verse and outro in the song. They have a rap verse and repeat a hook and laugh in the outro. They appear on a screen in the video and perform their parts to a camera. This is an example of collaboration and the only intertextual reference in the video.

Gorillaz - Feel Good IncLyric and Visual Links

• The lyrics are illustrative. When the you can hear someone singing 'windmill, windmill‘, a windmill is pictured in shot.

• The visuals illustrate the music, for example, when a drum is heard, a gorilla is seen hitting a drum.

• This happens multiple times in the video, and is classic technique in all music videos.

• The bottom right image is the main Gorilla singing the lyrics through a megaphone, and the audio of the lyrics sound as if they are coming through a megaphone. This was done in the post production and an effect was put on the vocal part to make it sound distorted. The megaphone in the video backs up the suggestion of the audio. It could suggest that he is trapped or wants to be heard by a lot of people so he is singing through the megaphone.

Bombay Bicycle Club

Luna

Bombay Bicycle Club – LunaCamera Work

A theme in this video is symmetry and synchronisation. This is because the video is about synchronized swimmers and the camera work has to reflect that.

Some shots are taken underwater, which would have needed assistance from aquatic cameras. This gives off

an interesting shot type of underwater.

The video also uses multiple tracking shots. This makes the video smooth and interesting to watch. The tracking shot is a theme in this video as they need to follow the swimming. It’s a good example of a camera technique as it is repeated through the video and brings a level of consistency to the video.

The camera shots are usually mid shots, as they don’t need to represent power. This is

because dancers are equal. Also, most of the shots have everyone in, and they will form

together to create a big pattern. The camera will always get this in shot.

Bombay Bicycle Club – LunaEditing

As the swimmers are ‘dancing’ in time with the music, the shots also are cut to the beat of the song. This is a good technique to use for dancing scenes, and the swimming represents dancing.

The video is edited together using straight cuts. This is jumpy but the shots are all similar so it works well together. The colours are always similar making the video seem smooth. Not many other editing techniques are used in the video, because the band want the focus to be on the music and the swimming.

Bombay Bicycle Club have put the video together without using titles added in post production. They have put all the titles on the wall in the swimming pool. They put the word ‘Luna’ on the floor of the pool and ‘Bombay Bicycle Club’ on the wall, as if it was imprinted on the tiles. This gives the effect of a more authentic video and is an interesting way of displaying titles rather than adding it in the post-production.

This part of the video is in slow motion. This relates to the music as the tempo slows down at this point. This was edited in the post-production and an effect was put on the clip in order to slow down the clip.

Bombay Bicycle Club - LunaMise En Scene + Genre Conventions

Mise En Scene:

• Little boy and mum

• Singular swimmer

• Towel

• Swimming costumes

Genre Conventions:In indie/alternative music, you will usually see shots of the band performing the song live, or at least shots of the band members acting. However, this video is different because there are no shots of the band and it is all of the synchronised swimmers. This is unusual and it subverts the genre conventions of a usual indie video.

One of the reasons for this video being so different is to create interest and debate. This will make more people want to watch it. Another reason could be that the band want people to enjoy the music for the music, and not jus because they think the band are visually appealing.

Bombay Bicycle Club - LunaThe Gaze and Voyeurism

This video is odd because even though the women are in swimsuits and revealing clothing, there is no focus on the sexuality or objectification of women's bodies. There are no seductive poses and there are close ups on the curves of the swimmers. This is another way that this band have subverted conventions in this video and show how they want women to be appreciated for their talent and not their figures.

The only close up of the swimmers is their faces at the beginning and they are all smiling. This could show their personality rather than their bodies. This subverts genre conventions as their faces would usually be seductive and not cheesy smiles. The way that the video doesn’t treat them like objects is unconventional. This is the only close thing to voyeurism but isn’t true voyeurism because the women are looking at the camera.

A shot like this of the women's legs is provocative, but I don't think it was indented to be used in a sexual way. All the women are doing this as a swimming technique and their legs are crossed which represents women trying to be classy and not provocative. This shot is used to show the talent of the women.

Bombay Bicycle Club - LunaAndrew Goodwin

I don’t think that there are any intertextual references in the video. It is an original idea for a video, mainly because of the lack of shots of the band.

The relationship between the lyrics and visuals is non-existent, as the song is about a girl. The only lyric that remotely relates to the song is “I will bathe myself”, as they are in a swimming pool. It is odd that the lyrics don’t match with the video at all.This is called disjuncture, where the meaning of the song is completely ignored in the music video.

The swimmers swim in relation to the beat in the video. This is done to link the video and the audio. In a part where the snare drum is hit repeatedly, the swimmers hit their legs on the water and create a large splash in unison.

Bring Me The Horizon

Shadow Moses

Bring Me The Horizon – Shadow MosesCamera Work

• This video is very interesting because the whole video is using a camera effect. There are two cameras, one on the left and one on the right. Throughout the whole video, the clips switch very quickly and all the time. This makes the whole video look 3D. It is a very interesting idea for the video and looks very good.

• There are wide shots of the band, close ups of the members and their instruments and wide shots of locations and a girl. There are also shots of the sea and the landscape. The majority of the shots of the band is wide shots or close ups. This is good for knowing where they are and seeing more detail.

Bring Me The Horizon – Shadow MosesEditing

• There are slow motion shots on the flare drums scenes. Also on the girl walking away shot. This is emotive and makes the video feel sad as everything has more detail and you can see everything slowly.

• The editing is used effectively as they need to swap between the left and right camera in the post-production. This gives off a 3D effect without using traditional 3D methods.

• A lot of the shots are edited together using straight cuts. This is appropriate in this song as it is a metal song and is fast paced.

Bring Me The Horizon – Shadow Moses Mise En Scene + Genre Conventions

• Lots of flares are in this music video. Flares are interesting and look visually appealing in music videos.

• There are also sea gulls flying, instruments, amplifiers, and the band members. There is a girl walking away and a beach.

• There are multiple conventions of metal music, such as the band performing live, emotional and shouting lead singers, tattoos, piercings and screaming.

• This is a classic metal music video, apart from the 3D effect which is extremely clever and gives this video something different about it. It is an example of a generic rock/metal video.

Bring Me The Horizon – Shadow MosesVoyeurism and The Gaze

• There is not much voyeurism in this video at al. There is only one woman, who is fully clothed as it is in a cold location. She is walking away and not looking at the camera, which could show an element of voyeurism as she does not know the audience is looking at her.

• There is no elements of the gaze either, as the band are all boys and there are no close ups of the woman. This subverts with Laura Mulvey’s theory. This could be because of the genre.

Bring Me The Horizon – Shadow MosesThe Star Theory

• Oli Sykes is the lead singer and front man of Bring Me The Horizon. He has the same persona and personality in all of his music videos, and is a character created by the label. There are a lot of shots of him in the video, as Andrew Goodwin suggested in his Star Theory.

• He has many tattoos and acts emotional and angry in the majority of his videos. He acts the lyrics of this video which are sad and emotional. This also conforms to the theory that band members will act the story of their videos.