MVid EG5: Awolnation - Sail

POSSIBLE INFLUENCES: FILMING THE PERFORMANCE IN THE RAIN 

Artist: Awolnation
Track: Sail
Release: 2011
Genre: Electronic Rock, Alternative Rock
Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/awolnation/sail.html

What is interesting to note about this video however, is that it isn't the original video that was created by the band but by a girl called Nanalew on YouTube.

However, Awolnation have created an original video for this, but it isn't available in Luxembourg and so I haven't been able to analyse the original one. The unofficial music video for Sail might "just" be Nanalew's own interpretation of the song and not what the band actually wanted to say with the lyrics. I have tried to contact Nanalew over the e-mail she has assigned on her YouTube channel. However, she hasn't replied yet and so I intend to update this post as soon as I get a response. 

According to a website where a woman talks about the official music video, it sounds as if the original is completely different then this one. However, I did decide to make a note of it, since I believe that there are a lot of usefol elements in here, that could inspire Bronwen and me for our own music video. 

The rain that is in the music video  has a really good effect of depression and sadness, which could definitely also be useful in case we decide to go for a rock song.

The shallow field of focus of the raindrops on her hand can help to denote tears and sadness, and has a really good effect. Also the close-up of her face, as the central protagonist, shows that she is clearly outside in the rain, since her face and her clothes are wet.

There is a certain play with the male gaze theory, in this music video. First of all, it appeals to the male gaze theory, due to the clingy wet clothes and the choice of make-up for the central protagonist, such as the bright red lipstick. However, the unglamorous knithat and combat boots don't fit with the male gaze theory.

MVid EG1: Pixies - Bagboy

WHAT WE APPLIED: USE OF COLOR IN A MUSIC VIDEO E.G. COLOR POWDER

Artist: The Pixies
Track: Bagboy
Year: 2013
Director: Lamar+Nik 
Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pixies/bagboy.html

Today I analyzed a song called BAGBOY by PIXIES. The genre of this song is alternative rock and/or indie.

I found that this music video was very unusual, because there wasn't a link between the lyrics and what I saw in the video. Most of the videos I watch have a clear link between what you see and the lyrics. The character that we are seeing is a young boy and is not the one delivering the words. Also, the band isn't shown throughout the whole music video, which means that the video is based on a concept rather then the perfromance by the band.

Alternative rock or Indie lyrics tend to address topics of social conceren, such as drug use, depression, suicide and environmentalism.

The indie genre, often uses the hand-held camera is cheaper and it helps to signify realism during the video. Several hand-held tracking shots are being used throughout the music video to make clear who the central protagonist is. Bronwen and I have also been thinking about to have some hand-held camera when doing our music video specificially for the purpose of creating realism

The Pixies are a band that started out in the 1980s. This means that they nowadays might not appeal to a youthful audience as much as they did back then in the 80s. However, their music video for BAGBOY is using the colourful smoke to appeal to a new youthful audience and make them want to watch their music video as well as their target audience who are now in their 40s. At the beginning, you would think that the video isn't appealing to the female gaze, because the main character is not glamourous or very good looking.

However, later in the music video, there are some bright colors involved in the baloon scene and the bathtub, which appeals to a female audience.


UPDATE: Good use of color, which is interesting because typically a genre specific convention of the rock genre is that it is quite dark.

The boy fits with the band, since indie and rock is not based on glamour, so it makes more sense using someone less glamourous. The boy connotes the young version of the PIXIES. So the shot of his forehead with the Pixies in the beginning, is a representation of the lead singer, Black Francis. 

Several tracking shots are being used throughout the music video to make clear who the central protagonist is.

One clear thing that I immediately noticed when starting to analyse music videos is that most of the time, their is the name of the band and of the song that is portrayed in some way. In the case of the BAGBOY music video, the central protagonist has "PIXIES" written on his forehead and then there are big capital letters in the middle of a playground of the name of the song. Like most other music videos we intend to

have the title of the song and the name of the band/artist in our video. However, we don't want to do it by using a font but make it more creative such as the case for BAGBOY by writing the band's name on a forehead.