Filming duties

For the filming of our music video i have decided to be the main actor in the video taking the place of the thief. This means my responsibilies will be to look after the costume and always turn up for filming and acting in a way that will suit the atmoshere of the video.

Audience profile

This is my audience profile i did for Kasabian .I put an image of Kasabian in the centre and the image on their album in the bottom left so the band in question can be easily identified. The background is the Union Jack. I chose this because the band come from Britain and this is where they started. I also added modern technology such as macs and the latest game console and equipment to keep up with the bands modern image. The clothing labels converse and fred perry are the type of clothes the band wear along with most of their fans. Along with the Union Jack I also put things that have been a success in Britain such as Wallace and Gromit and the game mario bros. both of which are successful in Britain and household names. I put musical instruments such as guitar and drum kit along with a microphone just to ensure that there is a musical feel to the piece. The food and drink i put into the piece is KFC and a bottle of vodka which is typical things young people consume and the majority of their fans are young.

This is another Kasabian poster yet this one is less eye catching than the previous two. The poster is of the band performing on a stage but in black and white meaning the main image of the poster isn't particulary eye catching. The only part of the poster that does capture your attention is te title. It is big, bold and red on a black background and is also in the font that the band use on their album covers and their official merchandise. This makes this part of the poster stand out from the rest and alure the viewers into looking at the poster.

This Kasabian poster advertising there performance in Chicago, USA is extremely colourful and eye catching. The numerous swirling colours in the background with the multi-coloured title in the bubble writing and the stars make the poster seem very psychedelic. It is the colours that instantly attract you to the poster but it is the eye in the centre of the poster that keeps you looking at the poster. The eye in the middle of the poster keeps you looking because it almost seems that the poster is staring at you almost like a painting and this means that you can barely help staring back. This poster is good advertising as it doesn't just attract a viewer but keeps them attracted.

Kasabian poster analyising

This is a poster promoting the band Kasabian.The first thing you notice when you look at this poster is the four band members all looking directly into the camera which could show they are trying to connect with the viewer and catch their eye. Their clothes and general image comply with their image of being an indie rock band. The way the title is against a black background instead of the background the band are standing against and written in white makes it completely stand-out and very noticable. The title is also written in the same font that the word Kasabian is written in on their album covers and other merchandise from them which makes the poster unique to the band. The overall poster is also reasonably easy to read and view. The font is easy to read and because the band are lined up they are all easy to see and notice meaning no one will be confused and know exactly what and who they are looking at.

Oasis video analysis- Little by little

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic-Na--7_NI

This video from Oasis is a performance video. At the start of the video we see Noel Gallagher who provides the lead vocals for the song as a person on the street playing guitar and singing for money. The video also follows the story of a man played by actor Robert Carlyle and his perculiar journey from a physically small man in a big city to a huge, giant man ending in the countryside. The majortity of the video is shown with very little colour with grey, white and black being the only formiddible colours along with the brown door. Robert Carlyle's character who at the start is very short stumbles around, ignored from others walking by looks up and the upward camera angle making the buildings and people look tall and dominating telling us that the character feels lost and his small physical size is an indication of how he feels mentally. The Gallagher and Carlyle characyers do cross paths when Carlyle puts some money in the Gallagher's hat for playing and as he picks up the coin it gives us a clear indication of just how short Carlyle's character is. In the next image Carlyle's character has clearly grown in size yet is still shorter than the normal person. Over the course of the video Gallagher's character is simply ignored by most and those of do give him money it is very little and this makes the viewer feel slightly sorry for the character. As Carlyle's character crosses the street his height increases and is now of normal size but falls over and is helped up by man who captures the viewers eye as he is wearing a bright white coat and makes eye contact with the camera but swiflty vacates the scene. Being helped by someone and no longer ignored could be an indication that he is equal in height and importance to everyone else now. As Carlyle's character walks down a city road it fades into a coutryside road and when walking around the countryside he becomes bigger and bigger until he peaks even highier than the tree tops.

Oasis video analysis-Lyla

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg3l8fq5Ln0&feature=fvw

This video from oasis is a performance video. The video tells a story of a woman and her strange evening. The video starts with the camera rapidly moving down a building and when it come to the bottom of the building we go inside a flat where this woman is standing in the company of two other men. The start of the video is in black and white and I believe this is a representation of the woman's depression which is shown with the close ups of her face which show her expression as sad. At the start of the video the two men seem to be shouting at the women with the dog barking and with one of the men with a knife this all creates a feeling that not only is the woman unhappy but also in danger. Just before one of the men heads towards the bathroom oasis are seen performing on the television screen. With the noise of the shouting and barking the woman breaks mentally as she screams back and ushers the men out of the room to be left by herself at which she seems still depressed but definitely more relieved as if a burden is off her shoulders. She heads to the bathroom and collects drugs, the identity of which we are unsure as is soon seen facing a wall which explodes open with light and sound and she steps inside the open room the collapsed wall creates. As she steps in the video becomes colour, the woman becomes dressed in a nice dress with her hair done looking happier than she had been at any other time of the video and in some sort of party in which oasis are playing. As the video progresses she seems to enjoy herself and being liked by the other party goers until she starts to see a vision of a fat couple eating ferociously and instead of the people looking at her and giving her attention she see's them masked and looking down on her and almost physically abusing her and she panics and flee's and as she does so keeps seeing flashes of the masked people then vanishing and she ends up in the colourless world she began in. At the end of the video she looks out the window at the wall that she went through and on it reads "don't believe the truth". This could mean that she escaped to this world with colour and popularity and partying because she doesn't want to believe the bad situation she is in in the real life with the two men but even the colour world ended badly and bought her back to the truth she doesn't want to believe.

Arctic Monkeys video anaysis- Crying Lightning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLsBJPlGIDU

This video from the Arctic Monkeys is a performance video. The video is a strange video and the events in it are very surreal and almost fantasy. The video starts with a long shot which enables the viewer to get a view of everything in the shot which includes the band in a small almost homemade looking boat in the middle of an ocean with no land in sight and the mist on the ocean's surface and the sun setting in the background. This creates a scene which looks more like a dream than an actual real life event taking place. As the video continues dusk becomes night and as time in the video moves on the weather gets progressively worse and worse as rain starts to pour and the sea becomes rougher and rougher. Now that it is dark in the video and with nothing to see apart from the band play and the weather conditions the lights on the boat means that the band is the main focus of the video as they are the only lightened thing in the video. After the storm reaches its peak and animals have fled the scene the size of the waves decrease out of the sea comes a giant figure of the band leader playing a guitar and this is where the video becomes very surreal and like a fantasy. As the tempo of the music increases the other band members 'sea giant figures' arise from the sea and together they play on the sea's surface with lightning in the sky and a glow around them and the real band look on from the boat with a confused and little fearful look upon their faces and as the sky slightly regains sight the 'sea giant figurines' descend back into the ocean.

Arctic monkeys-when the sun goes down video analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA15L6cHPvQ

This video from Arctic Monkeys is a performance video. The song and video is based around prostitution in Sheffield (where the band come from) and a man that is implied as either the prostitutes pimp or client and throughout the song is described as a "scummy" man. The first image of the video is a woman who turns out to be the prostitute. In the first image we can tell that she is from a urban, poor area from the background having a tower block in it. The woman is seen at a mid shot so you can see the expression on her face which is a sad and depressed one and also see her clothing which is a hoody and jacket. Our first impressions of this woman are that she is relatively poor and very unhappy. As the video plays our impression of the woman doesn't change as she stands on the estate and smokes a cigarette until the image of her leaning in a car window and standing on street corners our impression turns to more sympathy towards the woman for the condition of her life. In the video the women is seen walking down a spiral staircase. This could be showing us where her life is heading: in a downward spiral. The "scummy" man either her pimp or client increases this feeling of pity for the girl as he seems controlling as he cuts and places food on her plate almost as if she were a child and abusive as he picks her up and carries her as she struggles to escape, his grasp, pulls her around by her hand and whilst in the back of a car he licks her face and manhandles her. Despite this the video portrays she puts up with this abuse because he in a way looks after her by supplying her food and warmth and at one point is shown to be placing extra layers to keep her warm. The video also shows the lack of glamour in the girls life as when she tries to become a magicians assistant which is normally a glamorous job the man gets jealous and beats him up and forced her to slap and punch the magician showing she is trapped being a prostitute and trapped being with this man who abuses her. The atmosphere of sadness and depression is exaggerated through the weather asweell. It is shown as cold, wet and a winter environment making the situation for the prostitute a lot worse.

Kasabian video analysis- L.S.F

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ouzUazBIIQ

This video is a performance video. It is set in a women's prison and the women use the band playing as a means to escape. The very first image of the video is barbed wire on top of a wall with the camera looking up at the wall to make it seem taller which gives an instant impression of being trapped or being kept in or out of a certain place and as we find out later in the video the video takes place within a women's prison so the feeling of entrapment is part of the feelings of the prisoners. The next image of the video is of a tin/metal wall attempted to be knocked down which tells us that the people inside are attempting to break out and throughout the video we see the course of the prisoners attempting an escape using the band and the video keep cutting back to this image of the metallic wall being penetrated. The first speaking part of the video mainly focuses on the lead singer of the band as he is in the centre of the frame and is seen as a sexual object. This is because he would be one of very few males the prisoners would of seen in possibly years being an all female prison and the female prisoners seem to be delighted at the presence of the man screaming and smiling in awe at him and as the band say thank you a women makes a sexual innuendo asking if she can hold his organ and then reacts by handing her his mouth organ. Just as the band start playing and the song begins the camera rotates keeping the lead singer in the center but bars cut across the screen reminding the viewer that it is a jail and does this more than once throughout the video. Throughout the video the symbol on the bands first released album keeps coming into view on the walls and as a tattoo on an inmate's arm unifying the band with the prisoners and visa-versa. It also keeps the audience knowing who the song is by as a large percentage of the video is not on the band and is on the inmates escape. The first indication of an escape comes from the inmates passing the mouth organ behind their backs secretly and comes back into sight when some inmates are cleaning and the organ is slid between the inmates and picked up and put in a bucket of water they use to clean. The image of the inmates scrubbing on their hands and knees is showing the unpleasentries of jail life and supplies a reason for wanting to escape. Another reason the prisoners want escape is shown when the inmates are listening to the band and the guards pull out their batons which is shown dramatically in slow motion shows the kind of treatment the prisoners get while inhabitants within the prison walls. The next time the organ is seen is when it is opened up and revealed to have a key in which opens the cell doors. The key has some sort of glow which shows the inmates see it as some sort of miracle. The escape proves successful as the next images of the video is of the inmate's wearing guards' hat and a guard handcuffed to a bed with a dunce cap on and the final image is of the metallic door opening to the outside world.

Comparison of the Kasabian videos

These two videos from Kasabian have many similarities. Firstly they are both performance videos and the band are acting as other people and not just in a band. Also in both victories they are fighting either in a war or in a revolution and in both videos end up on the losing side. The end of both videos also end up in death. In club foot one of the band's fellow revolutionists is killed by a man in a tank where as the empire video throughout is of the band dying where at the end the lead singer is the last to be killed. In both videos also the enemy of the band are the people who shouldn't be the enemy. In club foot the enemy is the government and people in charge of the country who should look after and not be at war with their own people and in Empire the enemy are the generals of their own team as you see more of them than the oppositions soldiers and more is made of the murder from the general right at the end than any other death in the video. Finally both videos are sad, depressing and an anti-war message as both videos try to show just how bad war can be.

Analysis of Kasabian Video-Empire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSKxXu05aOE

This video is a performance video. It shows the band playing soldiers in the troopers of 11th Hussars Regiment fighting in the Crimean war 1853-1856, in particular the video shows them in the charge of the light brigade which was a disastrous charge by the British army in which many people die and the band acting as soldiers protesting against the war as they turn their back on the enemy and march towards their own generals and the video can therefore be seen as an anti-war message. The anti war message can be seen through the contradiction between the condition of the generals and the condition of the soldiers They make war seem terrible for the soldiers as they sit and live in filth, witness death and in the video always look unhappy. The video on the other hand portrays a different lifestyle for the generals which show their life as easy and pampered and a completely different to the soldiers. The generals get maids, nice food, fanned and generally look happy despite a war in progress whereas the soldiers look miserable and depressed. The video does this in less obvious ways as well such as the weather which is nice for the generals and dark and cloudy for the soldiers and the generals get a glass for their alcohol where the soldier is seen drinking from his hip flask. All this could suggest that the video is telling us that the soldiers get exploited and that some people could even benefit from something as horrible as a war. The members of the band then turn their back on the enemy and walk towards their own generals which is the biggest reason I believe the video acts as some sort of anti-war message and to further enhance the notion of death through war the band members start dying off one by one until the last one is killed by his own general. The video uses a complete wide range of shots. They use close up on the faces of the to show emotion such as when the young messenger boy is killed the camera uses close ups of the band members to see their reaction. A long shot is used when the same boy is delivering the message to the soldiers and this creates an eerie feel with the dead bodies and silence of the battle field. Most of the shots when the band are walking back towards their generals are either mid-shots so you can see their faces and them playing their instruments at the same time or close-ups so you can easily see their reactions to the death and explosions around them. The video also gives of a very British feel with it based on a war Britain was involved in and Union Jacks being shown at many intervals throughout the video. Finally at the end of the clip when the last band member dies the music stops just before the trigger is pulled so it is silent which makes the sound of the bullet pierce the silence in a very dramatic way. As the band member falls to the ground to death the camera shot changes to a long shot so the killer and the band member are can be fully seen and the death has a bigger impact on the viewer.

Analysis of Kasabian video Club Foot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NkauVqoHNA&feature=related

The overall video gives of a vibe of sadness and depression. The first thing I noticed was that the entire video was in black and white which creates a depressing atmosphere throughout the whole video. The story of the video adds increasing sadness as the video is based around the Hungarian revolution in 1956 where 2,500 Hungarians died. In the video the band are acting as the revolutionists and I know this because they are performing the song in the szabad europa radio station (written on the banner on the building in which their performing) which firstly was the name of the real radio station in which the revolutionists broadcasted their message and secondly translates to Free European Radio which also means the video is trying to promote the idea of peace and international freedom and that the video shows the song as the actual message of freedom. The props and set of the video add to the sad, depressing and pro-peace/anti war effect as the start of the video before any real music starts concentrates on the derelict buildings, the ragged clothes the people are wearing the empty streets that give off a cold, ghost town looking effect, the life less trees and the poverty people are facing by showing them eating food straight out of a can. They do this to show people how bad conflict/war can be. When the music does start it shows a man running and then a tank moving. This just shows the difference in the two 'sides' (revolutionists and soviet government) and makes you almost feel sorry for the revolutionists (Kasabian) and makes you support them and want them to win. The death of the woman at the end of the video is representing the death of the revolution as they were crushed and defeated and the single tear of the dying woman shows more sadness and depression on the video. The camera angles vary throughout the video and normally only do close ups on people's faces when strong emotion is being shown such as the dying woman towards the end of the video. The shots of the enemies tanks vary from long shots to provide an intimidating view of their numbers and speed and close up shots of their wheels or gun to show their power and strength and show how much better equipped and feared they should of been. Finally the band being portrayed as the revolutionists makes them keep up the image of a rock band being 'rebels'.

My name is Conor Harris and I have created this blogger account to assist me with my A2 media coursework where the final piece will be a music video featuring the Kasabian song Thick as Thieves. There will also be a CD cover and and a magazine advert for the single in the final piece. In y group also is Marcus Whiteway and Harry Parker and we will first analyse numerous other Kasabian videos to gather ideas about what we could do for our music videos.