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.