JAMES BLAKE - Limit to your Love

  I've chosen to analysise James Blake as I am a fan of the way his videos are produced. The mise en scene throughout fits with his slow dreamy vocals and the electronica/idea genre. Dark shadows are created bu using dim lighting, his plain clothes and and standard surroundings enhance and suit his 'sound'.





     The video is an example of disjuncture and also, shows the illustrated link between genre, lyrics and visuals. When the bass beat begins the visual on screen respond by beginning to move, thus showing an example of amplification.


Blake is shown to lip sync only certain parts of the video adding to the amplification in the video. The close ups show his full face which is then distorted slightly by post production digital effects. This suits his cool persona and idividuality of his songs by distorting his identity.


James Blake The Wilhem Scream also uses this 'blurring' effect. Making it a signature technique.

PASSION PIT- Little Secrets

I've chosen to analyse this video as again it uses characters which are non-identifyable using a paper bag to cover the faces. I think the disjuncture sections of the video suit the genre well keeping in with the electronic and eerie vibes to the music.


 The effect used on the camera to blur the edges of the shot distorts the picture, again fitting with the mise en scene throughout of everything being a little odd and distorted.


The army of stationary people wearing brown paper bags works  really well as it suits the general characteristics of the band. The relationship between visuals and lyrics is completely abstract.



  The video for Little Secrets is an example not only for disjuncture but for band performance. Within the performance the mise en scene is continued by a silhouetted affect created with a bright white light back drop. The dark shadows created with the back drop fit with the odd mixture of genres within the music- electronic synths with dreamy vocals and a heavy drum beat. The bands dressing keeps up their cool persona they've created with their image, front mans smart suits give off a classic look whilst his wild hair gives him an edge.





Overall I think the relationship between the disjucture and illustration of band performance are matched very well. The disjucture end up playing a part in the band performance wich links everything together resulting in a good video.

CRYSTAL FIGHTERS - Follow

I've  chosen to analyse this music video as it's an example of Disjuncture, in that the content shown has no obvious link to the lyrics and is entirely abstract.


There are some conventions if a band performance used for example; Lip-syncing, however the lip-syncing shown first is done by a woman who has no link to the band but plays a character in the video. The fast change between still shots creates a flickering effect showing a change in either lip colour or element of an outfit with each still. The finished length of stills gives an old fashioned feel which is emphasised by the retro look of the cafe used in the video. I think personally its suits the bands genre, which is a mixture of techno, indie vocals and electronica.



The cafe shown in the longshot at the beginning is named, 'Crystal Cafe'. This intertextuality and play on words helps the viewer identify which band the video is for as it shows a clear link to the name, 'Crystal Fighters,' also showing the bands symbol of the cafe front.

Another character used in the video is the whitch/unidentifyable man who has brown paper as a face, another example of disjucture as the character is completely abstract to the song context. I think this idea works really well giving the video a dark feel, the character has no features giving him a mystery to him. I'd like to interpret the idea of having a character with their face covered to our music video to give it an almost 'trippy' vibe.

Analysing Sun- Caribou

I've chosen to analyse this video mainly because the repetition that takes place within the visuals are a representation of the repetition that takes place in lyrics throughout the song. In addition this video is a perfect example of disjuncture taking place. The content that is shown has no apparent link to the lyrics or even a pragmatic meaning behind the lyrics.



The video does not contain any typical conventions such as a band performance or lip syncing and this is something that I am particularly fond of.  In this clip, as you can see the 'characters' that have been chosen to feature in the video have minimal connection with the song or the band. Here, the visuals are highly amplifying the music. What I mean by this is that the slow, dreamy atmosphere that is being presented through the slow paced editing is influenced by the soft, tame rhythm of the genre of the song itself. 



During this part of the clip that I have 'chopped',different sources of light are being used which emphasizes the denotation of the word 'Sun' which is infact light. The use of expressive lighting which features as part of the mise en scene adds to the 'chilled' vibes that the title of the song portrays. The flickering of the lights adds a hallucination effect to the video, such as if the characters featuring in the visuals are in fact 'zoned' out by the lights and indulged in their own personal mind frame. It could be said that the male gaze has been interpreted throughout the video as the female characters dominate the males, although there is little focus on the expected areas such as the eyes or more seductive parts of the body. To conclude, there is no real, straight forward connection between the lyrics of the song and the visuals. The video itself is simplistic but effective and this is an imitation of the song 'Sun' itself. 

Analysing When The Sun Goes Down- Arctic Monkeys

I have chosen to analyse this famous Arctic Monkeys video as it is a hugely clear representation of illustration. Throughout the video the images are an enormously clear representation of the song lyrics themselves. During parts of this video the visual and sound are so complimenting to each other it could be said that the images are being told through a narrative which of course is the Arctic Monkeys singing 'When The Sun Goes Down'




To begin with, I have taken the beginning 20 seconds of the video. This 20 seconds shows clearly the immediate relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The lyrics at this point are highly illustrating the visuals which gives the song an immediate narrative from the beginning of the lyrics  kicking in. By using the lyrics as a representing narrative of the visuals this creates a story like feel to the song which indulges an audience and additionally introduces us to 'that' girl which we are then later on able to understand her actions.

Analysing Xtatic Truth- Crystal Fighters

Firstly I have chosen to analyse a Crystal Fighters video as I thoroughly enjoy the quirky styled effects and ideas that they enroll into their videos which matches their unique style of sound. At first glance of the video it seems to represent disjuncture as the meaning does seem to be completely disregarded within the visuals but the video could additionally be labelled under 'amplification' as images have been manipulated and constantly repeated which is clearly creating meaning and symbollism through the images which are actually a representation of the song lyrics itself.  



This first section of the video that I have decided to 'chop' shows a perfect representation of a building relationship where the visuals are clearly amplifying the music. By this, I mean that the introduction of the song itself is particularly slow and fairly 'hazy' so therefore we see the visuals in the video matching this pace. For example little bright light and faced paced action occurs which amplifies the musics soft, 'warm' like feeling. Moving on further, as the beat of the song begins to kick in, we can see that amplification is taking place again once more, the visuals are once again being amplified and influenced by the stamina that appears to be building in the track. Although this time, the movements in the video become much more apparent, for example the dancers moving their feet perfectly in time to the beat of the song. 




In this short clip it is clear that disjuncture has taken place as the visuals in face have very little connection with the current lyrics. It seems that as this particular part of the song has come to a tame enclose, the women featured in the scene has been used to in fact set the 'scene' itself. By visually featuring the 'soothing' voice on the screen, match on action is taking place which then allows an audience to indulge in the scene. In addition the hazy lighting creates a mysterious, quirky view of the characters within the video which strongly follows the genre and image of the band itself so they are carrying a sense of continuity throughout their videos in relation to artists themselves.