Twin Atlantic - Make A Beast Of Myself

 I chose to look at this artist because they are an artist that the band I chose to make a music video for has supported in the past. They are a Scottish band as well.
I will look at the video as a whole rather than in small parts because the video is almost set in real time (although slowed down somewhat through editing), and the camera does not cut to other scenes. Also, the video is somewhat of a loop.
We can tell this because at the beginning of the video, the main character, Sam (who is the lead singer of the band), is laying on the floor and we can hear sirens going off in the background. He gets up and walks around the town, causing mayhem and destruction simply by walking in the streets. At the end, we see a crashed police car, sirens blaring, and Sam trips on the curb and ends up on the floor in the same way he was when we first see him at the beginning of the video.
This and the editing makes me think that the video is meant to be reminiscent of a dream. The image has been slowed down slightly which makes it look dreamlike, and the way that it loops has hints of 'Groundhog Day', where the main character has to live the same day over and over until he gets it right. Sam in the video is clearly a 'beast' and perhaps he has been punished by having to have people recoil from him over and over.
This would make sense of Sam seeming not to notice that people are screaming at him and running in the opposite direction.
The lyrics are tied in somewhat with the video. This is mainly in the sense that he has '[made] a beast of [him]self', and supports why people cower away from him.
There are moments where the lyrics are relevant to the images on screen - such as when the song goes 'you can ask the Madonna if she cares, she cares', and we then see a nun performing the Hail Mary as she sees him, both conventionally Catholic ideas.
Dogs bark at him - in the media this is something dogs typically do when they sense danger; for instance, in Dexter, dogs give the main character a negative response, which he says is owed to them being able to tell he has a dark side. This reinforces the idea of Sam being a beast and something that people ought to fear.

The shot shown here is quite interesting and seems to really show just how much of a 'beast' Sam is. There are two characters that would typically be portrayed in the media as being dangerous as something to fear. Firstly, we have a man who is missing one of his arms. As we found in G322, people with physical disabilities are often portrayed as evil or bad in the media. And yet he is running away from someone else. This is also echoed in the character behind him, a black man. Black people are typically portrayed as being dangerous and a source of panic. On the contrary, it is a white man who is creating such a drama in the town. It could be either subverting these traditional stereotypes and showing him as a bad person, or continuing to use these unjust stereotypes to show how terrible of a person Sam is; I would suggest it was the latter considering that when trying to escape Sam, the black man tries to get into somebodies house for protection but is ignored and refused.

In terms of costume, the way that Sam is dressed is interesting. He isn't dressed in anything that is stereotypically villain-like (black, ripped, dirty clothes all spring to mind, perhaps made of leather) and he looks generally clean and healthy. I feel that dressing him like this suggests the problem people have with him is more internal, and perhaps more of a negative character trait or something he has done rather than him being an all round bad-guy.

There once was an answer out there I swear

Tied to a bottle I swear, I swear

And you can ask the Madonna if she cares, she cares

But she's hooked on the bottle I swear, I swear

You know you know it's the end of our sweet universe

You know you know that we blame it on ourselves

I wanted to laugh it off

And I want to forget that I got caught

And I wanted to laugh it off

Make a beast of myself just to kill them all

Lost in the lava, who cares, who cares?

The heats getting hotter I warned her she'd fail

The crisp white collar is on us and we want it

But I'm lost in the lava, I care, I care

You know you know it's the end of our sweet universe

You know you know that we blame it on ourselves

I wanted to laugh it off

And I want to forget that I got caught

And I wanted to laugh it off

Make a beast of myself just to kill them all

Cause it's harder than we first thought

I believe I believe you're the antidote

I believe I believe you're the antidote

If there's an answer out there it deserves to be caught

I believe I believe you're the antidote

I believe I believe you're the antidote

You know you know it's the end of our sweet universe

You know you know that we blame it on ourselves

I wanted to laugh it off

And I want to forget that I got caught

And I want you to laugh it off

Make a beast of myself, kill 'em all

The LaFontaines Music Video Ideas

I put together a mind map which features existing merchandise and promotional materials for the band, as well as the lyrics to the song as some notes as to what I'd like to do in the music video.

Song Choice - Light Up The Background

The song I am going to use in my music video is 'Light Up The Background'. I have included the lyrics for it below.

(John)We’re not alone in this cold town

Light up the background, light up the background;

(Kerr)Watch them, yeah I said watch them

You can try and catch but you will never stop them

Put them on the television, let us see what they envision

Give my left arm if we can’t hope for some better living

Let me make myself clear,

This is for the kids here,

‘Future, sex, love, sounds’, now until the late years

We out on a rampage, looking for the right fight

Black and white, what’s the difference when you cut out the latest rate?

(John)We’re not alone in this cold town

Light up the background, light up the background

We’re not alone in this cold town

Light up the background, light up the background

(Kerr) Hold back, no they won’t hold back

But if they gain control so they can grip their souls back

See the drugs steady warp, they just made the main (blang?)

So it’s so it’s clearer more than ever we should thank Frank

Let me make myself clear

This is for the kids here

Soaring in the atmosphere, dreaming over big guys here,

Standing on their own two,

Making something super fly,

They fill up in the sky as the ropes lay high

(John)We’re not alone in this cold town

Light up the background, light up the background

We’re not alone in this cold town

Light up the background, light up the background

(Kerr)Let this fed it, feed itself

Let it go, show, time to take effect,

Be yourself, gain respect,

You will only earn, try and learn,

If it ain’t fair

It’s a fresh start, take heart and

Live for the moment, you don’t own it, can’t control it,

The outcome you will outrun, understand,

We will transform,

This is sculpture, k-k-k-kids

(John)We’re not alone in this cold town

Light up the background, light up the background

We’re not alone in this cold town

Light up the background, light up the background

This song has a music video already:

NB: The lyrics may not be entirely accurate because of the accent of the artist and speed of the song making it hard to decipher them!

I have been able to link my artist to other artists such as Middleman, The Blackout and Twin Atlantic. All of these bands have elements that can be found in The LaFontaines' track, such as the rapping, pace of the music or energy. 
The majority of The LaFontaines videos feature a performance element. They may use some kind of a narrative aspect but this is generally not too obvious (such as in Light Up The Background, where there is clearly some point to the people free-running, but this is never really revealed). Therefore I have decided that my video will contrast this in the sense that it will have no performance aspect and the video will be solely narrative. This coincides with the band being signed by a label, LAB Records, and in a way I will be able to attribute my change to the band evolving.

My Artist

I have recently gotten permission from the band The LaFontaines to use one of their songs in a music video. Currently I think I will be using the song 'Wrapped In Fashion'. The version in the video linked is an acoustic version but I have a studio version on my computer which I will use in the video.

The LaFontaines

The LaFontaines are a Scottish band from Motherwell, a five piece outfit that play music with influences of hip-hop, rock and pop. On the 31st August 2013 that signed to LAB Records. They were unsigned when I got their permission.
The members are as followed: Kerr Okan - Vocals/Programming; Iain Findlay - Guitar; Darren McCaughey - Guitar/Keys; John Gerard - Bass/Vocals; Jamie Keenan - Drums/Vocals. The band have done relatively well in their home country, winning "Best Live Act" in the Scottish Alternative Music Awards. They have supported acts such as Pendulum, Example and N-Dubz, as well as more alternative acts like Twin Atlantic and 3OH!3.
Although The LaFontaines have a fairly unique hybrid genre, I am able to draw several comparisons between them and other bands:

• Twin Atlantic with the heavy Scottish accent in the vocals as well as the rock music aspect
• Middleman and the rapping alongside some of the beats.
• Mikill Pane and his style of rapping, which is fairly frank and mentions some aspects of life that I am looking to include in my music video. I also think the word play he uses is similar to that used in some of The LaFontaines music.

Recently they performed a set at T in the Park music festival. They attracted such a large crowd that people were denied entry to the tent as there were too many trying to watch them, a first for an unsigned band on the T Break stage.
The LaFontaines have recently created a rather distinctive image for themselves. Older images feature them being crushed by a giant, brightly coloured converse whilst wearing afghan scarves and aviators; however they now have a far more sophisticated image, as can be seen below, which is reflected on all promotional artwork.



Text in blue shows where I have revisited the post at a later date.

Digipaks

A digipak is a patented style of CD or DVD packaging. It is much more lightweight and can be customised more readily than a standard jewel case, as they can have more flaps (some may be able to hold several CD's in them, as well as featuring various different panels of artwork, as can be seen on the diagram to the right. They are typically available in 4-panel, 6-panel or 8-panel variations.
They are typically gatefold and open outwards. They are considered a somewhat hardier alternative to jewel cases as the plastic used  in a jewel  case is far more prone to cracking. On the other hand, the digipak design is often criticised as frequent opening and closing of them can lead to damage of the spines.

Anna Calvi - Desire

The music video for Anna Calvi's song Desire features a lot of iconography and imagery. In order to pull together an analysis for it, I shall be examining the section 2:00-2:35.


We see a lot of religious symbolism in the song which fits closely with lyrics from the song; she sings of desire being "heavenly", which fits well with images of cherubs, but she also sings of the "fire", which has connotations with hell, just a few moments before, which has obviously strong links with imagery such as that shown in the image to the right, of some kind of skull. The track, when paired with the video, seems to strongly link religion with desire, and the addition of a snake in certain places makes it seem as though she is referring to the Fall, in which Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge through the advice of a snake inspiring the desire to do so within them.

This section seems to focus a lot on a picture which looks relatively non-descript, which appears odd to us as Calvi is singing into the portrait and looking at it with great intent. The slow pan into the picture also creates suspense around this. We feel as though we are about to witness something interesting, but it seems to not come for a long period of time through the drawn out approach. 
The way in which the camera tracks around the back of Calvi as she sings to the painting also creates an essence of voyeurism, (Goodwin, '93), as it seems as though we are looking at her and studying her to find out why she is quite so absorbed in terms of the artwork. 


This voyeurism is also notable in the first few seconds of this section; we see the mantlepiece she is standing opposite from a sideways angle, with her guitar coming into view every now and again; this indicates that we are seeing Calvi in a candid manner, as she idolises the things in front of her. The way in which we only see her hands (very slightly) for less than a second of time reinforces this idea and suggests that the few glimpses we do get of Calvi are almost 'stolen' and not authorised.
There is a skull below the painting, which is interesting as it is a different one to the one seen in the first screengrab. It almost suggests that there is a lot of religious material in the home (the skull is shown in conjunction with the snake and cherub), bringing more meaning to lyrics such as but it's just the devil in me.

 We see why Calvi is so interested in the painting towards the end of the section. Her pupils dilate, which is sign of desire and attraction in humans. They widen as the painting begins to morph into something far more interesting; that is, the blurry grey painting transforms into crashing waves which correspond well with the track, signifying some kind of climax in the song; like a wave, it has built up for a long period of time before coming crashing down in a dramatic manner.

This also is a symbol of pathetic fallacy; a technique often used in literature to suggest an emotion. For instance, when a passage is happy, the weather may be pleasant, and respectively, when a passage features sadness, it may be raining outside. In this situation, the wave crashing suggests anger and very strong emotion. It suggests that this 'desire' Calvi is experiencing is wrong and she is not feeling at ease with it. This is reinforced in the beginning of the section where flies crawl over a garment of clothing, which looks very much like a corset. This also suggests that the desire is wrong, and the fact that it's flies rather than any other insect seems to imply that it is almost disgusting.
The shot shown here  depicts a girl sitting on the bed, her back bare looks incredibly voyeuristic. Lights flash on her skin repeatedly, which makes it seems as though the girl is in the middle of some sort of storm or in a very urban area. The exposure of her skin helps to make her look vulnerable and weak, since she ==//

There are a wide variety of shots used in this piece. There are some moments where the camera seems to be focusing on things other than the main symbols, like Calvi herself, and this is interesting because usually in a music video, these look unnecessary. However, as I previously analysed, these shots that look unrelated actually carry a lot of meaning; for instance, one shot looks to be an unfocused and unsteady shot, half of the wall and half of a room, but on closer inspection, it is very voyeuristic and appears to be showing someone peeping around the wall to see Calvi - as can be seen in the shot to the right here. 
The camera shots seem to change a bit more towards the point in the song where there is a shift of focus away from the repetition of verses and choruses, to a section that seems like a build up to the climax of the song, where she sings "only the lonely". The camera seems to switch between Calvi and a painting on the wall, which helps to suggest that there is a link between Calvi and the painting that she is facing. The camera varies in its distance from Calvi and the painting, getting progressively closer to each between shots, culminating in an extreme close up of Calvi's eye and the entire screen being filled with the painting. The angle remains more or less the same - that is, equal to Calvi, although the camera seems to be slightly tilted when we see the painting. This upwards tilt seems to be putting emphasis on the painting and implying that it has a lot of importance. 
This is something I feel would be well incorporated in my video. This helps to emphasise an important point in the video, and considering how my plot includes a boy turning his back on something that has become such a large part of his life I think it would be helpful to include. 
Angles are incredibly helpful in establishing people's position in regards to others and so I would like to be able to use this in my own work.

I wanna go to the sun
Hold my life like I've never done
But it's just the devil in me
The devil that's calling as I come undone
The sky is getting dark tonight
Darker than the fear that's gonna pull us apart
The beating is the sound of love
The sound of love is beating like a fevered heart
And it's the fire, the fire, the fire
It's heavenly, heavenly,
Desire, desire
Desire, Desire
I wanna lay in the dust
The dust is gonna fall when I lie
God knows it's just the devil in me
The devil that's taking my hand to the fire
I never wanna leave you now
Leave you like the sun is gonna disappear
But it's just believing now
Believing in my heart is what I've come to fear
And it's the fire, the fire, the fire
It's heavenly, heavenly
Desire, desire
Desire, desire
I've got desire, desire
I've got desire, desire
And only the lonely
Only the lonely fall
Only the lonely
Only the lonely fall
Fall
Oh, and I go to the fire
But God knows it's the sound of, it's the sound of love
It's the beat of my heart that you
Finally beating, it's coming, coming, coming for you
And it's just the devil in me
It's just a door to the devil gathered in disguise
Taking me by the hand
And leading me, leading me off to the fire
And it's the fire, the fire, the fire

It's heavenly, heavenly

Desire, desire

Desire, desire

You don't have to be lost 

(Desire, desire)

You don't have to be lost 

(Desire, desire)

You don't have to be lost 

(Desire, desire)

Edits to text made in blue