2. Two door cinema club – what you know
Starting shot of women's
shoes 0.01-0.02, then the
camera pans up to their legs
to show women dancing. This
shot is establishing that the
two pairs of feet are going to
start dancing.
At 0.09 more girls come into the
frame wearing vintage roller
skates and clothing. The director
of the music video Lope Serrano
got the idea of this style from
other directors who had directed
the Scissor Sisters. He liked the
idea of girls dancing around to the
beat of the song.
0.16- This is a wide shot which
then closes into a tight shot. The
tight shot allow the audience to
become closer to the band or
artist. In this case, the camera
moves into a shot of the dancers
and the band to show that they
are the main feature of the shot.
0.30- This shot is a close up of
the artist. Close ups are
meant to make the audience
feel closer to the star,
whereas at a gig/concert you
don’t feel as isolated.
0.40 – Over the shoulder shot
from girl to the artist. “To
realise it's right before my
eyes”, these lyrics show exactly
what is happening on the
video. The man is looking at the
girl who is right in front of him,
the lyrics match up well with
story of the video.
1.23- This shot is showing
the male gaze of two
women naked in a bathtub.
This theory comes from
Laura Mulvey where she
thinks women are just for
display on music videos.
This is to draw attention to
them and make the music
video have more views as
more men will watch it.
3. 1.38- Camera moves along to show the whole of the
scene, (wide shot). Girls who are dancing are in
cheerleader outfits. This is what could be seen as
modern mythic character or forces, where characters
are designed to look cool. This is one of Sven E
Carlssons theory.
2.52- This is a wide shot again, it is showing all the band members
and dancers. The band members have been dressed in smart
clothing and look like they are wearing office type clothing. This is
called Electronic Shaman when ugly artists are dressed up to make
them look better.
3.00- This is a last
close up of a band
member singing
as it is coming
towards the end
of the song. This
is draw the
audience in to see
the band one
more time before
the video ends.
3.06- This is the very last
scene of the video, this is
shown by the lighting
being dimed down to
show the audience that it
is the end of the video.
4. Characteristics and theories
In the music video of the song
“What you know” by Two Door
Cinema Club, the directors of the
video have used common
characteristics that many
indie/alternative band videos look
like. For example, many bands like
Two Door cinema club are always
shown singing or holding an
instrument. This is to show that the
band is playing the music when
they actually aren't. Another
characteristic that many
indie/alternative bands do is using
dim lighting like in the last scene of
“what you know”. This gives it an
edgy feel to the music video as
many indie/alternative bands look
for when they are creating their
image.
To create music videos many directors
may use theories that narrative theorists
see in music videos. A technique that is
used in this video is from Goodwin's
theory of the video demonstrating the
genre. This video shows the band singing
with instruments and of the band in a
line which is common in indie music
videos. Electronic Shaman is used which
is when band members or artists who
aren’t very attractive are dressed up to
be more appealing to the audience. This
theory is from Sven E Carlsson. John
Stewards theory of that music videos
have the aesthetics of a TV commercial,
close ups and lighting focused on stars
face are all shown in this video. The stars
face in this case the band member who
is singing, the camera focuses on them
to make them seem closer to the
audience.
5. When the sun goes down- Arctic Monkeys
0.04- The opening scene is showing text
in fancy writing. This is used before the
video starts to kind of tell part of the
story that the song and video hold.
“Right beside us are the ones hidden by
the night”, this quote fits in with the
lyrics of the song “when the sun goes
down”.
0.11- This first shot is what we first
see footage of the video. The girl is
stood in what looks like a council
estate and see looks sad and
depressed. The lyrics “who's that girl
there” show a relationship between
the lyrics and the visual on screen
which illustrate that there is a girl on
screen.
0.22- This shot is from the bottom of
a stair well, the girl then walks down
them. This shot of the stairs is a
visual reference of art photography
where the director has been creative
in how they film shots to make it
more interesting to the audience.
0.27- In this shot, another
character has come into the
frame to help explain the
narrative of the story which the
audience will eventually
understand as the video goes
on. Again there is a relationship
between the visuals and the
lyrics as it says “what a scummy
man” when the male character
comes into the frame.
0.42- Here we see more of the
setting that the video is filmed
in. The setting is in Sheffield,
and this is where the arctic
monkeys are from. The shot
used for this scene is a wide
shot so the audience see more
of the frame.
0.53- This shows the girls
being taken away by a man.
The girl is a prostitute so
the man is clearly taking her
so she can work. This shows
the narrative of the story.
6. 1.00- At this point in the video, there is a
relationship between the music and the visuals.
As the music speeds up and becomes more
upbeat, the pace of the video becomes faster to
show more excitement.
1.19- In this scene of the video, the girl who is a prostitute is
getting drugs from a dealer. This shows clearly what the video is
about. The song “when the sun goes down” is about
prostitution in the Neepsend district in Sheffield. It tells the
story of one night in the life of a prostitute and drug addict.
1.46 – This looks like it is
showing the band within
the story of the music
video. The Arctic Monkeys
are from Sheffield so having
them within the video
works as it is where they are
from so the story shows
where it originated from.
3.22- This is the
ending shot of
the video which
is close up motif
of the star image
in the video
which in this case
is the prostitute.
7. Characteristics and Theories
The characteristics of this music video
show that most indie/alternative bands
like to make their videos look edgy and
different. In “When the sun goes down”
they have decided on telling a story
through the use of characters instead of
the band being in it and singing. Many
other bands use narrative in their music
videos because it gives music videos
more depth and makes the audience
more interested in what they are
watching. This music video also has very
grey dark lighting, and some was filmed
at night. Many indie/alternative bands
use grunge lighting to give the effect of
a certain mood that could be do to with
the name of the song. This is what the
Arctic Monkeys have done because
when the lyrics “when the sun goes
down” came on, in the video it was dark
and looked like night time.
The theories used in this music
video were ones that Goodwin
came up with. The relationship
between the visual and the lyrics
was demonstrated throughout this
video. Especially in scenes of both
the man and the woman. In the
scene below, the lyrics start with
“he’ll try and rob you if he can”,
then in the scene, the man steals an
egg from the prostitutes plate. The
word rob also suggests that the man
will take the prostitute and treat her
badly by not paying her.
8. The Vaccines – If you wanna
0.01- In this first
scene of the video,
the band look like
they are on a stage at
a concert. The lighting
is dim as the band
first arrive on stage.
0.14- This shot shows
that the band are
playing the
instruments. The
change in lighting also
give an edgy effect to
the video.
0.32- This shot is of a band member and shows the
star image as the lighting is shining down on him to
make him the centre of attention. This is so the
audience feel closer to the star than they would at a
concert or a gig as John Stewards theory says.
0.52 – This shot shows that the lights on the
set change colour, the video is very simple
but the colour lights make it more
interesting and show art photography
because the director has thought of how to
make it more creative instead of being a
plain set.
1.25- This shot shows the drummer
playing the drums when the drums
in the song play. This shows a
relationship between the music
and the visuals, this is one of
Goodwin's theories.
1.41- This shot is illustrating that
the band member is singing and
is a close up shot again. This time
the shot is more of the artists
face so is more interacting with
the audience.
2.11- This shot shows a bigger
view of the rest of the band.
The director has shot the band
from behind to make more
exciting shots for the video so
people will encage with it.
2.51- This is the last
scene in the video
and the lighting has
ben dimmed to
show that it is the
end.
9. Characteristics and theories
The characteristics of this music video
are that it is very simple and many
indie/alternative bands use simple
music videos because their music is
the key feature instead of the video.
Another characteristic that has been
used in this video is that the band
members always have a guitar in their
hand, this is showing that they don’t
have a story to tell in their video so
they perform instead. Another
characteristic used is that the band
members look like they haven’t made
much effort with their appearance.
This is very common with
indie/alternative bands to look like
they are wearing their every day
clothing but usually this is how they
have been styled to look casual.
The theory used in this music
video is one from the theorist
Sven E Carlsson. He thinks that
music videos have “modern
mythic character or forces”.
This means they are designed
to look cool and interesting
just to catch the audiences
eyes. Another one of his
theories is Commercial
exhibitionist which is when a
band sells their sell to make a
better image of them. John
Stewarts theory says that
visual reference in music
videos comes from a range of
sources, this video has used
fashion so the artists look
unique and art photography by
the use of the lights and the
set.
