I chose to briefly analyse a blink 182 because for most people they are the most popular pop/punk band. However, there isn’t really much to say because the video is very simple.
There isn’t a narrative with this video like there are with a lot of music video, and basically the video just completely makes fun of boy bands all the way through, it doesn’t really have a story to it at all.
The fact that the band are just having fun really fits the conventions of the genre, it’s not a serious video at all – like a lot of the blink 182 videos.
I’d say the most common convention for this genre is the performance footage – it’s not live footage from a tour, but we do see the band performing with their instruments and a group of fans surrounding them. This can be seen in the majority of pop/punk videos.
The lighting is really bright and it looks like natural light because it’s filmed in the daytime. The costumes they wear don’t really reflect their personality except for what they are wearing during the performance footage. The white suits and combat trousers when dancing are just making fun of bands that are like that for instance Backstreet Boys.
The band aren’t afraid to say what they think or make idiots of themselves (Tom dresses as a girl and Mark dances around in white underwear).
The camerawork is quite simple but there are a range of shots used varying from close-ups, medium shots and long shots. The camera uses a lot of panning across the scene and usually to a different one. The editing is fairly simple too – the shots fit in with the time of the music making them appropriate for the song, and there aren’t many effects used apart from a few quick fade in/fade out’s into a different scene.
Overall it’s a simple, amusing video that fit with the conventions of the pop/punk genre and isn’t too thought out.
People that are part of the pop/punk genre often have the same fashion sense and wear similar clothes. Here is a picture of Hayley Williams of Paramore wearing a Ramones t-shirt. We can also see Alex Gaskarth also wearing one. This is important because the Ramones are known as one of the original pop/punk bands so it’s clear that the band were a big influence for the new wave of pop/punk artists and the musicians are open about what bands inspired them and aren’t afraid to wear what they want, even if someone else in that genre have been seen wearing it.
The brands are also important, for example Glamour Kills, or GLMR KLLS as it is sometimes written. Some of the most popular pop/punk artists even model the clothing for their website and are often seen wearing it at shows etc.
Some of the artists in this genre even have their own brand that they made that is similar to things like Glamour Kills. Some examples of this are the ‘Down But Not Out’ range by Josh Franceschi of You Me At Six and Jack Barakat of All Time Low with his ‘JAGK’ brand that it also advertised on the Glamour Kills website.
Some people will say that when a pop/punk or rock band sign to a major label they ‘sell out’. This means that they go against their original beliefs and change their sound to get a bigger audience and make more money. It also means they are more likely to be influenced by their label.
Paramore signing to a major label caused a lot of controversy – especially because of the lead singer Hayley Williams. When the guitarist (Josh) and drummer (Zac) quit the band, Josh told some truths about what it was like to be part of the band the people didn’t see – Hayley was seen as the main star and the others were extras, ‘riding on the coattails of her dream’, rather than all being equals.
He said publicly that when the band signed to Fueled By Ramen (part of the Warner conglomerate), Hayley (just her and not the others) had already been signed to Atlantic Records as a solo artist; that she was manipulated by her manager and her parents.
However, Hayley said that indeed she was the only one signed to a major label, but she ‘never wanted to be a solo artist’, she ‘wanted to be in a band’. Some would argue that she is cheating the system by being signed to a major label but also touring with a band, and good on her for doing that.
It makes you think about the huge impact the record label has on a band and how they can influence them.
I wanted to put a video on (it's at the end of the clip) to show that Hayley is wearing a Fueled By Ramen hoodie after finishing the shoot for the Monster video. A lot of fans would say that it's a shame that their label is obviously influencing the band and their freedom – to the point they’re even wearing the clothes. Even the former guitarist, Josh, said that were band were being ruled by the label and ‘Paramore is a manufactured product of a major label’. However, some fans will defend them to the death and say the band are amazing despite anything that happens!
Paramore have really dedicated fans. Some people would say that they band have made them smile everyday, whereas others would say that Paramore have saved their life through the love of the music. I thought it would be interesting to put a video showing this.
In this video, Hayley isn't even present because she couldn't sing the song after her voice went. Josh explains that they will still play Misery Business if the crowd sing.
They manage to get through the whole song without the singer even being on stage, because of the volume of the crowd singing along. I think this alone just shows the dedication of the fans and the sheer love of the music.
There is a lot of energy put into the live performances and the band have a signature 'move' that they do often. In this clip, the bassist Jeremy, falls over rotates and falls to the floor. Although this must have been embarrassing, he gets up and acts like he did it on purpose. This links to the conventions of the genre because the band members seem really cool about everything - they're laid back and relaxed.
I chose to analyze this video because it’s the latest one released from Paramore and it’s the one I want to create my own music video for it so it seems necessary.
This video is definitely the most thought out one out of all the Paramore music videos and I think it has lots of hidden meanings.
The plot behind the video is very complex, but I think speaks out against the two members of the band that left and this is a huge part of the story. The video looks like it has the biggest budget out of any of the videos they’ve done and it’s definitely he most extravagant.
The video ends the same way it starts – with black water flowing, but at the start the three band members are in there and at the end they’re gone.
The video is set in an old hospital (the same place 28 days later was filmed) that is completely derelict but also looks as though an earthquake has hit it because everything within it is on the floor or broken and all the paint is peeling off the walls.
Paramore have three different costumes in the video and this could symbolize three versions of themselves. This is more than the other music videos they have done. The first outfit we see them wearing when in the water is formal evening-wear – Hayley is wearing dress and Taylor and Jeremy are dressed in suits. This could be something to think about in my own music video.
We then see them all wearing a light cream/beige t-shirt and trousers. When wearing this outfit they are trapped in the room and are very aggressive, kicking and bashing the instruments against the walls. This could symbolize that they are the monsters as Hayley has contact lenses in which make her pupils huge so she looks more sinister and her hair has been styled to look wild. The room they are trapped in has a thick line of red around some of the walls, this could symbolize danger?
The anger they are showing in the song, with one version of Paramore being so aggressive in the old room could show the anger they felt when two of the band members left, because the lyrics clearly link to the situation. Hayley sings ‘well now that you’re gone, the world is ours’. I think she is showing Josh and Zac how angry the band were when they left, but that they weren’t destroyed by it and that they would be stronger than ever.
The third outfit we see them wear are just casual clothes all different and this could show the real Paramore. These are the characters in the narrative part of the video – the ones trying to get away from all the explosions. When the version of Paramore in cream are hitting or kicking the wall we see the walls of the hospital shaking and lights exploding etc. so it gives the impression that they are causing it and the ‘normal’ Paramore are trying to escape, from themselves?
The lighting in the video is really good because although the song is quite dark, and the story behind the video is, you can still see everything really clearly – even when the lights are flickering there is enough light to see.
The camerawork is more varied than a lot of their other videos and it fits to the song really well. We see a lot of close-ups of all the band members faces (rather than just Hayley’s like we see in a lot of their other videos) and this could be because the video is telling more of a story than the others their acting is tested more so you need to see their facial expressions. There are also medium shots, long shots, high angle, panning, and tracking when the bands are running.
Something that worked really well was the camerawork being underwater at the start when Hayley, Jeremy and Taylor are lying down. It looked really professional.
The shots in this song are really fast, I think the editing was done this way to put across the urgency of one version of Paramore getting away from the explosions and to show the anger of the other version of them. There is constant cross-cutting from the narrative where they’re trying to get away, and the performance footage of them in the grimy room. The camera doesn’t seem to stay on a shot for more than a couple of seconds – this could also be because the story behind the video is very complex they had to try and cram a lot into a small time so the video overall is very fast pace.
At the end of the video the ‘normal’ Paramore end up running into the grimy room that the aggressive Paramore were in, but they were gone and only the instruments were left. This could symbolize that by the band running into that room the cycle will start all over again and they are destined to be trapped and angry, or showing that they got away from all the explosions and devastation in the hospital and are now safe and stronger than ever.
This video really gives the audience a lot to think about.
I thought this would be a really important video to analyse because I think it’s when you can really tell that Paramore took the music in a different direct and this shows with the music video – it’s the most different one from the Brand New Eyes album than the video below, ‘That’s What You Get’. It could be due to the fact that the music video is for a song on a different album, or just that the group were changing and growing up throughout the process, but nearly everything about this video is different to the earlier ones.
Firstly, the style has completely changed in this video. It might just be the theme of the video though because other videos from the Brand New Eyes album is just purely live footage. The style of this video is almost a 1950s style with Hayley wearing dresses and having her hair really neat rather than a messier look.
The clothes she wearing are hugely varied than in any other video – the audience are used to seeing her in jeans but suddenly she is wearing dresses with bows in her hair.
There are two different costumes for Hayley and I think this has been done on purpose – she wears a grey dress and a red dress. She is seen in the basement wearing a red dress when the boys (Josh, Zac, Jeremy and Taylor) are tied up with ropes being held hostage. I think this could be to symbolise her being dangerous and all the boys are wearing dark colours. Interestingly she is wearing a grey dress when sat at the dinner table with extras who I assume are her next victims almost as if the character she is playing leads a double life.
The props are also important in creating a certain style because an old fashioned teapot and cups and saucers.
The lighting is really expert in this video and maybe it was because it was thought through more as it looks like a more thought-through video altogether. It contrasts a lot between light and dark – again it could be showing the contrast between the character’s two sides. When Hayley is holding a magnifying glass against her eye in a dark room, the place where the glass is, is lighting one part of her face up. It could be to show that the character is a predominantly dark person, but she does have a small amount of innocence that she fools people with.
There is performance footage from the band when they are in the basement and the boys have been untied. The room is dark but there is a light bulb hanging down by a wire over their heads – this is similar to the Ignorance video too. The darkness shows the mystery of what will happen. When Hayley opens the hatch to the outside world, the boys think they will get free – so the natural light shine on them, but as Hayley closes the door leaving them there, the screen cuts to black.
The camerawork is very simple for this piece as there aren’t any effects like the fish eye lens like there was with the ‘That’s What You Get’ video – this could be because the story of the narrative is quite complicated so they wanted to make the camerawork and editing simple, so not to take away from the bands acting and the context of the piece overall. However, there is a close-up of a cross hanging from the mirror in the car Hayley gets out of, showing the band are religious.
Some of the shots seen link to the lyrics of the song. For example, Hayley is looking at her reflection in a mirror and one of the lyrics is ‘Next time you point a finger, I’ll point you to the mirror’. This also happens when she sings ‘Maybe you should tie me up, so I can’t go where you don’t want me’ and the boys are seen bound by rope in the basement.
I believe there are links to the bands private affairs in this video, because Hayley literally is ‘playing God’ with their lives – she’s completely in control and is clearly the leader. This is fascinating to me because when Josh and Zac left the band, it was because they felt like Hayley was the only one that was getting any attention – that she was the star and they were just her back-up rather than all the band members being equals. This is relevant to the video, I think, whether it was meant to be or not.
I chose to do this video because I think it’s a very natural music video and one of their earlier ones so it’s important to analyse the videos from different stages in their career.
The video looks like it has a very low budget and this could be to do with the fact that it was earlier on in their career and because they weren’t as popular they didn’t have as much of a budget as they do now with them being much more successful.
There is a lot of varying camerawork which keeps the video really interesting because it doesn’t spend too long on a shot. Also the different effects used add something special to the video too. Throughout video there are certain shots that are filmed with a fish eye lens, and although this is very subtle, even this has links to pop/punk – I’ve seen bands in the genre in pictures with a fish eye lens.
There are a lot of close ups of Hayley’s face, more so than with the other members of the band. This could be because she is the lead singer and so most of the focus is on her, but it could also be because the microphone is close to her face, so she only needs a close-up, whereas the others need their instruments in the shot too so the audience know who they are if they haven’t really heard of the band before.
Something else I’ve noticed, is that they use the depth of field technique with the extra in the foreground being blurred and the people in the background were clear but they merged together and it looks really good.
As seen in most of their music videos, there is a narrative story but also performance footage. The footage isn’t live, but is usually set in the same setting as the other part of just the lip-syncing. For example, in this video Hayley lip-syncs the lyrics outside with a group of people in the background. This looks very informal and with a ‘chilled’ atmosphere- which is typical of the pop/punk genre – everyone is just having fun and relaxing with friends. The other part of the performance footage is in a house, where we also see people playing music and chatting. The idea behind the video seems simple.
The narrative story, involves a couple that are arguing but then ‘making up’ again and this links to the lyrics ‘why do we like to hurt so much’.
I really like the way the editing has been done post-production to make the narrative story told in split screen – again adding more element to make a very simple video exciting.
Hayley’s microphone is wrapped in orange tape, something she always has. The fact that it is orange is important I feel, because even on the album covers there is red, orange and dark yellow so there could be a fire colour theme running throughout the band as a whole.
I also feel the mobile phone is relevant because taking pictures on a mobile phone is a very ‘normal’ thing to do, so this makes the band even more relatable.
The lighting is very bright in this video, despite the song being about heartbreak; ‘if I ever start to think straight this heart will start a riot in me...’ and it looks very natural as the video is filmed in the daytime so any artificial lights used to make the filming better, is well hidden. Something that looks really nice with the lighting, is how the sun shines on to the camera, making the camera have an over-exposed type effect for a few seconds. Again this reinforces the idea of the video being relaxed and natural with not that much effort going in to it. The fact that the band and the extras in the background are wearing really casual clothes (black t-shirt and jeans) fits into the conventions of the pop/punk genre.
