Song: Higher and Higher
Album: Hope
Genre: Indie Rock/Punk Rock
Director: Sitcom Soldiers
Year: 2011
Audience: 17+
Country of Origin: Wales/UK
The opening shot details the band putting the equipment away in a van, before they are locked in and kidnapped. There is no music playing, only diegetic chatter between the band members, indicating camaraderie. The viewer is immediately informed of the genre of the music by the clothes of the musicians- they all wear black and on the right hand side we see a studded belt. Also, one of the vocalists, Sean (middle, right) has bleached hair, and the kidnapper has very heavy eye-make up.These tend to be tell-tale trademarks of rock and/or punk. The camera shot is is an eye-level POV from the female kidnapper. As an audience, we never find out why the woman has kidnapped The Blackout, but from her facial expressions we can gather that she finds it enjoyable.
Unhindered by the fact that they have been kidnapped, the band to decide to play in the very well light van. A wide shot is used to show the entire band, and the small space they have to 'rock out' in. As they play the song and move, the camera moves with them, creating a similarly hectic atmosphere, much like that of a live concert. The dark colours to the musicians clothes strongly contrasts the lighted, wooden walls, making the space they are appear even more cramped. After realising that his band had been kidnapped, The Blackout's manager (gymnast and free runner Damien Walter) runs after the van hoping to catch them. In this fantastic shot, he is running through an underground walkway. The backlighting in this shot makes the setting appear gritty, which is helped the the tiled walls with graffiti scrawled on them.
I think this is a very artistic shot for a fairly low budget music video.This is an unusual shot of the rearview mirror, showing the kidnapper looking out for Damien Walter. As with the rest of the music video, it is in a very urban setting (Manchester) with subdued colours, the only 'bright' colour is from the lime green car in the foreground. Urban settings are usually typical/conventional of rock videos. This shot is a darker and colder than some of the previous examples. The camera is tilted upward, typically to make the musicians appear more powerful. It also makes excellent use of leading lines, pointing towards the band.
Not very subtle product placement: the van in which the band have been kidnapped/are performing in naturally advertises their new album 'HOPE' as well. There is some irony in this- the band have been abducted and Damien Walters is their only 'hope', who follows the van with 'HOPE' written on it. This boom shot again shows the audience that the setting of the video is in a urban area, which is further fortified by Damien Walter's wardrobe. In this final close up, the rest of the band are absent, with only the vocalists active and present.. The lyrics corresponding to the shot are 'burning like fire', represented by the lights in the background and Gavin pulling at his shirt, giving the audience a gratuitous shot of his upper chest tattoo. Again,the leading lines make the viewer focus
on the vocalists.
THE BLACKOUT- HIGHER AND HIGHER OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
No comments:
Post a Comment