Chase & Status are an electronic duo that formed back in 2004 when their first production together was a remix for Future Cut.
“Count on Me” was released as the second single from their third album ‘Brand New Machine’ on 29th September 2013. So effectively the purpose of the music video was to promote the album. A shortened edit of “Count on Me” premiered on UKF Music’s YouTube channel on 27th July 2013. The full version was premiered with the official music video on 22nd September 2013.
The Directors of the music video are Charlie and Joe from Forever Pictures. Charlie and Joe have done many music videos in the past but Chase & Status were the most famous among the ones they had worked with. One of the videos they had directed was The Maccabees “Given to the Wild”.
“Count on Me” is an eye popping watch for the audience with all the techniques and effects employed. Firstly the most obvious is that they have cut to the beat. They have used this throughout the music video to create a fast paced video to match the heart pumping track. It looks like it was a high production value and they have spent a long time filming as every shot in this music video lasts less than a second which is rare with the average of three seconds. It is almost as if they want the viewer to be in a trance watching it as every image flashes by before they can fully see the whole scene. In addition they have also used slow motion in parts of the music video to build up the beat before the drop. Furthermore they have used colour grading using dark colours to give an older look and then bright and bold colours to show happiness and bright lights in the venue they are playing at. They used a lot of mid and wide shots while using tracking shots of vehicles and a guy on a bike.
There isn’t really a narrative it is just that everyone is coming together to go to the live performance event. They also illustrated the lyrics when they sang “I throw my hands up high” and then the camera switches to crowds and people dancing with their hands up high.
Bastille are an alternative band and their latest single is called ‘Of the Night’.It has not been released yet but is expected to release on 17th November 2013. The song itself had it’s first play on Huw Stephen’s BBC Radio 1 show on 9th October 2013 which they then later on distributed the official music video on their YouTube VEVO channel on 11th October 2013.
Dave Ma directed the music video and he has also done music videos such as: Foals – Olympic Airways, Foals – inhaler, Ghostpoet – Meltdown, Flight Facilities – Clair de Lune and Us – Movement. He is also known for his photography.
American actor James Russo (stared in: Once upon a Time and Django Unchained) plays the main actor which is a detective who investigates a chain of murders and visits the crime scenes.
They have used many techniques in the music video such as: they cut to the beat towards the end of the video cutting to all the characters that got murdered. They also use colour grading throughout the video to make it look dark and haunted.
The video starts off with a tracking shot as the camera heads down a tunnel that has no end which relates to the video because loads of people are being murdered and there is no end. Then it cuts to the main actor with a mid shot driving in his car which is then cut to another tracking shot but this time you are made to feel like you are following the actor onto the scene.There are a lot of medium close ups so that the audience can see the actors emotions and to show that they are singing the lyrics of the song. They have not used many effects in the music video but they have used slow motion as the characters are dancing.
The purpose of the music video is to promote an album release. Bastille’s debut album ‘Bad Blood’ has been re-reissued called ‘All This Bad Blood’ and ‘Of the Night’ is the lead single on that album.
The narrative of the music video is that there is a detective (James Russo) that has to investigate a string of murders and then has to visit the crimes scenes. All the actors that get murdered are singing the lyrics to the song. James Russo thinks that he is going crazy and at the end of the video it shows a close up on him singing the lyrics which then the camera man zooms out to reveal him led in a bathroom been shot covered in blood. He has obviously shot himself because he was not able to handle the confusion.
The Video does illustrate the lyrics as it says “the rhythm of the night” the actors standing in the background slowly dance.
The Chemical Brothers “Star Guitar” was released on January 14th 2002 while signed to virgin. The genre of the song is electronic and has a deep base line. The song contains an acoustic guitar sample from David Bowie song ‘Star Man’, hence the name “Star Guitar”.
The director of the music video is Michel Gondry, Gondry films a short train ride in France at different times of the day for different light gradients. He has tried to sync the passing objects with the beat of the track. In addition to this Gondry has also used this concept with Daft Punk’s “Around the World” where he tried to use dancers synced to the beat. Each dancer in that music video represented a musical instrument much like “Star Guitar” where each object represented a different noise.
The pace of the track is fast and has a backing base line. It is cut to the beat to make it more interesting and different. They also used special effects to repeat the different objects coming past repetitively.
The purpose of the music video is to be different and to stay in the viewers mind. It is very different to other videos because it is a moving landscape that is cut to the beat and doesn’t feature any live performance in it or acting.
Mumford & Sons are a folk band that has become more and more popular as they produce more music. The purpose of this music video is a promotional purpose which they have used comedy to make the audience remember it. They have also used famous actors which may well be fans of the band but they have used them because they are public icons and people will recognise them.
The music video has defiantly hit the genre of the music. The genre is country and it is a happy type of music. The director was Sam Jones. The music video features actors such as Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Ed Helms (The Hangovers), and (Saturday Night Live) stars Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte. The four actors have been made out to be the members of the band by dressing up as them and adding the correct facial hair for each band member.They use old fashioned clothes because it is the type of look the band uses.
The video looks like it has a high production value because of the way it was film. It is clear, colourful and uses many different techniques. This video will appeal to many audiences because of the comical part of the video. At the beginning of the music video they use slow motion andlow camera angles so that don’t show the actors faces and to not reveal who they are until when the song kick in.
