The whole song is about breaking the mould and not exactly fitting in to the ‘social norm’. The last line of the song says “if she had the chance to live it all over again you know she wouldn’t change anything for the world” fitting with the video as it shows how she wasn’t conforming to what she was expected to do, she didn’t give in to the pressure exhumed on her by the male character, nor did she stand for the moral values of those she was with, so she broke free and broke out. It’s about not apologising for being who you are and making the decisions that are best for you, for making the decisions that allow you to live your life how you wish. The whole video also relates to the values of the band themselves as they are of the punk genre the music they create and the messages they send out are a rebellion against the world in which they live. There is a reference made in the song through the lyrics to the Billy Idol song ‘Rebel Yell’ which was released in 1983, those lyrics being “She can still hear that rebel yell just as loud as it was in 1983”. Billy Idol made his fame during the punk rock era, leading a new generation forward in their thinking. The reference was made as way of paying tribute to the founding members of the punk scene. Lyrics in Rebel Yell that relate to the song/video are “She don’t like slavery, she won’t sit and beg” thus making a link to what is being discussed in the song Thrash Unreal about not wanting to be placed under the confinements of the society in which she lives in.
The video depicts the story of a woman rebelling against the societal values that are forced upon her. She is seen to drop her glass of wine which shortly after falls onto the faces of the band that are positioned underneath the room, her dropping the glass symbolises how she doesn’t want to be caught up in the expectations of society. As the gallon barrels of wine are spilled, the band soon get completely drenched in the wines of society, this represents how many people dump their values onto other people and force their views upon them without giving much of a choice or consideration towards the person of whom they are doing so to. As the woman breaks through the floor into the room of which the band were playing in, it represents the escape from what she was once captured in, it conveys that she no longer wants to be held in a place she doesn’t feel she belongs. The dropping of the glass and the pouring of the wine barrels have very different connotations. The glass shatters spilling the wine, showing how the values (represented by the wine) which were once contained no longer have a place in the thoughts of the woman. The downpour from the wine barrels however connotes how one value is applied to all and forced upon them, as the band are underneath the high flyers of society and they are singing about rebellion and drugs etc, the wine is dumped upon them as a way of drenching them in the ideas of which they should be following. The fact that the band are no longer in the room at the end of the song implies that they fled from the values of which were placed upon them, showing that if you try you can escape them. The whole song is about breaking the mould and not exactly fitting in to the ‘social norm’. The last line of the song says “if she had the chance to live it all over again you know she wouldn’t change anything for the world” fitting with the video as it shows how she wasn’t conforming to what she was expected to do, she didn’t give in to the pressure exhumed on her by the male character, nor did she stand for the moral values of those she was with, so she broke free and broke out. It’s about not apologising for being who you are and making the decisions that are best for you, for making the decisions that allow you to live your life how you wish. The whole video also relates to the values of the band themselves as they are of the punk genre the music they create and the messages they send out are a rebellion against the world in which they live. There is a reference made in the song through the lyrics to the Billy Idol song ‘Rebel Yell’ which was released in 1983, those lyrics being “She can still hear that rebel yell just as loud as it was in 1983”. Billy Idol made his fame during the punk rock era, leading a new generation forward in their thinking. The reference was made as way of paying tribute to the founding members of the punk scene. Lyrics in Rebel Yell that relate to the song/video are “She don’t like slavery, she won’t sit and beg” thus making a link to what is being discussed in the song Thrash Unreal about not wanting to be placed under the confinements of the society in which she lives in. The song itself was released in October 2007 and was released as a downloadable track for the Rock Band video game series in March 2009. The fact that the song was used in the game two years after release meant that the song got a second signal boost and there for more views on the video, the game was used as a way to promote the song.
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This video relates to the male audience as the narrative follows the story of a man going after a woman and trying many different things in order to win her over and ultimately failing to do so by the end of the video.This appeals to the male audience as they may have first hand experience of lusting after a woman but being shot down in the end. The predominant audience of Marianas Trench are female and the target audience of the video is both men and women. The reason that the love/lust narrative has been chosen was because it was a hook that men could relate to and the main female character adds the element of 'sex sells' in the video due to the way she is dressed and the way she acts. In doing this, the band is able to draw in more of a male audience than they may have had before hand but they have still managed to keep their previous audience members and didn't alienate the female audience in the process. The female audience is kept on side by the use of the majority of the screen time being placed on Joshua Ramsey, the lead singer of the band. There is scope for all genders to relate to this video, whether that be them being in Joshua's position or that of the woman's and as the main cohort of the band's audience are those aged 15-21, the story line is relate able to those young and in love.
There is intertextuality seen with in the video with it being a parody of previous music videos and films. There is a link to Grease the film with the diner shots and when the Egyptian part of the narrative is shown, that is a reference to Michael Jackson's music video 'Remember the Time'. There is also a link made to PeterPan when the girl is held captive on the boat. The performance in this video is done mainly by the male dancer shown above and Ed Sheeran only appears during the middle of the song when he rolls past in a car. This lets the audience know that this is an Ed Sheeran video and gives them the star cameo that they wish to see.
In terms of the cinematography, the camera is constantly moving in order to follow the dancer through the scenes. Sometimes the dancer is cut off part of the frame, this makes the video even more interesting as if it were to be framed perfectly throughout, the whole video would become fairly similar and will seem predictable from then on in. As the song progresses, there is some lyric video matches which follows the theory of Andrew Goodwin. As the dancer goes from scene to scene, he goes past what I assume to be gin which matches with the lyrics "bring a lemon and a bottle of gin" and as he approaches the house with the dancing lady the lyric to video match occurs around the time it says "We drink away the days with a take-away pizza" and "I'd rather put on a film with you and sit on the couch". This helps the audience to relate the video directly back to the song as it gives them a visual indicator of the lyrics, sometimes it is best to be literal in music videos rather than metaphorical. The product placement of the beats headphones relates the the fact that Ed Sheeran released a demo for the song for a commercial for "Beats" by Dr Dre in may 2014. The narrative/performance of the video is the story of Ed's life, how he rose from nothing and became a household name, the song however is about being cheated on by his previous girlfriend. Just like in the 'Dani California' video by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, in this video for 'All I want' by A Day To Remember features other bands. However, this video isn't a parody but a homage and it brings together many artists of the same genre. As there are other bands/artists such as Pete Wentz (from Fall Out Boy), Pierce the Veil and Bring Me The Horizon featured interacting with their song, ADTR has increased their audience and the credibility of their song. The other bands may have publicized the fact that they were in the music video therefore exposing their fans to the music of ADTR which is in ways similar to theirs. This is a clever marketing technique to use in terms of selling a video and in turn selling a song. The illustrations featured over the video, the lyrics and lines around instruments, are an element featured heavily in the early pop-punk videos. It resembles writing in someones diary and drawings that people may do over their work at school, again this relates to the audience as it is something that they may find themselves doing a lot. An observation that I had mad is that some of the lip syncing was out/the wrong words seemed to be being sung, this however could be because it wasn't the band singing but people from other bands who probably didn't know the song well enough before they were asked to mime it. Lead guitarist Jeremy McKinnon stated that the song is about "taking chances, and doing what you think is right regardless of what people might think. To be honest, whats more important? Live life, and be happy with yourself". This video focuses on performance but also on creating a parody of many of the bands that came before them. This shows an inter-textual reference being made by the producer/director of the music video. The Red Hot Chili Peppers become people such as The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie and Kurt Cobain. Because of this aspect of other genres of music and other bands being featured, along with the target audience of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the video also draws in the audience of other bands and genres as they may hear that the band/artist they listen to has been parodied in this video and may then chose to watch it to see to what extent the parody had been taken. As a new audience has been drawn in, there is the opportunity for the band to create a wider audience and make more money on the song or other songs of theirs as they have exposed their selves to an audience they didn't necessarily have before.
This video was directed by Tony Kaye and was nominated for 10 awards in the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, out of these nominations, it only won one award which was for Best Art Direction. The video was a representation of the evolution of rock music through the eras. The band can be seen on the same stage but in different outfits depicting important figures and movements in the history of rock. This video was inspired by the video made in 1996 called "Rock-n-Roll This Night" by Chaif, a Russian rock band. The band tried to focus more on the eras than individual people although it is easy to distinguish other musicians that are being portrayed. They represented genres such as rockabilly, British Invasion, psychedelia, funk, glam, punk, goth, hair metal, grunge and the band themselves concluded the journey of music with them being the sum of it all. This video is set in a church where both the narrative and performance become one. The setting relates to the lyrics and meaning of the song, the lyrics being 'see the light' which most people who say they see the light are religious and in terms of the meaning of the song, it is about someone battling their own demons. This is conveyed through the use of the white and black costumes. The white conveys purity where as the black suggests the demons. This contrast also sits with the music itself and the contrast between the dark sounding verses and the happier sounding chorus. In the end of the video, the demons are over come and the 'worry' is lifted, this shows the audience that any battle they may be going through, they can win if they just confront what it is that is stopping them even if that is themselves.
As the performance is mixed in with the narrative, there is a main focus on the lead singer with the band appearing in the background for the most part apart from when there is the shots of the band playing. The focus on the lead singer helps the audience to relate to him more as the story of the battle is about him as seen by the conflict between his black and white self. As we are brought through the song with him, a connection is made and relations to the audiences own lives can be made and they begin to see that even if a bands lifestyle may appear perfect, they still have their own demons to battle and issues to face. There is an element of dance in the video which is an ideology related to the pop side of the music, dance routines are commonly seen in videos of the works of people such as Katy Perry or Lady Gaga who are heavily involved with the pop scene. The side of rebellion and conflict with oneself is the reflection of the punk side of the music as going back to the origins of punk, it was all about going against the restrictions of life and breaking out of the mold. Lead singer Cody Carson said "This song very much embodies duality in the actual characteristics of the music itself, and knowing that this was going to be the first single and that the album is called Duality, we wanted to really drive that point home. So that explains the 'good Cody' and 'bad Cody,' the light side of the crowd and the dark side of the crowd, as well as the contrasting moods in the verses and choruses." and mentioned how they came up with the idea for the music video whilst they were in the studio recording. As the song builds in progression so does the music video, the editing and camera movement becomes all the more frantic with the destruction of the warehouse setting getting all the more intense. This reflects the sound of the band and their metalcore music as destruction and rebellion is associated with this genre of music. The room is dark and the lighting in places is fairly dull, this again reflects the dark nature of the music. This therefore appeals to their audience as they are unlikely to wish to be seeing a colourful happy video where everything is fine and all stays pristine and neat as that isn't why the idolise that genre of music (hard/metalcore). The audience looks to see a video in which reflects the genre and the angst behind it, if they wanted to see something else, they would listen to another genre of music.
The camera movement becomes very frantic when the band are being focused on and the camera also follows the movement of the band in places such as when they are head banging, another element that is heavily related back to the metalcore genre. When the window and shutters are focused on however, the camera becomes almost stationary with a slight element of hand held camera action happening as there is a slight wobble in the shot. Just like in many other music videos, 180 tracking/panning is used on the instruments as a way of showing them off. Even though there is the majority of the screen time spent on the lead singer, again just like many other music videos of all genres, there is even time spent throughout the video on the other instruments. This gives the audience an opportunity to see which band member they feel they relate to most/what instrument they may aspire to learn. The pace at which these cuts are made between the band varies to the tempo at which the music is, the faster the music, the shorter the duration of the shot and the quicker the cut. There is a sense of voyeuristic elements when the camera is positioned behind the window, the audience is made to feel as though they are there watching. Throughout the video the name of song is included multiple times, thus getting across the message that the band want to portray with their song. Along with the title of he song, there is also positive messages shown within the video such as 'Change is Possible', this appeals to the audience as Seabird are a Christian Alternative/Indie Rock band who have a largely Christian audience.
The colours chosen are warming but fluctuate between oranges and slight tints of blue. When the band is shown in the launderette the colouration becomes almost a monochrome orange, this conveys the message of hope and warmth and suggests to the audience that the band is there to help them. The location shows that they are just average people who can be seen in average people's places such as the launderette. This makes them easier to relate to as an audience member. As the band is a Christian band and has a majority following of Christian people, there is no sinful imagery such as drink or drugs that you might find in a video made for another alternative rock band, they are very mindful of their audience and the message that they wish to convey. Like many other videos that focus mainly on performance, Hands Like Houses video for 'Introduced Species' has a longer duration of screen time on the lead singer. When the rest of the band are shown there is fast cuts, this varies on the instrument being shown. The drums are featured for the shortest amount of time due to the fact that they are the fastest paced and had the shots been held any longer, it would have been too long and interest would slowly be lost.
Videos of the rock genre feature the use of lights as does this video. The introduction of the lights and the fast paced split screen help with forming more interest in the video as it is no longer just as stationary shot with a bland background and not much going on. Again like many other videos of the rock genre and videos in general, this video features moving camera work which adds to the show casing of the instruments. The message behind the song itself as said by the bands vocalist Trenton Woodly, "This song is about breaking out of the presupposed patterns of life that are handed to our generation" and he is "excited that people are beginning to think about and question our role as subjects to money, advertising, government, religion—not necessarily questioning those things themselves but their influence over our individual lives." The meaning behind the song is portrayed throughout the video as it shows the audience how as a generation we are able to connect with one another and use "that to discuss new ideas". "it's about coming into a completely different existence, to actually become our ideas, our motivations, our happiness, our self worth so that we are unable to be contained" The performance colouration is de-saturated leaving it to be almost monochrome in appearance. This reflects the bleak nature of the song and also allows for there to be more of a contrast between the performance and narrative sequences.
Focusing on the editing, it is cut to the beat and is evidently in time. There is more screen time on the lead singer than anyone else in the band which suggests that he is the selling point of the band and that the record company deem him to be more important due to that factor so it is made a necessity that there is a higher focus on him than that of anyone else. The song is off the album “Horrible Kids” and it was one of the three official music video releases for the album along with the songs ‘@Reply’ and ‘Horrible Kids’. The music video for ‘Horrible Kids’ is different in contrast to the videos for the other two as the colouration is much brighter and the tone of the video can be consider as being much more light hearted compared to the other two as well. Like many other soul performance videos, Twin Atlantic's 'Heart And Soul' video contains obvious constant movement. The video was filmed on a green screen so that it could be made into a continuous stream of footage. As the music progresses, the individual parts of the song appear on screen such as the drum, guitar and group of people singing. In terms of gauging interest, the audience is left wondering what may appear next. At the start it seems fairly obvious as to what will appear but as the song progresses, more and more unpredictable things begin to appear. Some of those objects relate to the song lyrics such as the heart but others such as the jelly beans seem to be irrelevant to the music and just adds to the alternative nature of the band.
Watching the video a few times over it became evident that there was slight issues with the syncing. It looked as though the drum was slightly off beat and some aspects of the singing appeared out. However, creating a video such as this with many things happening at once and many shots pasted together it is a difficult task to sync all video together without coming across an issue. The main focus of the performance is on the lead singer. This is because he is deemed more important and the audience wish to see more of him rather than other members of the band. As it is only a performance video, camera movement is essential in keeping the audiences interest. The audience is brought in and back out of the action/performance through the use of close ups then mid shots to long shots and back in again. This allows the audience to get a feel of the band and enables them to see the instruments up close, adding to the aspiration that the audience may have of becoming like the band/being in a band. The tracking shots give a different view of the band and the 180 pan also gives the audience further access to the band as they are able to see a different angle then if it were just to be a stationary camera held at one angle throughout the video.
Lights are also used throughout the video in order to gauge interest. At the beginning of the video the lights flash with the beat of the song and then during the rest of the video the lights intensify with the music but for the most part they are just there to light the dark room. Looking back at their previous music videos, there are links that can be made back to there music video for "Go On Strike" which was released a year prior in 2013. The performance in the "Go On Strike" video has a similar dark room bright light vibe (black and white) with constant, almost disorienting, camera movement. Narrative The narrative in this video is simple yet effective. The people shown in the video appear as your normal everyday people enjoying their lives, this is something that the audience can easily achieve as they don't need to get on a plane or spend a lot of money to gain the sense of joy shown in the video, all they have to do is spend time with the people they love and cherish the most. The urban setting also makes it all the more easier for the audience to relate to what is being shown. There is lyric representation in the video through both the use of props and the use of words on paper which is more literal. The props used that link to the lyrics is when it says ''Raise you glasses'' at which point two of the actors clink wine bottles. The hand held shots used throughout gives off the impression that this is a video made by one of the 'friends' as the instability that is lost through not using a tripod gives off a home made edge to the video. As there is only slight movement in the camera that emphasises the point. The narrative type used is on flowing and follows one story line. The monologue at the beginning of the song was performed by the front man of the band Brian Dales and was aimed towards the audience to inspire them to believe in something, it's dedicated to the 'half moon kids' who wish to make something of their future. The purpose of this video was to launch the start of the bands 'Half Moon Kids Campaign', the video presents many values and messages to its young adult audience. The monologue is set to make the audience feel as though anything is possible to achieve. Messages featured throughout the video say "be legendary" "be brave" and "be curious", again this enforces the values behind the 'Half Moon Kids Campaign' of aiming high and never settling for anything less. This video sets of the promotion for the rest of the album "Legendary". Half Moon Kids Monologue;"And then suddenly it hit me.
That moment when you realize you're not half empty. That moment of all moments. Like there is music in the night and we can dance the sun out of the sky. These are the nights when everything feels possible. Maybe one day we'll fall short of the stories we tell, But tonight we are more than just words on a page. We are here, we are different, and we are everlasting. We are half moon kids. We are legendary" As the main focus of this video is on the performance there was many things that have been done in order to create interest in the video. There is tracking shots used around the whole band in order to replicate the flow of the tempo of the music and it also helps to showcase the instruments. As there is a heavy focus on the instruments, the audience begins to aspire to be able to play much like the band, playing on the ideology of having a lifestyle of a progressive metal band although, this video doesn't exactly show the lifestyle that the band lives/the audience perceive the band to live. The water in the performance relates to the lyrics "Darker water now fills our lungs" and "Drowning just to keep score". This ties the lyrics, narrative and performance elements together as the narrative in the video is of someone struggling underwater. The water also adds another element to the performance if you'd excuse the pun, as the water reflects light dispersing the orange colour further throughout the blue. The use of water means that it isn't just a normal performance in a dark room like what can be seen in many other videos, but it plays on peoples fear of drowning and the mix of water and electricity (it is clear that the instruments aren't on as it is an obvious health and safety risk). As the audience has become fearful, they have also become more interested, they want to know if the water is just another feature of the performance and if the water level rise just like in The Strokes 'You Only Live Once Video' There is evidentially longer duration shots used when focusing on the singer, this is because of the pace at which he is singing and that he has the front role in the band. Taking the drums for example, as they are played at a fast tempo it seems fitting to only have short duration shots on them and the drummer as if they were any longer it would become tedious and boring to watch. The lip syncing is in time throughout the whole of the video as does the instruments but due to the frantic camera movements and tracking it is hard to tell in some cases. Moving on to talk about the tracking and camera movement, this helps to heighten the audiences interest in the video, as like many other music videos, the camera isn't stationary and the audience is drawn into the band setting as if they were there as the multiple angles gives you access to parts of the instruments you wouldn't see had the camera been stationary. The frantic camera movements also reflects the tempo of the music.
The colouration of the performance is that of the complimentary colours blue and orange, as these are complementary colours of the colour wheel, it adds contrast to the video much like having it in black and white would. As this video wasn't intended to be in black and white, the option of choosing blue and orange both sits well with the subject of water and of adding in the contrast. *(The genre is Electro Rock/Pop)
This music video focuses mainly on lip syncing and showing off of the life style of 'the rich and famous'. As the focus is on the lip syncing and not the production behind the music, only 2 out of the 4 band members are shown, this is because those are the two who do the vocals. In terms of the setting, they are in what looks to be a club, this is where you would find music of that genre being played. If the whole band were to be shown then there probably would have been some mixing decks in the background due to the composition of the song. Lights have been heavily used to embellish the performance as if it was just the singers and the party scene then it would have been fairly uninteresting to watch, but as the lights and colours were added, this has helped to engage the audience interest. The lights and colours reflect both the genre of the song (electro pop) but also the scene that they are in, as it is a party/club sequence, the lights help to portray that all the more. From what I can tell, on a technical note, the lip syncing appears to be in the majority on time but in some places throughout the video it appears to be off and in some places it stops where it looks as though it should continue, this being at 0.17 - 0.18. This may have however been a creative decision made by the producer, but to me as the audience, it feels as though there should have been lip-syncing at that moment as through out the whole video when the singers are shown, they are shown miming. As the video just focuses on the duo the audience is lead to believe that the lifestyle of an electro pop band is one of partying and women. Because the audience is being fed this idea, many may start to wish to be able to follow in Breathe Carolina's footsteps and party when ever they can. As there isn't any instruments shown or any instruments as such in the actual music itself, there has to be a focus on something else. In a music video for a band who play the drums and guitar for instance, it is easy to choose to showcase of the instruments in-between narrative and other performance in the video, however with a band such as Breathe Carolina, other decisions had to be made as to what it was that could be show cased and shown in-between the lip sync. In contrast to other pop-punk music videos, Set It Off's 'Swan Song' features darker tones with a darker narrative. Comparing this to the work of Marcos Siega in Blink 182's music video for 'All The Small Things' which conveys lighter element, much more of what you would expect from a conventional pop-punk video. However, Set It Off are a different strand of pop-punk and have diverged from the norm in the sense of their videos aren't necessarily happy or nonsensical but the tone fits with that of the music. Other bands such as Blink 182 are know to have music that has a deeper meaning but is accompanied by a light hearted fun looking video in order to juxtapose the conflicting ideas, such as in their video 'What's My Age Again'. Looking at their costume, aspects of what can be perceived as being 'typical' pop-punk can be seen in their make up, that being the eye liner that some of the band are wearing much like that which is worn by Green Day. A main feature of a pop-punk video is that the narrative doesn't exactly make a direct link to the meaning of the song, it is more abstract and requires thinking. This is evident in Set It Off's music video as the carnival setting hasn't much to do with the video in which I mean if the narrative was set in a city or school, the meaning would obviously change but the main message would still be the same. It can be seen that the two girls loose each other but the audience may not understand why the narrative was chosen and to what extent if they don't have a grasp on the concept of the lyrics. The camera is constantly moving throughout the song. This is a common feature in most music videos of all genres as the movement of the camera mimics the pace of the music and the fact that it is constantly moving. In pop-punk videos however, this movement is more exaggerated and all the more noticeable due to the pace of the music and the movement during the performance element of the music video. This is done in order to capture the audiences attention and to draw them in as if they were there in front of the band, giving them more perspectives rather than a 2D stationary shot of the front of the band. This helps endorse the show casing of the instruments which may therefore inspire the target audience in wanting to become like the band and aspire to play and instrument and live the lifestyle that the band has. The slow turning of the camera also has the same effect as the tracking motion as it adds much more interest to the whole video then if each shot shown was to be stationary and at one angle throughout.
Something else which is a heavy feature of pop-punk videos is the use and sometimes over use of lights. In this video there are used but only for a fractional amount of time meaning that the video is embellished rather than taken over by the addition on lights. As the audience of the pop-punk genre and specifically Set It Off are aged typically speaking, between 15 and 25, the lyrics of the song and therefore the narrative of the song is something of which they can relate to. Many people lose friends during high school and as you get to the higher end of the age bracket, those losses become all the more significant and impacting on your life. Apart from the beginning long shot, the music video is shot in POV of the ball that is thrown. This choice of camera angle sits well with the song as the title is 'Take A Walk'. The first person perspectives gives the audience a feeling that it is them who is on this journey. The duration of shot is fairly long as there is only cuts between the scenes such as when they go though the clouds and not as they are in the scene. In terms of varying pace, that is done by the speed of the shot, some have been speed up a little for example the farmer moving his hay and others are left as they were filmed.
The camera shots used are also very similar with it being held in a long shot for the majority of the video apart from at the begging and the bike crash scene. The usage of the long shot enables the audience to get a wider picture of the places that the camera is 'taking' them, it almost acts as a nostalgic trip back through all the places life has taken them/the artist. Looking at the lyrics, for example, " All these kinds of places, Make it seem like it's been ages. Tomorrow some new building will scrape the sky. I love this country dearly" along with the rest of the song, the lyrics mention many places that have importance to the band/their family. Therefore the long shots are used as it is a fleeting memory that is being spoken about rather than a specific detail (in some places it is however more detailed than others) and in terms of the audience, the long shots make it easier for them to relate as the video soon becomes about no one particular so an individual audience member is able to see some for of connection to their life in the video. The song was written and produced by Michael Angelakos, he says that each verse is based upon a certain member of his family at one point in their lives, thus giving light to the reminiscent feeling had when watching the video. This song has also been used in the 2012 video game 'Forza Horizon' and was featured in the 2013 film 'Carrie'. 'Forza Horizon' was a Racing game published by Microsoft Studios and 'Carrie' was a horror film directed by 'Kimberly Pierce', this range of platforms that the song was released on automatically increased the audience and the availability of the song, the video for 'Take a Walk' was released before the song was featured on the game and in the film. Many comments on the video include people talking about how they either tried to find the song after hearing it on 'Forza Horizon' or commenting on how they remembered the game after hearing the song two years after both were released. From selling royalties out to other platforms and companies, there has been a boost in the amount of people who have viewed the video, thus there has been an expansion in the potential audience of who may buy the song. Although that is technically not the video doing the soul selling of the song, there has still been an expansion on revenue due to the existence of the video and the ease of finding the video compared to trawling through a game radio station or searching through a film in order to get the name of the song. Audience Profile -
Male 18-25 White Middle/Working class In the video there is a lot of violence shown which would appeal to a male audience due to the stereotypical views on gender. This can be assumed as the idea of a dystopian world after a nuclear disaster resembles video games such as 'FallOut Vegas' which, stereotypically speaking, is something that appeals more to the audience of teenage males who play video games of that genre. This also in turn relates to the age of the audience as most violent games are 16+/18 and this is generally speaking the age that people would listen to rock music. This particular video relates to their previous music video releases of "Never Be Stopped" and "Burning Out" and the latter release of "I'm Not Leaving" as they all contain a narrative and performance mix and dark messages with in the videos. This particular video was directed by 'Dark Fable Media' who produce futuristic work for smaller alternative, rock and progression metal bands, a lot of their productions are done using a green screen. The Blackout are a post-hardcore rock band Audience Profile - Male 18-25 White American Middle/Working class In terms of age, the "Previously....." at the start of the video relates to reality tv shows such as Jersey Shore and Geordie Shore. This links into the age of the audience as there is a shared demographic between the target audience of the reality shows and the age of the type of people who would listen to this genre of music. This is an example of intertextuality. Looking at the genre of the target audience, what aspects of the video aims it at the male population is the representation of 'Lads' having fun together. It is mainly all male actors in the video, with a few women briefly shown at the start. It represents what men aged 18-25 may see as a good time, going out on holiday and enjoying themselves amongst their friends. Both the video for 'Running Scared' (as seen above) and 'Start the Party' were filmed in Ibiza, these songs were both off the album 'Start the Party'. This ties the album together not only through the sound of the songs but also how the music videos have been made/where they have been made. As they were filmed on a party island, it appeals and relates the the young adult/late teen target audience that they have. Those who are old enough to experience the party island of Ibiza or similar places, know what it is like being there and those who aren't quite old enough yet may have a wish to go there and have fun with their friends as shown in the videos. The audience either begins to relate to the band and the activities they get up to, or they begin to aspire to have the lifestyle which is portrayed in the video. The fact it is filmed in Ibiza, a popular holiday destination for young people, shows how the band just like the audience in the sense that they don't go to fancy incredibly expensive places that are out of the reach of the ordinary man, but that they chose to go to places of which are in reach of their audience.
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