Main Themes of Human Traffic - Drug Usage

I will be exploring how drugs are portrayed in Human Traffic through three main areas- if the characters are shown taking drugs and why this is, how drugs affect the characters and if drug usage and culture is glorified or if is an example of social realism and that it is reality.

Firstly, the characters are shown taking drugs, but not in many scenes- for instance, the characters are shown smoking cigarettes and marijuana on some occasions, taking cocaine and pills. However, on the most part, the drug taking part is omitted. This reflects the submission of drug culture and how drugs aren't an acceptable part of society, but it still happens. Instead, the film focuses on the effects that taking the drugs has on the characters, both physically and socially.

At one stage, Jip and Koop are talking and one says to the other, "look at you're eyes... you're f*****", showing how the drugs have an effect on their appearance.



Moff's appearance also corresponds to this, in that he is wearing dreary clothes and seems on edge at all times. Similarly, the people that come into the record store, the hip hop listeners and particularly the jungle listeners, are very stereotypical in their appearance and their actions, and are clearly affected by the drugs they have taken as it is not the same as a 'normal' individual.



Socially, however, the effect the drugs has on them is positive during the high, in that they are more relaxed, open, and can escape from their weekday lives. This side of the scene glorifies drug usage and makes it seem as if this is the way people should lead their lives. The comedown period does portray bot sides and hence supports the idea of realism and that this is merely a representation of modern society, but I still believe that the film glorifies drug usage.

Audience Research - Music Video Survey & Questionnaire

As part of my audience research, I have constructed two surveys for my target audience to complete, regarding their personal music habits. The first, an online survey on website SurveyMonkey, will be able to reach a broad audience and as people can view it at home, it focuses more on the artist and aspects of music videos rather than lifestyle.

The survey can be completed here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N5BRYPS

In the survey, I ask the following questions:
1) How old are you?
2) What is your gender?
3) What are your favourite musical genres?
4) How do you consume music?
5) How often do you attend musical performances?
6)

Here is an image of the artist I will be working with, Abandoning Sunday. What would you expect this artist to be like, style-wise? What impression do you get of the artist?

7) Have a listen to this track by Abandoning Sunday. How would you rate this song?

8) What type of music video do you prefer?

9) In your opinion, what makes a good music video? What is your favourite video and why?

Questions 1 and 2 help me to identify who it is completing my survey. From my audience profile I found my artist appeals to teenagers, young adults and adults alike, and both genders.

Questions 3, 4 and 5 are quantitative, closed questions, where I can see my audiences habits regarding music. If they attend lots of concerts, they are passionate about music, and their opinion may be more valued, and could form a good part of a focus group, especially if they select any of the four genres I identified in my Audience Profile (Rock, Acoustic, Pop Punk, Hardcore) as genres that are common interests for my artists fan base.

I decided to use an image question as it could be important when constructing magazine advertisements and getting a good image, as well as for digipaks, and it also helps the audience get an understanding for my artist. Question 7 is unique to the online survey as I can't show people the music video on the street.

Questions 8 and 9 will help me understand what my audience expects of my music video, or what they will enjoy in it, helping me on a commercial level.

The physical questionnaire will contain additional questions (and not Question 7).

These are:

- List three of your hobbies - this will help me understand the lifestyle of my audience, and perhaps what intertextual references will be beneficial to include.

- Who is your favourite artist at the moment? - Hopefully due to my placement when conducting the questionnaire, I will get relevant people answering my survey with the right music taste to help me, and this question will help me identify who will be more relevant, like the genre question.

- If you are willing to be a part of future research and form part of a focus group, what is your preferred contact detail? - Self-explanatory, to see who is willing to form my focus group.

Audience Research

To start my audience research into who I will be aiming my productions towards, I investigated the typical audience profiles of people who enjoy or will enjoy the music of my artist, Abandoning Sunday.

On his website, Thomas (Abandoning Sunday) lists his musical influences to include bands such as Jimmy Eat World, Yellowcard, The Goo Goo Dolls, The Killers and The Icarus Account. As these bands are listed as influences, Thomas' musical style will bare some resemblance, and hence I could list some fans of these bands as part of my target audience and get them to participate in some questionnaires so I can determine how to make my productions more appealing to them.

Abandoning Sunday is very active on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I looked through some of the bands followers on Twitter and determined the types of people who listen to my artist - I learned that in fact the band appeal to a wide audience, mainly of ages 13 upwards to young adult, and some older listeners who may be more familiar with the bands influences (Jimmy Eat World & Yellowcard have been about for over a decade).

From the younger fans "bios" on Twitter, I can gain an understanding of the other bands that fans listen to. Interestingly, when Abandoning Sunday is mentioned, he is amongst bands of different genres entirely- namely bands such as Bring Me The Horizon, Pierce The Veil and Sleeping With Sirens, who are typical of the more hardcore, bordering "emo" genre- perhaps due to the somewhat sad nature of the lyrics. Furthermore, fans of post-hardcore bands such as Architects, While She Sleeps and Counterparts  are following my artist, and the musical styles of these bands and Abandoning Sunday could not be more different. In other cases, fans have listed other favourite acts in their bios as pop punk bands such as The Story So Far, Blink-182 and A Day To Remember as well as rock bands like You Me At Six and Green Day. I list Abandoning Sunday as similar to Deaf Havana, Lonely the Brave, The Script and You Me At Six - showing that the band are accessible to fans of various genres, and it will be interesting to see how hardcore, pop punk and rock fans views combine/differ in questionnaires.

Other interests from my audience include singer/songwriters, perhaps more in favour of the acoustic side of the band, and a lot of his followers are gamers or small YouTubers who upload content to the website, and a few skaters. The band hence also appeals to a variety of lifestyles, for instance skating is seen as synonymous with the pop punk genre, among others, but that doesn't mean that all skaters have to listen to a certain music taste.

The older audiences don't give much away in their biographies on the Social Networking site Twitter but from Facebook, mainly older audiences appear to have seen him play live in small house gigs or in pubs, as that is where he plays the majority of his concerts in America, and most of the comments "You were great today in []" come from people in their twenties or upwards. Hence, when I am getting my study group for questionnaires, it will include:

- Fans of different music genres: Acoustic, Pop Punk, Hardcore, Rock
- A mixture of teenagers, young adults and over 18s
- People of different lifestyles: Working, Studying, different interests.

In these questionnaires, I will look to see which aspects of music videos my audience prefers in this genre, and which styles of digipak appeal to them more at first glance, as well as other aspects that will be vital to the production of my pieces.

Digipak Analysis: Deaf Havana // "Old Souls"

"Old Souls" is the third album by British alternative rock band Deaf Havana, an album which marked yet another direction change from the band to more classic rock, with hints of folk rock and chorus-driven songs. The previous record, "Fools & Worthless Liars", established the band from Hunstanton as one of the most popular current British Bands, but the change from debut album, "Meet Me Halfway, At Least" which featured the single "Friends Like These", seems like an entirely different band to what the Norfolk band's music is like today. That being said, the success of "Old Souls" is unparalleled - singles "Boston Square" and "Mildred" were Zane Lowe's Hottest Record of the World, and the album reached #9, the first Top ten album for the band. This is the original version of the Digipak, and it is one of the most simplistic designs of a digipak I own- however, it works in the bands favour and matches their ideals.

The front cover of the album features a small child running across the beach, with a small group of people in the background. The open blue skies and background create connotations of freedom. The text takes up a relatively small portion of the cover. Also the use of the child instead of an adult creates a sense of vulnerability but I see it as a humble representation of the band- themes are parallel to those utilised in lead single "Mildred" (see end), and could show that although the band face many difficulties (they recently cancelled a tour as they didn't have the funds), they still try to live a carefree life.

The inside of the digipak leaves a lot open to interpretation. It continues the themes created in the front cover by using the same background but it also contains no other images other than the open coastal scene depicted. The band hold close ties to their coastal hometown of Hunstanton (see analysis of Hunstanton Pier) and this could be why for "Old Souls" the band chose to use this coastal image. Other than this image it is blank, perhaps indicating that this is who the band are, there is nothing else to know about them, no secrets, it is all open to their audience - this matches the tracks as track "Caro Padre" is the first time that lead singer James opens up about his relationship with his Father, as well as other relations like in "Mildred", regarding an old friend. The lack of images of the artist also suggests that three albums in, the band do not need to portray themselves, despite their apparent change in style- perhaps the band could've included them wearing different apparel to connote the change from the post-hardcore genre to alternative rock, as they did in the video to "Smiles All Round" (2010) where the band are depicted wearing hoodies and appearing very "punk", but this was perhaps previously illustrated in the previous album artworks (see bottom.) An alternative consideration lends itself more towards the Uses and Gratifications model, which states that audiences seek out the media that they wish to consume, and focuses on what the audience does with the media text, rather than what the media does to audiences. Where other bands would perhaps overtly brand themselves over their covers where audiences are given a prescribed view, the blank canvas of the inside cover creates an open interpretation of the band for the audience to make their own "use" of, and decide what it symbolises in terms of the bands ideologies. This is a much more descriptive approach in which there is no set idea of the band given in the digipak, making them more accessible to wider audiences, who may feel that they can get in to the bands music for this reason.

The rear cover also continues the coastal theme and keeps the same background creating a sense of continuity to the digipak, making it aesthetically pleasing with a nice layout. The tracklist is in the same colour as the album details at the front of the digipak, and takes up very little space on the back cover, which is strange as it depicts no other scenes, so the tracks could take up more space, but the band clearly felt this was not necessary, probably as it continues the humble theme and ideals that the band creates - the audience know what songs are going to be on the album as the band have a very strong fanbase. For those who do not know the artist, again continuing the idea of the uses and gratifications model, this will not create a negative effect as it is still organised and clear, and open/revealing so the audience does not feel put off.The rear cover also has the record label at the bottom and a few copyright details, which again fit the house style of the digipak and are a common feature of any CD artwork. The audience may also recognise this record label and associate this with other acts, particularly those that do not know the artist, but knows of other acts on the same record label.

Here are the two previous album covers from the two prior LPs the band have released. Left, "Fools & Worthless Liars" (2011) contained singles "I'm A Bore, Mostly" and "Hunstanton Pier" . However, "Meet Me Halfway, At Least" (right) flaunted a much different Deaf Havana, that tended more towards heavier bands such as Enter Shikari both vocally and instrumentally. The single "Friends Like These" was the track that got the band well-known, but subsequently the bands style changed significantly, which is reflected in the artwork changes- the first album seems edgy, whereas Fools & Worthless Liars' artwork is more sophisticated, with a classic tone and much more humble appearance. The colour scheme is the more notable change from F&WL to Old Souls, with the dark colours being traded for sky blue, perhaps reflecting the change in mood of the songs, despite how some of them are still quite sad ("Everybody's Dancing and I Want To Die", "Caro Padre") - the lyrics remain quite depressing and sad yet the instrumentals are infinitely more uplifting and not as aggressive as in the earlier records. This could be a reason for the change in themes in the artwork over time.

It should be noted that the theme of children continues from the digipaks into the music videos. The video for the lead single from "Old Souls", "Mildred (Lost A Friend)", follows two children throughout the video, one of whom bears a striking resemblance to the same child used on the front cover of "Fools & Worthless Liars", It does depict the children as doing some adult tasks, such as working in an office, and does also feature several shots by a beach, continuing the coastal theme of this digipak. The video, like the digipak, also does not feature the band at all, (although "22" and most of their other videos have featured them, for instance Hunstanton Pier which I analysed) enhancing the humble representations suggested by the designs. Furthermore, it could show how the band, although tied down with day to day life, still live like children, in their own world (particularly shown by the very last shot in the video, where Earth is shown in the sky above the two "friends" that the song talks about). The song itself is about an old friend of the guitarist who they no longer see, as said in an interview on Radio 1, (contrary to belief that it was about Ryan Mellor, the screamer vocalist who left the band), and corresponds to what I was saying for the middle section of the digipak and Caro Padre, where the band are being open and have nothing to hide about themselves and their relations with others.

- Althusser - child - audience represent self in text.
- misrepresentation

Digipak Analysis: Real Friends // "Maybe This Place Is The Same And We're Just Changing"

Released on 22/7/2014, "Maybe This Place is the Same and We're Just Changing" is the debut record from Illinois Pop Punk Band Real Friends. Signed to Fearless Records, Real Friends have released several EPs and built up a devoted following amongst the pop punk scene, and played the Warped Tour in 2014 on the Journeys Stage. The band recently toured the UK with Modern Baseball and You Blew It! and are now touring America with the UK's most renowned pop punk band and hyped band overall Neck Deep. From these tours, it is apparent that the band are already well known in this industry and this could explain some of the choices made in their artwork. Only a digipak and vinyl version of this record is available at the moment, and this is a common feature of pop punk bands who only release the digipak version over a jewel case (i.e. Neck Deep "Wishful Thinking", Citizen "Youth", The Wonder Years "The Greatest Generation"), proving that the digipak is in fact more popular and preferred over the jewel case in this genre. This could be because the pop punk genre is in a "rejuvenation" phase, with tours such as Pop Punks Not Dead! revitalising the popularity of the subgenre that Blink-182 and similar bands made so popular. The preference of the digipak over the jewel case hence could be because it allows for much more images and meaning to be connoted through the design of the digipak and allow for more promotion of the artist. Common lyrical themes amongst Real Friends songs include sadness and trouble moving on, perhaps the reason behind the album title, as I will explore in this analysis. 

This is the front cover of the Digipak for Maybe This Place Is The Same And We're Just Changing. As you can see, the band rely solely on imagery and the digipak does not feature the band at all. This could be because the image of the band has already been created through the previous EPs and from doing several tours to become recognised in this genre. A house style utilising the colours blue, yellow and white is also created which the rest of the the digipak will adhere to, appealing to the audience aesthetically - Real Friends' previous EPs have not been so artistically constructed and feature rough images or ambiguous ones. The front of the digipak may seem ambiguous at first, but a meaning can soon be established. From the lyrical content of the bands songs, the locked chest could hold semantic meanings of having thoughts trapped and how the album contains these thoughts.

The inside of the digipak continues the themes established by the front cover - still no images of the band are present, and other images of a town and stills of a room are featured, with a vase of flowers on the left which the band also used on posters. The town most directly links with the name of the album, "Maybe This Place is the Same and We're Just Changing", saying that "this place" is the town, Illinois, where the band hail from (the album also features a track called "Spread Me All Over Illinois" further supporting this idea". The borders between the images give it a professional apperance but one that is also very aesthetic and nice to look at. The lack of images of the band is strange because in order to create a motif of the band and appeal to new audiences by including an image of the 5-piece, the band have chosen to simply use images. This could be due to their largely metaphorical lyrics "I miss you like the summer" etc. and how it leaves their audience to decide the meaning of the images and the lyrics for themselves. The digipak lends itself to Hall's Reception Theory, in that the text is encoded with a meaning or representation of the band, and different audiences respond or decode the text in different ways, meaning the images seen throughout the digipak can be interpreted in different manners by different audiences; i.e. they nay see the images to represent something else due to their ambiguous nature. The interplay of the images suggests that they are all interlinked in some way, and their simple nature suggests that they all mean something to the band, but may represent something else entirely to the audience.

On the back cover of the digipak is the tracklist, record label and details and again a continuation of the imagery that we observe on the front cover. The tracklist, of 12 songs, takes up relatively little space, and the main focus of the design is the bookshelf. This again relates back to the album title, "Maybe this Place is the Same...", as it is suggesting that these images depicted, such as the rooms, have not changed at all (similarly to La Dispute's latest release, Rooms of the House) and that they are much the same and ordinary. The font is clear to read and not in an overt font, which is typical of the pop punk genre in digipaks, and also could the order and neatness of the images could contrast the angst in the songs and perhaps chaos that the band articulates into the 12 tracks, ranging from slow sad songs such as "Sixteen", songs about failed relationships and the associated thoughts ("I Don't Love You Anymore") and self-depreciation and angst, particularly from lead single "Loose Ends". The inclusion of the production details on the back cover perhaps shows the humble nature of the band (the thankyous are on the lyric sheet inside the album), and how they are grateful for how the record label have supported them. Fearless Records also hold host to a wide variety of alternative bands, from metalcore acts such as Blessthefall, Motionless in White, The Word Alive and August Burns Red,  as well as more mainstream, "radio-friendly" bands such as Go Radio, The Downtown Fiction, Plain White T's the hugely popular American EDM/Punk band Breathe Carolina, pop rockers The Summer Set and famous pop punk band Mayday Parade. The vastness of the amount of bands on the label and the variety of genres means that by including the record label logo, people can identify the logo and match that with what the label includes and hence if they will like it, which will ultimately increase sales. The simplicity of the digipak makes it easily accesible to new audiences and current audiences alike which will increase the popularity of the band and widen their fan base.

Real Friends have continued themes from their previous EPs. Above are three releases, "Put Yourself Back Together" (2013), "Three Songs About the Past Year of my Life" (2012) and "Everyone That Dragged You Here" (2012). From these we can observe many themes that Real Friends have carried onto the debut LP. These albums were all released on BandCamp, with CD versions of the more recent EPs becoming available to UK audiences on Amazon. White text for the band and text is used in all three designs, and once again the band is not featured in any of them, only images, perhaps again of home town Illinois as referencing home-towns is a common stereotype of pop punk bands. The band have gained recognition from these three EPs without utilising images of themselves, so there is no need to "sell out" in a sense and start self-promotion since signing to Fearless as they already have a strong fan base and can stick to the bands morals and ideals.

Human Traffic (1999) - Case Study

Human Traffic is a British Independent film written and directed by Welsh filmmaker Justin Kerrigan. The film explores themes such as coming of age, drug usage and culture, club themes and relationships. It is classed as a social commentary and is centred around five friends in their twenties over the course of their drug-fueled weekend out in Cardiff.

How can Human Traffic be considered a social realist film?
A social realist film is one that takes an idea or concept that reflects real life and the social context of the era and time period it is based and the issues it raises as a result. Human Traffic captures the dance movement of 1991 when it was in fact released in 1999 and so immediately could be considered a social realist film on this basis, but it also reflects the reality of youth culture at the time, of people going out and having a good time.

How does the youth culture depicted resist or subvert mainstream society?
The film bases the fact that youths are all drug addicted hooligans when in reality it is not all young people that go out at the weekend and take drugs. However this is what mainstream society thinks of young people and the film doesn't really subvert this.

What values or morals are present in the film?
Human traffic portrays morals such as friendship and unity quite strongly, in that no matter what the situation and how bad things may be, friends will always help each other out- for example when Lu is upset, Jip gets her a ticket to go out. Also there are typical teenage views such as a feeling of resentment towards adults and parents who don't understand what it is like for them growing up in a different era.

How can you consider the film to be British? 
Human Traffic could be considered British because it was set in Britain, and details British Youth Culture. The cast is all British and so is the Director, meaning it passes the BFI's criteria for a film to be British. Also, it deals with British Identity, for instance it subverts the British National Anthem when they are in the pub singing the alternate drinking version.

Music Video Analysis: Lonely The Brave // "Backroads"

Lonely the Brave // Backroads

"I'll be the sky and you be the bird"

In this analysis I will be exploring Cambridge five-piece Lonely the Brave's music video to "Backroads". The video was directed by Greg Davenport, and Backroads is the lead single from the debut album "The Day's War" (2014), which also features "Trick of the Light", which I will reference later in this essay, and "Victory Line". The band have recently been exposed to a lot of publicity, from playing renowned slots at festivals such as Glastonbury, T in the Park and Reading and Leeds over Summer 2014 as well as a support slot for Mallory Knox, the band are set to tour the UK along with Marmozets in Autumn. NME said that "The Day's War" was one of the best albums of the year and soon this band will be receiving widespread recognition, whether they want to or not. Lonely the Brave flaunt a unique style of emotive rock, with instantly recognisable guitar riffs and a powerful vocalist (who sounds identical live to in recorded songs, as I have seen them perform twice), and their largely metaphorical lyrics have made them an instant hit amongst listeners and reviewers alike. I list Lonely the Brave as one of the most important comparisons to the artist I will be working with (Abandoning Sunday), and so the styles that are portrayed in the music video could also inspire my own video. I will be discussing the significance of the narrative concept used in the video and how it effects the audience through corresponding to the emotive nature of the song.

The video commences with a tracking shot of the main characters that the video follows as soon as the guitar riff kicks in. The 5 main characters (interestingly corresponding to the number of members in the band), are all depicted on skateboards, in a slow-motion shot, as they ride together through city streets. Immediately, the audience can get a feel for the song through the use of intertextuality here- skateboarding, like surfing, is sometimes coined "Free-Ride", in that the skateboard gives the rider the freedom to travel wherever - and the tracking shot reveals that the 5 young adults are in a slightly desolated, perhaps war-torn city. The pace of the riders increases after the audience sees the tires in the background, and then slows again at the barricade of tires as 4 soldiers walk across the shot. This already gives the impression of taking freedom and subverting authority in the video- being free. This is why the director has chosen to have the actors on skateboards for the duration of the video.

"Just want to fall here, silently"

As the first lyric commences, the actors walk into a large, derelict area filled with tires and debris. "I saw things that the rat saw, and my eyes couldn't take them in" describes the feeling of shock that the free-riders have upon seeing such destruction. Lonely the Brave said that the actors who the video concentrates on are "friends from Kiev, who are living through the unrest". This usage of intertextuality and using a real experience that people have to live through to support the theme of freedom in the video is very powerful. The actors are shown to walk through a memorial sight, evidently moved by the numbers of people lost and particularly who has been lost in the conflict, hence the emotive lyric, "just want to fall here, silently, into the arms of people I love", suggesting that the actors here feel a sense of hopelessness and being lost, but amongst their friends they can be comforted.

As the chorus kicks in, an infinitely different feel is portrayed. "Look at the way the faces turn" is given a whole new meaning by the director who shows how the innocent riders turn into the rioters during the Kiev unrest, as they combat the riot controllers during the powerful chorus. Slow-motion shots are used in the chorus and throughout the video, perhaps to show how the riders can get lost in the moments of being free riding their boards when threatened with such violence on a day to day basis. The perhaps flagship lyric of the band, "You be the sky and I'll be the bird" has many connotations of freedom, with the bird having the infinite power to be free, flying in the sky, and the use of pronouns suggest that when the individuals are with their friends, they can all have a sense of freedom. The use of imagery throughout the video implies this with several impressive location shots that imply themes of exploration, adventure, and more importantly to the video, hope and beauty, as stated by the band themselves. The actors constantly look around and take in the sights around them, adhering to Goodwin's theory of looking, and are appreciating the beauty of the world they live in, when faced with such adversity, for instance the bridge shot and during the second verse.

Davenport uses Imagery and impressive shots to enhance the meaning of the video and the theme of Freedom

In the second verse, the theme of freedom is enhanced further, mainly through the use of imagery. It is interesting how the band do not appear at all during the video, as they are still relatively small, and Goodwin says that star-image motifs are often created. However, Lonely the Brave are an exception to this as they admit they are so focused on the meaning of their music than being famous rockstars, they would rather produce something like this video to Backroads that will give hope to those faced with difficulties. This is something I can implement as I will not be able to get my artist in my video and he too is still small, and Lonely the Brave have a very similar style to his full band tracks.

The band sing in the second verse how "all was lost" and how they had their "fingers crossed", giving a sense of hopelessness to the song. The scenes depicted in Kiev in the video correspond to this, but show how even all was lost and they may be worried and afraid, that there is still hope and that you can push on against any obstacle, say the band on their website. The characters in this section are all shown together, particularly when they are holding hands, connoting unity and strength. Semantically, the 5 are depicted spraying graffiti on what is later revealed to be an army controlled area, as the band sing, "you're raping on my dreaming" - showing how the conflict is crushing their dreams, but the graffiti is a stereotypical subversion of oppression and resistance. Again, when "the rat" is mentioned, the soldiers are shown, negatively portraying them, and metaphorically taking away their freedom by taking their skateboards (a reference to the intertextuality I mentioned at the start), but they take them back- furthermore, this brief section is in conjunction with some shots of the soldiers in riot gear during the unrest. As the guitar reaches it's emotive climax, the two contrasting scenes are shown in the most apparent light- the turmoil of the conflict, the flares and the riot gear, the violence- contrasted with the infinite uplifting sense of freedom of the young riders, laughing, drinking, and exploring. "Let's meet the mountains and see what they heard" perfectly encaptures this sense of adventure that the video creates, matching Goodwin's ideas of imagery complimenting lyrics.

"You're raping on my dreaming, and you're ruining my best made plans"

The guitar then calms as the bridge lyrics are sung again, "I'll be the sky and you be the bird", reversing the lyric and the use of the pronoun you, saying that they are giving the freedom back. The emotive scenes of companionship give such a strong feel of escapism- the Director said in "The Story of Backroads"  that he had been following the Euromaidan movement in Ukraine and how the scenes of hope on New Years Eve contrasted that of the brutality of the unrest. The scenes of freedom were not specific to the conflict, they are trying to capture a more universal feel of seeking freedom and happiness when faced with obstacles and adversity, something that corresponds to the lyrics of the song very well. The actors in the video did actually participate in some of the riots in Kiev, to further enhance the message. As the vocals again reach an emotive climax for the finale of the video, one of the 5 is shown in a long shot jumping into the water. This shot fully encaptures the mood of escapism, and then they are all shown together, smiling, having fun, skateboarding away at the end of the video (one of them almost miming a bird, incidentally).

The use of not only a powerful narrative to compliment the emotive lyrics and feel of the song but also the usage of intertextuality and imagery creates a stamp of free will and free being in the video; that there is always a brighter future. The video, although not featuring the band at all, is a symbol of this hope and carries a message just as powerful as the song itself. The video adheres to Todorov's Narrative Theory, where there is first an equilibrium, and then a disruption, in the form of the riots, and then the restoration of equilibrium when the youths are shown skating free at the end. This concludes my analysis on the music video to Backroads.

I feel this video is a great video to analyse as it will also benefit me when it comes to planning my music videos. The similarities the artist bares with my act allow me to draw many comparisons, especially as the artist isn't featured in the video. In Lonely the Brave's other music video to "Trick of the Light", the band isn't featured at all either, and instead the strange conceptual video follows a girl, who's face isn't shown until the end of the song, as she travels through forests and vast landscapes to the sea. As simple a concept it is, it compliments the track very well, and makes use of Goodwin's ideas of looking too. I can use these videos as great examples and influences for my video when it comes to planning.

Intertextuality in Music Videos

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Otherside
Joe // Tom // Grace // Ellie

The music video for "Otherside" contains several intertextual references to different forms of art, mainly Cubism. The cubist-style cityscape and grayscale colours reflect the works of Dutch Cubist artists and the famous Pablo Picasso, namely the ladder sequence and perspective for long string bass player. There are references between the lyrics and the images, for instance before the first chorus the vocalist says "I've got to take it on the otherside", and the strange images flip over. The diverse and strange shapes that the cubist theme gives allows for the underlying meaning of the song, regarding drug addiction, to be considered and perhaps enhanced.

By contrast, inter-textual references in Weezer's "Buddy Holly" are made quite clear to the audience if they recognise where the video is set, in 70's sitcom "Happy Days". Those audiences not familiar with the sitcom would not understand the reference but it allows the band to be portrayed in a particular manner.

Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze is an American director, producer, screenwriter and actor, and was the man behind “Her” (2013) and “Where the Wild Things Are” (2009). He has also been behind advertisements, TV shows and more importantly Music Videos, making him pertinent to the work we are doing currently. He also was a co-creator of “Jackass”, meaning he’s very experienced in a variety of fields.

Jonze is most well known in music videos for his work with The Beastie Boys (“Sabotage”, “Ricky’s Theme”), Weezer (“Buddy Holly”, “Island in the Sun”), Fatboy Slim (“Praise You”, “Weapon of Choice”) and more recently Jay-Z and Kanye West (“Otis”) and Arcade Fire (“The Suburbs”).

His music videos are renowned for being “fun, cool, hilarious, ubiquitous and massively influential” – the video for “Praise You” in 1999, Jonze ‘invented’ flash-mobs, and “Weapon of Choice” featured Christopher Walken dancing in a manner most who know the actor would not expect from him.

Jonze's breakthrough video, for the song "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys, was an inspired take-off on 1970s cop shows. The video earned four MTV Video Music Awards, including one for Jonze (best director). Later that year, Jonze “cemented his reputation for innovation and creativity” with his memorable video for Weezer's "Buddy Holly," in which the alternative band performed their hit single in the middle of what appeared to be an episode of the 1970s sitcom Happy Days.