Decision of Song / Music Video

The song we have decided to do for our music video is 'Pharaohs' by SBTRKT, we intend to take some elements of the original video but we will also make the video our own by taking inspiration from other videos that we enjoyed watching and think will look good, however we will come up with parts our self as well so that our entire video isn't just copies of other videos.

Biography of Band / Artist

The name of our band is 'Eyes Above' and it contains three girls, Ez aged 20, H aged 19 and Sky aged 20, all three girls come from Camden in london and have been performing as a group since 2013, yet they have all been friends since the age of 10, their debut single 'Pharaohs' is the music video that we will be creating. The group have had an extremely busy 2014 touring the UK's small venues and promoting their Debut Single which is expected to be followed by their highly anticipated debut album, their 2014 EP 'Girlz' got excellent reviews which increased the success of their UK tour of which 15/20 venues sold out. The genre of music that the group associate themselves with is electronic, house, garage, they've worked very closely with fellow Londoner 'Jamie XX' with the production of their 2014 EP, they get their inspiration from various artists such as dance heavyweights 'faithless', 'FKA Twigs', and 'SBTRKT', however the group does not just do dance music they are capable of adapting and changing their sound so they also take inspiration from artists such as 'Amy Winehouse'.

Courteeners - Are you in love with a notion? - music video analysis

The music video is in black and white, this is used quite often for indie rock music videos and often in previous courteeners videos so they are keeping a steady theme, the black and white effect could also be showing that the relationship we follow in the video is not a happy one.

The video is a typical love story, this reinforces the idea that indie music is predominantly about love and relationships, the video also makes reference to the lifestyle of indie rock musicians with various close ups of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.

The video is essentially a visual representation of the lyrics, they match almost perfectly, the song is about a relationship that is potentially tearing someone apart and that's exactly what the video illustrates.

The music is very fast paced and again this is shown in the music video with lots of quick editing and also lots of scenes in clubs with references to drugs and various sexual scenes.

This music video focuses more on the narrative of the couple rather than the band itself compared to many other modern music videos, however they still get plenty of camera time, particularly the lead singer Liam Fray who is the main man of the band and has a fanbase of his own away from the band, so he can help sell the video and song by getting his face on camera as much as possible. He looks a lot more confident in this video compared to previous ones such as 'what took you so long?' this video was at the time when they changed their image from scruffy underground rockers to a clean cut indie band which they now go for, this makes them more visually appealing which is why they get more close up shots compared to their previous videos.

Due to this being an indie rock music video there is not much voyeuristic treatment towards the female body, less looks of lust and more looks of love, you can tell that the couple in the video stare at each other through much more than just lust and physical attraction, this is very different to mainstream chart music videos such as videos by 'Niki Minaj' or 'Jennifer Lopez'.

Katy Perry - California Gurls music video analysis

This music video contains a lot of bright colours such as blue/pink/yellow which is typical of a pop video from a singer such as Katy Perry as it is aimed at a mainstream younger audience who will enjoy visuals like this, also the video contains lots of good looking people, particularly backup dancers, this again fits the 'mainsteam' category as its what the majority of people want to see and it will get more people to watch the video.

In one way the lyrics and visuals do connect as there are many people wearing bikinis which relates to the title of the song and californias famous beach culture, there are many references to this in the song. However in the video there is lots of chocolate/sweets which is very similar to a scene from the film in charlie and the chocolate factory, this does not seem to have anything to do with the lyrics or California beach culture.

The music and the video also connect as the song is very upbeat and happy and that is reflected through the video with the bright colours and the general atmosphere of the video, Katy Perry also seems to have a smile on her face for the entire thing.

Katy Perry is an A list celebrity and one of the most famous and best looking pop stars of this generation, therefore her record label demand that she gets a lot of camera time as that way more people will watch the video and buy the song, she needs to be on camera for as much time as possible as she is what the public want to see.

Like most modern pop videos there is a voyeuristic treatment of the female body, there are lots of females in bikinis which goes with the theme of the song and the female body is a huge part of the video, Katy Perry is also seen various times lying naked on a cloud, also at one stage Katy Perry starts to squirt cream out of her breasts, this is to attract more viewers as it could be seen as quite controversial for a pop video but also its what a lot of the public want to see.

Skepta - Shutdown music video analysis

For this music video the genre characteristics are shown immediately as the video is set on the streets in a car park of a London high rise tower block, this represents the 'grime' genre as it is heavily linked with London and particular the rougher areas of London, one of which is shown in this video. The fact that there is a large group of people in the video looking intimidating with hoods up and smoking also represents grime as it is often connected with UK gang culture.

There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals in the video for example "black tracksuit" and there is various people dressed in black tracksuits and other types of tracksuits for that matter, also when skepta says "shutdown" he repeatedly points to the floor in a down motion.

There is also a connection between the music and the visuals, the music is quite aggressive and this is shown through the music video, large group of intimidating youths all together like a gang around some council estate.

There are many close ups of the artists in the music video, skepta is repeatedly shown throughout the video, this is because this is skepta's breakthrough song, even though he has been on the scene for years now this is the song that put him on the map so for him to have camera time is vital and will help sell the song.

A$AP Rocky - Goldie

Jamie T - Sheila