Music Video Analysis: Glass Animals - Gooey

Music Video Analysis VI: Glass Animals - Gooey

Australian director-duo, Lily Coates and Gavin Young, formally known as 'The Apiary', brought new meaning to an idiosyncratic, whimsical music video that relies purely on a conceptualised idea with their video for 'Gooey' released in 2014 by the Glass Animals.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS

As the narrative unfurls, it is evident that the lyrics bare no relation to the visuals whatsoever, but however form a compilation of varying shots that define it as being a highly experimental video with psychotropic exploration in which the lyrics haven't been taken literally to influence the cinematography. When inferring meaning from the lyrics, it seems to be a song dedicated to the naivety of youth culture and subtly references a potential relationship. Through an initial watch of the video, it became apparent of the varying statuses of characters throughout the narrative, these were shown through low-angled camera shots that empowered the character but disempowered the audience; with the close-up camera angles revealing the characters that were blatantly devoid of emotion. In essence, throughout the video, there is an underlying message that seems to pertain to that of a power struggle between the characters, this is justified with the myriad of low-angled and high-angled camera shots specific to each character and their status within the video. It is only until the narrative reaches a mid-point that I am able to identify that the conceptual stimulus of the video is that of the 'Seven Deadly Sins'; or it is certainly depicted in this way.

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

As an Indie Rock band, the music video certainly encapsulates the 'indie' genre, with minimal to no reference to the rock genre. However, the video exhibits less conventional codes and conventions that pertain to the indie genre. As the video is heavily conceptualised, there leaves mass scope for anything creative to be represented through the visuals, and as previously stated, the narrative follows that of the cyclical, repeated journey of 'The Seven Deadly Sins'. A more blatantly evident genre characteristic that appertains to 'indie culture' is that of the high-key lighting that remains constant throughout the entirety of the video. A music video for the 'Indie Rock' genre would usually have an element of performing in it from the band, but 'Gooey' is devoid of any relation to performance and features none of the band members, but instead relies entirely on the actors to further push the narrative along; therefore this music video subverts the typical expectations of an 'Indie Rock' video. 

LOOKING/MODE OF ADDRESS

Considering that the band aren't featured in the music video at all, and it is heavily reliant on the actors, the looking and mode of address is kept to a minimum up until the very end where a wide-angled camera shot captures all of the actors sitting on a sofa looking directly into the camera. This is the only time the actors directly address the camera. Personally, I don't believe that this was done with an intention to distance the actors from the audience as the video is more of a compilation of frames that forms a didactic purpose; to educate the audience of the sinister, cyclical cycle of 'The Seven Deadly Sins'. Because of the lack of the direct address to the audience, theories such as the Uses and Gratifications model remain partially unsatisfied, however, the audience may use this music video as a form of escapism as the video offers a complex yet bizarre narrative to pique audience interest and solidify some sort of deeper connection with them; thus compensating for the lack of mode of address. 

REPRESENTATIONS

The music video for 'Gooey' offers various representations, all of which have neither outlandish positive or negative connotations, and doesn't reinforce a particular stereotype. In this sense, the video is void of prejudice and racial stereotyping, although this doesn't seem obvious at first, with several viewings of the video, I was able to infer that age, race and stature bore no relevance to how the music video was shot, and was evidently based on their acting and dancing abilities. 

However, a striking representation that if anything, promotes body positivity is that of the wide-angled camera shot of the woman laying on the sofa, completely naked. This doesn't necessarily pertain to the ideology behind Laura Mulvey and sexual satisfaction of the male audience but rather has two inferences. One being that the nakedness of the women suggests an essence of vulnerability, the second being that it pushes the narrative forward as she is depicted as being 'Gluttony' from 'The Seven Deadly Sins'. Although, this may be inferred as being insensitive and inappropriate, I believe that it firmly reinforces body positivity, but is also reflecting the narrative.

LINEAR OR CLOSED & NARRATIVE AND/OR CONCEPT? 

As previously stated, the music video for 'Gooey' is highly conceptualised and takes the audience on a journey of 'The Seven Deadly Sins'. The narrative is cyclical in structure as the video opens with various close-up camera shots detailing the process of the sinister cycle with a scientific and psychedelic twist. What is interesting throughout the video is the minimal quick-cut or even slow-cut editing shots, and however only entails around 4-5 quick-cut jump shots to further pursue the narrative. Panning and tracking shots feature heavily in the video, as a rigged camera follows the actors from room to room in an abandoned mansion. This idea of slow, panning and tracking shots emphasise the smoothness continuity of the deadly cycle of the sins. 

MIS-EN-SCENE

The music video allows for in-depth analysis and inference in terms of it's bizarre but unique mis-en-scene as it takes the audience on a psychotropic, free-flow journey. As briefly mentioned, the video essentially follows the evolution of 'The Seven Deadly Sins' and the repetitive nature of the concept. Wide-angled camera shots address each and every actor and defines their 'being' within the cycle; as the music video opens, the close up camera shots of the woman with gold embellished over her hands is represented as 'Greed'; this is due to the fact that 'gold' is usually associated with wealth and riches, and as the camera transitions into quick-edited shots, the making of the "essence" (the liquid) within the video is made by 'Greed' and passed on from person to person, hence, alluding to the idea that greed is capable of being felt by everyone and leads to the exposure of other sins. A panning, wide-angled mid-shot captures the younger girl representing 'Envy'. She has stolen the "essence" that 'Greed' created, and out of spite, passes it onto the man in red: 'Wrath'. Colour Psychology is yet again at play here, as the man donned in a red wrestling suit depicted as being 'Wrath', further reinforces that the colour 'red' more often than not connotes with anger or danger. Jealousy then transforms into anger, wherein the wrestler in red beats the man dressed in blue, whom is depicted as being 'Pride'. 'Wrath' eventually spits on 'Pride' which would be generally humiliating, therefore the wrestler in blue has gotten his pride hurt, and then turns to 'Lust'; the woman dressed in yellow, to boost his ego and forget about the misdeed of 'Wrath'. To further justify this idea of 'Pride' being affected by 'Wrath', the scene ends with a high-angled camera shot towering over the actor for 'Pride' but elevates 'Wraths' status with a low-angled camera shot. The woman representing 'Lust' leaves the man as soon as she gets what she wants from him; something that lust does is lead to instant gratification; therefore, a tracking shot captures the woman dancing as she exits through the door to enter another room where she meets the man representing the sin of 'Sloth'. A high-angled camera shot tracks the man depicting 'Sloth' as he wanders over to the woman on the sofa representing 'Gluttony'. Laziness and subdued attitudes is an instigator for gluttonous acts and the power of 'Gluttony' ends up acting as a fuel to power 'Greed' and her consumption of materialistic possessions.

The video exhibits constant warm hues complimented with high-key lighting but also outlines and exemplifies the battle of status and dominance between the sins by utilising scores of high-angled camera angles contrasted with low-angled camera angles; both of which are used in order to sustain a fluctuating narrative in terms of status. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIA1XQnAv5s

Music Video Analysis: Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

Music Video Analysis: Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

Jamiroquai's music video for 'Virtual Insanity' is most notably a conceptual piece. Released in September 1996, Jonathan Glazer combined oddities that were then amalgamated into an aesthetically bizarre and unorthodox, conceptual music video for the hit song. The video is the epitome of intrigue as the audience are shifted back and forth between blank settings with only one object being the focal point, such as the couch or the cockroaches. An interesting feature of the music video is the use of special effects which gained notoriety from critics as a moving floor was typically seen as unconventional during the time period of which the video was released. 

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VISUALS AND LYRICS

A baffling yet interesting music video creates great intrigue for the audience as they try and determine a relationship between the visuals and lyrics, of which, there is one. The setting of the music video is agreeably bleak, and is evidently filmed in an enclosed room with featureless, white walls, a moving grey floor but is accompanied by intense, luminous high-key lighting. Lyrics often speak of impending technological advancements and how the future could be drastically altered if we don't heed to these advancing concepts; which in one sense, would marry with the visuals as a typical convention of the "concept of technology" would be the sleek, featureless, white coloured surfaces of objects or rooms, as seen in the music video. An example of the relationship between visuals and lyrics is where the song starts with "who can tell what magic spells", and it seems as if Jay Kay is as if by "magic" coercing the chair over to him, but it is in fact the moving floor. The bleakness of the video could be of significance as it detracts from any obvious message that could have been easily relayed to audience through use of colour or objects that are indicative of any subliminal message, but is perhaps symbolic of the emptiness that humanity could face with advancing technology.

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

As a band, Jamiroquai are known for their outlandish 'acid jazz/funk' genre, which is typically a combination of dance, disco, jazz and soul music. Albeit, there are no significant genre characteristics displayed throughout the videos entirety as I believe that the band wanted to encapsulate the harsh reality of technological reign if humanity lets it go too far. The absence of colourful settings, such as multicoloured lighting, commonly associated with a club setting and the genre of 'disco' coalesces together with the entire subliminal message of the video that is indeed reinforced through the bleak setting. However, a convention of the 'disco' genre that seems to have been retained is that of the precise and 'funky' dancing by lead singer Jay Kay, of which wide-angled mid-shots capture this. A constant that remains throughout the video is the intense, luminous high-key lighting that could be associated with the genre of the music, especially the genre of funk, although, not in its entirety. Other than the minimal genre convention mentioned, there are no significant genre characteristics present within the video that audiences can identify, other than the overlaying track and the dancing. The setting, of which is of ultimate significance in order to relay the message of the song is stark, and therefore offers no deeper meaning to the audience. 

INTERTEXTUALITY

There was no notable intertextual links that I could infer from this music video, as it seems to be based purely on the message of the actual song lyrics, therefore created entirely for that purpose and is absent of any other relation to other media forms. 

PERFORMANCE, NARRATIVE AND/OR CONCEPT?

At first, it would seem that the music video offers nothing interesting to the audience, aside from the lead singers 'funky' dancing. But considering that this video is heavily conceptualised, it offers the audience with an underlying message through it's progressive, cyclical narrative. The video takes the audience through the world of 'Virtual Insanity' through slick but fast camera angles, in which the camera suddenly jolts up to the ceiling, then brings the audience back down into the room but with the seating arrangement changed. As well as this room change, it also takes the audience into an entirely different room where Jay Kay is seen side by side with six men who remain in a statuesque state, clinging to the wall.  Performing throughout the song is in the hands of the lead singer as he lip-synchs to the song, but it fails to capture the rest of the band, therefore is limited in the "all inclusive" performance aspect of the entire band. 

LINEAR OR CLOSED NARRATIVE?

It could be inferred that the music video follows a cyclical narrative in the sense that it brings the audience through to different settings, but ultimately ends up with the original setting, therefore completing the cyclical, structured narrative of the video. There is only evidence of a singular, linear narrative throughout the music video, making it less complex in its execution, but as the purpose of the video is to "educate humanity", it would be appropriate that the music video was devoid of a complex narrative, as it conveys the message quickly and effectively to the audience.

LOOKING/MODE OF ADDRESS

Throughout the video, there is a variety of extreme close-up camera shots that capture Jay Kay's lip-synching and facial expressions, which would have an effect on how the audience receive the song. The close up-shots show how involved Jay Kay is with the music and how there is no evident disconnect between performer and audience.

STAR TREATMENT

The video only focuses on lead singer, Jay Kay, through various wide-angled camera shots and notably excludes the remaining band members. This was done with intention, for example, in terms of star recognition and based on Richard Dyer's 'Star Theory', Jay Kay would have been utilised as a pivotal tool in order for the audience to recognise and become increasingly influenced by what he is trying to convey throughout the song. Jay Kay is probably the most well-known band member from Jamiroquai, therefore the intentions of the record label would be that considering that he would already have a wider established fan-base than the other band members, he would have been used as an influential person to convey the subliminal message. A technical feature that backs this claim would be that there is no use of high-angled camera shots when the audience is shown Jay Kay, thus eliminating the idea that he has been empowered or disempowered, but instead is shown to have equal status throughout the video. If he was empowered with low-angled camera shots, the audience wouldn't feel compelled to listen to the message behind the song, likewise if he was disempowered with multiple high-angled camera shots, the audience would be dismissive. 

MIS-EN-SCENE

Through it's entirety, the video pays homage to the idea that as the future progresses, humanity could become enslaved by the rapid advancements of technology if we don't take initiative and solve the problem first. A special effect that could be inferred as having a deeper meaning is that of the moving floor laden with a variety of couches, but yet, still remains astonishingly minimal. It can be inferred that this feature is used to illustrate the idea that as a race, we are constantly moving but ultimately, we aren't going anywhere if we let technology hinder our ability to progress and evolve as a society. Jay Kay is seen to be walking and dancing on this moving floor, but still remains in the same position, which further reinforces this idea. Colour Psychology is introduced to the audience yet again through the dismal, two-toned, almost monochromatic colour palette of the walls, floor and surrounding objects. The cold colours invokes no feeling at all, aesthetically it is far from pleasing and ultimately conveys the emptiness that would ensue if we were to become controlled by technology. There are two symbolic features within this music video; the cockroaches and the crow, both contributing to a contradicting message. Cockroaches are typically impervious to outstanding forces and can withstand anything, but could be indicative of an underlying message that as humanities impending decline continues, these will be the only remaining creatures that withstood humanities neglect of emotions and it's society due to the infatuation with technology. Likewise, the symbolism behind the crow is that of it is typically associated with death or decay, much to mirror the subliminal message of the video. However, through it's positive connotations, the crow is often admired as a messenger, commonly associated with delivering omens. Therefore, representing hope and the potential breakthrough in human neglect as we stand together to change humanity for the better. The crow is seen through low-angled, wide-angled, tracking shots, which in turn creates the illusion of an overseer, and slightly disempowers the audience. There is no evidence of diegetic sound, perhaps alluding to the idea that audiences would be distracted from the message of the video, and is instead compelled to listen to the song as it resonates its message.

Furthermore, it can be concluded that such minimal features (i.e. the cockroaches/crow) contribute to the reinforcement of the overarching message of the music video, as shown through a variety of shots, absence of vibrant colours and lack of aesthetics.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JkIs37a2JE

Music Video Analysis: Neon Trees - Everybody Talks

Music Video Analysis - Neon Trees: Everybody Talks

The music video for 'Everybody Talks' by Neon Trees is that of an extreme concept piece, featuring a 1950's setting and a video within a video, the piece is visually appealing whilst maintaining its complexity and is certainly not one of the more conventional 'pop music' videos. It opens with what seems like an advertisement for a film, played in parallel with what can only be imagined as a paradoxical feature of non-diegetic sound as well as diegetic sound, as we, the audience can hear it at first, but then it slowly transforms into a segment that the people in the video can hear as well. Thus, adding to the videos already complex nature. 

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VISUALS AND LYRICS

An interesting music video makes for an interesting relationship between the visuals and the lyrics, and 'Everybody Talks' is no exception. The relationship between the two appear to be fragmented at first, as the audience is shifted back and forth between "reality" and the music video within the music video. Wide angled mid-shots from either two settings feature the lead singer, Tyler, lip synching to the lyrics, a notable convention of music videos. However, there were also moments where him and the rest of the Neon Trees were acting throughout with the music continuing on in the background. As the actual music video progresses, we see less and less of the band singing within its "reality", and more through the dominating video. A momentary interlude was featured allowing the music video featured within the actual video to progress its narrative; all music ceased and it was reliant on the acting to further push the narrative forward. The directors cleverly introduced a way for audiences to distinguish between the "reality" and the music video by layering a worn out camera filter, with burns and scratch marks, which was heavily reminiscent of the time period during the 1950's. 

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

From the outset, the genre of this music video was seemingly a little difficult to identify as there were hardly any codes and conventions that reinforced the pop/rock genre characteristics; but as the narrative progresses, the audience can identify subtle genre codes such as the leather jackets that the characters were wearing, typically associated with the rock genre. This was also contrasted with that of the pop genre element of the video; Tyler and the rest of the band donned extravagant clothing such as a cheetah print coat and a gold sequinned shirt. Another reinforcement of the pop genre specifically, is that there is a lot of choral inclusion within the music video. The band have displayed choreographed dance scenes, lip-synching scenes and so forth; all identified and conveyed to the audience through wide angled mid-shots, panning shots and slight overhead shots. There was a myriad of different lighting throughout this music video, most of which were evidenced by quick-cut camera shots that allowed clips of low-key lighting to transition to high-key lighting very fast. A key element of a pop music video is the high-key lighting, which albeit was prominent throughout the video, but one could also identify that considering that there was a clash of genre (i.e. pop and rock), the high-key lighting was representative of the pop elements of the video, whilst the low-key lighting was reminiscent of the rock genre.


INTERTEXUALITY

Intertextuality throughout this music video was a task to say the least, but eventually, there was something that linked to one of the most famous films of all time: Grease. Although this intertextuality wasn't a constant throughout the video, it was however featured in some of the panning shots, mid-shots and close up camera angles. Each shot identifies cars linked to the 1950's, specifically '57 Chevy's; cars of which were featured heavily within the 1978 film. Grease is a musical film that focuses on the trials and tribulations that the rival gangs, 'The T-Birds' and 'The Pink Ladies' encountered, whilst also providing the audience with an amalgamation of comedic and romantic aspects. The music video for 'Everybody Talks' actually shows what seem to be two gangs situated in their respective cars whilst watching the film at the drive-in theatre. Panning shots reveal a car filled with boys with leather jackets and greased back hair, while the camera focuses on a mid-range shot of the girls in the opposite car, thus alluding to the idea that these two "gangs" were inspired by 'The T-Birds' and 'The Pink Ladies'. Another feature that contributes to the intertextuality of Grease is that every person at the diner breaks out into song and dance, something of which was extremely prevalent within the musical film. 

PERFORMANCE, NARRATIVE AND/OR CONCEPT?

As the aforementioned point briefly explains, this music video is remarkably complex in terms of it's execution. The video exhibits most features of a performance piece, follows a narrative of "boy in love with girl, girl plays hard to get" whilst also remaining solidly in its complexity as a conceptually driven piece. Although, having said this, the music video doesn't really mirror anything to do with the lyrics of the song, therefore reinforcing the stronger sense of a conceptual piece as nothing in the lyrics suggests that the video should be filmed a 1950's drive-through diner/theatre, or have anything to do with "Zombie Bikers from Hell". All in all, the video is heavily influenced by a conceptual idea whilst also continuing a thread of whimsical performance by each and every band member, as well as the other characters featured in the video.

LINEAR OR CLOSED NARRATIVE? 

There is a strong sense of narrative within this music video as briefly mentioned above. However, what could be considered unusual within this music video, is the directors choice to have the audience jump between "reality" and the short film that features. Because of this, it is easy to distinguish that the narrative, yet again, is of paradoxical nature. The narrative is simple, "boy falls in love, girl is difficult and unwavering in her flirtatious attitudes towards him". The reason why it is paradoxical is because it would seem to contradict a strict linear narrative, but it in fact does follow a singular narrative, the audience is just involved with a secondary narrative running alongside the main one, which makes the music video that much more complex. 

LOOKING/MODE OF ADDRESS

Throughout the video, there are a whole range of close up shots that focus predominantly on the lead singer, Tyler. Through these different camera shots, a host of them are where he directly addresses the camera, leading to believe that there is no disconnect between him and the audience, but instead reinforces a strong relationship between him and the music, in the sense that he uses eye contact to sway audiences into truly being involved with the song. As for the female protagonist, there are yet again, a myriad of close up camera shots, yet she rarely addresses the camera as most of the time she hides behind sunglasses. This could allude to her character being of ambiguous nature as she conceals most of her face throughout the entirety of the video, also adding to her mysterious yet flirtatious appeal to the lead singer. 

STAR TREATMENT

The entire video centralises itself around the entire band, with everyone being in equal status to one another. Aside from the wide angled mid-shots that successfully capture the whole band, these shots are accompanied by different levels of lighting, ranging from low-key to high-key. The idea of extreme close up shots of each member reinforce the emotion of the band; happy and joyous. This is again, mainly accompanied by high-key lighting to further reinforce the "happy-go-lucky"allure of this up-beat pop/rock song.

MIS-EN-SCENE

The overarching influence of this music video was a concept heavily influenced by the 1950's; a stimulus that could be considered unusual in this highly modernised 21st Century. Released in 2012, 'Everybody Talks' pays homage to a quirky relationship, with the mis-en-scene used to later reflect this. Camera angles throughout this entire video didn't seem to have much variation, with them only remaining on a levelled position, there was no room for empowerment or disempowerment of any of the band or other characters. A notable feature throughout is the vibrancy of the colours accompanied by the high-key lighting. The neon signs of the diner give the audience crisp visuals of the surrounding setting whilst perhaps contributing to a deeper, subliminal message of a fresh new relationship about to begin. There is also a secondary message throughout the video, perhaps a little more philosophical than concerning a relationship.  It is that "not everything is as it seems", this is reinforced through the minor special effects utilised within the video of when the female protagonist lures her victims into a secluded area and then continues to scare them. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5G9tIe84lE

Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes: REMAKE

Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes: REMAKE

THE INITIAL PROCESS & SET UP

As a cohort, we took advantage of the Creative Arts Evening in order to recreate the music video for 'Seven Nation Army' performed by The White Stripes. We recruited musical talent from a Year 8 band and asked them to perform the song in front of a set up that we constructed ourselves, using a sheet of green fabric to replicate a green screen, multiple lights and microphones. 

Initially, we asked the band to perform twice; once to record the audio, and second to record the visuals that were accompanied by the audio that we had just recorded. Considering that we had recorded the audio, we were then able to ask the band to perform individual shots lip-syncing to the song. To effectively re-create the video, we used a myriad of shots ranging from profile shots, mid-shots and wide angled shots, much to simulate the shots featured in the actual music video. Whilst changing the angle of the shots, we also had to consider the lighting position as to draw exact influence from the video; for example, for a profile shot of the lead vocalist, we situated the light in front of the performer so that the features on his face would be illuminated, casting shadows behind him. The lighting featured for the profile shot was low-key lighting, whereas the rest of the band were filmed predominantly in high-key lighting also to capture all expressions of the band members. In order to capture the right shot, there was a lot of messing around in terms of positioning the camera in order to fit each band member in frame; this process was imperative as it would make pre-production editing a lot easier.

PRACTICE & POST PRODUCTION EDITING

Once we had all of the footage that we needed in order to successfully and confidently re-create the music video for 'Seven Nation Army', we each took to 'Final Cut' (an editing software) and aptly prepared short clips in the style of the original music video. In order to re-create the video perfectly, we each went through a step-by-step process outlining the steps of editing ranging from 'keying', 'masking' to colour correction and alteration. The first steps were to overlay the video clip with a 'keyer'; a tool that selects and erases a large area of colour, which in this case, was the green screen. This process was important as it was used to isolate the band members, allowing us to transfer any image to the back of the video and in keeping with the theme of the original 'Seven Nation Army' video, we transferred different colour '.png' triangles onto the background. The reason why the triangle image had to be a '.png' file was because a file with this format, is saved with a transparent background, making post-production editing easier. Once we had 'keyed' the video clip, it was important to undertake a 'view' check in order to make sure that once the 'keyer mask' was applied, the edges surrounding the band member was as slick as it could be, and if not, we could alter it to make the clip sharper.


The second step, which in my opinion was the most important, was to adhere to the colour correcting by adding a 'Threshold' mask over the video clips. This mask allowed me to drastically change the colour in order to suit the original video colouration. In this editing step, there were two colours that we had to take into consideration, the 'light colour' and the 'dark colour', both of which essentially acted as the 'highlights' and 'lowlights/shadows'. The original colouration of the video exhibited a cyan hue, something that was easy to achieve using Final Cut. With this in mind, it was important to select a cyan colour for the highlights whilst also selecting a darker blue colour for the lowlights/shadows. With the correct colouration adhered to, I then went into change the intensity, threshold and smoothness of the mask; creating a sleeker appearance and suiting nicely to the original video.

Once the 'Threshold' mask had been applied, it was now time to move onto the 'colour mask [ing]' process. This process allowed me to target any feature that I wanted to change, keep or isolate its colour; in this case, it was the tie. Adding a colour mask to the tie allowed me to keep the original red colour, this creative technique of stark colour contrast (i.e. the cyan colouring with a bold red) was featured within the original White Stripes music video.

FINAL THOUGHTS AND IMPROVEMENTS

If I could suggest a minor, personal improvement, it would be to explore alternative ways in which I could really capture the grittiness of the original music video. Some of the clips were a little too soft with the cyan hue smoothing out the musicians far too much, so for future improvement, it would be to experiment with the harshness of the Threshold mask in order to capture the refined lines of the face, exaggerating them to fulfil a dramatic effect.

A further note, if I had the opportunity to do anything differently, I would play around with the lighting that we used to illuminate the faces of each musician, particularly the lead singer. I felt as if the lighting that we used for the singer was too bright, therefore hindering my ability to capture harsh grittiness/dark lines during the post-editing process. With this in mind, I would have had a light that was illuminated from the bottom, therefore exaggerating his facial features and casting harsh shadows, whilst also utilising a singular side light (situated either left or right).

Overall, my clips came out exactly the way that I had envisioned them. They were precise, re-worked when I didn't feel like it was good enough, and a lot of effort was put into ensuring that the clips mirrored the way that the directors, Alex and Martin, had created such a complex but visually stunning concept music video.