Textual Analysis: 30 seconds to Mars - Kings And Queens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTMrlHHVx8A

30 Seconds To Mars music video for “Kings And Queens” shows a number of ways on how both the artists image and the meaning of the song are portrayed in the video, through star image, and the textual elements of MISE EN SCENE Camera Shots and Editing.

The format the for “Kings And Queens” is a mixture of both performance with the band playing and performing the song throughout the video which helps promote their image of being organic and showing the originality star image quality. The video also uses a narrative structure showing a huge bike ride through the city of Los angels at dusk and night-time. 

The video shows of a number of unique bikes from penny farthings to BMX’s. The video was directed by the bands lead singer Jared Leto and this shows off their creativity star image.

This Music video for “Kings And Queens” helps promote Many of 30 Seconds To Mars’ star image qualities.

Firstly one of 30 Seconds To Mars’ star image qualities is originality. this is shown in the video narrative  has never been seen or look similar to any other video done before, also like most other 30 Seconds To Mars music videos, they are made into very short films that have a strong narrative with small bits of performance mixed in.

For example “Kings And Queens” is named “The Ride based on The song Kings And Queens” in the opening credits of the music video. Another star image quality shown off in this music video is their creativity, this is shown again in the narrative of the video which is totally unique with the idea of a mass bike ride and also with the vast range of bikes used it really shows of how creative they are in their music videos.

In “Kings And Queens” the video is very long shot oriented, but also includes close ups, medium shots, panning and tracking shots to show off different meanings in the songs and help create and help audiences adhere to their star image qualities.

Long Shots

Firstly in this music video the majority of the camera shots are long shots, these are focused mainly of the setting of the video being Los Angeles at night time. other longs shots include showing the band playing on a rooftop, this helps show off their image of being organic by playing their own instruments and adhering to their star image of having talent. Also long shots in the video show off the group of people who are taking part in the bike ride in the video and again adheres to the bands creative and originality star image quality due to how unique the narrative is.

Close Up’s

Close Up shots are also commonly used throughout in the video, but are mainly used on Jared Leto who is the lead singer of the band singing the lyrics of the songs in time with the music. this helps strengthen their organic image. Other close up’s used mainly show the faces of many of the bike riders in the video.

Medium, Medium Close Up & Medium Long Shots

The Majority of The Medium category shots are again shown on the band when playing their respective instruments and singing the lyrics which shows their organic image

Visual matches

Due to the unique narrative to this video there are not many lyrical matches with visual, but during the song when the lyrics “we were the victims of ourselves” a High angle shot typically used when showing someone's vulnerability is shown onto the cyclists when going in a circle, it also foreshadows the end of the video as the final shot is them riding to the end of the pier and is cut off leading to an ambiguous ending of weather they survived or not

MISE EN SCENE

The MISE EN SCENE in this video help to strengthen their star image qualities and the bands overall image. First of all in the video the members of the band wear their own casual clothing, which shows off their organic approach by not wearing costumes that a synthetic artist would wear.

EDITING

Finally in “Kings And Queens” there isn't much special effects on the video which shows off their organic approach in being naturalistic along with the whole filming and setting being filmed in LA and not using a green screen.

 In terms of pace of editing the pace follows the tempo of song throughout, for example when the song is at a slow pace the cuts between clips are spaced out, but when the pace increased the cuts came much faster.

Textual Analysis: Linkin Park Burn It Down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxytyRy-O1k

Linkin Park’s Burn It Down video shows a number of ways on how both the artists image and the meaning of the song are portrayed in the video, through star image, mise - en - scene, camera shots and editing.

First of all in Burn It Down is a performance based video with all the band members of Linkin park playing their respective instruments and vocals in time with the song. which also helps them promote the band organic approach to making their music by playing their instruments and writing their own songs. their organic approach is also added as they directed the video themselves as band member Joe Hahn co-directed the video.

Overall Linkin park’s star image that they show off in their video’s tends to be the band's originality with videos and their sound to their songs, also a creative approach to that every music video has a different look and also tend to show off a angry aggressive attitude in most of their videos. In Burn It Down most of these star image qualities are shown off.

Firstly with their creativity in this video even though its a performance themed video the way the video is shot and edited shows of a new way that a performance music video are done which aren't very common these days in many rock bands. Secondly with Originality again similar to their creativity in this video the look of the video is creative in terms of effects and the setting of the video which is like a futuristic building. And with aggression many shots within the video. Chester the lead vocalist has aggressive facial expressions when singing and other band members play their instruments aggressively as well. this is also portrayed in the message of the song and the video with the message being about burning and destroying things.

This video also takes some inspiration from another one of their videos “New Divide” which was shot for one of the transformers films in 2009, this video also has a similar look and feel to it like “Burn It Down” in terms of the setting and special effects are very similar  

In terms of camera shots, in this video the majority of camera shots tend to be close ups, long shots, tracking, and medium close up shots. all these shot focus on the band members playing their instruments or singing. this also helps promotes the band organic approach to music.

Close Up’s

In this video a lot of close ups are used and the majority focus upon either Chester or Mike singing to the lyrics of the song and their facial expression of anger and aggression which also appeals to their star image the constructed. other close ups focus up on the other band members playing their instruments which again shows of their organic approach to music

Long Shots

In This video the long shots used help show the setting of the video to the viewers, with the video’s setting having a futuristic feel to it, it appeals to its star image of being creative in terms of setting, the setting also has a feel to the bands electronic hard rock feel to the music.

Medium Close Ups
The medium close up's in the video show off the band playing their instruments and lip syncing with the song which promotes their organic approach.

In the music video there are some visual matches with lyrics and the tempo of the song.

Firstly the video uses a lot of special effects which help create the message of the song. these effects also are visual matches, for example when lyrics "Burn It Down" are said, flames and explosions are shown on and around the band in the video.

Other visual matches in the video include a kind of "electricity pulse effect" in time with certain beats in the song, either in the form of when the drums are hit or a piano, this then leads to a pulse effect, rippling over certain band members.

Mise-En-Scene & NVC
Looking at the clothing of the band members they are wearing casual clothing, which helps promote that they are organic as they have the freedom to wear what they wish, the clothing is also black which is a common convention of the alternative rock genre in that dark colours are common in the genre. Certain facial expressions also show off the band star image of anger or aggression on how they sing the lyrics in the video.

Editing
In terms of editing there are a lot of faced paced jump cuts within the video which go along with how quick the temp of the song is. there is also a large amount of special effects such as burning effects and electricity pulses which are common throughout the video and play in the name and message of the song.

The most creative shot in the whole video is the tracking shot near the end, the shot tracks through the performance area where the band were playing and shoots the band while they were completely still, this shot shows off their creativity and talent to actually pull of this shot, it also promotes their organic approach as the shot show them all playing their respective instruments. it also has a oxymoron feel to the video as the shot shows them engulfed in flames but they a frozen, which shows the opposite of what they should do if they were on fire, the fire in the shot also shows off more of the meaning of the song about burning, fires and explosions

Conventions Of Alternative Rock

Similar to Star Image, alternative rock bands tend to have various conventions that are common to this genre.


Performance
In Alternative Rock the bands/acts tend to usually play in a full band with all instruments to make it seem to the viewers and audience that they are playing live.

Examples: 
Rise against - Make It Stop // Bring Me The Horizon - Drown

MAKE IT STOP VIDEO // DROWN VIDEO

Clothing
Tend to wear most of the time casual clothing, but if they wish due to being a organic act bands can have the freedom to wear outfits if they want to.

Examples: 
Yellowcard - Here I Am Alive & All Time Low - I Feel Like Dancin'

HERE I AM ALIVE VIDEO // I FEEL LIKE DANCIN' VIDEO

Colours
In Alternative Rock video's they use much darker colours in their video's such as black, grey and dark blues, more frequently than other genre types such as pop music where the colours are much brighter.

Example: 
Arctic Monkeys - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?

Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High? VIDEO

Lighting

In Alternative rock music video's they tend to use the natural lighting or make the lighting much darker than the natural lighting. This helps gives it a much darker mysterious feel to the video.

Examples: 
Mallory Knox - Shout At The Moon // Linkin Park - Numb

SHOUT AT THE MOON VIDEO // NUMB VIDEO

Star Image of Alternative Rock

The Alternative Rock genre commonly has certain star image characteristics that are specific to this genre, many of the characteristics are found in many acts in the genre and are not found usually in many other acts in other genres.


An Anti authoritarian attitude
Many Alternative Rock bands adopt an Anti Authoritarian Attitude in their band image, Bands Such as Muse are a good example of a band that adopts the anti authoritarian attitude and is clearly and easily shown in their video for 'Madness' which shows off a group of youth's who are almost going against the authority in this case the riot police and certain shots cross-fade the band and the police together which shows off the bands Anti Authoritarian Attitude 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek0SgwWmF9w

Originality
Another star image representation we see in Alternative Rock is that the acts/bands posses some originality when making music videos for the singles/songs. this is shown with Yellow card's video for the song 'Hang You Up' which is set in a fast food restaurant, this isn't a common theme for a music video and with the band choosing this a setting shows off the originality of the band in that they don't go for the an obvious setting and something completely different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qndx2CNGeo

Creativity/Talent
 With many alternative rock bands, their music videos are often very creative and show off the talent that they have, for example many of Thirty Seconds To Mars' video's are very creative in that they are made in to short films which incorporate a narrative along with sections of performance, this is evident in the video for "This Is War" which is set during a war and the band act out like they are american soldiers along with performing the song. the video also has very good verisimilitude in that it makes the viewers believe that this is a real thing as costumes, setting and props are all real and same to real life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcps2fJKuAI

Aggression/anger
Aggression is another common star image quality this is shown with the band Marmozets, many of their songs and videos show off the anger and aggression in the way that they sing the lyrics of the song, Especially in the songs "Born Young And Free" and "Why Do You Hate Me" show off the bands anger and aggression.

BORN YOUNG AND FREE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afX5kz9hfHI
WHY DO YOU HATE ME?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGSWfuiO0Ps

Organic Or Synthetic

In the Alternative Rock genre the acts
tend to be organic in the way that they
go about their career.

Alternative rock bands tend to certain
characteristics typical of organic acts
which include things such as writing a
majority of their own material with
minimal help from writers.

They also seem to have more
emphasis on a album sales as a
whole than individual song sales
than synthetic artists.

They also naturalistic in that they play
their own instruments live and when
they produce their music.

During the career of the acts they aim
for a long term goal of making
profits. e.g. Rock bands such as Foo
Fighters and  Arctic Monkeys have
careers that spans for 10+ years.

Acts In Alternative Rock

I have constructed a mind map to show some of the most iconic and new acts in alternative rock since the creation of the genre in the 1980's, the mind map also shows some of the artists' iconic albums and singles over time.

Alternative Rock - History

1980's

Alternative rock is a sub-genre of rock music that emerged during the 1980’s The name ‘alternative’ came from that it was different and separate from mainstream rock. This was by the music being more distorted in sound from the guitars and aggressive lyrics and attitudes. 

Alternative rock first emerged in the 1980’s in America by a select few bands such as R.E.M whose debut album went into the top 40. during the late 80’s, the alternative rock genre emerged into Britain and firstly by The Smiths.

1990's

Alternative Rock really became popular during the 1990’s after its emergence in the 80’s.

This was done by the emergence of such groups like Jane’s Addiction and Nirvana which really began to make the Alternative Rock genre popular, and with the release of Nirvana’s single Smells Like Teen Spirit which due to constant airplay on MTV made Nirvana’s Record Nevermind sell 400,000 copies by Christmas on its release in September.

This really showed that alternative rock was at an all time high in popularity

The decline then rise In Popularity (90’s/early 2000’s)

During this time period the popularity of alternative rock began to fade due to many events, one of which was the death of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain.

But despite the decline in popularity many bands still had success in the early 2000’s, acts such as Jimmy Eat World, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Paramore had great success and started a ‘emo’ style to the genre of Alternative Rock, which after a recent downfall in popularity was now beginning to show a revival going forward. 

REVIVAL OF ALTERNATIVE (EARLY 2000'S)

In the 2000’s Alternative Rock began to have a revival, this was down to a number of new acts that emerged like The Arctic Monkeys and Linkin Park.

Also the new sound that came out of these new acts and that all bands that emerged helped introduce more variety and sub-genres for alternative rock. 

e.g. Linkin park in 2001 in the lead up to their new album Hybrid Theory constructed a new genre in Nu-metal which combined rock and rap together, this led to the album to selling 4.8m copies in 2001

THE NEW BREED (2010 ONWARDS)

Many bands that started in the early 2000’s such as Linkin Park and Arctic Monkeys still making and producing albums today with the recent releases of Linkin Park’s “The Hunting Party” and Arctic Monkeys “AM” album still selling millions of copies.

Also more recently 2013 onwards the alternative rock genre has seen the emergence of new acts younger rock acts like Royal Blood, The Marmozets and Mallory Knox etc.