SLAVES
Slaves are an English punk duo from Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, which formed in 2012. Their music has been described as "British punk with harsh bluesy garage riffs.
The band consists of ...
Laurie Vincent - guitar, bass, vocals
Isaac Holman - drums, vocals.
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaves
RECORD LABEL
'Virgin EMI Records was founded in March 2013 through the merger of Mercury Records UK and Virgin Records. It operates two distinct A&R and marketing streams—Virgin and EMI Records. Virgin EMI became one of Universal Music UK's front-line labels, alongside Polydor Records, Island Records, Decca Records, and a newly established Capitol Records UK. '
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_EMI_Records
Virgin EMI's artists include Taylor Swift, Corinne Bailey Rae, Rihanna, Katy Perry. So it was interesting to see that they had signed an alternative artist like 'slaves', however with over 2 million views on the music video I'm analysing it is understandable that they've been signed by a major label.
The band are also signed to two independent record labels; Font Hill Records and Girl Fight Records. It was hard to find information on them, however, it appears that they are the producers and distributors of they're albums on Vinyl and CD, they were also much more active on social media when promoting Slave's music.
CHEER UP LONDON
Oh, you!
Put another 0 in your paycheck
Are you done digging your grave yet?
Put another 0 in your paycheck
Are you done digging your grave?
Put another 0 in your paycheck
Are you done digging your grave yet?
Put another 0 in your paycheck
Are you done?
You're dead, already, dead, dead, already-ready
Dead, already, dead, dead, already-ready
Dead, already, dead, dead, already-ready
Dead, already, dead
Put another 0 in your paycheck
Are you done digging your grave yet?
Put another 0 in your paycheck
Are you done digging your grave? What!
Put another 0 in your paycheck
Are you done digging your grave yet?
Put another 0 in your paycheck
Are you quite done?
You're dead, already, dead, dead, already-ready
Dead, already, dead, dead, already-ready
Dead, already, dead, dead, already-ready
Dead, already, dead
SYNOPSES
- 0:00 - 0:27 : The music videos with a straight cut to a POV shot of someone driving along an British industrial road, with greenery, houses and parks surrounding. There is a White van in front, and there is muffled music with two men talking in the car. At 0:06 a cyclist passes the car on the outside lane and hits the back of the van with their hand gesturing it to pull over, the van stops in the road and the cyclist dismounts their bike, the car in which the POV is being filmed stops also. The cyclist and driver begin fighting in the road and the two men in the car are showing concern with their dialogue.
- 0:27- 0:47: There is a sound of a car door opening and Isaac walks in frame and gestures the POV camera to come out of the car, which it does. At this point their is a gradual sound gain and the song begins. They both walk over to the people fighting (to which you can still hear over the music), Isaac steps in between them and starts singing (lip syncing) at them as if he is reasoning with them.
- 0:47 - 1:08: The camera zooms into the Issac and the two men and the van driver gestures to his vehicle as if its been damaged and Isaac gives it a sarcastic wipe. He then walks into the distance and the camera moves round to the back of the van. At 0:54 the chorus begins and the back doors swing open and out comes Laurie, with a bunch of balloons and cheerleaders in black and red (reminiscent of nirvana's teen spirit music video). Issac is off screen and the two men look shocked as Laurie is stomping and dramatically dancing while singing to camera. The cheerleaders are doing a repetitive choreographed routine. They are moving towards the camera and the camera is moving backwards.
- 1:08- 1:23: The car that the video opened in comes into shot as the camera moves back and at 1:09 the singer gestures kicking a ball and the camera follows this with a fast pan round to the Park where there is men playing football, a homeless man and in between a long path with a bunch of business people walking down. The POV camera moves in closer to the business men to show it's Issac who is now in a business suite, lip syncing into a phone aggressively and being pestered by the others. The camera is now face on to Issac but moving back as the group walks and Laurie jumps in frame at 1:19 and is also lip syncing but to camera.
- 1:23- 1:39: Camera movement slows down -along with the group -moving and Issac looks disappointed while slowly bringing the phone down. Here the camera pans quickly to the right where there is a person holding a pink sheet, two people in white bear costumes and a lady holding a sign of their logo in front. This is a reference to their album as it is a DIY recreation. The camera pans back to the singer except in between them is Shaun Williamson who is an actor best known for his role in Eastender's which may be a reference to the title 'cheer up London'. He is dressed in chef outfit and walks over along with Laurie to a orange and yellow ice-cream van- camera follows. There is a queue of people but they grab a bag from the van and Laurie puts an ice pop in his mouth. Laurie stomps off without paying and the chef protests.
- 1:39- 1:59: Camera moves backwards onto a London double Decker bus and Laurie while steps on reaching into the bag. There is a man sat with a newspaper in front of his face that comes into frame, he reveals himself to be Issac who is back in his original outfit and starts singing to camera, Laurie starts handing out ice creams and everyone in the bus start bopping along to the music. Every once in a while Issac will sing ' cheer up London' to the passengers. Issac sings directly into the camera and then starts stomping backwards.
- 1:59- 2:08: The camera is still and a man in a black coat steps onto screen from the left and his back fills the screen. He begins walking to the front of the bus, still blocking most of the view and camera follows. The man steps out of frame and off the bus and the camera movement pans to the left where people are rushing down the steps- camera movement i particularly shaky. The camera leaves the bus and tracks with a side angle down the side of the bus where there are lots of people dancing/ marching.
- 2:08- 2:20: The camera moves along the crowd before positioning in front. In frame is a big crowd marching in front of the London bus down a street. Everyone is marching in time with the music. Besides the cheerleaders at the front, the crowd consists of average looking Londoners and on the front row there are woman with children with children on their shoulders or in buggies. There are cheerleaders on the rooftop of the bus and lots of people are holding fairground like hula hoops. The crowd separates down the middle at 2:14 reveal Issac and Laurence dancing and singing while making their way through to camera.
- 2:20- 2:44: Gradually more and more people that featured throughout join the crowd from the sides and there is confetti being thrown. In the background there is the ice-cream van and park from before and the car the video began in comes into frame. The camera moves to the front of the car and the band members begin to climb into it, before Issac sing the last ' cheer up London'' to camera.
- 2:44- 3:00: Laurie gets in the drivers seat and closes the door, where as Isaac stands in the door frame, turns back to the crowd and starts waving. The camera then tracks to a high angle long shot of the crowd where more of it is revealed and there is a sign with the song title in the bands logo's font. The car drives off the bottom of the screen and the crowd continues dancing and begins waving to camera. At 2:54 the camera straight cuts to black and the bands logo along with the directors names appear down the center of the screen in white. Th camera returns to black and the video ends.
There was only one long take throughout the video, therefor there were no transitions other than the straight cuts to black. Also this means there was only one location - a Residential Park.
KEY SHOTS, CAMERA MOVEMENT AND EDITS
00:00-03:00
The whole video is one long take, which is really rare within music videos as they can be hard to coordinate and be uninteresting if not executed correctly. However, the video has so many elements with the various actors, vehicles, entertaining choreography, outfit changes, various camera movement, grimy lead singers and shear chaos that it has achieved an impressive and captivating music video.
00:51-00:59
This point in the video is an impact-full shot singularly as it is unexpected but when paired with the point of the song that they jump out of the van it is amplified further by the dramatic increase in sound of the chorus.This also allows the viewers to know what to expect more as before it is a bit confusing/ enigmatic as to what is happening in the music video.
Camera Pans - (1:08-1:12)
This were effective for introducing new scenarios in the video as repetition allowed it to act as a bookmark for the audience, letting them know to expect something new and therefor create an interactive experience. The fast motion of the pans were also effective in creating the chaotic tone to the video.
01:54-02:03
This part of the video is successful in portraying the bands personality and message. The London bus clearly links to the title/ chorus and the band are interacting with the passengers and camera shows their 'cheeky' likeable side and using their lyrics in a literal sense - similar to the sort of persona carried by scar bands in the 80's like Madness etc. Which helps appeal to larger age range. Also by the man with the black coat taking up the screen this acts a creative transition and also perhaps creates suspense in the audience.
2:31-02:51
The change in camera movement and angle creates a closing effect to the video as it transitions, this allows us to see the whole location and cast. This ties the video together.
1:23- 1:26
This shot is interesting as it directly links to the band's album, in humorous way.This promotes the album directly and which is clever marketing but can also act as an easter egg current fans.
LOCATION & MISE EN SCENE
location
The setting appears to be an average looking park / residential area- most likely in London. This is key part of the music video as it is linked directly to the song and also had to be functional in order to do one long take. he setting isn't glamorous or out of the ordinary and this allows the viewers to relate to the band. This also amplifies the bands attitude/ brand as their whole persona is an east end rebellious duo. The Props/ vehicles are all essential to creating this common British park look with the ice-cream van. There are also Office Blocks in the distance which again adding to this mundane and relatable location. This mundane location also amplifies the chaotic nature of the situation as it seems even more out of place.
costume
The bands main outfit throughout the video are Denim jackets,black tailored trousers, circular glasses and co-oordiated red and yellow shirt.Isaac is wearing black trainers and Laurie white. The mix of formal and casual clothing has grown more popular in high fashion, it gives the band a unique look and the coordination in the music video is aesthetically pleasing and highlights their unity as a band. However, they haven't over coordinated they're look as this would produce a mainstream artificial look which is not appreciated by the average listener of alternative rock/ punk. The similarity between their look and old ska bands personifies the bands image. The use of primary colours creates a memorable look and association for viewers.
(Madness 1982)
The third outfit change also demonstrates this look as they are wearing completely matching white suites, but with t-shirts and trainers. This use of only one is consistent with the effect of the primary colours in their previous look.
When analysing costume I also wanted to highlight the cheerleaders costumes as they reminded me of the cheerleaders in nirvana's smells like teen spirit promotional video. The only difference being that they had the bands logo across their chest. It is unknown if this is intentional, however as they both fall under the alternative rock genre this suggests uses of red and black falls under it's iconography.
FOCUS GROUP
'I really enjoy this video because its honestly impressive and I didn't even notice the outfit change at first because it's so smooth for a one take video. I really like the outfits in this as their just really aesthetically pleasing and the way they mix formal and casual is similar to the old bands I listen too. I like the attitude of the Isaac and the other guy as well and it makes me want to dance like them to the song.'
'I love they're outfits and the overall mischievous attitude they have, I l also like they're use of common settings as its really reconcilable with the band members as they just seem like east end football hooligans but with better style or something. Their recreation of their album cover was also funny and just gives the impression that they don take themselves too seriously Not too be cheesy but the playfulness of the video honestly *air quotes* cheers me up.'
' There's nothing bad I can really say about this video, I like the filming style, the costume, the extras and the band members. I as a piece of film it is really good, but I don't associate it with a music video as it's really unusual and I don't know if that's bad or good. I like that it comes across as a simplistic video but when you think about it, that would have been so hard to film. '
' I like the interaction with camera and that they're singing and dancing/ acting rather than playing instruments as I can find that a bit repetitive. The act that it is one long POV shot I think makes the video just really edgy and unconventional. I like that the matching and choreo goes well with the camera movement and song tempo because it just elevates the catchy nature of the song and by ending it with the band driving off in the car from the starts ties the video together.'
LESSONS TO CARRY FORWARD
- Locations don't need to be extravagant when attempting to create an engaging music video, however details can add more depth to a location for the audience
- A careless, rebellious, casual front man/ protagonists are often more appealing to an audience
- It would be useful to explore the newer market retro niche aesthetics when styling our promotional video
- It is important for elements of the video to be appeal to the audience, whether through satire, image or iconography
- Having only front men feature in a video can work as long as they represent the bands brand well
- Costume plays an important role in portraying a likeable band persona
- It is a more enjoyable experience for a viewer if the tempo and rhythm of the song matches the pace and tone of the music video
- Unusual camera movement and angles can appeal to our genre's audience
- Intros and outros can help leave a lasting impression on an audience
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