Foals - Cassius video analysis

Foals - Cassius

This clip I have selected is the first fifteen seconds of the music video. I have selected this part of the video as it shows disjuncture with vague links to illustration. I think this because the name of the song is "Cassius" and when  I researched the name, I found that Cassius was a Roman senator and was the leading person of Julius Caesar's murder - this could be the explanation of the hanging hearts throughout the video. The band members are revealed as soon as the video starts and are introduced through on-beat editing through a series of long shots and mid shots and some close ups. The lead singer dances correctly with the rhythm and tempo of the music and the use of quick paced editing reveals the mise en scene of mainly black, white, red and green colours. The most dominant colour is white, which creates a very simple mise en scene. Although this clip is packed full of colours and action, the band do not at any point play their instruments - this is nor abiding or contrasting conventions as music videos often contain no instruments being played by the artists.

This second clip I have selected shows the chorus. This part of the music video follows quite a few conventions such as: expressionless artists - this is often used and all five band members at no point smile or make an expression; the main vocalist is in the middle and at the front - this makes him the main point of focus, this is what record companies usually insist upon as it is the face of their band. Placing the main vocalist in the middle makes him the main point of focus throughout the video and he is in the majority of the shots. There are no females in this video and no systems of looking - it is kept very simple and quite unique to most other music videos. The majority of the shots in this clip are mid-shots of the whole band and close ups of the hearts on strings. However, this clip includes all band members thrusting their hands at the camera when they say "weakness in my heart" - this also explains the hearts hanging from strings. As the chorus is about "weakness" of the heart, one of the band members is destroying flowers by hitting them on the ground - as flowers are a sign of love, it could represent heartbreak due to the weakness of the heart (this is illustrating the lyrics).

This clip shows the chorus of the song. During this clip i have selected, it may be worthwhile noticing that only the lead singer appears - often the record companies use the main vocalist as a focus point, but not usually for such long lengths of time. Lip syncing is used in this part of the video which is a convention that is nearly always used. The fast tempo of the music and playful mood the song brings is showed through the dancing and energetic moves the main vocalist uses. Black, white, green and red are still the main colours being used for mise en scene and the continuity of these colours is showed throughout the video - this is worthwhile noticing and using in our own music video as it gives the impression of a professional approach. Only mid-shots and long shots of the artist are used during this clip. Close ups are used, but only of the hearts - this contrasts conventions of music videos as there are usually many close ups of the artists singing/lip syncing as they are the main point of focus and close ups emphasise this.

This clip uses lots of on-beat editing to emphasise the rhythm and tempo of the song. This music video uses lots of artificial lighting to help create a bright background which helps to give the video its simplicity. The bright lights and all of the hearts hanging from strings contrast each other as they each represent life and death. The heart strings are cut during this part of the song, which could be interpreted as the "weakness" of the heart as it is easily cut loose. The mise en scene maintains its continuity and again, most of the focus remains on the lead singer - this is done by making him dance by himself whilst all of the band are on screen and also by making most of the shots focused on him. Once the hearts are cut free from their strings, they hit the floor with the tempo of the music and the guitar being played seems to be of a happy atmosphere, which is strange as dead animal's hearts are not a thing to be happy about. This originality is what helps to make this video fit into the indie/alternative genre. I think that this would be helpful for us to use and indie is short for individual, so we need to make our video unique and interesting but not so outrageously different that it doesn't fulfill conventions of a music video.

This part of the music video runs a flashback of all the events which have occurred in this video and puts them into a rewind special effect. This is not something you see very often in music videos, but there is often repeated scenes, such as a repeated mise en scene for the chorus or a similar use of shots. The flashback fits the beat of the music. It is a convention that most of the events which happen in the video are placed on-beat with the tempo and rhythm of the music - this helps it flow better and makes it more pleasing to watch for the audience.

There are no other systems of looking in this video besides from the camera and there is no voyeurism.

The shots are dominantly mid-shots of the band members or long shots with very few close ups of the band members at all. This is quite rare and contrasts conventions as close ups are usually the most used shot in music videos. When we create our music video, I will make sure we centre our main vocalist and use many close ups of him/her to ensure we abide by music video conventions.