Damien Rice - The Blowers Daughter

Damien Rice is an Irish singer,songwriter, most famous for his songs like "The Blowers Daughter" and "Cannonball", his specializes in the indie and folk genre.
The Blowers Daughter was a song written in 2001, he wrote it after forming a relationship with someone over the phone this links to parts of the song, he found out the girl was too young, hence the slight change of the chorus changing from cant take my eyes off of you too cant take my mind off of you. The song was Number one in various countries around the world and has been nominated for many awards including folk song of the year 2001 and also the following year in 2002.


Lyrics and Visuals 

 The lyrics and visuals relate to The music Video once, this is at 1.02 when you see Damien Rice himself, standing on a bay, looking down upon a women shedding a tear as he does, this may then indicate a past relationship between the two, showing the audience the start of a storyline, the fact that he is almost following her without her knowing that he is their may get some of the audience thinking about why his doing that.
Also when he mentions colder water,  you see the waves, this could intend being in hit in the face by cold water will come as a shock symbolising being hit by reality. In the video there are two stories, the main story told by Damien Rice about him falling in love with a girl over the phone and also another story about a man who falls in love with a stripper, both of the videos that are shown can be related to the lyrics but at the end of both of the videos, one has a happy ending and the other having the opposite.

Music and Visuals

There are only two uses of this, at 2.15, the tempo of the song starts to change picking up in pace , the background video then changes to a younger girl walking through a  busy town, and then at 2.45, during the chorus of "I cant take my eyes off of you", you see Damien standing behind the girl on the shore of the beach, the song tempo then slows down once again as you see the younger girl turn around and look directly into the camera.

Genre Characteristics

As this song is indie folk, it is portrayed as soft, gentle and relaxing. The music video in whole represents a relaxing setting but due to the distress of the storyline, the relaxing aspect is shown as much as it should be, the beach is normally a place where people go to relax but because it is raining and deserted, the subtleness of the beach has completely vanished.No instruments are seen in the video but they play a big part in it because when they change in pace so does the video, overall there are some aspects of Goodwin's theory that are shown here.

Artist Close up/Label

The artist is featured a lot within the video, he isn't trying to look good, he is solely trying to get the point of the story and the lyrics across,The record Label seem as if they are trying to push him into the video a lot, and just showing other people as they are mentioned within the lyrics. As this is such a personal and emotional song to Damien Rice, you can see the true emotions of him, he sheds a tear a various amount of times during the video. A lot of close ups and extreme close ups are used to show the emotions of him.

Star Image

 As the camera is mainly focused on Damien Rice, you know that he is the main star of the video and you should watch him. As mentioned before the camera work truly shows his emotions, they show a saddened man, watching a girl, this shows his importance to the video and what he is there for. He is dressed in a scruffy manner, possibly meaning that he is still sad after losing this lady or because he has been waiting out there watching her for ages.

Voyeurism/Looking/Gaze

   There is some exposure in this video at 3:07. this is part of the film that is being shown in the background,they appear to be at a strip club, once the girl stops dancing the pace of the music slows down a lot, she is wearing very revealing clothes, just a bra and knickers, even though she is irrelevant to Damien rices storyline she plays a big part in the movie behind it. There is another slight use of Goodwin's theory, at one point of the video you see what Damien Rice sees,and you see that all he is looking at is the lady standing down on the beach, this shows the importance of her to him as she is all your see at this point, he doesn't take his eyes of off her, referring back to the chorus also showing us that he is still in love with her.

Intertextuality

This video has Intertextuality. There are clips in the music video of a film called ,
"Closer", this film is about the relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other. The reason why this is in the background is because the song was chosen to be the main song in the film.

This Music Video has almost every point from Goodwin's theory within it and you are able to identify them by looking at the song.

The Script - The man who can't be moved

The Script are a band from Dublin, Ireland. They write different types of music all related to the genre of rock, they write mainly, "Alternative and Indie rock". Main singer Danny O'Donoghue was one of the people who wrote the song.

The man who can't be moved was The Scripts second song, released in July 2008, the song made huge impressions to the United Kingdom, USA, Israel,Ireland and Denmark, taking the second spot in all of the countries official music charts. The song has been heavily used in numerous American hit TV shows, they used this song as they believe it is a song that can touch the heart, showing emotion and passion throughout.

Lyrics and Visuals

At 0.26, you see Danny O'Donoghue sing "If you see this girl, can you tell her where I am" at this point in the music video, he is seen asking an old man the same question, this shows the audience that he is longing to see this girl again and you can see the storyline unfolding in the video as well as the lyrics. At 0.33 he says, "They don't understand" whilst he is saying this, you see him push someone away from him, another use of Goodwin's theory of Lyrics and Visuals is at 1.05 he says,"you'll see me waiting for you on the corner of the street" he is sitting on the corner of the street with other things that he has mentioned earlier on in the video such as the cardboard sign. This shows the characters seriousness of the situation and the passion that he will need to put in, in order to meet the girl once again. Finally at 3.28 Danny is sitting on the pavement patiently singing about how he is waiting on a girl to come and meet him. Crowds begin to gather round him and he makes the news, becoming something of a celebrity. Near the end of the video there are time lapsed scenes of days passing and we witness Danny in rain and snow, growing older with a larger beard, but still waiting on the pavement. The video ends with a close-up on Danny who is still waiting as the girl has yet to come to him.

Music and Visuals

Music and Visuals are used quite a lot in this video, at 0.47 the video changes from the story line to the whole band standing in a car park playing all their instruments, there are then various shots that are used such as close ups and extreme close ups, these are used to show the instruments that are being played and there importance at the time. At 3.15 the tempo of the guitar and his singing increase, also at this time the video shows fast paced time lapsed scenes and also Danny starts to dance a lot stronger and faster, this resembles the lyrics as do his dancing and the video, they use cutaways to show him dancing and then the days changing.

Genre Characteristics

As this song is from the rock genre, it shows the light rock and also the heavier bass, the heavier bass is shown through pathetic fallacy, as the weather gets worse the bass gets louder and gets used more frequently in the song. Also all of the instruments that have been used are shown in the video at some point this has been done by using various camera angles such as close ups and two shots consisting of more than one instrument at once. This gives the viewers a much more concluded view of the instruments that are used by the band.

Artist Close up/Label 

 The whole band are seen in the music video showing theirs parts and what they do within the song, at one point all 3 band members can be seen. Danny O'Donoghue is always at the front as he is the main singer, he is seen in almost every scene of the video itself, the storyline is about a man that has seen someone that he thinks is beautiful and now he is longing to meet her again, he shows the correct emotions throughout using facial expressions and using his body language, when they show that he is saddened and wanting to see the girl again  they use a close up shot to show his face, at this point you see a distressed man.

Star Image

A tracking shot is used to follow O'Donoghue around, as he is mainly the only person seen in the shot, showing a strong and important role within the video. The clothes he has got on show a relaxed look until he video fast forwards into the future, he is then wearing the same clothes but instead they are now torn and worn out. He is definably the main star.

Voyeurism/Looking/Gaze

There is no bodily exposure within the whole video, but there is a shot within a camera, this is seen at 2.43, when a reporter comes up to him and interviews him, the shot then goes to an over the shoulder shot before resuming going back into the camera within a camera shot. Everyone is seen watching him in the video, this could also be used to link back to star image of him being the main attraction.

Intertextuality

This video has no intertextuality but i think that him standing on the corner is symbolic. I don't see him literally standing on the street corner. I see it as him not wanting to move on, still hoping she'll come back, still remaining where he was in life in case she comes back.
The part about "people hand me money they don't understand" isn't literally about someone giving him money like a homeless person. I think it means people try to engage him in life but he can't change yet. This could be the storyline behind the video.

 In conclusion, the music video has a lot of points of out Goodwin's Theory.
   

 
 

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

Snow Patrol are a NorthenIrish/ Scottish alternative rock band that formed in 1994.

Chasing Cars was a song wrote by Dr Gary Lightbody in 2005. This is one of the bands biggest songs that they have ever released, reaching number 6 in the uk top 40 and being nominated for two awards; "The Best Rock Song" at the 2007 Grammy awards and also "Best British Single" at the 2007 Brit Awards.
In the music video Gary Lightbody lies on the floor as it starts raining, in the middle of a busy street.
The lyrics refer back to something Lightbodys father used to say, referring to a girl that lightbody used to like,"You're like a dog chasing a car. You'll never catch it and you just wouldn't know what to do with it if you did." Gary Lightbody says this was what made him write the song. The target audience for the video would be any age but the understanding of the lyrics as the videos played would be more understandable for people of a much older age.

Lyrics and Visuals

Lyrics and Visuals are used throughout most of the video, when Lightbody says "If I lay here" at 0:36 and also on many other occasions, he can be seen lying on the floor saying it, this shows that he is waiting for the person that he is singing about to come and join him, this also gives us an understanding of how much the person means to him.

Music and Visuals

Music and visuals match almost perfectly with Goodwin's Theory. Yet again at 0.36, when Lightbody sings "If I lay here" The music almost has a silent patch from where the video changes from him sitting up in a chair in a restruant to him being on the floor, the background guitars and the base kick in as he says this. This shows inportance to these lyrics as it is a  question to his young love. The same thing happens to the music two more times and he repeats the lyrics. Also as he is about to sing the chorus, he starts to sing slower, this is also portrayed in the music video as the camera slowly spirals out of the shot. The Chorus seems to also change the setting and place of where he is lying, when he sings it.

Genre Characteristics

Chasing Cars is alternative rock song, which is a slower and more calmer version of the rock genre, it usually involves a lot of acoustics and light bass, but can be heavier at times.The Video definitely portrays the slower and calmer aspects, because when he is singing the softer parts of the song, he is in a smaller, quieter area, eg his bedroom but when the guitars start playing and his vocals become louder he is in a darker and much louder environment,such as a busy street. Also Lightbody is slow and relaxed in the video, this matches the tempo of the music, showing the audience a relation between the two.

Artist Close Up/Label

Goodwin's Theory is correct with this, as the main artist of the band is seen throughout the video playing a part to the storyline, the rest of the band are not seen in the video this is because they want the main singer to be seen, this is because he is the main "attraction" to Snow Patrol, they want people to know who they are when they see his face. Also Lightbody's emotions portray the storyline clearly, he walks round with this hand in his pocket, this can be seen as him being saddened by what has happened, also his facial expressions like having his eyes closed, show sadness. He isn't attempting to make himself look good in the video, he is just playing his part in the storyline, another reason why he may be the only one shown in the video is because as it is a problem between two people, because of the mention of no name of the other person they may be intending to show loneliness.

Star Image

The camera work shows Lightbodys star image as he is the only person getting all of the attention from the camera, showing his importance to the song and video. He Wears a plain t-shirt and jeans to show a casual and relaxed look, also when walking around he has his hands together or in one of his pockets, this shows that he is shy and quiet.

Voyeurism/Looking/Gaze

There is no exposure of anyone in the music video itself but there is a slight exposure of the emotion, loneliness.Throughout the whole video you see Lightbody on his own, with people taking no notice to him being their, he is seen lying on the floor a numerous amount of times and each one someone is walking past him or stepping over him without caring or wondering about what could be wrong with him. 

 Intertexuality

The music video has no intertexuality at all, as their is no relations to any other music videos or films, this shows that this is an independent song based solely on its own storyline.  

My favourite genre of music is rock and indie music, there have been many musical greats that have been involved with this genre, including Oasis and Coldplay. Both of these bands are favourites of mine because of their dedication and contribution towards this genre. Both bands have had many number ones, also winning awards worldwide.

My name is George and I am creating this blog in order to update you about my current progress in my A2 Media coursework which consists of creating a Music Video. Over a period of time i will post blogs about what I am doing and showing you my work.