Andrew Jobe - Artist Research 2

Activity 1

Part 1

The Futureheads normally use quirky elements of their song in their music video, and they try and make them funny, which is something which only works for certain songs. Their music video for “heartbeat song” is a quirky video which is set in a game show environment. That’s what makes it memorable for viewers, and making a video memorable is the best way to promote your band.

They have a lot of performance in their videos which is a good way of making themselves them very authentic and it shows that they play their own instruments. It also insinuates that they write their own songs and they’re not a manufactured band. It also makes you think that they’d be very good to see live, that’s another way which bands make themselves identifiable.

Both of them aspects which I’ve mentioned above are very often used in Indie video, which shows that they’re fitting the genre that they’re currently in.

As the band have got older and grown up since 2000 they’ve started to produce deeper and darker songs, rather than their more quirky style they had when they were younger. For example Beginning of the twist is very different to Sun Goes down, as Sun Goes Down was produced as they grew up a bit more and their style altered slightly. That’s why we’re doing their newer song and going with a slightly more serious video.

I don’t think the film style has changed that much over time; they’re still very focussed on filming the band playing their instruments.

Part 2

The main mise-en-scene focus in their videos is the inclusion of instruments and props that match their “indie/alternative” genre. What I mean by Indie props is the clothes that the band wear, they wear quite dull outfits, either black or grey. This is very popular with Indie bands as they’re not looking to be outrageous with big outfits like Lady Gaga and other pop acts they’re looking to be as down to earth as possible.

Also like I’ve previously mentioned they have instruments in their videos to make them seem like a band who are very talented and not just a band who was everything handed to them on a plate, with writers and backing tracks etc.

The videos all have quick cuts and straight cuts, that’s done to make them seem as down to earth as possible. 

This allows fans to feel close to the band and feel they could be like them.

A video which I’ve looked at by the Futureheads links in with TV in a small way. The song is “heartbeat song” and it has the band on a gameshow and it shows them performing live on the show. The link with the TV show does not have a meaning that I know of but it’s a way for the fans to remember the band.

CD Cover conventions? -  Track names, Album Title, Band Name, Parental advisory if needed, a picture of band or something related, Barcode, Producer, Record label.