Product Research: Forms and Conventions - Progessions of Band Music Videos

Our group and I have furthered our research of forms and convention, specifically into the progression of music videos that bands produce. Undoubtly almost all signed bands have more than one music video, and these music videos can show the progression of the band into the fame and recognition by the public. We can see this by the type of video, inclusion of special effects and band members visable in them. For instance, an example we researched, that I will go into further detail on is the band, Bloc Party. The progression of their videos start with the band members visable, so the viewers can fimilarise themselves with the band. The videos then gradually change, from the band being seen, to animated, to not in them at all. This is just one example of bands that, with the increase of fame, start to choose different forms and conventions, such as, actors, storylines, computer generated material, possibly even world events or other videos. Here are some examples:

BLOC PARTY

Silent Alarm - (First album)

So Here We Are - There are various close ups of the band. This allows us to familiarise ourselves with the band
.



Pioneers - Features members of the band in animated form, similar to the music videos by Gorillaz. It is possible that Bloc Party maybe trying to recreate the success of Gorillaz’ videos; since they’ve won 11 major awards since they were established in 1998, and been nominated for a further 24.





Weekend in the City - (Second Album)

The Prayer  - The first song released from their second album, features several other actors in the music video, though still revolving around the band members.



Hunting for Witches - This contains shots of the band only, in a dark area.



Intimacy - (Third & Latest Album)

Flux - One of the bonus tracks on the album. This video does not feature the band, and instead, displays robots causing chaos in cities. With the band fully established at this point, having been nominated for several awards, and winning the PLUG Indie Rock Album of the Year in 2006, they no longer need to play a role in the video as their fan base has been established, and are aware of who the members are.






THE TEMPER TRAP

Conditions - (First & Latest Album)

Sweet Disposition - Being their first single, Temper Trap have used computer generated images with at one stage or another, included the faces of each band member, allowing the viewers to see what the band look like, as at the early stages of their career, it will be unlikely for them to be recognised.



Fader - The video includes the band once again present, insuring that the audience can still familiarise themselves with the band. They are in dark setting with bars of light pulsing and flashing on and off.


Love Lost - The band do not appear in this video, an example of there growing success and their ability to be recognised by their audience. The initial success of their first two singles (Sweet Disposition won Drum Media Writers’ Poll’s ‘Single of the Year’, as well as Time Off Writers’ Poll’s ‘Single of the Year’, and also APRA Music Awards’ ‘Single of the Year’) allowed them to explore and experiment with different types of vidoes and techniques. 'Love lost', their third single, contains a story motivated video of young boys running for their P.E. lesson in a country area. Actors lip sync the song and perform actions. These conventions can be seen in many music videos, such as  Bombay Bicycle Club’s video for “Evening/Morning” and The Drums song “Let’s Go Surfing”.