Summer Homework

Mumford and Sons – The Cave
I really like the location and costumes in this video; it’s all in keeping with the band as the song as it’s not in your face and is very calm and casual. This links in with the white suites that the band is wearing. It has connotations of being calm and innocent which kind of contrasts with the motor bikes that they are riding on as they are stereotypically associated with dangerous bikers. The story line in this video is not very clear as it is more performance based which looks good. I think this is a very successful video, as it displays the band and really focuses on the song and not a narrative. My favourite shot but is the one in the picture above, where they exchange their insruments. The scenery behind them is beautiful and it looks good how the characters in the shot are almost blackened out due to the lighting. I also like the length of this shot and it stays until they walk away and the other men are just left there, it is a really good way to the end the music video as it’s a bit ambigious as to where Mumford and Sons have gone.



Blink 182 – Always

The main thing that stands out about this video is the editing. It makes the video looks messy but keeps it so you can see and understand what’s going on. I also like how this video balances and mixes performance and story line together well. Without the effect of the three-way split screening this video would not be as good or effective. Also without the split screening the story line would not be as clear. I think this video works really well as it’s different but still looks good. It also in keeps with the playfulness and perhaps messiness of the band. I like how the concept is continued throughout the video until the end, and I also like how the video starts and ends with pretty much the same shot of the flowers in the vase. I like this as it could mean that maybe the characters in the video have ended up in the same place or position as they had before.




Foals – Balloons

This is one of my favourite bands and music videos as it’s a bit weird and different. I like how the band is playing in something that looks like a front room. The decorations and wallpaper look very odd and vintage which ties in with the music and image of the band. This video does not really have a clear narrative but introduces ideas and concepts in to the video. For example the video begins with women in black dresses with black bob and then cuts to a bed of moving flowers. Instantly you think that this video is not normal because the flowers do not tie in with the song at all as it’s called balloons. However this could be some underlying message that the band are trying to get across. I also think this when you see the lead singer holding a bird, you wonder whether this is just to hold a bird or it has a meaning behind it, the concepts in this video of very peculiar and ambiguous. I like the shaky editing that is used when they are sitting on the table having tea; this continues throughout the video and looks really good as it looks perfectly un-polished and perfect. I think this video might not be as successful as others as it’s not to everyone’s tastes and does not have a very clear theme to it. I think this would appeal to their target audience as they would understand that this video links in with the music and personality of the band. My favourite shot in this is the ending shows a zoom out of the discarded room with the flickering light which leaves you left wondering what happened.



I like how simple yet effective this advert it, it only has three colours but because there is so much white, the texts really stand out from each other. For example the main image and the background in the picture are all white and then there are the three red stripes across them. This links with the name of the album that is being released as it’s called the blueprint three, and there are three red stripes. I think that this album release really links with the artist as Jay Z is so popular that his work and image can be recognised easily, so he does not need perhaps an image of himself on the advert. I think it’s a good idea to have the name of the songs that are currently out so people can see that they are on the album; they make this stand out by putting the song titles in bold so you can easily spot them. The fonts on this are very simple and plain but this in keeps with the calm tone of the advert. Except for the name of the artist, this is in a bigger bolder and different front the rest of it so it stands out and is clear to read.




This is an advert for the new album release of the Gorillaz. Like the Jay Z one it is very simple but effective. The fonts at the bottom of the page are simple and easily legible. I like how the top line of the text is plain and the bottom text is in bold. This makes the texts the same size even though one sentence is longer than the other one. The underneath that is the main website, I think this is very good because it gives the audience a chance to see details etc about the band. I like that the name of the band and album title is in wavy text as it ties in with the sea and looks like it’s part of it. I think it looks really good how there is a lot of sea which is darkened so that the white text is clearer. The image in the advert is very appropriate to the band and their image. As in all their videos they are not shown as being human, they are characters. So the image in the advert ties in with the band. The location of the image as well could also tie in with the name of the band as it’s outside and looks quite free which relates to the name of the album ‘plastic beach’ and possibly the name of the band ‘Gorillaz’ as they live outside.




This advert is different to the other two above; this one is very bright and colourful. The text and everything in it stands out from the black background which looks like space. The main image in the advert is a monkey, this could be linked to the name of the title of the album as it is called ‘Rooty’ and the monkey has a plant in this mouth from a tree, which could link as the word root is associated with trees. The pink down the left side of the advert makes it look edgey and ties in with the strangeness of this advert. This adverts links with the band and what they’re about as they’re ‘out there’ and loud. The title at the top with the band name is large compared to the rest of the text, this makes it stand out and one of the first things you see. The colouring of this title is good as well because if it was just plain white I don’t think that the text would stand out as much. The splattered colours on it link in with the pain down the side as it looks a bit like someone has splattered/split paint on the poster. The image of the monkey has been edited so it looks very soft which makes it appear gentle and calm. This contrasts with the chaos going on around him which makes it look not so distracting.