Intertextual reference for real life part

Having watched Paolo Nutini's "New Shoes" music video I noticed how he walks down a street/s. It reminded me a lot of how we plan to have the band and Wolf walking together. Mid shots are used a lot in the video, at eye level and below showing his legs. In the storyboard, I illustrated our idea to use similar levelled- shots, as shown below...



Furthermore, many indie/folk artists appear as themselves, promoting their music so it is important to have many shots including the artist. This is advised by one of Andrew Goodwin's points- having plenty of close ups of the artist. Newton Faulkner is also presented in his videos, singing with his guitar. This suggests how his musical talent simply consists of himself and his instrument (guitar). Whilst looking for videos of Faulkner's music, I came across his latest single and its video: "Over and Out". Unsurprisingly, the video opened with a shot of Faulkner's legs carrying his guitar case. When he had set up his clever and quirky invention (projecting himself performing) close ups of his face and guitar are used amongst mid and long shots showing where he is and his audience. The close ups and shots following his legs and guitar case emphasize what he's all about, his simple appearance and costume and his love and talent of playing the guitar. As it opens with not showing his upper part of his body, it is hiding part of his identity (specifically his face). This may be to keep the audience interested and intrigued to find out who the artist is. The purpose of quick editing of different subjects and mise-en-scene increases the tempo and interest of the audience.

Just recently, Paolo Nutini has released his track Pencil Full of Lead which is in fact partly animation and real-life. Therefore it is an excellent example of Folk artists being more adventurous and creative in their music video productions. Whilst some of the women in their ravishing yellow and black costumes dance, several play instruments on a small stage- rather unconvincingly. This emphasizes how much Roxxy and I should have the band (or impersonators) performing, whether they can play the instrument or not. Here is Nutini's video:



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Below is the video for Blitzen Trapper's Furr song, which has the artist performing in some parts of the animation. The video is completely animated (and directed by Jade Harris) which I admire and empathize for the time and patience the animator/s have.
Goodwin's theory has much relevance for this music video in particular one of his points is used a lot throughout the video. This is the (advised) use of connecting the visuals to the lyrics of the track. This helps engage the audience and keep their attention. A similarity to our production and this existing media product could be the cut out imagery, which we are using for our silhouette animation- a particular similarity could be the way the wolves move. We avoided making our wolf's legs and head move as it would have slowed us down and been painfully fiddly.


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Having done a lot of research into existing music artists and bands, it is apparent how if an artist or band can play an instrument, they will. Sometimes, it seems in the early stages of their career, they need to show their musical abilities and talent. Rock and indie bands often use this approach to portray how they can play "live" and are passionate about their music. A relatively new band, The Temper Trap have begun their videos (Sweet Disposition and Fader) with performing but amongst graphics. The Kooks are often performing in their videos (She Moves In Her Own Way and Ooh La).
An alternative to performing live is for an artist or band to mime, which is an extremely common and approach to use for those who sing rather than play an instrument. This allows them to have different narratives whether linear, flashback, looped or interwoven. Paolo Nutini's "Coming Up Easy" video involves a comical narrative focusing on his friendship with a human-sized white rabbit. Thus being a device in the narrative which engages the audience with the context.
Locations in folk/indie music videos can be varied but many are outside in urban or rural locations. We opted for different locations in rural locations as we liked the naturalistic imagery and it linked well with the animation imagery.