Music Video Research 6

Artist: The Wombats
Song: Greek Tragedy
Director: Finn Keenan
Genre: Indie Rock

Visual Style/ Mise-en-scene

Settings:City streets: Familiarity, a place for everyone, everyday routine, cash point, cafe, cant do anything in privacy, stalker, they cant escape her, audience feel uncomfortable, fearful, empathetic.

Modern, expensive house: Contrasts between her cluttered, small bedroom, large light, open space. Suggests the bands success and also shows the audience that she doesn't belong there, and she shouldn't be there. Audience feel sorry for the band, could be used to symbolise the effect media and fans have on celebrities- no privacy, constant harassment. 

Run down/ Dilapidated Warehouse: Feels as though it is far away from anywhere, she shouldn't be there, abandoned, no one else there, no on will hear them scream, turns the plot into being more threatening and suspicious. 

Concert Venue: Allows us to see the band performing live, also allows the narrative to progress, her gaze looks more hypnotised and demented, crazed, determined. The audience can see the clear contrast between her and the rest of their fans who are simply enjoying the gig.

The protagonists bedroom: posters of the wall in a collage all over her wall- emphasises the fact that she is an obsessive fan, promotes the band through the narrative, makes it obvious to the audience who's music video this is, also shows how young she is and how free she feels both in the world and her room. 

Slow motion tracking shot around the girl with her arms spread out like a plane: freedom, happiness, calm, at one with everything, relaxation, euphoria, shows audience her psychopathic personality which will only be made evident later in the video. 

Extremely fast pace montage of blurry/out of focus, shaky, brightly lit footage of the band, changing in time with every beat of the drum- Homemade footage, the videos are not professionally shot, they are filmed with a hand held camera, amateur, already giving the audience a sense of whats about to happen, danger, stalker, warning, news flash, white lines running across the screen, like a broken TV, dramatic, juxtaposes her calmness and stillness. (This repeats itself 4 times.)

Close up shot of Tord in the cafe: shot tracks out to reveal that it is being filmed from across the road, stalker, invasion of privacy, grainy, shaky, dull coloured, low mega pixel quality, show that this is her footage, stalker, following them, seeking joy out of finding them around town, obsession. 

Medium Close up shot of Murph: Muph looks up, the camera is moved to face inwards and becomes very jumpy, suggests that she is running away, she has been spotted by him, she enjoys the danger, the chase, audience fear for their safety. 

Selfie shot: Girls arm outstretched, show that she is just a fan, she has taken the 'fan' a bit too far, she is infatuated with the band, excited, cant believe she is actually meeting them rather than just watching them. Adds a sense of normality to her, makes the audience question their own level of 'fan' for certain artists, gives them a sense of how it feels to be famous. 

High angle shot of her in a crowd- spotlight on her, red lights over the rest of the crowd- looking upwards, eyes close slightly, mouth open, still. Everyone else is dancing , moving, juxtaposes her stillness. Shows that she is a minority, not all fans are 'mental, demented, 'fangirls'.

Midshot of her sitting in her room in front of a camera, then cuts to a clip from the POV of that camera that was previously in shot- the image becomes more grainy and matches the quality of the videos of the band members in the street- this implies that she is very proud of her stalkers ways and is slightly obsessed with promoting and basting about her 'achievements', it also clarifies to the audience that the footage is hers and she is the one following them. You tuber, conversing with other fans. 

Over the shoulder shot of her pointing a camera at Dan in the street- allows the audience to see it from her perspective, gives them a sense of the thrill that she feels, shows that she is hiding, waiting for him to walk past.

Narrative devices and techniques used 

Shows how 'fans' are often tarnished as 'fangirls' who take their fan status too far because of the minority. 

Humorous because The Wombats are exaggerating their famousness and wealth. Even though the final shots of them tied up in ropes is shocking it is also quite funny, when they look like puppets. This could be showing the power that fans have over a band. If the fans don't buy their music or tickets, they are nothing. We have the power to 'pull the strings' and alter what they are doing. 

An obsessed fan is stalking the Wombats, taking videos of them doing everyday tasks like eating in a cafe or walking down the street, she even videos Murph through the window of his own house. She sees certain things happen. 

Murphs toaster breaks- she buys him a new one- then throws it in the bath when she breaks into his flat.

Tord is seen with a dog- she buys him a do teddy which can be seen moments before she slits his throat warning the audience of her presence. 

She spills coffee on his jumper as she tries to take a picture with him, knits him a new jumper, goes to give him it 

Conventional/ Unconventional

Convention: We see the band performing the song live on stage both miming and playing their instruments.