Filming Diary Part 2

Today we managed to film all of Dougie’s scenes which proved to be quite difficult as we came across several problems, making the shooting of our product quite time consuming. One problem was faced was the framing of the shots, we needed them to be match the shots we did of Doug in order to create the intended effect but we found this difficult to do as we filmed these scenes on two different days. We also struggled with the mise-en-scene of the drug user as it was difficult to represent him clearly to the audience because we used the same location for each character. This meant that we needed the inside of the house to look as different as possible from the businessman’s, but still allowing the audience to see the connection between the two characters.

First of all we began to shoot Dougie’s outside scenes; this involved the character stumbling out to the road and almost getting hit by the other character, Doug. We also shot the final scene in our film with the two characters facing each other. After we had completed filming the shots from outside, we then filmed Dougie entering his house. He stumbles over a briefcase, and then when he looks back it is gone, we hoped to show the audience further the extent of the characters drug use through hallucinations.  After completing these scenes, we uploaded our footage so far onto the macs ready to edit.

Filming Diary Part 1

Today we filmed all of the businessman’s scenes and we began filming at around 10:30 AM until 4 PM. We started shooting the scenes towards the end of our music video and worked our way to the beginning scenes and so we filmed the car scenes and the street scenes first. We had many difficulties whilst filming the final car scenes so we attempted a variety of different camera shots and angles but none enabled us to create the desired effect that we had originally thought of.

We began by deciding on a quiet street where one member of the group would be a marshal; we then drove the car down towards the person with the camera at a slow speed and then they got out of the way.  Acknowledging that this could be dangerous we made sure to take this shot slowly and carefully. We made sure to disguise the driver as the actor in our product was not old enough to drive so we tried to use shots that enabled us to cover this. We then shot the scenes of the businessman entering his house and the other shots inside, involving the shots where the audience sees Doug beginning his daily routine.

Teacher/Audience Feedback

We have received feedback from our teachers, both giving us positive feedback about our idea and stating that they liked the “very abstract ideas which are synchronous with the lyrics". Another positive comment we were given was "I can't wait to see the stop motion and psychedelic outlook". Both of our teachers highlighted important areas in which to create a product that would be to the best of our abilities. They pointed out how to reach the higher section of the mark scheme and gave us helpful advice, such as suggesting the importance of using editing techniques to ensure that the meaning is clear to our audience. Our music video will heavily rely on the editing aspect in order to portray and deliver the message. Another piece of helpful advice that we received was the importance of the mise-en-scene which made us realise that this would emphasise our meaning further. We were given some targets from our teachers to help to improve our product, one of which was to look into the copyright of the cartoon clips that we are going to insert into our music video; we did some research into who the cartoons belonged to. We managed to find an email address but are still waiting for a response. Another target that we were given was to try and include more varied amounts of shot types. We took all of our targets positively and have now added different and more interesting shots and camera angles than we had before. These changes should hopefully have a positive effect on the outcome of our music video.  

We also received feedback from other media students in our class where we pitched our idea to another group and they then gave us their thoughts on our product. We received a very positive response to our idea. One of our classmates, Sam, said: "we have clear research of the lyrics and themes". This was a positive response as we knew the importance of the audience being able to understand our product and so this showed that it was portrayed clearly. Luke said: "It’s really good how we have taken our project from AS and expanded on some of the effects and ideas we had for our thriller opening". This made our group remember the careful choices of the mise-en-scene involved that helped to make the girl character look like a successful student.  Sam also said: "The song choice brings out the emotion of life". We were hoping for this response as the audience should be able to recognise the highs and lows of life and what paths we can follow, which is the theme of our product. We plan on representing this in our video by using the same actor to play both character roles, so the audience can see the two very different paths of life. The only negative piece of feedback we received from the other group was that we needed to expand and give more of a variety of shots.

Shooting Script

Shot List

Mise-en-scene

Locations

Storyboard

Narrative and Theories

....

Ideas

....

Target Audience

Our group decided to target our music video at older teenagers to younger adults as we found that they would be able to relate to our narrative better than any other age group. This is also because the song we chose (Kids by MGMT) is also classed as indie music and is under a psychedelic genre and therefore old teenagers and young adults would typically tend to listen to this style of music. Whereas a young audience would typically listen to a genre that is more upbeat, such as pop of dance that would appeal to that age group more. The message behind our narrative in the music is important so a younger audience would have trouble defining the meaning of our music video. However, we thought as a group that our narrative wouldn’t be suitable for children due to the references to drugs and their side effects.

 

As our music video could appeal to any older teenager or young adult, we decided not to make our music video gender-specific as this can allow everyone to relate to our narrative. The genre is unique and therefore should be liked by both of the sexes.

Music Video Conventions

Music Videos vary depending on their genre but they all follow certain codes and conventions to highlight the artist’s particular genre.

Camera Shots:

Music Videos tend to contain many long, mid and close up shots. This is said to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Close ups are also commonly used to reflect and represent the meaning of the song with the lyrics.

Our music video will contain many of these shots to establish the contrasts between the two characters and we shall also be using some close ups to express the emotion in a shot.

Camera Movement:

A music video would typically use a tracking shot to follow the band, but could also use other camera movements such as tilts and pans to further create emphasis on the artist.

We will be using the technique in our music video; however we will be displaying the characters using pans and a variety of angle shots to show the power difference between the two characters.

Editing:

A common editing technique used in music videos is the jump cut which allows one scene to suddenly change to another. If this technique is used, transitions such as fade or dissolve are very common in music videos as they create more of an effect than just using cuts.

Our music video will contain some fades to black to dramatically create a desired effect and will be very useful in the scene where one of the characters passes out.

Mise-en-scene:

This is a very important element in music videos as it clearly shows the audience what to think about a certain character in a narrative or the artist performing.

Similarly, the mise-en-scene in our music video will be very important as it will be used to distinguish the contrast between the two characters in our narrative.

The lighting in music videos can differ as some can be purely set in black and white to help emphasise a particular mood, whereas other music videos have artificial lighting to enhance the artist or band.

In our music video, we will be using split screen to show the two characters. One will be in more naturalistic lighting which could be enhanced to show the audience that he is the successful character. On the other hand, during the scenes with the other character we will be using editing to make the lighting appear a lot duller and thus reflect the characters ‘dull’ lifestyle. This will represent that he is the unsuccessful character which should hopefully be noticed by the audience.

The sound mainly consists of the vocals of the song, with the occasional sound effect to add a desired effect.

However, our music video will purely rely on the song and its lyrics to go with the video.

Props are vital in most music videos to aid the artist and create a further significance on particular objects or people.

We will be using many props in our music video to further establish the difference between the two characters. For example, Doug, the successful business man, will have a briefcase to show that he has a career and lives a professional lifestyle. Whereas Dougie will be shown as the opposite, with an addiction to drugs and alcohol problems so we will therefore be showing this in the music video with the use of props.

MTV's Censorship

 

MTV has come under criticism for being too politically correct and sensitive by censoring too much of their programming. MTV altered or removed shows from the channel's schedule and music videos were censored, moved to late-night rotation, or banned entirely from the channel.

MTV has also heavily edited a number of music videos to remove references in lyrics to drugs, sex, violence, weapons, racism, homophobia, or advertising, and completely edits out the swear words. MTV will also remove any content that is a concern to copyright holders. For example, "Guilty Conscience" by Eminem (featuring Dr.Dre) contains lyrics like "leave her on the front porch" and "slip this in her drink" that were censored out on MTV.

MTV made several efforts to limit daytime rotation of music videos that it felt had too much sexual content to be shown following the controversy. Videos moved to late-night or obscure rotation included "This Love" by Maroon 5, "Splash Waterfalls" by Ludacris, "The Jump Off" by Lil' Kim, "Toxic" by Britney Spears, "I Miss You" by Blink-182, "Salt Shaker" by Ying Yang Twins, and "Hotel" by Cassidy.

MTV have also banned certain music videos because of their explicit content. This includes “Alejandro” by Lady Gaga and “S&M” by Rihanna.

Music Institutions

We are constantly being presented music through institutions such as YouTube and MTV and can affect not only an individual, but cultures and societies as well. This is because music can play a big part in a person's life, such as influencing what they wear and what they aspire to look like. this is presented to us by the artist through an institution. YouTube is a worldwide and international phenomenon that is available for everyone and is traditionally used for its vast amount of free online music videos.

YouTube Statistics:

·         Exceeds 2 billion views a day.

·         24 hours of video uploaded every minute.

·         Average person spends 15 minutes a day on YouTube.

·         13 million: Number of hours of video that were uploaded in 2010.

·         60 days > 60 years: More video is uploaded in two months than the three major U.S. networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC).

·         30 %: Amount of overall traffic coming from the U.S.

·         YouTube is localized in 25 countries and 43 languages.

·         700 billion: Number of playbacks in 2010.

·         10,000: Number of partners, hundreds of which make six figures a year.

·         More than 7,000: Number of hours of full-length movies and shows.

·         2 billion: Number of global video views per week being monetized.

·         10 %: Amount of videos available in HD.

·         100 years: Amount of video scanned daily by Content ID, which is used by more than 1,000 partners, including every major U.S. network broadcaster, movie studio, and record label.

·          4 million: Number of people connected and auto-sharing to at least one social network

·         100 million: Number of daily mobile views.

MGMT Review

'Oracular Spectacular' Album Review by NME (26th February 2008):                               

‘It’s safe to say that, back in November, had anyone asked us which band’s album would be the first of the New Year rush-released due to unprecedented demand, our answer would emphatically have been: “Not MGMT”. That’s not because the self-styled ’70s futurists seemed in any way undeserving of the current furore. It’s only because the last time an album was fast-tracked this quickly it was after Kate Nash’s so-planned ‘slow-burner’ of a single ‘Foundations’ accidentally clattered straight up the chart to Number Two last July, then stayed there for five weeks. Last time we checked, MGMT didn’t have a record-breaking Number Two single. They didn’t even have a name anyone could agree how to say. With their stoner-rock beanies and prog-rock odyssies, it was to the top of the Most Underrated Of 2008 critics’ lists rather than to the front of the display racks of Zavvi that their debut seemed most obviously destined. However, if the stacks of import-only copies of ‘Oracular Spectacular’ shipped in from the States (where the album has been available since the end of January) to satisfy the Brits have already proved one thing, it’s that MGMT are anything but predictable.

“Let’s make some music, make some money, find some models for wives. I’ll move to Paris, shoot some heroin and fuck with the stars”, goes opening track ‘Time To Pretend’; already one of the most-quoted lyrics of 2008. The thing is, after a cursory glance at their sleeves for their primary influences (David Bowie, T-Rex, Fleetwood Mac, anything bombastic and ’70s, basically) we’re not sure they are pretending. Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser might look like hippies; they might be credible, fascinating, boundary-pushing artistic originators; but they don’t have any qualms about signing to a major record label that’s going to pump millions of dollars into choppering them from Wireless to yet another day of press and promotion if it’s going to make them a household name. It’s an alt.rock oxymoron pre-loaded to blow Ryan Jarman’s entire belief system apart, and why not? As ‘Time To Pretend’ concludes: “If you’ve got the vision/Why not have some fun? “It’s that vision which is the key to what makes ‘Oracular Spectacular’ – produced by Mercury Rev’s Dave Fridmann – such an important debut.

For all ‘Time To Pretends’ big talk about embracing rock’s most hackneyed stereotypes, musically the one thing MGMT never are is a cliché. Just as that track ends with you thinking you’ve got them down as neo-psychedelic yuppies in thrall to The Flaming Lips and ostentatious cymbal crashes, ‘Weekend Wars’ opens up a whole new world of Neil Young, baroque and introspection: “Once I was too lazy to bathe/Or paint or write or try to make a change /Now I can shoot a gun to kill my lunch/And I don’t have to love or think too much”. Indeed, for a self-proclaimed bunch of no-nonsense capitalists, there’s a lot of metaphysical moon-gazing going on in MGMT’s lyrics. Witness ‘4th Dimensional Transition’ – a pagan-like cacophony of tribal drumming and questions such as “I am fire, where’s my form?” Or the fact that they got the name for their album by typing the words ‘mystic bullshit’ into Google and looking for alternatives. By fourth track ‘Electric Feel’, they’re off again. This time morphing into electro-funk cringe-meisters manning the mic on ladies’ night: “I said ooh girl, shock me like an electric eel/Baby girl, turn me on with your electric feel”. Unbelievably, they still manage to come out the other side of it more Bowie than Bee Gees – experimental pop chameleons, game enough to try anything at least once.

If there’s one shadow that falls across ‘Oracular Spectaculars’ lunar soundscapes though, it’s that the back-end lacks the twisted punch of the first half. But there is a fair trade-off; the top’s massive cosmic-pop hooks swapped for gargantuan ’70s FM anthems. From the coke-rock wizardry of ‘Of Moons, Birds & Monsters’, to the Elton John adulation at work in ‘The Handshake’, ‘Oracular…’ just gets more ambitious and elaborate the further it goes. Inevitably though, underneath the force of so much extravagance, MGMT’s self-assured armour splits. “People always told me, don’t forget your roots/I know I can feel them underneath my leather boots” (‘The Handshake’), cautions Andrew VanWyngarden on what could be interpreted as a perilous tale of what happens when you exchange your counter-culture ideals for a big Columbia logo on your CD. Is this rare moment of downbeat earnestness where MGMT drop the façade to reveal their real selves? Or is it just one final sardonic dig at the Jarmans of this world and their quaint and out-dated indie morality? MGMT aren’t telling.

Two things are for sure, though. For all its musical philandering, unbridled excess and shrouds of irony, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a record with more musical depth and warmth all year than this one. And right now, while in possession of the most in-demand debut in the world, that pop-star life plan thing’s working out quite nicely for MGMT, thanks ever so much.’

MGMT Reception

MGMT's first album, Oracular Spectacular, debuted at #12 on the UK album chart and #6 on the Australian ARIA Charts, and hit #1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. It has also been named the 18th best album of the decade by Rolling Stone magazine. It was named the best album of 2008 by NME. MGMT also appeared prominently in Australia's Triple J Hottest 100 2008, coming in 2nd with "Electric Feel", 5th with "Kids" and 18th with "Time to Pretend”. MGMT was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and their track "Kids" was nominated for Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, the Justice remix of "Electric Feel" won the Grammy for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.

Since the release of Oracular Spectacular, which peaked at #60 on the Billboard chart, MGMT have achieved considerable commercial success abroad. Both the album and the single "Electric Feel" charted in the Australian Top 10 and the UK Top 20.

On October 5, 2007, Spin.com named MGMT "Artist of the Day." On November 14, 2007, Rolling Stone named MGMT as a top ten "Artist to Watch" in 2008. The band was named ninth in the BBC's Sound of 2008 Top Ten Poll. They were also named as Last. FM’s most played new artist of 2008 in their Best of 2008 lists.

MGMT - Kids Lyrics and Analysis

Lyrics:

You were a child,

crawlin' on your knees toward it.

Makin' mama so proud,

but your voice was too loud.

We like to watch you laughing.

You pick the insects off plants.

No time to think of consequences.

[Chorus]

Control yourself.

Take only what you need from it.

A family of trees wantin',

to be haunted.

Control yourself.

Take only what you need from it.

A family of trees wantin',

to be haunted.

The water is warm,

but it's sending me shivers.

A baby is born,

crying out for attention.

Memories fade,

like looking through a fogged mirror.

Decision to decisions are made and not bought

but I thought,

this wouldn't hurt a lot.

I guess not.

[Chorus x6]

Analysis:

There is much interpretation of the song 'Kids' by MGMT and many people have different views and opinions of the song's meanings and messages.

The song seems to be about how damaging it is to grow up. The lyrics are "you were a child, crawling on your knees toward it" which could be representing 'crawling towards maturity. The song could also represent the idea of hedonism and not thinking about the consequences of things as a young person and only when you are older.

The beginning of the song is definitely about the characteristics of a child growing up. But I think it is about the idea that naturally we "crawl towards" and what is beneficial for us, or that we choose the road for success and thus we make "momma so proud".

"No time to think of consequences “could relate to the nature of children. The innocence of a child allows them to live life with no consequences and supports the idea of hedonism.

I think this whole song is explaining the stages of life, but it draws attention to the presence of hardships and stress. I think it also is telling young people who use drugs to escape these hardships to only take what they need from it and "control yourself".

MGMT Band Members Reseach

The main band members:

Andrew VanWyngarden – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass guitar and drums. (2002 - present)

Andrew VanWyngarden was born February 1, 1983 in Columbia, Missouri and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. He is the lead vocalist, guitar player and songwriter for the band MGMT. One of his (and MGMT co-founder Ben Goldwasser's) songs "Kids" (from the Oracular Spectacular album) received a Grammy 2010 nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group, while the duo was nominated in the Best New Artist category.

Benjamin Goldwasser – vocals, keyboards and guitar. (2002 - present) 

Benjamin Goldwasser was born December 17, 1982 in Mishawaka, Indiana but was raised in Westport, New York. He is a lyricist and musician in the psychedelic rock band MGMT, for which he primarily plays keyboards and sings.

The other band members:

Matthew Asti – bass guitar. (2008 - present)
James Richardson – lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards and percussion. (2008 - present)
Will Berman – drums, percussion and backing vocals. (2005 - present)

Former live band members: Hank Sullivant – guitar and backing vocals. (2006 - 2008)

 

MGMT Band and History Reseach

Band Research

Origin: Middletown, Connecticut, U.S.
Based: Brooklyn, New York.
Genres: Indie pop, psychedelic rock, electronica, progressive rock.
Years active: 2005 to present day.
Labels: Columbia Records.

History:

MGMT are an American psychedelic rock band created by Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden. The members of their live band (Matthew Asti, James Richardson and Will Berman) joined the main band in the studio after the release of their first album. They formed at Wesleyan University and initially with Cantora Records, however they signed with Columbia Records and Red Ink in 2006.

"A lot of our songs, especially when we were just starting out, we were trying to create a song in a certain genre; we never wanted to have a single sound, crank out a bunch of songs that all sounded the same," recalls Goldwasser. "All of our songs felt like experiments, but, eventually, all those experiments started to blur together, and as we got better at song writing, we started writing things that just sounded like us."

MGMT began as a recording project, the duo working on many songs that would show up on both their 2005 debut EP Time to Pretend and Oracular Spectacular. When they started to play live, The Management were pretty much a goof-off.

"It started out as a complete joke," confesses Goldwasser. "We'd play shows, but usually our shows were just the two of us singing along with an iPod. We weren't playing instruments; it was more of a spectacle than an actual live-concert. People didn't know whether to take it as a complete joke or not. It was kind of funny seeing how other people would try and gauge their reactions by us; like, they seemed like they were trying to work out whether we took ourselves seriously or not. It left people feeling very confused. That's something that we’ve always enjoyed doing - confusing people."

After self-releasing their Time to Pretend EP, and touring with Of Montreal, the band signed to Columbia Records, and set about recording their debut album with Dave Fridmann. MGMT released their debut album, Oracular Spectacular in digital format, in October 2007, three months ahead of the album's physical release. Mixing up a variety of genres, the album introduced MGMT as a jokey band of no fixed style.

"I don’t feel like we play a particular style of music at all, so in that way it feels like we’re quite isolated," comments Goldwasser. "I wouldn’t know where to begin in describing our music, so, without that, it’s hard to work out what bands might sound like us."

In 2010, MGMT released their second album, Congratulations. Produced by Pete 'Sonic Boom' Kember of Spacemen 3 and featuring guest vocals from Jennifer Herrema of Royal Trux, the album was released without any accompanying singles. Tending towards an experimental and hectic approach, the band posited it as a more accurate representation of MGMT. "We dropped any sort of irony that was on the first record, and Congratulations feels true to who we really are," VanWyngarden told Spin.

Their second album, Congratulations, was released on April 13, 2010. In April 2011 they began work on their third album, which will be called MGMT.

Band Formation:

The former art-students, Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, happened to live down-the-hall from each other in the same dormitory.

"There wasn’t a point where we were like ‘hey, I like you, I like your style, let's start a band!’," Goldwasser jokes, of the beginnings of their collaborative relationship. "It just came from us hanging out, messing around and making songs. After a while we had two or three songs, and then it was four, and then at some point we just kind of realised we had a band. Without ever actually deciding to form a band."

Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden formed the band while attending Wesleyan University during their freshman year. "We weren't trying to start a band," stated Goldwasser. "We were just hanging out, showing each other music that we liked." They experimented with noise rock and electronica before settling on “their current brand of shape-shifting psychedelic pop." They graduated in 2005 and toured widely in support of the Time to Pretend EP, opening for indie rock band Of Montreal.

The band first started with the name "The Management," but since this name was already being used by another band, they later changed it to MGMT.

Choosing MGMT for the Music Video

This prezi gives a brief overview of the band MGMT and their song 'Kids' which we will be using for our music video. By creating the prezi, it allowed us to gain a better understanding of their song and also the band in general. This would help us to understand the message and the lyrics of the song that we can then apply to our own music video.

Music Video Analysis Essay

Music video analysis of ‘Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles’ and ‘Uprising by Muse’

Video Killed the Radio Star was released in 1979 and it was the first ever music video to be shown on MTV two years after its initial release. The music video itself was a very good representation of society in the 1980s as it’s focused highly upon science fiction and the astronomical. This was a key subject in this decade because of space travel and people’s new profound interest in the space age.  Therefore, the music video of Video Killed the Radio Star targets the main topics with society at that present time.

As a whole, the music video is very disjointed and disconnected with non-traditional trajectories. The first thing the audience sees is a shot of the moon, straight away symbolizing space. We also see a little girl with an old fashioned radio and a black and white picture of the singer overlapping; this could be representing the advances in technology at this time. The radio could be representing modern technology, and the black and white picture could be representing an old fashioned black and white television. The overlapping of the black and white image of the singer could show that television is “overlapping” and taking over radio. The little girl is very interested in the radio which could suggest that the next generation will only be interested in new technologies, such as television.  The explosion on the radio occurs when the audience hears the first line “video killed the radio star”, which could represent radio being destroyed by television. Therefore this would be perfectly matching the visuals with the lyrics so the audience can easily understand the message. Then we see the little girl transform into a grown woman, signifying that they are the same person and could suggest that she has been “transformed” by the current space-era society.

The audience then sees a studio with musicians that are displaying no expressions and the voice of the singer has been edited. Therefore the video could be described as “fake” due to the musicians not appearing to be playing the instruments and the emotionless dancing. This could suggest that they are being controlled by the music as there is no emotion, or fake emotion, shown by the musicians. Next we see the grown woman in a test tube; this could represent the sense of feeling trapped in society and wanting to find an individual identity. The little girl has her hand on the test tube, representing that they are the same person and that they are connecting.

Towards the end of the video we see a stack of old radios that act as the background and then several televisions rise up from the ground in front of the radios. This could represent the idea of television taking over and could link back to the overlapping of the black and white image at the start and that television is “overlapping” radio, which also fits in with the song. The televisions are modern for that time period and the radios are old fashioned and not real which shows that they are insignificant and television is what audiences what to see. There is no presence of power shown throughout as everyone in the music video appears to be controlled by the music and it is asynchronous as the lyrics and the visuals don’t match. This makes the music video appear very disconnected and disjointed from the audience’s point of view.

On the other hand, the music video of Uprising highlights key issues in today’s society which mainly focuses on the theme of rebellion. The song begins with a quite an “alien-like” introduction which could link with the theme of the music video of Video Killed the Radio Star and could also represent the idea of feeling “alienated” within society. The music video has a very dark and dismal setting throughout and the audience are presented with mass destruction. This could link in with modern society because of the issues with the rioting, which is amplified through the fire and explosion we see at the beginning of the video. This symbolizes danger and further demonstrates all the damage. The audience then sees that the band are located in a model village which could be a metaphor on real society as towards the end of the video the village has collapsed. This could be showing the artists’ representation of thoughts on modern society and post modernism which are portrayed through the music video. We continue to see many shots of graffiti on the walls and shops that have closed down, which could be associated with the stereotype of youth and vandalism.

During the middle of the music video the model people start burning and melting, this could be representing people in today’s society being overpowered by higher society. This could be further demonstrated with the teddy bears, which are normally associated as being cuddly and cute but are shown as nasty and battered. Therefore they could be representing people in higher society as the bears are much taller than everything within the model village, which could demonstrate power through levelling (such as the big teddy bears and the small model people). During the music video, the audience sees a long shot of one of the teddy bears knocking down a bridge; this could be representing the idea that the people in power are destroying society.

Throughout the music video of Uprising there is repetition of the lyric “they will not control us” which could represent the idea of breaking out for an individual identity and not conforming to the rules of society. The lyrics and visuals match very well as the lyrics are about protesting and rebelling against a high power and the video portrays this through all the damage and destruction that the audience sees. This differs from Video Killed the Radio Star as the music video is asynchronous throughout. Power is very strongly distributed throughout the whole music video which is also shown through several close-up shots of the main singer whose face is shadowed and fits with the tone of the video. This is very different from Video Killed the Radio Star as power is not shown in the music video. Furthermore, the music video could mainly be portraying the thoughts and feelings of the artists’ personal views on today’s society.