‘Always’ (2008)
‘Follow The Water’ (2009)
‘Day In Day Out’ (2010)
‘Learn To Live’ (2011)
Architects:
Architects identify themselves as a heavy metal band; we see this visually through the instruments that the band plays, as they are conventional to the genre. Throughout almost all of Architects videos there are frequent close ups of the instruments, band members and vocalist. This is also often seen in music videos of the heavy metal genre. The band members are constantly moving which makes their video ‘Always’ look very hectic, throughout the song we see various clips from an underlying story, although the shots are very fast paced and often an extreme close up. This tells the audience a minimal amount of information and leaves the message of the video open for interpretation. If I compare this to there more recent release ‘Day In Day Out’ we see a different approach to the way the video is made. There is no shots of the band playing their instruments that is not related to the story that the video is telling, however this is because the band members are part of the story line. This is different to all of the other recent releases by the band such as ‘Learn To Live’ where the bend members are not the subjects of the story.
Also, in older videos like ‘Always’ the images of the band would be set up in a studio and probably recorded multiple times. However as soon as the band released the video for ‘Follow The Water’ in 2009 all of the shots of the band are of them playing live in front of a crowd, this limits them to one shot only. However it coveys a completely different message to the audience, it shows that the band are not interested in a ‘dressed up’ image and do not care if they are seen as every day people. I would say that the genetic conventions od an Architects video would include camera techniques which include: shaking, extreme close-ups and fast pans. Visual conventions of an Architects video would be around a half and half split of clips of the band performing and an underlying storyline. In the shots where the band are performing facial shots are minimal and the camera mainly focus’ on the crowd or the instruments. Over time from their earlier video’s to their present the band have focused more towards the audience and listeners than themselves. Also, older videos such as ‘Always’ tend to have a sepia or faded colour effect on them while more recent videos like ‘Learn To Live’ are in full colour, this gives it a more uplifting feel which backs up my earlier point that the band have stepped away from writing songs with a more negative feel. The change in video style may be because after their debut album ‘Ruin’ the band got the new vocalist Sam Carter, since this the band have become more uplifting to acquire to Carter’s taste.
Visual style and image:
Always (2008)
Day In Day Out (2010)
In ‘Always’ we see the story of a man drawing out the plans of some form of building. This tells the audience subliminally who the band is, although it is unrelated to the song. In the video for ‘Day In Day Out’ we see the story of the band traveling to their show and then the audience as they play. This is a lot more accurate in defining and conveying the band to the audience as it shows the band members values and outlook on playing in front of an audience. I would say that the artist’s visual style has very much stayed the same since the first video, they still portray the stereotypical heavy metal band with aspects such as long hair and alternative clothing.
Architects often use extremely fast paced editing to show aggression or confusion, they also use a shaking camera to achieve similar reactions. However, in more recent videos they editing seems to have slowed down and it is easier to get a clear shot of the band members. Architects music video’s never seem to include other media text’s such as: television, film or radio content. I think they have done this as they do not want to be associated with and brand or person in case they want to move in a new direction in the future. Such as they did before.
CD cover analysis:
The three CD covers I have chosen are of the same genre of music but range in artistic styles, I chose to analyze these as it will give me more idea’s for my own album cover idea. 
All of the album covers feature the band name and the album title, which shows that this should be present on my design. The font of the band name also represents or is similar to the bands logo. All of the logos and legal information tents to on the back of the album at the bottom, this keeps it out the way so that the track titles are the main feature on the back cover.
No comments:
Post a Comment