The Killers Music Video research with Album Cover and Gig ad

The Killers - Mr Brightside Music Video
- There are two versions of the music video, the first of which is the UK version, released on a low budget label whereas the second music video was released on a more mainstream label in the USA, but is more frequently shown in the UK.

The UK version;

• The lyrics are about a girl who has cheated and is still cheating on the guy and he's had enough of it however he feels like he deserves it so he's looking on the brightside - that's why the song's called Mr.Brightside.
• The tempo of the music has a fast pace to it and along with that has on the beat editing.
• The video is mostly edited to be in black and white, a negative effect and there are bits where the shadows of them are filmed behind a white screen with a yellow light on the other side. When an extra tint hasn't been edited in and the original colour is used, the colours are very dark as part of the mise-en-scene of the shot, so it goes with the storyline quite well as it is quite dark because of the cheating which had been going on. Mostly the only proper props are the instruments they play and the microphone. They are establishing further that they are a band who can play instruments. There are also shots of a girl, which is probably his girlfriend, messing around, dancing and posing in front of the camera. The shape of the shot is like that of when you go into a photo booth, this suggests that the girl had been caught which goes very well with the lyrics. Also edited over the shots of her are some shapes like the air force/army cadet << - like the stripes and a picture of spades from a pack of cards which could give the impression that she gambled her relationship away for a guy from the air force/army. There are a lot of static shots because the camera seems to be moving most of the time. In the way that this is done it makes the video seem a bit more distorted this is to make the audience empathise with the man who the songs about because he probably felt distorted and confused. In editing either lense flare is used or when filming the lights are controlled to brighten and darken giving a sense of glamour to the performance.

The music video is based around Live Performance mainly - this shows the bands ability to perform with instruments etc. It isn't infront of a live audience however it is still classed as Performance in the genre of music video.

Camerawork and Editing;

• Fade in from black to a band member on a guitar - the camera is panning upwards on him.
• Cut to another band member on a guitar - camera panning to the right.
• Cut to the band member on drums - camera pans downwards
• Cut to a long shot where there is a narrow depth of field so all the focus will be on whatever comes in to the frontal view, the camera pans to the right to reveal the singer and the vocals kick in, the camera carries on panning to the right but starts to go around him - a lense flare is either picked up by bright light or is added in in editing.
• Cut to extreme close up of singer - in editing a negative effect has been used to give a sense of distortion
• Cut to a medium shot of the singer - camera pans ever so slightly to the left
• Cut to a medium shot of the bassist - camera panning to the diagonally forwards to the left.
• Cut to drums - camera panning to the left reveals the side of the drummer for a split second
• Cut to a slight high angled medium shot of the drummer on the drums
• Cuts to a medium shot of the singer
• Cut to extreme close up of a guitar
• Cut to close up of guitarist?
• Cut back to singer again - camera panning to the left slightly
• Cut to an edited version of the same shot - a negative effect has been edited in
• Cut to a medium shot of singer in the original black and white - there is a bit of lense flare there
• Cut to drummer on drums - camera panning to the right slightly
• Cut back to singer
• Cut to medium shot of guitarist with full guitar in shot - camera pans upwards
• Cut to another person on a guitar - camera panning diagonally up to the right
• Cut to the same shot however with a negative effect on it - camera panning to the left
• Cut to medium shot of singer - camera panning left
• Cut to extreme close up of microphone and mouth - narrow depth of field - background is blurred and the focus is on the microphone and mouth - very short shot
• Cut to a medium shot of the singer with the negative effect edited in - also the shot has been quickened in editing to seem like they are moving very precisely very quickly.
• Cut to a medium shot of the guitarist doing the same sort of thing - in the same two affects as before
• Cut to the drummer - with the same two effects again
• Cut to a medium long shot of a guitarist with the same two effects edited in again.
• Cut to what looks like the shadow of a drums set through a white screen with yellow light on the other side making the shadow
• Cut to another part of the band in the same kind of setting
• Cut to a medium shot of the singers shadow and him dancing whilst singing

I have researched up to 1 minute for the camerawork and editing used in the music video however for the rest of the research I have used the whole music video.

Application of Andrew Goodwin's theories to the music video for 'Mr Brightside';

• One of Andrew Goodwin's theories is that within music videos there are visual parallels with the tempo of the music which are directly represented in music video clips. The speed can be represented in the clips by the movement of the camera, fast editing, post production and any effect edited in by the computer. In the music video for 'Mr Brightside' the tempo of the music is quite fast and there are parallels to this by there being fast paced editing and camera movement mainly.
• Andrew Goodwin suggests that the voice, the rhythm and the backing which supports them are three central elements of the arrangement of pop music videos. 'Mr brightside' is edited on the beat which puts emphasis on the rhythm of the song. There are also conflicts between the vocals and rhythmic prominence due to there being cuts away from shots of lip-syncing to different things for example the instruments the other band members are playing which makes it hard to distinguish which element is being emphasised.

The US version;

• The lyrics are about a girl who has cheated and is still cheating on the guy and he's had enough of it however he feels like he deserves it so he's looking on the brightside - that's why the song's called Mr.Brightside.
• The music has a fast pace to it and along with that has on the beat editing.
• The music video has intertextual references to Moulin Rouge incorporated into it, and as part of the denotation, there is a lot of the colour of red used on the set. The connotation of red is love, hate, anger, war, evil, sexy, seductive etc. All of these things reflect the lyrics in the song and how the man must have been secretly feeling as well as the feelings he's sung in the lyrics. Within the mise-en-scene, the extras and the band are all wearing clothing which is like that from Moulin Rouge - early 1900's in France. Zooming in and out and Panning are the only movements the camera really makes which makes it simple but effective. On the set it it is very brightly lit and there are hardly any shadows which means they must have used 3 point lighting. This makes it more glamorous looking and appealing to watch as the brightly lit set and actors are more appealing to watch. At one point in the video there must have been some green screen used to be able to layer an image of the main girl with smoke around her on top of an image of two men playing checkers. Also because the girl is in the middle of the two men, this suggests that the two men are fighting over her and take part in many competitions to try and win her affection. Some of the shots near the end have been edited to be blurred, this means that the audience will feel intriged to who got the girl, as it isn't clear in those shots to which man is kissing her. At the end it shows the lead singer walking away from the girl. This shows that the moving image compliments the lyrics becuase it shows the audience that he has given up on her because of the cheating and he doesn't want to compete for her affection any more. The video and lyrics of the song may also send out a message that it isn't worth the trouble of cheating on a partner.

The music video is based around narrative and performance infront of an audience (in the narrative) - more effective with the song and more interesting for the audience.

Camerawork and Editing;

• Fade in from black to show a long shot of the band on a stage - this suggests that they are about to play to an audience.
• Cut to a long shot of the audience who will be watching them play - could be a poin of view shot from one of the band members?
• Cut in to a medium close up of a girl who's leaning on her hand and her eyes look mesmorised - as if she can't take them off the lead singer.
• Cut to a medium shot of an upper-class looking man sitting in a leather chair - camera pans left slightly then zooms out a bit.
• Cut to a long shot of the band - camera is zooming in to the pace of the music and pans upwards to keep the lead singers face in view - stops at a medium shot of him.
• Cut back to the upper-class looking man with a bright red apple in his hand - like he is holding an object of lust (because of the colour and the nature of an apple)
• Cut to a long shot of girl slightly off-centre - slouching in a chair as if she had been forced to watch the performance and was bored
• Cut to a close up of the lead singer - camera zooming in
• Medium close up of girl - fiddling with hair - suggests she is nervous or edgy about something - could be the girl the lyrics are about - meaning she could be nervous about being found out about the cheating
• Cut to a long shot of the band - camera is zooming out
• Cut back to the upper-class looking man in the leather chair - he throws the apple off-screen
• Cut to a long shot of the girl slouching the in chair - slightly off centre in the shot with a few people dotted around her - you see the apple fly into the shot and her catch it - suggests to the audience that they are the two people having the affair
• Cut back to the upper-class looking man in the leather chair - he's pointing to the girl and has got a flirty look on his face as if to say he's hers (because the red apple could symbolise lust).
• Cut to medium close up of lead singer - tracking shot because camera is moving with the singer
• Cut to a medium shot of the girl sitting down in her chair then looking at the apple while fiddling with her hair - this is suggeting that she's giving flirting signals to the object of lust which is associated with the man who threw it - this shows she may secretly want to flirt with him - camera zooming out slowly
• Cut to a long shot of the band - camera zooming out slowly
• Cut to a medium long shot of the girl getting out of her seat and reaching towards a man sitting near her - this could also be interpreted as a two shot as well - this shows that there is some kind of relationship between the two whether it romantic or family based is unknown
• Cut to a long shot of the band - camera zooming in quickly
• Cut in to the drummer playing the drums - this establishes other members in the band
• Cut to a medium close up of the lead singer - very quick shot
• Cut to a medium-long shot of the girl walking out of the shot to the left and it looks like she is holding someones hand - camera pans to the left
• Cuts to a medium shot of the lead singer - zooming in quite quickly
• Cut to a medium shot of a man in the audience with two girls with their hands all over him - portrays the meaning of the lyrics - more of the meaning of the girl sleeping around rather than a prostitute which is what the moulin rouge type clothing portrays - camera is panning upwards.
• Cut to a medium close up of a guy wispering something into a woman's ear - she has a mixed expression on her face, and along with the moulin rouge style clothing this suggests that she feels she needs to sell herself that's why her expression is a mix of being scared and intrigued
• Cut to a medium-long shot which portrays the rule of thirds within it - the guy is on the left the girls leg and high heeled shoe is in the middle and the rest of her body is on the right. This draws the adiences attention to the girls leg because it's in the middle. Also this image, along with the moulin rouge clothing again suggests that she is a prostitute - she has her leg in the air trying to intise the man who looks intrigued.
• Cut to a medium close up of the lead singer with a guitarist in the background
• Cut to drummer playing the drums with a cello on the right hand side - establishing band members further
• Cut to a medium shot of a woman and a man sitting on a chair with their legs up - the man's hand is on the woman's bare leg - sexual hints - also the woman is whispering something into his ear - to intise him
• Cut to a medium close up of the singer again - there is a narrow depth of field so the focus will be entirely on the lead singer - shown as most important
• Cuts back to a medium shot of a man in the audience with two girls with their hands all over him
• Cuts to a medium long shot of the band - establishing the full band and who they are
• Cut to a medium close up of a woman and a man - the woman is playing with his scarf - intising - flirting
• Cut to a man and a woman half lying down on a seat - both smiling - his hand is on her leg - sexual position - her body language is quite closed though as she has got both of her hands holding eachother away from him.
• Cut to a long shot of the band - camera zooming out
• Cut to a medium shot of the main girl and a man - he hand is on his cheek and she look as though she's about to kiss him even though she seems like she's meant to be with the lead singer.
• Cut to a close up of the lead singer - camera pans slightly to the left and zooms out
• Cut to a medium shot of the guitarist
• Cut to a medium close up of the guy on the cello
• Cut to a long shot of the seats opposite the stage - The main girl and a guy are holding hands and walk off screen to the right - camera zooming out
• Cut to a long shot of the band - camera zooming in
• Cut to a medium shot of the upper-class looking man in his leather chair throwing the apple again
• Cut to a medium shot of the main girl catching the apple - there is a man infront who is sitting down.
• Cut to a medium close up of the guy playing the cello
• Cut to a medium close up of the lead singer - camera is zooming out
• Cut to a medium shot of the main girl moving her leg up into the air and over the man infronts' head - may be seen as sexual as this move is used in the can-can - but obviously she was sitting down not standing up
• Cut to a medium shot of the lead singer with guitarist and drummer in the background
• Cut to a medium-long shot of a man and a woman on the left, the main girl in the centre and a man on the right - rule of thirds is used so the main girl is the focus of the audience - she's whispering something in his ear
• Cut to a close up of the upper-class looking man smiling and looking in the main girls' direction
• Cut to a long shot of a man in the middle with two women draped over him
• Cut to a medium-long shot of the drummer on his drums
• Cut to a medium shot of the main girl running into view of the camera
• Cut to a medium shot of the upper-class looking man peering around a red curtain
• Cut to a long shot of the girl running round the corner of the curtain with who appears to be the lead singer
• Cut to a medium shot of the two - side on - he pulls her back and holds her in an embrace and they go to kiss
• Cut to a close up of the upper-class looking man moving from view to behind the red curtain
• Cut to a medium shot of the guy playing the cello - camera pans up him
  

I have researched up to 1 minute for the camerawork and editing used in the music video however for the rest of the research I have used the whole music video.

Application of Andrew Goodwin's theories to the music video for 'Mr brightside';

• One of Andrew Goodwin's theories is that within music videos there are visual parallels with the tempo of the music which are directly represented in music video clips. The speed can be represented in the clips by the movement of the camera, fast editing, post production and any effect edited in by the computer. In the music video for 'Mr brightside' the tempo of the music is fast and there are parallels to this by there being very fast paced editing and swift camera movement to go with it.
• Andrew Goodwin suggests that the voice, the rhythm and the backing which supports them are three central elements of the arrangement of pop music videos. 'Mr brightside' is edited on the beat mostly and some clips within sequences of the music video are edited to the lyrics for example each line, phrase or couple of words. These each emphasise the vocals and rhythmic prominence. There are also conflicts between these two elements due to there being cuts away from shots of lip-syncing to different things, for example dancing during the lyrics being sung, shots of the audience or flashback type shots, all of which make it hard to distinguish which element is being emphasised.
• He also borrowed a theory, of conflict being resolved from a narrative theory - it is relevant to the images seen and the music heard in music videos. 'Mr brightside' has elements of a conflict being restored due to the male lead walks away at the end, the words "I Never" are repeated and there is a closing guitar riff and drum beat.
  
  The Killers Debut Album - Hot Fuss;

The Killers album Hot Fuss is a very simple Album Cover which doesn't actually link very well with either of the music videos. This suggests that The Killers and their Manager/Producers wanted to go for different images in each of the media products. There are 4 sky scrapers along the bottom of the picture, each with japanese/chinese writing on each in a flaming red/orange colour which stands out against the blue background. Each of the sky scrapers have been tinted with a light blue colour - this may have been to make the writing stand out a lot more. Also the bands name is in white and a font which involoves the writing being made up of squares - this suggests a light effect. 'Hot Fuss' is the name of the Album Cover which is underneath the name of the band, this is in a deep red colour and a tahoma kind of font - because it stands out more due to the lettering being spread out. The title 'Hot Fuss' suggests that the band is 'hot' as at the time they were new and needed to be recognised. Also 'Fuss' would suggest to people that this band may already have an audience and that they like them. The lightened colour around the bands name and title of their album makes them look iconic and almost angel like as they are surrounded by light. This could suggest that the band has a sense of innocence about them as they were a new band at the time. Also the lightened blue surrounding the bands name and title along with the brightness of the white for the bands name could be a symbol of the paparzzi taking photo's of the band when they become famous - it suggests that after this album this will be the beginning of their career in the music industry.

The Back Cover;

The back cover of the CD album is very simple, its' background is a grey/blue colour fading diagonally down and to the left where the colour lightens. There are two discs to this album, the second is a DVD (which ties into the CD/DVD package we will be producing for our production). The track lists take up two halves of the CD back cover - on the left all of the audio tracks in disc 1 and on the right all of the DVD tracks in disc 2. The font of the writing is simple to go with the whole arrangement of the cover and it is in an off white colour (whether that is the quality of the image or not, I'm not sure). On the bottom left is a list of the producers, directors, writers etc. of the album - this establishes the different people who worked together to create the album - along with The Killers as a band. On the bottom right there is a barcode so it can be scanned through the till when purchased in a shop. On the far left and far right it has "The Killers" in the same font as the front cover and "Hot Fuss" is in a red colour and is in capitals - both of which carry theme on from the front cover - on a blue background.

Inlay; The inlay has the front cover image on it - as you can see in the bottom left hand side and then a block of a different shade of light blue has been edited on top of this picture. It looks like that has happened because on the right handside the blue colour is exactley the same as the front cover and the shade of blue on the far left. This is a cheaper way to create album covers as they don't need a different image for the inlay.

The actual CD; The Killers CD is bright red - which is a contrasting colour to the blue that will be surrounding it once inside of the CD case - this makes it stand out. It also has "The Killers" logo on the top - in the same kind of font as the front cover and on the sides of the CD case. The red goes with the name "Hot Fuss" as it is in the same colour.

Extract from a newspaper advertising a gig; As this is a newspaper ad it is in greyscale - mostly because a lot of newspapers come in black and white only or it may have been cheaper to advertise their gig in the newspaper in a greyscale compared to colour because the printing cost of the newspaper may have been slightly more expensive for them to have their advert printed in colour. The band name is in the same font, size and arrangement as it was on their CD album cover - apart from it is right along the top of the ad - establishing this as their logo for their band name - so if the name was to be printed anywhere in those fonts and arrangements, audiences would know that it was this band that the name was representing. The image of the band covers atleast 1/2 of the ad - this establishes further who the band actually are so if people don't see the band name first they may see the image of the band first - so both aspects are quite important as they are eye-catching - the more people who notice the ad, the more people will go to the gig. Along the bottom section of the ad there are detials of when the gig is, where it is held, when tickets go on sale and also logos of production companies involved etc.

Out of the media products involved, the UK version of the music video links better with the newspaper ad and the CD album because they all reflect each other and suggest the type of music which the band plays. The US version of the music video is more suited to the song in question however it doesn't seem to link in with the image of the band which the CD cover and gig ad portrays. The most striking link between two of the media products is name "The Killers" is in the same font and arrangement wherever it is placed - as shown on the CD album and newspaper ad.