Final Print Productions

Front cover

Back cover

Inside panel 1

Inside panel 2

Poster

Final Music Video

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?

Narrative structure

When planning our music video, we had to decide if we wanted to create a narrative or performance focused video, or include elements of both. When considering Goodwin's theory that videos generally fall into one of these two categories, we wanted our audience to be reassured that we would focus on one of these as opposed to half committing on either. eventually, we decided to focus on a narrative based video, however we did consider introducing elements of performance into this, but ultimately felt that it would serve the themes and concepts of the video more to focus solely on the narrative, putting emphasis on the fictional protagonist and his internal workings, as opposed to any materialistic real life portrayal of the band or any influences taking away from the immersion within the narrative which we had created. We wanted to really convey the themes of duality and inner morality seen in the narrative, and thought that performance segments could have a negative influence by fluctuating the tone of the video and becoming confusing for the audience.      

We wanted to incorporate a cyclical structure within our narrative, meaning that the opening and climax of the video would be the same event. Our intentions behind this were to emphasise the struggle of the protagonist 'V' through suggesting to the audience that perhaps he was living the same day over and over, possibly metaphorically or even literally trapped in a purgatory forced to exist in his own fragmented psyche. In either case, we wanted to raise the themes of existentialism and urban despair. 

However our narrative could also be interpreted through Todorovs theory of 3 act structure, although changing the overall meaning and themes of the video slightly. 

Equilibrium : 'V' is living his life, travelling the urban maze as a delinquent doing as he pleases                                   causing petty disturbances and damage

Disequilibrium : The character 'H' is introduced, creating a conflict as 'V' is forced to face his                                          opposite and deviate from his previous unchallenged ventures

New Equilibrium : Although towards the climax of the narrative, the struggle of duality has reached                                  its peak, we see 'V' successfully subdue 'H', and finally 'V' pops up out of the                                              wheeley bin just as in the opening, re-establishing his freedom to roam as he pleases

Another of the main concepts we wanted to focus on in our video was the binary opposition between characters 'V' and 'H', by using simple visual cues like the contrast in colour palettes and differences in shapes and design. One video which not only gave us inspiration but also effectively demonstrated this technique is 'Too Close' by Alex Clare, which although features two duelling characters in incredibly similar samurai costume, uses small indicators to convey the opposition and conflict between the two. Small details used like the long stringy red material on the back of one fighters helmet in contrast to the shorter, less vibrant, blackish and more cloth like material on the others. This technique is incredibly effective when setting up a clear conflict, and therefore we could apply it to the theme of duality within our narrative to convey this conflict more bluntly to the audience.  

Explanation of planning

Most of our decisions when it came to planning stemmed from group discussion, all members of the group would contribute and develop, as well as challenge any creative or logistic decisions made. In some instances we worked collaboratively such as the prezi mood board, in which we equally divided sections to be done among us. Another source of development was rough notes we would create, such as mind maps exploring possibilities as a group, which we could later refer back to in order to remain devoted to our concept.

Lyrics - Bad Sounds 'Avalanche'

Locations

Selected Actors

Intertextual references

Although when planning our music video we had no intentions of explicitly referencing a specific text heavily throughout, it is unquestionable that our video was influenced by various texts in theme and tone more than anything. In this way, we have subtly referenced certain concepts and structures, not necessarily with the clear intention to do so from the outset of the planning of the narrative, mise en scene and editing, but rather have injected these influences in a more organic way.

'Tyler Durden' - 'The Narrator' 

There were, however, specific themes we wanted to explore from the offset which were heavily influenced by other texts, such as the pivotal device of duality running throughout our production, and the inner struggle of one characters identity and morality, even portrayed by two separate characters representing two parts of one characters psyche. A text which i feel had a strong influence on this portrayal is David Finchers 1999 film 'Fight club' in which the unnamed protagonist meets 'Tyler Durden', a soap salesman who drives his life to ruin and completely disenfranchises him, effectively removing him from society and normalcy and who we later learn is in fact an internal projection of the narrators identity, and for the audience has been a visual representation of the characters psyche and constructed hypothetical personality. I found this visual representation effective and relatively simple to implement into our production, using the concept that two separate characters could be used metaphorically in order to portray two sides of one characters personality, and could be understood in this way by conveying their differences through their costumes, behaviour and mannerisms. Not only this but even more subtle concepts such as the shapes used and design of the characters to further emphasise a juxtaposition, for instance in 'Fight Club' 'The Narrator' has a relatively circular, formal and neutral design, whereas 'Tyler' has wild spiky hair, and wears ridiculous and flamboyant costumes. we were specifically representing two polarised opposites, which  made the visual representation easier to convey to our audience through the use of juxtaposition, hence the characters 'H' and 'V' who are binary opposites in their mise en scene and behaviour. A more classic portrayal of this structure of duality is 'The strange case of Dr jekyll and Mr Hyde' with a heavier emphasis on the morality of the dual representations, and struggle of 'good' vs 'evil', which i feel we implemented in our video through our use of Gothic imagery within the design of the character 'V', however chose to not stress this theme to the point of confusing the tone and draining the humour from our production, and so we chose to more subtly reference this construction. We felt it was more important to simply convey the connotations and clearly construct the metaphor for the audience rather than to take a concept like morality so bluntly and literally.

A more specific and intentional reference we made was a nod to cheap B-movie practical effects, seen at the climax of our fight scene where a melon was used in place of a head being crushed, in an almost intentionally obvious way, firstly to reassure the audience of the tone of the video and not suddenly introduce a dark realism into our relatively light hearted narrative, but also to reinforce the ironic and juvenile tone of our production with a slapstick-esque segment. We were influenced to introduce this technique by other videos of similar genres like 'Mac Demarco's 'Passing out Pieces' which featured a similar scene which, with quick cutting, created a comedic yet memorable peak in the narrative.    


       

Costumes

Pitch

Our music video will follow an enigmatic protagonist, travelling through an urban dreamscape as he lucidly experiences the fragmentation and instability of his psyche. we will explore themes of this inner struggle and morality, as well as duality using visual cues like the superhero motif and juxtaposition of characters 'V' and 'H'. The audience will be constantly contemplating if the events taking place are a reality or the melancholic daydreaming of a damaged mind.  

How are narrative techniques used in Biffy Clyro's video for 'Opposite'

From their 6th studio album 'Opposites', one of three singles 'Opposite' reached the top 50 in the UK charts in july 2013. The Guardian stated about the album : 'if you're going to have stadium rock, it might as well be as thought-provoking and chewy as this'. The Scottish rock band lead by Simon Neil were met with mostly positive reviews and praised for their experimental and daring choices following the release of the album.'the genius of Biffy Clyro has always been to straddle the line between experimental and anthemic' 'They’ve released a chunk of bombast that goes far beyond the recommended daily allowance. But for the sheer audacity of it all – and for mostly pulling it off – they need saluting' - NME. The video directed by Elliott Sellers no doubt drew inspiration from Coldplay's 'The Scientist' directed by James Thraves, with it's incredibly similar reverse narrative, Ultimately revolving around a tragic car accident.

'Baby I'm leaving here'

This Reversal of narrative direction is the key theme of the video, with the narrative pivoting around the events of the crash, which we initially see at 0.06, thus informing the audience of it's importance and key role in the structure of the narrative. Furthermore this information is given out in quick fragmented cuts, stressing the ellipsis created by the dual narrative: one where we see lead man Simon Neil travelling on foot through an urban location, and the aforementioned car crash in reverse.

Applying one of Goodwin's theories to the latter narrative, we can see the 'succinct relationship between music and visuals' through the emphasis, or 'amplifying' effect created by the timing chosen for the car crash to take place. at the point of impact at 3.04 we hear the lyrics of the chorus 'Baby I'm leaving here, you need to be with somebody else'. Not only does this raise themes previously absent within the context of the song, such as death and morality, but it also 'amplifies' the impact of the events in the narrative, the car crash becoming more tragic for the audience as they learn new information surrounding the impact and ramifications of the climax.

The other narrative, seemingly entirely separate from the car crash, sees Simon Neil travelling through an urban location, accompanied by enigmatic visuals depicting the change in gravity felt by the flipping car, further emphasised by the rolling shots at 1.30 and 2.06 creating an enigma for the audience who can only attempt to interpret the events as perhaps Neil's character being in a state of purgatory following the crash, further supported by the cyclical nature of the video, and that it begins and ends with imagery from the crash. This 'enigmatic/hermeneutic code' is first established by the opening shot, which when subjected to Barthes' theory of audience questioning can tell us that the imagery of the backwards pocket watch instantly implants an enigma that leads to the audience asking questions like is the video in reverse?, is time a significant theme? and how significant is the imagery of the seemingly self animated pocket watch? Furthermore this questioning leads to an audience satisfaction when the climax is slowly revealed and the outcomes and metaphors previously predicted by the inference of watchers become the reality of the narrative.

Todorov's theory of narrative structure is challenged here, as we see no clear state of equilibrium within the opening of the video, and are in fact presented with what could be considered the 'disruption' from the offset , this creates an atmosphere within which we have to question if there is a true normality or 'equilibrium' as the events depicted within the secondary narrative are similarly being 'disrupted' through the reoccurring surreal imagery. In this way perhaps the video aims to be not a conventional narrative presenting a clear equilibrium and new equilibrium through the opening and climax, but instead a continuous demonstration and illustration of 'disruption'.

Biffy Clyro have similarly used a dual narrative in their video for 'Victory over the Sun' directed by Jim Canty in order to engage with their audience through a construction of enigma, and utilise a similar technique when building towards climaxes which could be perceived as surprising or powerful but also metaphorical and conceptual. Fans of Biffy Clyro will strive to uncode the message behind each of their videos, leading to an increased attention and focus on detail within their narratives. The often taboo, dark and melancholic themes of their narratives such as the cult leader (also Simon Neil) featured in 'Victory over the Sun' also maintain an audience interest, as the unconventional nature of the band and its videos lead to an ever evolving and unpredictable series of videos which, above all acts as a brand and identity reinforcing the marketing and image of 'Biffy Clyro' ultimately to sell more of their music, and in accordance with Goodwin proves that the record label had 'certain demands' when it came to 'selling' the band as a brand.

Storyboard (initial + final)