Florence + The Machine are an indie rock/ alternative band. This is my preferred music genre, so I enjoy all of the music they produce. Florence has a fresh take to music, her songs are diverse, unique and portray a different sound to what has previously been created in the music industry. This makes it hard to compare Florence to other artists, within a mixture of songs there are some similar traits, but nothing exactly matches their style. A few artists with similar characteristics within their music consists of;
- Kate Nash
- La Roux
- Regina Spektor
- Ellie Goulding
- The Temper Trap
- Sigur Ros
- Stereophonics
- The XX
- Vampire Weekend
Her music covers a range of instrumental and technological styles that keeps their music up-beat and easy to listen to. I enjoy the fact that they do not fit into a certain "category", and therefore their target audience is vastly increased. I also find that with Florence + The Machines music, you can use spontaneous and picturesque shots to create your music video without necessarily giving it a narrative.
The band members consist of lead singer Florence Welch, keyboard player Isabella "The Machine" Summers, guitarist Robert Ackroyd, Drummer Chris Hayden, Harpist Tom Monger and bassist Mark Saunders. Excluding Tom Monger, they are all backing vocals. The name 'Florence + The Machine' came from Florence and Isabella's teenage collaboration that had started off as a joke, which got out of hand. Florence signed on with 'Ashok' and recorded the early version of "kiss with a fist" formally known to be "Happy Slap"- however feeling she had made the wrong choice, she resigned and cancelled her contract. Mairead Nash, the bands manager, took on her position when a drunken Florence followed her into the toilets at a club.
Florence's debut album 'Lungs' was released in July 2006, with the introduction of 'Dog Days are Over', 'Kiss with a Fist', 'You've got the Love' and 'Rabbit Heart (raise it up)'. These multi-successful tracks got Florence's well deserved recognition for her talent- the album peaked to number two for 5 weeks in the UK album charts.
The bands record labels include IAMSOUND Records, Moshi Moshi Records and Island records. Mairead Nash also works for LuvLuvLuv records, and therefore the band have a total of 4 record labels. Florence has done many different collaborations with artists, such as Dizzee Rascal. Her most recent collaboration was with Calvin Harris, this is for the song I have chosen to base my project on- "Spectrum (Say my Name)". Her band has previously won 15 awards, including a Brit, as well as being nominated for 38 others. They also performed as a sub-headliner on the main stage at reading festival 2012.
Her second album, Ceremonials became more popular than her first. Below is a diagram showing her chart sales. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_and_the_Machine_discography)
Music video analysis- 1 - Cosmic Love
'Cosmic Love' is a song from Florence + The Machines second album 'ceremonials'. Florence herself described the video by saying:
This video is symbolic in suggesting Florences 'spiritual awakening', as her characters are receiving what seems to be a masonic ritual- or an initiation ritual. This could suggest Florence is giving herself to a new, more spiritualist orientated lifestyle. This cooperates with her different attire shown throughout the video. The vast majority within the video consists of being set in a masquerade ball, to which different personalities of Florence attends, presumably the 'before' and 'after' her spiritual enlightenment. Her different personalities reflect different meanings. For instance, the costume in mise en scene is crucial throughout the video. We first see Florence in a champagne coloured dress, this could suggest her shy and timid disposition. The image below cooperates with this point, where the innocent Florence cautiously walks into the room filled with several masked characters- suggesting she is hesitant in crossing into the 'unknown'. Another generic convention to consider is the lighting used throughout the video. It is clear to see that the lighting is very 'warm'- all of the colours have a soft golden tint. This is presumably used to add a mysterious tint throughout the video, representing the idea that the artist is stumbling into an unknown location that could represent safety, likewise it could represent the false impressions of safety.
Another one of Florence's 'characters' is supposedly possessed by a demon, she shows this through her frantic movements and her 'lusty' red dress. The audience understand that she is being possessed regularly throughout the video as she shows unnatural movements and expressions throughout the red dress scenes. This contrasts the timid champagne wearing Florence that the audience see in the beginning of the clip.
The final character within the video is the 'angelic' Florence- presumably the outcome of the attended ritual. Florence runs out of the house and is then found climbing a tree- this suggests that she has become closer to heaven through the ritual. The mage below is a good example of this, where it is so picturesque the image looks like a traditional religious painting, with Florence is a glowing angel that is admired by the other heavenly figures.
This sequence of shots portray Florence as a spiritualistic and naturalistic character, through her long, loose fitting dresses and angelic movements. This is important in maintaining her image and uniqueness through the audience interpretation of her characteristics as a person and an artist. This cooperates with Dyers star theory in that to maintain her persona, Florence must hold her traits to remain an icon to the general public that listen to her music.
Recurring screen shots that appear often within this video are long shots and mid shots, this is to show Florence's outfits alongside her background. For instance, a variety of shots within this video consists of showing florence in glamourous dresses in luxurious events and backgrounds to highlight her glamorous and unique lifestyle. The mid shots and long shots are also intended to present the artists emotions to the audience- highlighting her vulnerable state. This enables the audience to sympathise for the artists insecure state.
Florence's unique dress sense and spiritualistic disposition builds a relationship with her audience. Her target audience would be those who prefer indie rock/ electronic/ pop, this is because Florence's music, and Cosmic Love, caters for different genres. This also adds to her music video in creating in-depth and diverse music videos, to connect with the viewers as they are intrigued by her nature and attitudes.
Music video analysis 2- Kiss with a Fist
This video is one of Florence's earlier videos. The setting is all white with a few props- this draws full attention to the artist and how she makes use of the props displayed. Florence portrays a cheeky attitude throughout the video. Her clothing is colourful and presents her 'quirky' attitude. The music conforms to the lyrics- for instance- when she says 'Set fire to our bed'- a plastic substitute for fire begins to emerge from the bed. This goes alongside Goodwins' theory of parallel lyrics and sequences.
The white background presents a neutral tone throughout the video, and as previously mentioned, enables the viewer to focus on the artist. The props are simple items, such as a bed, a garland, pinyata's and Chinese lanterns. These are random items but are well suited to the theme and style of the music video.
The pace of the editing is well suited to the rhythm of the music. It is swift and a simple cut, which reflects the up beat song and the minimalist theme within the video.
The different shots are used to show the artists quirky disposition. The long shots are used to show her outfits, that are peculiar to the average person but shows this artists unique style.
The mid shots are intended to show Florences' facial expressions. The heart shaped garland is humorous to the viewer as the prop creates a comical irony- as the heart shape goes against the theme of abuse that she is singing about. This shows that she has an up beat and humorous outlook to the relationship she is singing about- perhaps implying that her partner is a 'joke' to her- and that the whole relationship is an arms race.
The band members consist of lead singer Florence Welch, keyboard player Isabella "The Machine" Summers, guitarist Robert Ackroyd, Drummer Chris Hayden, Harpist Tom Monger and bassist Mark Saunders. Excluding Tom Monger, they are all backing vocals. The name 'Florence + The Machine' came from Florence and Isabella's teenage collaboration that had started off as a joke, which got out of hand. Florence signed on with 'Ashok' and recorded the early version of "kiss with a fist" formally known to be "Happy Slap"- however feeling she had made the wrong choice, she resigned and cancelled her contract. Mairead Nash, the bands manager, took on her position when a drunken Florence followed her into the toilets at a club.
Florence's debut album 'Lungs' was released in July 2006, with the introduction of 'Dog Days are Over', 'Kiss with a Fist', 'You've got the Love' and 'Rabbit Heart (raise it up)'. These multi-successful tracks got Florence's well deserved recognition for her talent- the album peaked to number two for 5 weeks in the UK album charts.
The bands record labels include IAMSOUND Records, Moshi Moshi Records and Island records. Mairead Nash also works for LuvLuvLuv records, and therefore the band have a total of 4 record labels. Florence has done many different collaborations with artists, such as Dizzee Rascal. Her most recent collaboration was with Calvin Harris, this is for the song I have chosen to base my project on- "Spectrum (Say my Name)". Her band has previously won 15 awards, including a Brit, as well as being nominated for 38 others. They also performed as a sub-headliner on the main stage at reading festival 2012.
Her second album, Ceremonials became more popular than her first. Below is a diagram showing her chart sales. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_and_the_Machine_discography)
Music video analysis- 1 - Cosmic Love
'Cosmic Love' is a song from Florence + The Machines second album 'ceremonials'. Florence herself described the video by saying:
Another one of Florence's 'characters' is supposedly possessed by a demon, she shows this through her frantic movements and her 'lusty' red dress. The audience understand that she is being possessed regularly throughout the video as she shows unnatural movements and expressions throughout the red dress scenes. This contrasts the timid champagne wearing Florence that the audience see in the beginning of the clip.
The final character within the video is the 'angelic' Florence- presumably the outcome of the attended ritual. Florence runs out of the house and is then found climbing a tree- this suggests that she has become closer to heaven through the ritual. The mage below is a good example of this, where it is so picturesque the image looks like a traditional religious painting, with Florence is a glowing angel that is admired by the other heavenly figures.
This sequence of shots portray Florence as a spiritualistic and naturalistic character, through her long, loose fitting dresses and angelic movements. This is important in maintaining her image and uniqueness through the audience interpretation of her characteristics as a person and an artist. This cooperates with Dyers star theory in that to maintain her persona, Florence must hold her traits to remain an icon to the general public that listen to her music.
Recurring screen shots that appear often within this video are long shots and mid shots, this is to show Florence's outfits alongside her background. For instance, a variety of shots within this video consists of showing florence in glamourous dresses in luxurious events and backgrounds to highlight her glamorous and unique lifestyle. The mid shots and long shots are also intended to present the artists emotions to the audience- highlighting her vulnerable state. This enables the audience to sympathise for the artists insecure state.
Florence's unique dress sense and spiritualistic disposition builds a relationship with her audience. Her target audience would be those who prefer indie rock/ electronic/ pop, this is because Florence's music, and Cosmic Love, caters for different genres. This also adds to her music video in creating in-depth and diverse music videos, to connect with the viewers as they are intrigued by her nature and attitudes.
Music video analysis 2- Kiss with a Fist
This video is one of Florence's earlier videos. The setting is all white with a few props- this draws full attention to the artist and how she makes use of the props displayed. Florence portrays a cheeky attitude throughout the video. Her clothing is colourful and presents her 'quirky' attitude. The music conforms to the lyrics- for instance- when she says 'Set fire to our bed'- a plastic substitute for fire begins to emerge from the bed. This goes alongside Goodwins' theory of parallel lyrics and sequences.
The white background presents a neutral tone throughout the video, and as previously mentioned, enables the viewer to focus on the artist. The props are simple items, such as a bed, a garland, pinyata's and Chinese lanterns. These are random items but are well suited to the theme and style of the music video.
The pace of the editing is well suited to the rhythm of the music. It is swift and a simple cut, which reflects the up beat song and the minimalist theme within the video.
Analysing Florence + The machine has given me a good understanding of her typical conventions within her music videos. I feel that I am able to create a music video that will suit the style of Florence's music videos. Her use of clothing to influence the narrative (such as in Cosmic Love) has inspired me to remain cautious about the choice of clothing. For example, I feel that when the artist shows herself as being isolated, she will wear dark clothing to show how she is confided in herself. The lighting at the beginning of the project will be quite dark to reflect her sadness, this will inform the viewer that she is upset within her life, and when her life feels as though it is 'turning around'- the brightness and saturation of the footage will be increased in order to leave the viewer feeling more optimistic about the characters lifestyle. Through analysing these music videos, I feel that placing the footage in public locations will add a greater sense of the artist being more in-touch and relatable to the viewers, this links to Dyers star theory- my artist is more realistic and evades moulding herself to be idolised by the public, instead she reenforces the idea that she is just the same as every body else. The use of the rose in my own footage may be linked to the display of flowers seen within 'Kiss with a fist'. As previously stated, the garland is seen as ironic to the viewer, whereas in my piece the iconography will have a more insightful meaning to symbolise her life being 'torn apart' then reversed into being put back together.
I feel that the mise-en-scene of my production will be heavily influenced by the analysis of my chosen artist- 'Florence + The Machine'.
You have made a start in analysing the representation of your chosen music artist. To develop this post you need to include the following:
ReplyDelete1) camera shots
2) editing styles
3) mise-en-scene
4) analyse a second video
5) include a summary to explain how your research will assist you with planning your music video
The second music video that you have included helps to show further understanding of how your chosen music artist is represented. Your summary also helps to show how your research will influence your planning and creative decisions, but further and more detailed points are essential on the two music videos. This can be achieved by focusing on the micro elements.
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