How Does 'Dont Look Back Into The Sun' By The Libertines Represent Genre?

The Libertines are a punk rock band formed in England; with Don't Look Back Into The Sun being one of their most well known singles. The music video is filmed very amatuerish and off-hand, however this cheapness embellishes the scruffy warmheartedness of the band whilst the regular camera shake connotes anarchy and the off-the-rails lifestyle the band radiate- which is also shown by the quick cutting between scenes.

This lifestyle of uncoformatity is shown by the bands costumes, the vibrant red (connoting danger and attitude) standing out against the rest of the general public.

As the introductory solo kicks in the video turns straight into performance shots; footage of a live concert which emphasises the authencitity of their music and captures the energy and chaos of the punk rock genre. This energy is shown in the camera work of the performance shots, with a variety of camera angles; particularly the use of tilt which disorientates the audience, making it clearly apperent that the cameraman was amongst the crowd at the gig.

The unpredictability and energy of the song and the genre itself is pinpointed in the performance shots, with the use of strobe lighting very effective in representing these themes; with the drumbeat in many cases being in time with the flash.

The way in which these performance shots are intertwined with the storyline of the band wondering around the city reinforces the point that the music and its audience are the most important things within the band; a very punk rock ethic- which is reinforced by the lack of equipment such as tripods and dollys and also the use of zoom which incoraparates the crowd within the performance shot, breaking the barrier between artist and fan being another punk-rock ethic. The use of a cameraman simply tracking the artist shows numerous over-shoulder shots which places the audience within the video. This intimacy between The Libertines and their audience, strengthened by their extensive use of internet forums to talk to their fans (becoming one of the first British bands to do so) alongside their frequent use of "Guerrilla Gigging"- impromteu performances taken place in a fans, or indeed the bands, flat or house.



The use of the colour imagery alongside the Britishness of a red phonebox represents an energy and pride in their surroundings that are common in the punk rock genre- particularly the Libertines.


One very specific point in the "storyline" is an instant when the band steal their own single from an HMV outlet, this pointless attack on authority at themselves representing the anti-law attitude that is apperent in punk-rock alongside the audacity of filming it and distributing it for anyone with a television or computer to see.


This feud with authority results with many brushes with the law; captured in this ECU shot; the bars emphasising entrapment and arrest. Pete Doherty himself has been arrested numerous times for drugs and wepon offenses.

To conclude, the representation of punk rock is shown with the use of mise-en-scene, the intertwining of high-energy performance with the "storyline", fast paced editing and multitude of camera angles.

Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels- Poker Scene

One pivotal scene within our video is a poker scene; as that displays not only the sudden wealth our characters have accumulated but also the excessive lifestyle (reflected by our genre of choice) that the characters display. A famous poker scene in British film is that of the 1998 Guy Ritchie Film 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.'

The scene starts with a pan of the raised poker table; showing a desperation to view the going-ons of the game and an inability to join the table which highlights the grandeur of the game alongside it being an efficient establishing shot: with the fame of the characters involved in the game within our video perhaps it is a technique in which we could use.

The fast-paced editing displays not only a heated game which could create an excitement for the viewer alongside reflecting the fast pace of our song and of the rock n roll genre itself. The blacked-out background not only emphasises the importance of the game but also the immoral grandeur that comes along with it- the alcohol and cigars shown highlighting the excessive lifestyle the game comes with as well as its players. The fact that the alcohol can be seen to be diminishing shows this excess alongside the desperation of the losing players.

The first person view of the dealer that shows each player throwing either cards of chips into the cameras direction pinpoints the swagger and egotistical players- a trait that we would like to show in our video, as well as allowing the viewer to be finally placed in the game, this connection with the audience coercing them to pay more attention to the scene. The use of slow-motion highlights the fact that one second can change everything in this high risk game; emphasising the fast and loose lifestyle of the players that we would contain in our video- the use of ECU reinforces the emotions of the players and reinforces the importance of a 'poker-face.'

As one player is shown to lose and be thrown out of the game, the use of a high angle shot displays his insignificance alongside the elite of those left as well as reinforcing the fact that the audience can only observe the higher importance of the egotistical characters from an unseen angle.

When, ultimately, the final cards are placed down; they are done so in time with the music: this showcases the importance of these cards within the game in a technique that would prove very useful in showing a poker game within a music video. 

Location Planning 2

With the idea of attempting to cover as many sub-genres of rock as possible, another location attempting to connotate imagery of the darker side of rock (metal, goth, emo) is a graveyard; due to common imagery and themes of death, grief and dispair. The graveyard is the location we will be introducing the bass guitarist; the graveyard we have chose is logistically sound, just a few minutes walk from our school on Colman Road with free parking.

Costume Planning

This tee shirt is one example of the costume of the rock genre- the studded logo an example of the D.I.Y punk ethic of clothing. The logo itself can be seen to represent sexual debauchery and attitude, the band 'The Rolling Stones' infamous for excessive events; taking the life of former guitarist Brian Jones at the young age of 27.

The jeans are skinny fit, a common costume for the rock n roll genre; like the shirt the skinny fit represents sexual debauchery and audacity alongside emphasising the common poor background of punk ethic with their small size- revealing the inability to buy jeans that fit.

The shoes are scruffy and dirty, representing the little care for appearance and hygiene from those who influenced our planning; the brand Chuck Taylor Converse is very popular amongst rockers and fans of the genre- one example being American rock star Kurt Cobain who was rarely seen without them on.  

Which demographic would most identify with the life style and generic style of the British band "Foals?"

Viewing the photograph of math-rock band Foals in The Independent article, the polo shirt and cardigan costume hint at a student following, indeed the band themselves are ex-students of the prestigious Oxford university; this intellectual yet rebellious and laid-back ideaology is also reinforced in the reasonably unknown genre "math-rock" which has found itself as a label for the band- and perfectly sums up this ideaology of intelligance and subtle anarchy.

This student demographic can also pinpoint the age-group of the following, identifying itself with the illustrious lifestyle of a group of late teens to early twenty year olds dropping out of one of the  reputably best university in the world, living together and crafting a band to create, as The Independent claim to be, "exhilarating, diverse and innovative music." Certainly the article aims to create a rebellious yet highly intelligent aura around the band, introducing them in the statement "the palid lead singer of art-house punks Foals, is smoking a cigarette as the rest of his bandmates drink coffee and the read the papers inside."

It is this aura that can reveal a lot about the demographic that the article is targeting white, middle class youths, like the band themselves, who are spurred by the lifestyle Foals portray to release the shackles of what The Independent state to be "parently approved careers" and getting "thrown into the rapid decadence of the music industry." To attempt to bring rock music out of the mundane lad-rock of the lower classes and show that you cannot choose which class you are born into. The demographic, as well as the band, aspire to be abstract and exciting, taking "abstract lyrics, vocal barks, funky bass-lines and disco drumbeats and layered them into math-rock bass-lines." The music video for one of "two hit singles" 'Balloons' displays many of the bands enticements to their intellectual, middle-class demographic: drinking tea in front of a pale-green background- displaying a Britishness  alongside a laid-back, confident aura amongst the abstract back-and-forth performance shots and the use of the crow (intelligent, not traditionally sexually appealing and rebellious- just like the band and reflecting a male-dominant demographic) imagery reflecting the lyrics "we fly balloons of this field called love." 

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/foals-why-its-creativity-not-fame-that-interests-them-773528.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHcOFmiswcQ&feature=related

Find Your Tribe Evaluation

Find Your Tribe is many things; with culture, fashion and media all creating further and further sub-genres and cliques FindYourTribe.com can be a way for some to culturally identify yourself and find out which cliques take over your county. However, with very specific questions which change depending on your choice of age, gender and ethnicity- it can be seen that FindYourTribe can be used as a niche marketing tool. The info gathered extremely useful to determine teenagers- the prime market- preferences, wants and needs.   

Find Your Tribe Video - Grunger

Location Planning 1

One location that was decided to use was a certain characters house; to reflect the average mundane lives of the characters and provide a stark contrast to the fame and fortune that was about to behold them. For the purpose of easiness I have decided to analyse my room.

The first signifier of a waning for a rock 'n 'roll lifestyle is the door- a Rolling Stones poster making connections with the rock genre icons that have influenced our video. Another is the scrawling D.I.Y lyrics on the door- taken from the Manic Street Preachers' song 'Faster' of their 1993 album 'The Holy Bible'- reflecting the punk rock ethic that that has influenced our video.

The Jimi Hendrix poster is also a signifier for the excessive lifestyle the video represents; with Hendrix dying of affixiating on his own vomit at the young age of 27. The unmade bed also shows a scruffy, mundane, lazy lifestyle just waiting to be transformed. 

Another signifier are the guitars in the room- representing a wish to replicate the achievements of those shown throughout the room. This is also shown with items such as biographies of British punk band 'The Libertines' and Joy Division's Ian Curtis: with the former representing the rock n roll lifestyle of excess and the latter a sorry reminder of the frequent young-aged deaths that this lifestyle can claim. Song tabs can also been seen throughout the room- another signifier of the wish to replicate what the characters heroes have achieved.  

Excessive lifestyle signifiers  are not only represented in musical decor, posters for the film of Scarface also connotate the lifestyle and the plot shown in the video: with Scarface rising to become the biggest drug baron in California before losing it all due to his excessive lifestyle before being killed in the end of the film. 

 

Written Treatment

"Frenzied eruption of raw rock culture"

The plot for our music video starts with the band sitting at home. We show their lives to be fairly mundane and average. One member of the band inherits a large sum of money. This changes the dynamic of the group’s life. The man who inherits the money promptly drives to pick up the members of the band as the music begins (Each band member enters car in sync with the music and their instruments which they bring with them). Now The plot halves into the performance shots of the band practice after they arrive in the car. The other half which will be cross-cut in and out of the band members spending their money in extravagant ways. Such as gambling, partying, after purchasing expensive clothing. The two halves melt back together after the party has finished and the band finds they have no money just like the beginning. They pick up their instruments once again and the music cuts out just as they begin to play.

We were influenced to a certain extent by the film Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.We thought the poker scene in the film was really well composed and works well with the music. Our poker scene will be based very closely to the style of this.

We are taking on the style of a monochrome film. This will be used to bringout a certain colour which will be chosen to emphasise a certain mood by using colour connotation. This is similar to the scene in 'Schindler's List' with the single red coat.

The film Rock n Rolla has good use of lighting in it which will influence how we light our own video. The use of dark to light contrasts creates connotations of moral ambiguity and looks startling.

For the performance elements in our music video our main influence is the style of Kasabian – Underdog. The slightly slowed down performance shots carry across a lot more passion.

Mis-en-scene Planning

This is a planning concept board; with the aspects covered explaining why these various choices have been made and their part in the rock genre history.

This is the aspect of the themes we have planned to use; one of these is anarchy. Anarchy was promoted in the British punk movement in which lawless excessive acts such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash promoted a rebellious ideal over considerable talent. This ideal may provide conflict in our video, as the rebellious characters may clash with law enforcement. Freedom is another theme we planned to use, from the law or (for teenagers, from concerned adults.) One common route or freedom-filled event is the road trip- which we may include in our video as it promotes (like the genre) freedom, verocity and escapism. The use of a car will also provde logistical use in finding locations. The theme of excess is also very important when planning our video- with rock pioneers such as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin all becoming victims of excess; gambling is a strong subject in our video to promote this excess.

One location that was taken into consideration was a dirty, seedy underground club; providing the perfect backdrop to a rock gig- a place where partying and excessivness run wild. Another common place for rock infamy is the hotel room; a noteriously famous example being the myth surrounding the murder of Nancy Spungeon- with punk rocker boyfriend Sid Vicous arrested for her murder and committing suicide before his trial. Keith Moon of 'The Who' fame was renounded for his destruction of hotel rooms.

The costume use must reflect the punk rock ethic, the ripped tee-shirt signifying danger and attitude, a common attribute being spattered vibrant colours. Tight jeans signify sexual debauchery and emphasises a poor backround as jeans are too small. Shoes such as Chuck Taylor Converse are very popular in American rock; typically worn by Kurt Cobain of Nirvana fame. A commonplace British rock genre shoe is the pointed shoe or 'chelsea boot', the pointed end emphasising danger and rebellion.

Track Details and Artist Communication

Song Name: Waiting For Tomorrow

Artist Name: Tilted Smile

Length Of Song: 4:22 (Although we are shortening it for the purpose of the video.)

Genre: Rock

We contacted the Band on Myspace asking them for confirmation to use their song in our video and to ask them for lyrics to the song.