Old Pine
Music Video, by Ben Howard
2012
Produced by
Mickey Smith and Allan Wilson
Ben Howard's Old Pine music video shows the typical codes and
conventions of the indie music genre, with the indie style and iconography.
According to theorist, Andrew Goodwin, Howard's Old Pine shows a relationship
between the music and the visuals, with the visuals amplifying the music, as it
is edited to the beat. This is especially shown towards the end of the second
chorus, when we see shots of clouds in time-lapse. The iconography shown in the
music video is typical of this genre of music, sticking to the conventions -
the use of natural, earthy settings, often beaches or the woods, its warm use
of light and the 'normal', ordinary appearance of actors who do not put a
performance. This all classifies into the video structure of a concept video,
as well as performance (Joan Lynch), due to the lip syncing of the artist
himself. The theorist Jon Gow identified six central genres of music videos
which are identified in terms of their relationship to the display of the
performance, with Old Pine categorizing into the anti-performance piece and the
enhanced performance.
The video begins with close ups of nature, with the beautiful
light of the sunset, which also adds sun flares, followed by an interesting
shot of the same plants' silhouettes as the camera moves through them,
introducing us to the theme of warmth, which is then continued throughout. This
is then followed by the tracking of the artist’s feet walking through a field,
heavily filtered with a warm orange light, possibly created, or enhanced in the
editing stage. As we start to hear vocals, the shot changes to a contrasting
view of the coast, with the silhouettes of the cliffs/rocks, then cutting to a
close shot of the sea, catching the sunlight - adding to the warmth of the
video, therefore to the conventions of indie music videos. Though there are
many close ups shots here at the beginning, and no establishing shots that we
would expect at this point, we as the audience are still able to establish an
idea as to the setting/location of the music video, and what genre it would be
if we were to look at it without audio. There is again a sense of warmth with
the establishing shot of the ocean, with the gold colours and silhouette of a
person. Through our own experiences, we can connect ourselves to what is shown
to us, adding a further sense of warmth and emotion. We soon cut to a full body
shot performance piece of the artist, lip syncing, again, with a heavy filter
of warm colours. Throughout the video, we often see an emphasis on the sun and
its colours, again adding to the indie genre conventions. This theme of warmth
is continued as there are close up shots of a campfire. There is also constant
images of the ocean - the producer Mickey Smith is a well known surfer, who
helped with the production of this video, with his influence being clearly
visible. The shots on the ocean are presumably filmed by a GoPro camera. The
shot is then taken back to the setting of the woods - conventional of the indie
genre - with the sun streaming through the trees. It is about here that the
song’s tune becomes more upbeat, and so a longer shot of the sky is shown, with
time-lapse. As the song heads toward the end, with the tune being more upbeat,
we see more people in the shots, with an interaction with nature, in contrast
to the beginning half, where we only saw the performer. This introduction of
people adds to the sense of happiness and joy, which is also enhanced by the
faster moving images of the ocean, which contrasts to the previous, still, calm
waves of the ocean.
Ben Howard - Old Pine
Ben Howard - Old Pine
Holocene
Music Video, by Bon Iver
2011
Directed by NABIL
(NABIL.com)
Holocene by Bon Iver begins with warm colours and emphasis on
detail, with its use of close ups of the actors (a young boys) face. As he gets
dressed, he stands in front of a window, letting in the natural light, and
enhances the glow and warmth of the shot. As shown throughout the video, here,
the fluffy jumper adds to the sense of warmth as emphasized by the light.
Evidently, there is a lot of importance on light, with the contrasts of dark
and light, especially in these first shots that establish the genre and
identity of music.
The introduction is then followed by the boy walking out of the
room door, graphic matching to him walking out of the house. The boy walks out
of a hut-like structure, covered in grass, surrounded by hills – reinforcing
the indie music video conventions. As
the young boy walks past the camera, it cuts to him walking through a dry,
almost desert-like setting, but with a time-lapse of the sky as it zooms closer
in, followed by an eye-line match. The pattern of using time-lapse editing
seems to be a popular editing technique in indie music videos, as seen in Ben
Howard’s Old Pine. From this point, we are able of establish the setting – the
beautiful location of the hills that surrounds this flat area of land. Another
setting is introduced, with an establishing shot of the boy running by the
mountains, with a zooming out, to add further establishment of the setting. It
then cuts to the boy on the mountains, giving the sense of a slight narrative.
We are then taken back to another time-lapse shot of the boys back, walking
down the hills, with the clouds and their shadows in time-lapse. It then fades
to a high angle shot of the boy with the blue sky behind him, with an eye-line
match of a blue shot of a lake and snow. Throughout the video, we are
constantly given beautiful landscapes, with an emphasis on them and the boy’s
interaction with them.
