Research into Music Videos by the Kooks.

There are many conventions within the Kooks music videos. Many of their music videos express the band performing in betwen a narrative story line. They also create lots of moody impressionism with lighting and filters to add to the emotion and desired effect of portraying the lyrics into a visual realisation. The music videos tend to focus a lot on the lead singer, Luke Pritchard, because he's the inconic member of the band. However this doesnt mean the other band members are forgoten about, with the other band members making occasional appearances within the videos and also being portrayed as other characters within the story. The  also use lots of different camera shots to maintain strong interest of the audience within their music video.

To get the most out of my research, as-well as a feel for what it takes to create a good music video, i am going to research as many music videos by the Kooks as neccessary to see how they do things, aswell as the range via mise en scene, canerawork, editing and sound as well as the iconography and conventions. Researching lots of music videos may also help me to gather ideas for my own music video.

Naive Music Video.

This music video is about the girl in the video cheating on the frontman of the band, but he's to afraid to leave her because he believes she can change, the lyrics, aswell as the music video makes us feel like hes telling us from his viewpoint as he searches the club for his girlfirend. In this music video it only really focuses on the lead singer, and the other band members feature in small shots. There are lots of dark, red lighting within the video to express deep emotions of the song, but also because of the nightclub setting. I feel the red symbolises the bitterness of the emotions. There are also lots of photographic flashes within the club which lights up the screen, adding the intensity of the mood and expressions. Throughout the music video, flashbacks are used to tell the story of a relationship, being happy and going wrong. The flashbacks show us what the character the leadsinger is playing, is thinking, inbetween his present, of searching around the club. The lighting during the flashbacks has lots of simple light, showing the change in time, however when its starts to go wrong in the flashback, even that light fades to a darker tone. The camerawork also flashes between what the girls doing and what the boys doing in the nightclub. The girl is clearly extremly drunk and is stumbling around, showing the state she's in may also add meaning to naive of her being taken advantage on, not just cheating, this is also portrayed with the lyrics 'im not saying it was your fault, although you could have done more'. When the leadsinger eventually finds his girl coming out of the toilet with a bloke. There is no performance in this song, and it is entirely narrative based which helps to express the story through the leadsingers prespective of the current situation. The lead singer in the song is wearing a leather jacket which is very Indie, the other band memebers who are mostly portrayed as the extra characters and showing the contrast of having fun at the nightclub are also wearing dark jackets and theres also a hint of checked shirts. The girls clothing is slightly crunge i'd say, and reflects on her state and the issues shes going through.

Ooh La Music Video.

Ooh La starts and ends with us looking at them through a television camera whilst the band is on French TV. This is a motif of voyeurism. The meaning of the video and lyrics is about a a guy who loves a girl and she also loved him, however she seeks for fame, even though he advises against it. When she does get the fame she wanted, she realises it's not all that great as the world 'chewed her up and spat her out' as the media has done to so many people who are famous.  The Ooh La video is consistently back and white throughout the music clip and i feel this creates an appropriate expression and mood within the video and it's meaning. Set in Paris i feel the black and white casts the city in elegance (and also reflecting a desire for fame) and reflects upon the emotions of the characters, along with the narrative and the lyrics. As it's set in Paris they definitely use the setting to their advantage, and make it clear that its set within Paris with the numerous shots of the Eiffel tower in the background of many shots. This is also done with the casual shots within the city and the french cars, showing many conventions of the city of Paris. The clothing within this video appears to be rather fashionable and reflect a side to fame with the choice of shades, and hats, however they are also perfect definitions of the Indie clothing. Key camerawork within the narrative of the storyline are the fact is all looks rather glamourous throughout, and there are lots of shots of the girl elegantly riding her bike throughout town, however at the end there's a really efective shot of the camera behind an open washing machine window. This shows that theres people watching her wherever she goes, and the hard side of being famous with paparazzi.  The next thing we know the woman has an accident, and the words 'fin' come up and flames which makes me think the kooks were aiming for a rather old style music video. The storyline is continued in another shot as the lead singer see's an ambulance go past. I feel the meaning of the narrative reaches it's climax with a powerful shot of the the bike on the floor with it's wheel still spinning, it shows the woman's downside to her fame.

You don't love me

This music video is a complete contrast to the conventions of a kooks video. It's completely performance based, showing them in concert, with only a small bit of narrative. As a result this means the video only shows a glimmer of the storyline of a girl no longer loving the boy in a relationship, and never having or making any time for him. Despite this message the song is rather more upbeat then the usual songs, and the way the video is filmed also expresses an up beat side. This shows that this music video is one of the music videos that does not express the lyrics very much, other than if they were be performing the song in concert. Throughout the video the crowd are going crazy, with lots of crowd surfing, jumping around, and people on shoulders. There are a few flashbacks for the storyline in between the concert of the girl neglecting the lead singer, however this is sometimes easy to miss, and as a result the first time i watched the video i thought that it was completely performance based, however this isn't true. The reason why the video blends together like this is because the concert part of the filming is very overpowering, and the use of the same black and white throughout the entire clip means the acknowledgment of the narrative is sometimes missed.  What i do like about the theme of black and white is the fact that it does create lots of tonal differences, and it's very dramatic with the stage lights. As a result it's clear that the Kooks are selling themselves within this music video and making people wish and want to go to one of their concerts because of how amazing it looks, and how much fun people are having. The camera shares the focus on both the band members performing, as-well as the crowd, too get the full experience for the viewer for both parties. It also shows the effect that the lead singer, Luke Pritchard has on the fans as they try and pull him off the stage, this is iconic with many lead singers who are the frontman of the band. Being the lead singer this also means that the camera mostly focuses on him during the performances, but it does make note to express the other members of the band equally.

Sofa Song

I believe the meaning of this song is about the fact that another guy is trying to get with his girlfriend, and he's trying to catch them out 'on the other side of his sofa' to see if she does cheat. I think the key line is 'i dont know if he wants my girls heart, or her pearls' basically implying the other guy wants the girls completely as his own, or just for sex. And lukes trying in every way to show that this girls is his and no one else's.  The video for this song shows lots of performance and many split screen effects throughout. With the performance there are lots of close ups with the band which reflects wanting to create intimacy with the audience, which is the effects that close ups create. The location of the city at the beginning is key as the city is mentioned a few times throughout the video. The overlaying images and flickering shots and lights create great moody expressions in a wonderful montage way, especially at the beginning with the blue tint of the city- and the dark colours whilst the bands playing. In between the shots of the band playing, the narrative side of the music video is a close up of Lukes face, singing whilst walking around the city. The camera in these shots are very shaky which i feel adds distortment and adds to the mood of the song and confusement. The idea of confusement and lots going on is the montage of shots showing lots of things going on. The blue tint also adds to the atmosphere of so many moods happening at the same time. Throughout the music video, photographic imaged flker onto the screen, outlined in white, to show snapshots that relate to the lyrics.

Eddies Gun

The meaning behind this song is actually about erectile disfunction and premature ejaculation. This issue is actually related to the leadsingers personal issues whilst dating his ex Katie Melua, the previous song that i looked at 'You don't love me' was also based on Lukes relationship with Katie. Obviously Luke must have felt awkward about the situation 'and from the barrel of my gun, i hope i'm not the only one' the face he had to courage to write and produce this song and the respect he gets from it is the fact that many guys can relate to Luke, no matter their age, as all men suffer at one time or another. The entire video is performanced based, and you wouldn't guess the meaning behind the lyrics with this music video. But i think the fact it is entirely performanced based with no narrative may relate in contrast with performance problems of a different kind. Throughout the video there are lots of screen effects, which also appear a lot in the kooks music videos. The screen effects include the music video footage being shown through film strips, photo booth photo displays, telephone booth, aswell as train tracks. Throughout these effects there are many close ups of each band member individually particularly withint he photo booth shots. The performance is based in a really simple white background for a setting with nothing but them and their instruments. The camerwork is made up of close ups of Luke, two people shots of Luke and his frontman of lead guitar, or the entire band. An Iris camera edit setting is also used, possibly to represent people looking at him and making him feel small, which would go nicely with the quote 'did you see the way she looked at me'. The song is quite a upbeat song despite the meaning and this means the video performance is rather fast paced and up beat for the kooks. To show complete contrast to the white background, the bandmembers are wearing black clothes, however this is also a convention of Indie clothing.