case study two- take that, the flood

7/31/2019 Case Study Two- Take that, the flood.

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Case Study two- British Analysis of a

music video.Take That The Flood.

Jessica Love


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Industry

Information.

Take That are a boy band which sing to thegenre of pop. They contain 5 males members

called Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Howard

Donald, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams.

They first formed the band in 1990 and the

split up in 1996, the band decide to each go

single and perform their own songs, Robbie

Williams being the main individual singer. The

band then reformed together without Robbie in

2005 and the band reunited their tour dates to

sing to the public for the first time in 9 years.

In 2010 Robbie Williams decided to re-join thepop group after his single career had fazed

out.

The band have received 54 number one

singles and 34 number one albums and they

have won 31 awards for their musical work.


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arra ve aspec s w n evideo.

This video shows the take that band going through a challenging

task of rowing a sculling boat across the water while singing. This

is used to show how teamwork and determination is used to

symbolise how the band has formed together over the years of

singing. It also represents the challenges that they have gone

through as not only a career of being a musical boy band, but as a

group of 5 male friends. Due to the boy band splitting up in 1996,

this is one of the first songs they reproduced when reforming as

the full boy band, the storyline therefore shows the journey that

the band have incorporated throughout their singing career.


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Analysing Narrative aspects throughout the

video.

This music video is a simple linear video, meaning that it has a storyline which

goes straight from the start to the end, in one simple flowing storyline. This

music video shows this by starting with the male band members lifting the

boat into the water to set off their journey, and ending the video with them

setting into the sea in a storm representing that another argument could occurwithin the band in the future. This particular music video is based in real time,

meaning that it is being filmed in present time and looking at the band row

through the river. The video contains a dream sequence of which is a visual

metaphor of the journey that the band have battled through amongst their

singing career. They also present themselves as clean cut British middle class

men, by wearing white clothes it gives an impression they are pure and

angelic.


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The genre for this music video is Electro pop and Rock pop. In this video youwould therefore expect to see a lot of dancing to show the pop side of the

music. However in this video it is mainly narrative and not a lot of

performance of dance occurs, this is because it is a very serious storyline to

the band and they want to make it seem emotional and connect with the

audience as much as possible.

However, with electro pop music, the genre conventions have a norm of

using original pieces, in this example rowing a boat down a stream for the

whole music video seems fairly bizarre and original, so would fit into this

genre perfectly. Another convention for this would be, a unique Mise en

scene, again the river scene is fairly unique as it is very hard to perform on

water. Another convention shown through the use of Electro Pop is the use

of light heartened and relaxed atmosphere, referring back to rowing down the

river to create a peaceful location with emotional lyrics being sung throughoutat the same time.

Genre Conventions.


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These 5 males members within the band are represented as

traditionally British due to them competing in a boat race, this couldbe represented to the Oxford and Cambridge (high class British

universities) annual boat races that occur every year and any

Englishmen are spectators or take part in this well known British

event. They are also represented as clean cut British middle class

men due to wearing bright white clothes, with no dirty marks and

well shaven faces, with slick combed hair, this gives the impression

that all English men look this way to the media, which could be

seen as a positive representation as these men are good role

models to society. They are also represented as strong as

individuals and as a group overall showing that teamwork will help

overcome any problems that you face throughout life.

Representations within the music

video.


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Intertextual

References


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Lyrics and Visuals.

The first line, although no one understood would suggest that

they are stating in the song, none of their fans understood why

the boy band split up, however they are holding back the flood

this time, representing any arguments and negative vibes

between the group are no longer occurring by stating it as a flood

this could also represent the tears that the group have

incorporated. The final line to this verse says They said wed

never dance againthis line shows that the and are proving tothose who no longer believed in the boy band, but they are now

back together and this song proves they are ready to face the

musical industry again, after the arguments the band previously

encountered. The visuals link to this because the rowing

represents the bands battles while they sing about how they are

coming back together and going to work through any more

battles.By singing theres progress now, where there once was nonethis would give the audience an impression that the bands

progress are getting on better now, especially after Robbie has

re-joined the formed band. These lyrics again are linked to the

visuals due to the battling struggle they go through while

rowing the boat, it shows team work and determination will

help finish the race, as these will help them in their singing

career.


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Music and

Visuals.This gun shot is blown before the musics

beat increases and the tempo of the music

becomes faster. this could represent the

heart beat of the rowers in the music video,

as their races begins and their hearts beatsharder and faster, this beat shown within

the music itself.

When this image appears as the

team are ready to set off rowing, the

song is during the 2nd

verse, here tomusic is at a steady pace, which can

again relate to the heartbeat of the

band members, as they have not set

off to race yet they are feeling fairly

calm.

This image appears when the band repeatedly singthe words hold on then slowly fading out their voices

into the distances making them appear to row towards

the storm as the video ends at a cliff hanger, not

knowing what happens to the band or where they end

up. Showing that they are eager to face and battles

that they meet on their journeys as a band.


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Shots of Take ThatThis shot is of the boy band Take that, they are

sitting in the rowing boat that is shown

throughout most of the music video. It showshow they are working together as a team to

reach the finish line. However it also represents

the relationship of the band and that teamwork is

needed to keep them going.

This image is of one of the band members eye, this zoom

shot is used to look into their life, here the music becomesupbeat after a slow verse; going straight into the chorus

after looking into his life. This blue eye is shown the attract

female attention and fans to enjoy this video by fantasying

over the attractive band members.

This shot is of the boy band Take that, they are sitting in therowing boat that is shown throughout most of the music

video, here in the background a storm is brewing and the

band are heading towards it. This would therefore make the

audience assume, that the band expect that they are likely

to encounter more arguments (which the storm represents)

however they are going to use their teamwork that they have

learnt over the years to overcome this.


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The narrative aspects within this music video outbalances the

performance side of the video. The performance is very littledue to the fact that the band are trying to set out a strong

story line, by keeping the focus on the story it shows how

serious they want the message to go out to the audience.

There is no performance side using instruments however the

band are shown sitting in locker rooms together, sitting on thebenches and singing the heart felt song to one another,

showing that the band are in it together, singing to one

another in such emotion which reaches out to the audience

and fans watching the music video.

Narrative vs. Performance.


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This could be seen as a slight voyeurism, this image is of one

of the band members eye, this zoom shot is used to look intotheir life, here the music becomes upbeat after a slow verse;

going straight into the chorus after looking into his life. As the

camera uses an editing technique of zooming in, it gives an

insight to the band members and what they have been through,

it also uses a flashback to look back in time at the bandmembers, this clip shown throughout this period of the music

video, is of each of the band members in darkness, which could

represent the arguments and battles the band have

experienced.

Voyeurism.

case study two- take that, the flood

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