The Crystal Whites ‘To Anyone’

Band Introduction

Adam Ferguson: Lead Guitar, Lead vocalist, Songwriter

James Ferguson: Bassist

Joe Spragg: Rhythm guitar

Nick Buck: Drummer

Crystal Whites are an alternative/indie rock band who, despite consisting mainly of members aged only seventeen to nineteen, have already established their own solid, unique sound.

Why did we chose this song? •  Having seen the Crystal Whites live a

numerous amount of times, we have become familiar with their unique indie/rock style.

•  Knowing the band first hand has allowed us to research into the thinking behind and influences of the song, knowing the band will also allow us to use the actual band members in the music video which would give the video a realistic feel as most music videos feature the chosen artist.

•  The song contains a narrative in which will help to add a purpose and story to the video which we can structure the video around which will help to evoke the meaning of the lyrics

From speaking to the song writer of the band Adam Ferguson, he told us that the song is about being ‘lonely, sad and confused’. • From this information and listening to the song a numerous amount of times we were able to compare the meaning of the song to other mainstream music videos to get ideas of how the music video should look so that we can make it to be as realistic as possible.

Comparisons •  Arctic monkeys ‘Why'd You Only

Call Me When You're High?’ – •  The video shows the lead singer of

the band – Alex Turner walking alone while supposedly receiving messages from a distant lover. This has influenced our pattern of thinking for the video as both this and the crystal whites track have similar themes.

•  - theme of female being a main focus •  Furthermore music video and lyrics

also have a direct link.

Comparisons    Ed Sheeran ‘A team’ – similar theme of loneliness as shown from the female character in this video, despite it being a different genre of music. However like the song ‘Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?’ which is the same genre of music as the crystal whites it has a female character being a main focus which indicates to use that if we want to make our music video look realist this might be something which we include. - Music video and lyrics have a direct link (story)  

Lyric Analysis ‘To Anyone’

You were on your own singing songs for no one spilling out your heart I will never die , no to anyone will maybe make her cry ooooooh shes got a secret, my heart will seek iiitttt but am I happy alone no . so watch them set on fire in the midnight hour ye, I'm waiting for her way just like the good old days no skin or bone across the telephone no why do I miss your face , why do I miss your face

The song can be seen to contains themes of love and loneliness and the sense of being lost without a partner

‘To Anyone’ – the name of the song and maybe a call of desperation

This line adds personality to the song and emotional feeling explain how he physically misses her

‘Just like the good old days’ gives clues of a broken relationship

The  rule  of  thirds  is  applied  by  aligning  a  subject  with  the  guide  lines  and  their  intersec5on  points,  placing  the  horizon  on  the  top  or  bo9om  line,  or  allowing  linear  features  in  the  image  to  flow  from  sec5on  to  sec5on.  

These  two  shots  can  be  replicated  as  it  shows  the  ar5st  looking  in  the  mirror  and  playing  darts  where  the  ar5sts  face  is  not  shown  in  the  shot.  Both  shots  both  show  the  rule  of  third  in  which  the  mirror  image  of  the  ar5st  is  the  main  focus  on  the  right  centre  line,  and  the  dart  board  is  the  main  focus  of  the  second  shot,  placing  the  ar5st  in  the  right  side  of  the  centre  shot.    

Rule Of Thirds

Video Layout Ideas As the song mentions a girl and the pain of a lost relationship a female persona will add emotional affect to the video especially when contrasted with the lead singer and his personal feelings.

We have taken influence also from bands such as ‘The Strypes’ a young, Irish band who use a lot of live footage in their videos. ‘The Strypes’ are of similar age to the Crystal Whites so we think using this layout may be successful for us.

Location The location of the video will be split between the narrative and the performance of the band playing the song. The location of the band playing will be set on a rooftop, we have taken influence from ‘The Strypes’ who used a similar layout in their video for the song ‘Hometown Girls’. As mentioned previously ‘The Strypes’ are a young band, with similar ages to members of the Crystal Whites so we think being influenced by their work and music videos will stand us in good stead for creating the Crystal Whites first music video.

The main narrative of the song will take place in London, set along the thames, overlooking Londons trademark backdrop at night. First of all London is the hometown of the members of the ‘Crystal Whites’ so we feel it is an adequate setting for their first music video. Secondly the iconic landmarks of London would allow a worldwide audience to associate the band members with where they originate from.

Although these two photos are not from music videos but indeed from the reality TV show ‘Made in Chelsea’ they show the sort of shots and atmosphere we will create with our protagonist, overlooking the Thames with the backdrop of London, caught up with the feeling of love and loss in his mind.

The Rock/Indie Genre

A typical Indie/rock music video is all about the image, while having a certain theme running throughout the music video. Commonly the image of the artist and the theme of the video are related; enhancing the overall product. In comparison to pop music videos, the indie/rock genre predominately features less of a narrative as they use a lot of performance shots instead. Pop artists like Miley Cyrus play for an industry and her image is treated like a product to sell the music to a big target audience. Whereas a lot of artists who feature in the rock/indie genre play music for themselves and not the industry.

This is the music video to pop song ‘We Can’t Stop’ by Miley Cyrus. During this video a lot of it is built up on the narrative and we don’t actually see the character singing a lot of the time.

Contrasting with the rock/indie genre of The Kooks – Forgive & Forget. The whole music video features the band playing, and we Clearly see the performance. This conforms to the convention that most videos in this genre focus more on the performance than a narrative.

The Rock/Indie Genre Despite most music videos of this genre opting out of a narrative, it is an effective way at allowing the audience to understand what the band and the artists are all about.

Here are some examples of narratives found during two Arctic Monkey’s songs… •  ‘Arctic Monkeys (AM album) – R U mine?’

Tattoos ‘Bad boy image’ – black shades Set inside a fast car Feet up on the seats - rebellious

•  ‘Ar/c  Monkeys  (AM  album)  –  Why’d  you  only  call  me  when  you’re  high?’    

Set in a bar Drinking alcohol Fighting scene Sets the tone

Within these two arctic monkeys songs from the album ‘AM’ we can confer a lot about the band and the narrative involved with their songs. They portray of a ‘lad’ representation with the elements shown in their songs. For example, tattoos, fast cars, alcohol, fighting ect. This allows us to get a deeper understanding of the band and where they come from, furthermore the songs and the lyrics reflect the youth of the band who create their own sound and style, something extremely effective to portray through a music video.

The Rock/Indie Genre

Predominately, the setting of a music video from the Indie/rock genre is low budget. They shoot in areas that wouldn’t cost a lot/any money at all.

For example…

‘The Ting Tings – Hang It Up’

Filmed in a skate park.

‘The Paper Kites – Bloom’ Filmed in a field.

‘Bombay Bicycle Club – Always Like This’ Filmed on a street.

Settings can also include areas like – Underground stations, Parks, iconic cities and tunnels. These are places which can be easily accessed and can create a unique feel to the band/artists music video. The settings are kept simple as the aim of the music video is to focus more on the artist/performance.

The Rock/Indie Genre Mise En Scene plays a very important part in the Rock/Indie genres. This is because it helps to portray the meaning behind the music video.

An example of this is shown during the music video of ‘Bombay Bicycle Club – Carry me’ Whereby the artists have normal clothes to reflect their true personality's and where they are from.

Contrasting to this, Pop video ‘Wrecking Ball’ sung by Miley Cyrus focuses a great deal on her minimal costume. This is to reflect the music video and the provocative nature of the artist herself. If she wore a similar costume that is shown in the rock/indie genre, her music video wouldn’t elevate the

same effect. Also in the same way as if a rock/indie music video put great efforts into costume choices; the true personality's of the artists wouldn’t be shown.

Finally, pop band ‘One Direction’ show the artists wearing suits in the music video ‘Kiss You’ which is not a true picture of their personalities, instead they have chosen to wear suits to help sell their video, contrasting again with the Indie/Rock genre.

Indie artists often have a retro look about them, which is created solely through the use of their choice of makeup and costume. For example, their clothing choice is simple, usually dark colours but they don’t put in a lot of effort into costume choice. This is to reflect how the music video is all about the artist/artists true performance.

The Rock/Indie Genre Props are also an important element to the Mise-en-scene of a music video.

‘The kooks – She moves in her own way’

‘Foster The People – Pumped up kicks’

‘Bombay Bicycle Club – Always like this’

‘Artic Monkeys – Arabella’

‘The neighborhood – Sweater Weather’

‘The 1975 – Girls’

These 6 music videos each present props throughout, which is very important in making the music video appear realistic to the audience. The key props in the Rock/Indie genre are mainly guitars and drum kits. Seeing these features in music videos shows the audience that the artists are the one actually playing the instruments. – extremely beneficial in making an effective music video.