Artist
‘∆’ commonly known as ‘alt-J’ are an English
indie-rock band from Leeds; Gwil Sainsbury (guitar/bass), Joe Newman
(guitar/lead vocals), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/vocals) and Thom Green
(drums) met at Leeds University and created the band in 2007. However, in early
2014, Gwil Sainsbury willingly resigned from partaking in the band.
Fun Fact: The band's symbol is the delta
sign, ∆, which is traditionally used in scientific study to indicate
"change" or "difference". The ∆ symbol can be typed on an
Apple Mac with the key sequence Alt+J.
Record Label
In December 2011, Alt-j decided to sign a
deal with Infectious Records; not too long before this, their self-titled
4-track demo EP, ∆, was recorded and released by Loud and Quiet in October 2011.
Their debut album was released on 28 May 2012 in the UK, Europe, and Australia,
and on 18 September 2012 in North America via Canvasback Music. Korda Marshall’s
Infectious Record also manage bands like Ash, Symposium, My Vitriol, Seafood,
The Paradise Motel and The Subways.
The Director
Ellis Bahl is originally from Upstate New York, Ellis
attended film school at Emerson College in Boston, MA where he obtained a B.A.
in Media Studies. It was his love of improv comedy and music, however, that
brought him to NYC where he studied with the Upright Citizens Brigade and
formed the folk rock band Stamp Collectors. His connections within the indie
folk/rock scene led Ellis to start directing music videos.
His connections within the indie folkrock scene led Ellis to start directing music videos on the side. Eventually, this landed him a full time job at MTV directing, shooting, and editing in house music videos for their online startup, MTV IGGY. There he worked with global indie acts such as Junip, Ladytron, Santigold, JYJ, La Vida Boheme, Blood Red Shoes, and many many more. Some of the artists he worked with soon began asking him to direct their official videos and in 2012 he directed the UKMVA winning, breakout video for Alt-J’s “Breezeblocks”.
Narrative
The music video
displays an action packed visual of an abusive relationship between a man and a
woman, it is edited to be in reverse throughout and also in slow motion to
emphasise the fighting. As we watch the video reveals an extreme conflict
between an extremely dominant, possessive man and a female hostage. The opening
of the video shows a dead woman in the bath who is being kept underwater by a
breezeblock; due to the video being shown in reverse, we eventually discover
the death of the women is actually the end of the scene. Progressively, the camera
then captures them as they fight, aggressively throwing objects such as
glasses, physically fighting and shouting at each other. The connection of the
man and woman remains unknown throughout the video; we are left to guess whether
she is married to him or maybe she is the woman he is having an affair with. The
video eventually comes to an end where we see the beginning of the argument,
where the man places duct tape over her mouth and shuts her in the cupboard.
Mise en Scene
Setting and Location
There is only
one location throughout the whole music video, which is a small flat which we
could possibly interpret the single small location as a way to emphasise the
isolation of the hostage. The shots are mainly focused in the bathroom and the
kitchen, again, showing how she can’t escape.
Costume and
Make-up
Out of the two
characters, the male portrays a more sophisticated look; despite both of their
attires being particularly casual. He is wearing dark jeans with a navy jumper accompanied
by quite smart shoes. This could suggest he is more conscious about his
appearance or maybe because he leaves the house where as she doesn’t get the opportunity.
Lighting and
Colour
Along with the dark tones of the costumes, the lighting in particular is
low key with major hints blue; this gives a cynical, scary feel to accompany
the ‘dull music’. The colour blue in the video has connotations of sadness, which
could reflect the relationship and how the participants are feeling about it. It
could also represent the depressed state in which the female is experiencing
whilst being isolated in the small flat. The lack of colour in the video may
also represent the lack of experience the woman has had in order to grow as a
person; the colour has been drained from her as she has been trapped.
Camera Work
& Editing
The effect of
the slow-motion really helps capture the violence within the video, it emphasises
the aggression and makes sure the audience can keep up with the narrative. One
of the most essential parts of whole narrative videos are the camera shots to
help convey the meaning of the video; I think that this was done perfectly in
the breezeblocks video as the majority of the shots are mid-shot which presents
information clearly. In order to make the music accompany the footage well they
have made sure that the camera is always moving, to make a smooth shot they
might have used a stabilizer. Over all the video is rather slow paced which
works quite well, however when the tempo increases so do the shots of the people
fighting do also.
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