Sunday 11 September 2011

Undercover Martyn - Two Door Cinema Club

Two Door Cinema Club are a rock band originated from Bangor, Northern Ireland, formed in 2007. Sam Halliday (lead guitar, backing vocals) Alex Trimble (vocals, rhythm guitar, synths and beats) and kevin Baird (backing vocals, bass) are the 3 band members, and they have released one album, Tourist History, from which Undercover Martyn is from, having also been released as a single, and they are currently signed to the french company, Kitsune Music. The band's most recent performances have occured at Reading and Leeds' Festivals, on the august bank holiday weekend, in which they were placed on the Main Stage, having been a large success on the smaller yet still attractive NME stage at the same festival the year before.

Undercover Martyn was released on the 22nd February 2010, and was the 2nd single to be taken from the album Tourist History, and peaked at 79 in the UK charts. The video has no clear narrative, although the band are seen to be being controlled by puppeteers, which later bring vibrant flags amongst other colourful items into the shot later in the video. There is clear lip syncing continuously throughout the video, although it is a lot clearer in the close up shots, whilst the band are playing guitars for the whole duration of the video as well, highlighting 2 conventions of a typical music video. It could be argued that the narrative is the puppeteers adding things to the shot, in which case there is a clear sign of a fusion of 2 conventions, as the band remain playing.
Each band member has a guitar, and all are smartly dressed whilst there is clear 'mode of address' being displayed which is known as singing to the camera.

The video starts with a black screen, until 0:04 when it cuts to a close of up of each band member's face,for approximately one second per face, in the order they are standing in (left to right), the music begins as this cut occurs. It then cuts to a long shot, and you can see that they are all suspended in the air by what appears to be puppeteers hands, the band look distressed as they are flung about whilst trying to maintain their composure and continue playing in the later stages of the video. When the first line of the song is played, around 0:18, there is a cut to a close up of the lead singer, and clear mode of address can be seen. There are continuous cuts to a close up then back to the long shot, in order to maintain the mode of address, as well as a recurring theme beginning at 0:39 in which the word 'basement' is held up above the bands' heads by the puppeteers as they sing the word. At 0:42 there is a clear cut to the lead singer's feet tapping, even though it is apparent he is being held aloft still, and this is where the band begin to get jostled and moved around by the puppeteers, and at 0:55 the other 2 band members are stripped of their guitars and have to catch them again, whilst the lead singer in the middle manages to hold on to his.
 At 1:33 the first colourful flag is introduced and swirls around the band, before many others of different colours begin to do the same, whilst at 1:41 the left and right band member begin spinning round. At 1:44 the middle member is spun at a fast pace, with an almost strobe style cut used to fast forward his movement, before a quick cut to the right member now horizontal, all fast paced to fit the music. Very quick cuts are continuously used to show different flags and situations of the band spinning at a fast pace to fit the music, and at 2:08 the cut changes to all dark except for the middle band member's suit, which has become a glow in the dark type neon colour, as well as his guitar, almost resembling an x ray style shot in a long shot, before the other band members light up at 2:12. The next sequence mixes shots of them in normal lighting with the neon glowing feature with quick cuts once more to again fit the music, before going back to normal at 2:20. There are now balloon type things floating about as well as the flags, until the end, where a lot of balloons are released up towards the camera, revealing the whole sequence to have been in a birds eye view type camera angle.

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