Bulls in the Bronx, Pierce the Veil Music Video Analysis

"Bulls in the Bronx" music video by Pierce the Veil's contains several conventions of music videos in general as well as many conventions of post hard core rock videos

 

Firstly, it can be seen that there are many quick cuts to the beat of the song. This is conventional to music videos as it prevents the song from sounding disjointed. Moreover, in this music video there are constantly quick cuts to the beat, specifically in the beginning instrumental section and chorus. In fact the quick cuts are specifically noticeable during the performance elements of the song. This rymthmic editing, however, is seen throughout the video.

  

Furthermore, a convention of rock music videos is having a performance element and a narrative element. For this video, the narrative is that a boy sneaks into a girls house behind her father's back. They're in love and want to spend time together. He climbs up the side of her house and climbs through her window. They kiss and it fades to white and into a dream universe. They dance together in the dream wearing typical Spanish attire to match the use of Spanish guitar in the song. The girl pins her hair clip onto his shirt and then the 'bull' enters the dream and comes charging towards him. The bull is a metaphor for the girls father as the dream fades as the father enters the room and pushes the boy away from his daughter and starts shouting at him. Her father then chases the boy out of her room and down the stairs and through the house until he is out of the house completely. The girl gets angry at her father for chasing the boy out and shouts at him on the front porch. When the boy is running down the street away from the house he realises under his coat, the hair pin remains attached to his shirt. The video then fades to black as the song comes to a finish. 

Additional to this narrative element, there is also a performance element. This performance element mainly focuses on the instruments the band members are playing as well as the band members themselves. This shows that Pierce the Veil are and organic act because not only do they play their own instruments, but they're not being sold on their looks overall as the focus is on the music rather than their looks.

At the beginning of the video, there is a shot that fades from black of the boy riding his bike. 'Pierce the Veil', the name of the band fades in. There is then a cut to a shot of some flowers and the words 'starring in' fade in. The next shot is a shot of the girls house that pans down and the song title, 'Bulls in the Bronx', fades in. The song then starts as there is a cross-cut to the band playing their instruments. This shows that the band potentially sells themselves on their name as well as their music.

The genre of this song is post-hardcore rock, and it can be seen that the music video reflects that. This is because the performance element focuses equally on the lead singer as it does on the guitarist, bassist and drummer. Moreover, the performance element also focuses more on the instruments than the faces of the band members. This shows that the band is an organic act and fits with the genre of the song. Furthermore, the Spanish section of the song is reflected by the visuals with the use of the traditional Spanish dress as well as the traditional Spanish dance.

The star image of Pierce the Veil is emitted through this video. By this I mean that Pierce the Veil are being shown in a certain way to promote themselves and seem desirable to their audience. One example of this is that Tony Perry (guitarist) is wearing a 'Key Street' tank top. Key Street is Perry's self-owned clothing line and so through this video, he is promoting himself and his clothes. Furthermore, the tank tops that Tony Perry and drummer Mike Fuentes are wearing reveals their sleeve tattoos on their arms. It's very common for those in rock bands to have piercings and tattoos and so by revealing their tattoos allows the viewer to identify the genre and image the band are trying to project. Moreover, all the band members have some kind of piercing. Vic Fuentes, the lead singer, has a nose ring; Tony Perry has stretched ears and Mike Fuentes has also got stretched ears as well as a lip piercing.

Location Idea- The Graffiti Tunnel

Looking at the photos of the band, I have noticed how well they suited the graffiti tunnel on Leake Street.

As the tunnel is relatively close we started looking at the possibility of using it as the location of the performance element of the music video. As the tunnel is a minute walk from Waterloo Station it would be easy for the band members to get there. It would also mean that we would only have to take one car which would carry the equipment.  As the walk is so short from the parking it means we will easily be able to move the equipment. We have also taken into account that there may not be any parking spaces the day we we want to film. In this case, we are able to park on the other side of the road for 15 minutes, in which time we will be able to transport all the equipment to the tunnel. After this I will drive to a car park which is located 3 minutes away from this entrance to the tunnel.

This has allowed us to see how long we need to set aside for getting to the location.This time will be even shorter for our band members as the majority of them live much closer to Waterloo, then myself, Marc and Amy

Unfortunately, this location does not give us any natural light, which is conventional for Post-Hardcore music video. In order to balance this out we have made sure that sections of our music video will include natural light. As well as this, we have no access to electricity meaning  our lighting is restricted to the lights in the tunnel and our outdoor lighting kit, which probably will not be strong enough and will run out of battery before we finish filming. When we go to the photo shoot with our artist we will able to see whether the lighting in the tunnel will be sufficient for recording our music video  

All I Want, A Day To Remember Music Video Analysis

'A Day To Remember' are a similar band to 'Pierce the Veil' in their genre, target audience and star image. The music video I am going to analyse is All I Want by 'A Day to Remember':

This music video shares many of it's conventions with Pierce the Veil's music videos. Moreover, it also contains many conventions of music videos in general.

Firstly, it can be seen that the video contains many quick cuts to the beat of the song. This is specifically in the band performance element of the video. This is a convention of all music videos as without it the song would sound disjointed. This rhythmic editing is seen throughout the video.

Moreover, it is conventional of rock videos to have a narrative element and a performance element. At first glance it appears that there is no narrative element to this video. However, it could be argued that the various other people singing the song in the video, who are from other bands such as Bring Me The Horizon, Fall Out Boy, Trivium, Pierce the Veil and Parkway Drive, are in fact the narrative. Some would argue that the narrative is that all the other bands are coming together to sing the song and work together to achieve their aims as bands to stay strong for their fans ("keep your hopes up high and your head down low" or "mend the hearts of everyone who feels alone"). 

Vic Fuentes from Pierce the Veil actually makes and appearance in this video. This shows that the genre of Pierce the Veil and A Day To Remember are similar (Post-Hardcore)

Furthermore, the performance element to this song is a massive part of the video. It can be argued that the whole video is performance in fact. It can be seen that the performance elements that are of A Day To Remember mainly focus on the instruments, intending to sell themselves on their music rather than their looks. This also suggest that A Day To Remember are an organic act as they play their own instruments rather than getting other people to do it. This also suggests that the main focus is the music.

Moreover, the star image of A Day To Remember is being clearly portrayed in this video. The drummer, Alex Shelnutt, is wearing a tank top and so his tattoos are exposed. Neil Westfall, the guitarist, also has his tattoos exposed and has his ear stretched. This portrays them in a similar light to Pierce the Veil as tattoos and piercings are conventional of rock music and rebellion. This makes them desirable to their audience. Additionally, Jeremy McKinnon, the lead singer, has his ears stretched. Therefore it can be seen that the star image of A Day To Remember is similar to that of Pierce the Veil.

At the beginning of the video, there is a shot that fades in from black of one of the posters on the wall with 'A Day To Remember' written on it. There is then a cut to another poster with the bands name on it. There is then another cut to another poster, again with 'A Day To Remember' written on it. The next shot is one of a microphone on the floor. Much like the Pierce the Veil video for 'Bulls in the Bronx', this could possibly show that the band sells themselves on their name and what is associated with it, ie their music, rather than what they look like. This suggests that this band is an organic act. Alternatively, this could mean that they sell themselves on their name and star image, suggesting that they're a synthetic act.

Similar to Pierce the Veil, this song is also of the post-hardcore genre. This music video reflects that. This can be seen by the performance part of the video as the focus is equally on the lead singer, guitarists, drummer and bassist. Moreover, there is also a major focus on the instruments. This shows that 'A Day To Remember' are an organic act.

Lastly, the reason I chose this video is not only because A Day To Remember are a band of the same genre as Pierce the Veil, but they also use an animation element in this video. i fins this particularly interesting and I would like to use a similar type of animation in the making of my music video. The animation adds a sense of emphasis on certain parts of the song, and not only does it look amazing, but it also makes the video 100% more interesting. The type of animation used, moreover, projects the genre of the song into the viewers head as the pictures and lyrics being animated are related to the genre. For example, when the drummer is drumming, animation comes up to emphasise this. This also projects the lyrics into the viewers mind as they're animated on screen. This is the relationship between the visuals and the lyrics.

photoshoot

Earlier this week Amy and myself went into London to meet all the band and do a photo shoot with them to help create their star image. However we may do another shoot in the future to make their image more obvious. Here are all the images taken on the band.

For the photo shoot we used three locations. Jubilee Gardens, South Bank Skate park and the graffiti tunnel on Leak Street. Putting the band in different locations allowed us to see what enviroments the band fitted best according to their look and their genre of music.

Wr chose these locations as we thought the genre would fit the settings. However the photos take at the park made the band resemble One Direction so we decided not to film there. The graffiti tunnel and skate park had a rock and rebellious feel to them so it fitted our band and genre perfectly.

We wanted to make the band seem organic so we told them to bring their instruments (obviously not the drum kit) so the audience could see that everything was about the music.

Animatic Feedback

In the process of making the animatic we made several changes to the storyboard in order to improve the quality of the video.

Whilst creating the animatic we realised we needed to add more shots as what we have done was not enough to fill up the whole music video.

In the animatic we added the improvements to the storyboard I mentioned in my Storyboard Feedback post. This allowed us to develop the star image of The Perfect Fall as the lead singer uses his break up and turns it into the song he needs to start a successful band.

Creating the animatic was very useful for my group and I as it showed us that we had to create new shots as well as move shots around so they made more sense. It also gave us a rough idea of how the music video look as we got to see the planned visuals with the music. This allowed us to test what visuals worked against the music and what did not.

The anamatic of our music video

Here is the anamtic of our music video,it is the story board cut into time with the music

The Timeline Of "One Hundred Sleepless Nights"

Time	Shot description
0:00-0:05	Two shot of long shot of lead singer and Gail walking together
0:05-0:01	Two shot at eye line level of two characters sitting on a bench, long shot of them being happy together
0:01-0:02	Two shot of couple holding hands and being happy together in long shot showing scenery around them and then they kiss. Shows that they are happy together- which is the narrative we want to get across straight away to the audience.
0:02-0:06	Close up of band member playing his guitar when the music starts at high tempo.
0:06- 0:10	Lead singer practising playing his guitar
0:10- 0:17	Close ups of the couple sitting together on the sofa with Gail on her phone and seems uncomfortable and disinterested. She looks at him and sees that he is too busy with his music that he is not giving her any interest.
0:18-0:24	Gail walking away, getting off the sofa and leaving the lead singer
0:24- 0:26	Tracking shot of Gail (camera behind) of her leaving through the door
0:26- 0:29	John meets and bumps into Gail
0:29- 0:32	Over the shoulder shot match on action between John and Gail speaking and meeting
0:33-0:38	Two shot of John with Gail, we can see they are happy together
0:38- 0:43	Cross cut to Bennie on his own walking on a street with his guitar case
0:43- 0:46	Bennie in his bed- sleeping alone emphasises that they are not together anymore
0:46- 0:50	Cross cut to Bennie walking up to the setup of the performance/band with no-one there
0:51- 0:53	Bennie puts his guitar case down in an extreme long shot showing empty guitars and drums on his own
0:53- 0:55	Close up of Bennie starting to sing into the camera
0:56- 1:00	Cut to the band appear along with Bennie, shows Bennie has reacted by forming a band and writing this song
1:00- 1:03	Close up of drummer playing the drums
1:04- 1:05	Showing the first guitarist jumping while playing the guitar
1:06-1:11	Cut to the bassist in a long shot- showing off his image
1:12-1:13	Lead singer singing into the camera in a medium close up
1:13-1:15	Cross cut of Bennie (lead singer) walking into Gails house
1:16- 1:20	Bennie approaching Gail’s sofa and sitting down  with match on action
1:21- 1:22	Over the shoulder shot of close up of gail crying, shes telling the lead singer that he is leaving him
1:22-1:24	Bennie reaction to Gail telling her shes leaving him- close up showing his facial expressions of being angry
1:25: 1:28	Bennie leaving Gails house
1:28-1:34	Extreme long shot of the whole band playing their instruments and singing
1:34-1:36	Bennie looking moody walking in a long shot which will also pan across
1:36: 1:41	John and Gail being happy sitting at a table
1:41-1:45	Bennie putting his guitar case down in anger1:45
1:45- 1:47	Close up of Bennie
1:47-1:51	Extreme long shot of the whole band playing their instruments and singing

1:51- 1:55	First Guitarist playing/rocking out to the song
1:56- 2:00	Second guitarist playing/rocking out to the song
2:00-2:06	John and Gail walking along the street together
2:06- 2:11	Bennie walking across the street towards them
2:12- 2:17	Cross cut to extreme long shot of the whole band playing their instruments and singing
2:18- 2:23	Long shot of the member of the band playing the bass
2:23- 2:29	Close up of the drummer
2:29-2:39	Medium shot of guitarist
2:39-2:43	Close up of drums in a low angle
2:44-2:49	John and Gail lean in
2:49-2:51	Bennie runs and stops them from kissing
2:51-2:53	Bennie pushes John against a wall in anger
2:53-2:55	John retaliates an pushes Bennie to the floor
2:55-3:01	Gail comes into the shot feeling awkward
3:01-3:06	Extreme long shot of the whole band playing their instruments and singing
3:06-3:13	Bennie walking backwards watching John and Gail walk away
3:13- 3:18	Bennie turns round to watch them leave
3:18- 3:21	Medium shot of Bennie walking away with Gail and John walking away together in the background
3:21-3:25	Medium close up of John and Gail walking away together
3:25-3:30	Medium long shot of bass player
3:30- 3:31	Close up of lead singer
3:31-3:33	Guitarist playing while moving
3:34-3:37	Medium shot of drummer playing
3:38-3:38	Long shot of the whole band playing their instruments and singing

                        

Looking at new a new location

After finding out that we could not film at the cement works, we had to start looking for a new location. After much research we found a location that would fit our needs, The Department Store at Hoxton Docks.

In my ways this location would be much better then the cement works, for starters there is electricity. This would mean that it would not be a problem to bring lighting or camera chargers. As well as this the location is in London, this would be a lot eaiser to get the actors and equipment to rather then treking to Upper Beeding.

The one promlem with this location is that it may cost to use, however we have emailed the cite manager to see if we can get a discount or cut the price completely as we are students and will only need the location for a day, possibly only a couple of hours.

The rejection letter

Unfortunatly after emailing the Upper Beeding Parish Council trying to get permision to film at the cement works, a representative emailed us back saying the location was not suitable for filming

Analysing the Star Image of The Perfect Fall

Sleeping With Sirens

One band similar to Pierce the Veil in their star image is Sleeping with Sirens: 

Sleeping with Sirens are an American Post-Hardcore band from Orlando, Florida. They are currently not signed to a label and have release 3 full length albums and an acoustic EP. Furthermore, Sleeping with Sirens recently lost one of their members (Jesse Lawson) as his wife had a baby and he wanted to quit the band in order to be with his family.

They are similar to Pierce the Veil in their genre and Pierce the Veil and Sleeping with Sirens are often associated with each other due to the success of 'King For a Day', a Pierce the Veil song which features Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens. Moreover, they are currently doing a World Tour with Pierce the Veil.

In relation to their star image, Pierce the Veil and Sleeping with Sirens are very similar. For example, to compare the lead singers (Vic Fuentes and Kellin Quinn), they both have the same dress sense as well as hairstyle. Moreover, they're both wearing their caps backwards. This is typical of the Post-Hardcore genre. 

We attempted to recreate this dress sense for Perfect Fall for them to fit correctly into the genre and appeal to the target audience. We did this by dressing them in band merch and luckily some of them have longer hair than others. This style is typical of the Post-Hardcore genre.

Furthermore, the band members of both Sleeping with Sirens and Pierce the Veil have tattoos and piercings/ear stretchers. This is also typical of the Post-Hardcore genre and it makes them appealing to their target audience, who are likely to want piercings and tattoos due to the association of them with the genre of the music.

Moreover, much like Pierce the Veil, Sleeping with Sirens write and perform their own music, suggesting that they're an organic act. This can be seen in some of their band photos whereby they have their instruments with them. This further implies that they're an organic act. 

To recreate this, we took photos of Perfect Fall with their instruments.

Of Mice & Men

Of Mice & Men are an American Metalcore band from Costa Mesa, California. Of Mice & Men and Pierce the Veil are very similar despite the fact that they're a different genre. They have also toured together on the "This Is A Family Tour" along with Attack! Attack!, In Fear and Faith, and Emmure.

Although Of Mice & Men are of the genre metalcore, and Pierce the Veil are of the genre Post-Hardcore, the two bands are quite similar. For example, Of Mice & Men use an element of the Post-Hardcore genre in their music and Pierce the Veil use elements of metalcore in their music.

In relation to star image, it can be seen that the image of Of Mice & Men is typical of the genre. Piercings/ear stretchers, tattoos and long flippy 'emo hair'. This is also is also seen in the star image of Pierce the Veil. Moreover, it's also common for bands of this genre to wear band merch to associate themselves with other bands. For example, in the photo of Of Mice & Men below, the lead singer, Austin Carlile, is wearing a slipknot shirt. Moreover, Alan Ashby is wearing a Pink Floyd shirt. We attempted to recreate this with Perfect Fall. Luckily, members of Perfect fall already dressed like this and some members have piercings and the flippy 'emo hair'. This makes Perfect Fall desirable to their target audience. Moreover, Tristan is wearing a Crown the Empire shirt, Serge is wearing an Asking Alexandria shirt and Rodrigo is wearing a Thy Art is Murder shirt.

Moreover, we wanted to style one member of Perfect Fall as the 'bad boy' or rebel of the band. We decided Rodrigo would be best as his attitude already match what we wanted. Therefore we took photos of him smoking and asked him to wear a tank top to show his arms off. This makes him appealing to the target audience. Furthermore, we actually styled Rodrigo after Alan Ashby as well as Mike Fuentes of Pierce the Veil. This reflects the genres of both Of Mice & Men, Pierce the Veil and Perfect Fall.

Lastly, Of Mice & Men, Pierce the Veil and Perfect Fall are organic acts. This is seen through the fact that they all write and preform their own music. They show this by playing their own instruments rather than getting someone else to perform for them. This is seen in the following photos.

Of Mice & Men and Pierce the Veil also both show a funny and quirky side in order to appeal to their target audience as well as fit into the genre. We therefore wanted to show the quirky side of Perfect Fall in order to appeal to their target audience.

Of Mice & Men

Of Mice & Men are an American Metalcore band from Costa Mesa, California. Of Mice & Men and Pierce the Veil are very similar despite the fact that they're a different genre. They have also toured together on the "This Is A Family Tour" along with Attack! Attack!, In Fear and Faith, and Emmure.

Although Of Mice & Men are of the genre metalcore, and Pierce the Veil are of the genre Post-Hardcore, the two bands are quite similar. For example, Of Mice & Men use an element of the Post-Hardcore genre in their music and Pierce the Veil use elements of metalcore in their music.

In relation to star image, it can be seen that the image of Of Mice & Men is typical of the genre. Piercings/ear stretchers, tattoos and long flippy 'emo hair'. This is also is also seen in the star image of Pierce the Veil. Moreover, it's also common for bands of this genre to wear band merch to associate themselves with other bands. For example, in the photo of Of Mice & Men below, the lead singer, Austin Carlile, is wearing a slipknot shirt. Moreover, Alan Ashby is wearing a Pink Floyd shirt. We attempted to recreate this with Perfect Fall. Luckily, members of Perfect fall already dressed like this and some members have piercings and the flippy 'emo hair'. This makes Perfect Fall desirable to their target audience. Moreover, Tristan is wearing a Crown the Empire shirt, Serge is wearing an Asking Alexandria shirt and Rodrigo is wearing a Thy Art is Murder shirt.

Moreover, we wanted to style one member of Perfect Fall as the 'bad boy' or rebel of the band. We decided Rodrigo would be best as his attitude already match what we wanted. Therefore we took photos of him smoking and asked him to wear a tank top to show his arms off. This makes him appealing to the target audience. Furthermore, we actually styled Rodrigo after Alan Ashby as well as Mike Fuentes of Pierce the Veil. This reflects the genres of both Of Mice & Men, Pierce the Veil and Perfect Fall.

Lastly, Of Mice & Men, Pierce the Veil and Perfect Fall are organic acts. This is seen through the fact that they all write and preform their own music. They show this by playing their own instruments rather than getting someone else to perform for them. This is seen in the following photos.

Of Mice & Men and Pierce the Veil also both show a funny and quirky side in order to appeal to their target audience as well as fit into the genre. We therefore wanted to show the quirky side of Perfect Fall in order to appeal to their target audience.