Oasis - Wonderwall

The video for the song 'Wonderwall' by Oasis has reached over 30 million hits on YouTube, the song was released on 30th October 1995 and is probably the bands most famous song.

The start of the video shows an empty, almost derelict room with a record player situated in the centre of the shot. The Long shot used allows the audience to see the setting and possible trend the video will connote. The shot also shows a clown walking from right to left towards the record player, the diegetic sound of his footsteps shows a slow pace which is used to build the pace of the song up gradually. The clown then goes on to turn the record player on and an LP with 'Oasis' begins spinning, the close up used to show the LP is effective as it boldly promotes the band as the name of it takes up the whole shot which makes it easy to see the video is for an Oasis song. The desaturated effect may have been used to evoke a retro style is popular for the typical Alt Rock genre. It could also have been used to make the video more simplistic as the video is supposed to be about an "imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself", this quote from Noel Gallagher could show the video is trying to show someones imagination, if so the black and white effect works well as it's often used for a nostalgic theme or shots involved with people's memory.



The next stage of the video begins with the song starting, and the next scene is of Noel Gallagher playing an acoustic guitar. This is broke up into many shots which chronologically get closer to Noel with cuts to each shot as the song continues, it starts with a long shot which shows him isolated in the same room the clown was in before hand. This could continue the idea of an imaginary friend as when Noel is on screen the clown isn't, this could show he is within Noel's mind. The way in which each cut gets closer to Noel is effective as it could portray a sense of closeness between Noel and the audience, or the series of close ups could build a sense of voyeurism, which according to Andrew Goodwins's theory is a typical convention of music videos as the close up promotes the artist. The notion of looking is effective as it illustrates people watching the band which emphasizes its popularity within the Alt Rock genre.















The video also uses a range of narrative and performance shots, this is an ideal way of shooting a music video as it allows the audience to see the band playing the instruments and singing which actually makes the song, as well as a story which can be illustrated by the lyrics. The story in this video is about the clown being an imaginary friend to Noel Gallagher, and the clown is there to save Noel from himself. This idea was shown on Wikipedia (click for link) which Noel told to NME in 1996 about it being based on imaginary friends helping people overcome certain problems they face in life. Below is a short video which shows some of the performance and narrative shots within the music video.



The narrative shots above create the theme of the video, which is everyone needs an imaginary friend or place to go when they need saving from the pressures they face in reality. The shots of the clown reference the idea of the video and as they appear it may evoke a sense of imagination by Noel. The person juggling could create an idea that Noel's favourite imaginary place is to do with a circus, as a clown and juggling is often associated with a circus, these shots illustrate a subtle theme of imagination and possible nostalgia for Noel as the circus could play an important part of his life.

These shots are part of a continuous clip from the video, it shows Liam Gallagher singing part of the song with the rest of Oasis being faded in and out. This could show how Liam is the lead singer but it could also portray a sense of more importance, as he is in the shot through-out where the other band members are only in them for a few seconds each. The use of fades is seen many times within this video as it evokes a sense of imagination, the shots shown with the fades may have been used to add to the sense of nostalgia or imagination and to show the main singer in the band which is Liam Gallagher.

'AKA...What A Life' Is To Bring Out A Video!

During the weekend I was reading 'The Sun' newspaper and within the 'ShowBiz' section I saw an image of Noel Gallagher, I then went on to read the featured article.

The article informed me that Noel Gallagher is to release a music video for his new song 'AKA...What A Life' which will feature Russell Brand. The video will apparently be shot in Mexico, California and Arizona. This may cause a potential problem as we do not want to copy his style, because we want to create our own original house style for the music video.

The news of Noel producing a video for the song is not all negative, as it may help us think of more possible shots to take and a method to follow the style. Although the video is to be shot in other countries it could still prove to be useful as we want to follow an Alt Rock image in our own video.

The Sun website also revealed some shots which will be used in the video. Here are three possible shots which will be seen when it's released.

What Does Alt Rock Look Like?

The genre of alternative rock portrays a vast range of style, as many want to look unique but also follow the genre it certain aspects. For example the image here shows a small number of alternative rock styles, the similarity is seen through the trousers as they are all slim fitting. The type may vary with some opting for jeans and some for chinos, the colour is mainly blues and black. The other colours such as red and purples which are seen are more in the indie scene, as they prefer the brighter colours to stand out, where as those in the Alt Rock group like to look more subtle. From this research I believe our artist should wear some dark coloured jeans or chinos, with the style being either slim fit or skinny fit, this should therefore evoke an image of a typical Alt Rock artist.

The Alt Rock music group also wear a range of t-shirts which are usually of basic design, with some being stripey and others plain colours. Retailers such as Topman may acquire for the Alt Rock group as they provide a range of t-shirts which show a simple design, for example here, here and finally here. At this time I believe a simple plain coloured t-shirt will fit in with the Alt Rock style, the colour could ideally be dark in colour or white. As an idea for our artist is a busker he cannot have a suave and lavish style, as typically buskers wear simple clothing.

Typically the Alt Rock fashion uses some sort of plimsol for footwear. These can range from items from River Island and Topman, or a more designer brand which is Vans. In more recent times the footwear has expanded which includes desert boots, boat shoes and some formal styled shoes. These style of shoe can be seen easily in the streets today as they are growing in popularity, personally I like the style of using a smart style shoe (bottom left in the image) as they will go well with the slim fitting jeans. This would therefore connote a typical Alt Rock artist such as Noel Gallagher.

Here are some of the styles Noel Gallagher uses, for our video to look more professional and more importantly convincing, I believe the artist we choose must have one of these styles incorporated in his clothing. As you can see Noel uses a range of styles to promote his Alt Rock image, as he wears mainly dark jeans and simple styled t-shirts and jackets.

Audience Brands

I visited the website UK Tribes to research what kind of brands the Alternative Rock audience like to use and wear. The website portrays an image of originality within the Alt Rock genre group, with it saying "While open-minded about music and fashion they are wary of the Mainstream tribes and determined to be different – together". The image on the left hand side shows a number of brands such as Quicksilver and Topman which are commonly seen in the Alt Rock scene. The brand Vans is also seen in this genre as the retro style of Vans shoes is popular in modern fashion. Other styles in the Alt Rock genre can range from board-shorts to skinny jeans, and plain t-shirts to check flannel shirts. This may help us dress our artist as the typical style of Alt Rock varies, this therefore allows us some freedom but at the same time means we do need to follow certain stereotypes such as medium to long hair, and an acoustic guitar.

The website also shows media brands the Alt Rock genre fans enjoy using in their leisure. The likes of XFM and NME are well known to play the type of music we are aiming to make the video for. The social networking site Facebook is universally used by many different types of social group, therefore this is not a surprise as the website is used by so many people to communicate with friends. The TV channel four shows many programmes such as: The Inbetweeners, Fresh Meat, 8 Out of 10 Cats, One Tree Hill and finally Misfits. I believe these TV shows relate to the Alt Rock genre as they often play songs in the shows that are in this genre. The people within the shows also relate to the target audience as they are teenagers and young adults, the shows may relate to this audience as they show teenage characters and often re-enact typical teenage situations.

The image above shows the amount of different media consumption within the Alternative/Young Alt group. The usage of internet is heavy which may be due to the teenage section downloading most of their music and visiting their favourite band's website or social network page. Other high media consumption is via television, magazines and radio. The high use of television can be due to music channels such as Kerrang, MTV Rocks or Q, these music channels often play rock music which will appeal to the Alternative Rock tribe thus causing the high consumption in TV. Magazines also have high consumption which can be down to Alt Rock people often reading magazines such as Kerrang or NME, the magazines often show tour dates which will prove popular with the Alt Rock tribe as they enjoy watching live music.

The low consumption levels of newspapers and cinema may be down to newspapers often focusing on mainstream artists such as Tinie Tempah, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Example in their music or show-biz sections. The newspapers do this as they will attract a wider audience if they show mainstream artists as Alternative Rock is more of a niche market audience wise, so Alt Rock people tend to not read newspapers as much as magazines as they do not show their favourite artists. Cinema may also have low consumption as many Alt Rock listeners are teenagers or young adults who use the internet heavily, this may mean that they watch most films online rather than going to the cinema.