George Carey

Rival Sons - Pressure And Time

Director/Producer – Dave Cobb

Date of release - June 28, 2011

Publisher - Earache Records

Genre - The Rival Sons are often compared stylistically to blues-rock bands from the 1950s-1970s, particularly bands like Led Zeppelin, The Animals and Free.

The purpose of this music video is to promote the artist and the song. The video needs to fit

a clear genre, which is in this case is classic rock and should be attractive to the target

audience, namely rock fans. It does this by creating elements that are recognisable to the

target audience for example the focus is on the band playing their music and commenting on

life.

The video opens with a fade from black to a long shot of the whole band on stage; we hear the diegetic sound of an audience clapping which is expected of a performance. The location itself looks makeshift with low key lighting and a crude looking banner in the background saying “range”. This sets the scene and suggests that these bands is not very famous and are not very high status. Some of the locations include; a rundown prison, a desert, a school gymnasium, office block and an old parking lot, none of which are very glamorous which is a counter type to the expectations of an American rock star.

George Carey

When the band starts to play the camera shot cuts to a different location with the band in exactly the same positions and the locations continue to change throughout the whole video using flat shots. Each transition is in rhythm/synch with the drums which helps to keep the tempo going into each location. The performance element of the music video is when the lead singer sings to camera. As the lead singer starts to sing it cuts to a mid-shot of him and then goes on to focus on each member of the band whenever they play an accent in the song, again framing them with mid- shots. These mid shots are carefully composed so that each band member is framed with at least another in band member in the background. This follows the rule of thirds where the focus is on a band member and they are either to the right or left of the frame, always off centred.

All of the camera work in this music video is static but it is the editing which gives it the movement. The editing is the main emphasis of the music video with a 60’s/70’s wiping transition from location to location gives it a retro kind of feel. The camera angle remains the same with the artists sharing the same eye level as the audience. They are not trying to make them look up to them as artists but are on the same level. They sing about working for a living which is something everyone can identify with.

George Carey

When the chorus kicks in the wiping movement of the video takes place and there are various stages that show multiple images at the same time or individually on a segment on the screen. The multiple shots on the screen vary; some are portrait shots of the lead singer, where others are whip pans to another band member. The consistent changing shots keep it interesting for the viewer because it adds a feeling of the unexpected. The song is titled “Pressure and Time”, this could relate to the locations and editing for example most of the locations are run down and look tired and old giving the connotation of time passing and decay. The constant cuts and transitions from the editing add to the pressure and it adds a feeling of disorientation because the environment is changing and the band remains constant.

The climactic moment in the piece of music is emphasised with frantic cuts between the locations in time with the drums. This conveys to the audience that the band is the key focus of this video. The band themselves are all dressed in black which is a juxtaposition to the extreme backgrounds that they find themselves in. Black clothing is stereotypically rock and roll and has connotations with rebellion.

The simplicity of this music video without a narrative allows the audience to engage with the band and their music more but equally the time and effort that has gone into performing in all the different locations makes the audience members think and appreciate the effort that has gone into making this music video. The simplistically values with the strong colour grading makes it appeal to a wide audience because it is bright, colourful and ironically there is plenty of movement.