LLIAR Analysis #1

Title Fight - Head In The Ceiling Fan

Title Fight's music video for 'Head In The Ceiling Fan' features the band's homemade camera footage from their travels through touring, this is a frequent theme which the band often address such as the video for 'Shed'. The band often use this theme as they are a group of young musicians who are in their late teens and early twenties who have reached worldwide acclaim following their first full-length 'The Last Thing You Forget'. Since the success of  their first album (and other side projects such as hardcore bands Bad Seed and Disengage), they have been touring constantly since they became widely known. Title Fight are generally recognized as alternative-rock but often come under sub-genres such as indie and emo (sub-genre of rock/punk, not the general stereotype), regardless this video is filmed in the fashion of some modern alt-rock bands.

The band represented as having a casual attitude towards their music and lifestyles. This is shown through the way in which the whole music video is shot by using handheld cameras and personal footage which they believe is relevant to their target audience. This aspect of the filming addresses the themes of the album which this song features on (Floral Green) where there are a lot of personal matters discussed. This song uses the guitarist Jamie Rhoden as the vocalist who is renowned for his acoustic covers of some previous song which furthers the personal feeling. As a result of this, there are a lot of shots which are framed primarily to feature him as he sings along with the audio. This is a common feature of alternative-rock videos where bands such as Radiohead and The Strokes often use this. Semiotics in this video also convey the open-minded attitudes of the band. This is as they do not strictly display the stereotypical appearance and nature of people in the same musical vicinity. Title Fight do this through using shots of the band playing baseball and other sports which would perhaps not be connected to their emo/alt-rock genre. It is also displayed through the mise-en-scene where the main singer Ned Russin is shown wearing a 'Free Spirit' tshirt, a band who are renowned for spreading positive messages throughout the hardcore/punk scene in Boston. 

When bands such as Title Fight release music which uses a wide range of influences, it is often difficult to assess the audience in which they are addressing in some scenarios. The album which this song features on maintains a sound which is similar to emo bands which came from the 1990's such as Sunny Day Real Estate and Mineral. As a result of this, it is very likely that the music video is aimed at those who may have been a fan of this style of music at the time that it came out, but those who have only just become fond of it recently. The younger generation who have only just discovered this style of music are often stereotyped as hipsters who have a large appeal for vintage styled filming and imagery; Head In The Ceiling Fan addresses this with poorly edited and shot footage. The target audience's age is another factor which is hard to determine as it may appeal to those who appreciated the style of music when it was a wider known style in the 90's and those who have just become fans of it. However, the music is not easily accessible particularly.

Title Fight's image as a touring band often comes from the amount of other bands which the members have been involved in or created. They also very involved in the American alternative music scene as the vocalist owns the hardcore record label 'Back to Back Records' which is very successful for bands in the New York and Boston districts who possess a particular style. As a common hobby, travelling is an essential part of the band members' lives which is reflected in the video clearly. They are often shown on hilltops jumping into a sea where the next minute they are walking through the dark through a mysterious woods. Title Fight are signed to Revelation Records currently who bring out a range of punk bands and have been for decades. Yet, the band break the conventions of others that are on that label of following a genre which could only be loosely explained as punk. 

The video for this uses language in a way which isn't overly clustered with a specific narrative. This is through using miscellaneous home video clips which work in synergy with each other, yet do not follow a structured plot. The use of conventional features of video texts such as mise-en-scene have semiotics which are used to please the target audience and assert the bands image. As the music video is intended to appear as a collective of home videos, there is no designated props or intentional placement of items to convey an image. Yet, the setting is often in green fields or in lakes where the band are shown jumping, this connotes peace and tranquility which also gives the band an image of being laid back people. The cinematography in the video is not particularly inventive or convention-breaking, although areas such as the band walking towards the camera in a dark wooded setting is intended to display their adventure both in this setting and as artists in general. Editing is frequently questionable as there are moments where shots are cut out in a 'broken video tape' style cut (with a fuzzy screen), this appears to be intentional to abide by the theme of the music video. There are also brief shots of their live shows (which are often chaotic) where it captures people stage diving and mic-grabbing but this changes rather quickly due to the tempo of the song and the irrelevance to the video. There is lack of formality of using conventions in Title Fight's video for Head In The Ceiling Fan, but the filming is appropriately done to match the song in theme and tempo.