Analysis of Jack Peñate

Another artist with a genre reasonably similar to The Blighters, is Jack Peñate,
an English singer-songwriter signed to XL Recordings. Two of Jack's videos particularly stood out in terms of editing, structure and representation within the same genre as my unsigned artist. The first, Spit at Stars is totally performance based and consists of Jack and his band playing, singing and dancing in an orange room. The editing and stop-motion animation techniques used add a quirky, lively feel to the song, keeping in with his style of music and performance. The second video, Have I Been A Fool?, is narrative based although does in fact interweave a performance element towards the end as our own music video does. This music video follows the main character, Jack himself, through a number of dates with different girls, through a park, at the cafe etc and ends up with him performing for the girl at the pub. The video shows a stereotypical representation of males as promiscious and cheaters, as is also told by the lyrics, tied in with the narrative.

Spit at Stars


This video uses various techniques to create an offbeat, quirky style like that of the song. Although the setting is simple and the same master shot is returned to throughout, the energy comes from the animation of the singer and then the seperate instruments appearing as the song begins, and also from the dancing of the singer. The camera work consists of long shots, medium close ups, a few close ups of the instruments and several sharp zooms. Fast cuts are used in sync with the beat to create the jolted pace, like the stop-motion animation. The emphasis in this video is placed on the performance aspect and the song, rather than any narrative structure. The video is shot in one location, keeping it simple and centering the action around the performance of the artist, relying also on the identity and genre of Jack Peñate even though he is not very well known, which is a risk to take. The choice of images and mise-en-scene defines the alternative, punk-like genre, with bright colours, checked shirts and hi-top trainers as costume and the emphasis on the instruments of bass guitar, drums, guitar, xylophone and several speakers.
A similar video to this is A Punk by Vampire Weekend, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XC2mqcMMGQ which uses the same kind of techniques, a simple location, instruments and bright colours to bring the audience's focus to the talent of the band and the artists themselves.

Have I Been A Fool? by Jack Peñate





The video for this song imitates the style of a 90's American romcom film, as it follows the character through dates with several different girls, constantly changing, through locations like the park, sitting on a park bench in Autumn and sitting in a cafe drinking tea. This video follows a standard linea narrative, a guy going on dates with various different girls. It links with the lyrics of 'Have I been a fool, just say..I lead you on, leading's wrong' and the action also has a close link with the music, the cuts well in sync with the beat and the lip-syncing of the artist. At the end, as in our own music video, there is a collaboration of narrative and performance, as on one of the 'dates', Jack get's up on stage and begins playing guitar and singing to the girl. Having only found this after creating our own music video, I found it very effective to see a video which this idea worked well within.
The video has a close focus on the artist, making him the lead role whereas some bands may use actors/actresses and simply be shown through their performance talent. This follows the conventions of a music video, with the demands of the record label (XL Recordings in this case) meaning a focus on the artist, with many close ups, creating a closer, more personal relationship between artist and audience.