Analysing Foals - Olympic Airways Music Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK9iyQJuFGg&ob=av2e


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Foals - Olympic Airways


Song meaning (taken from songmeanings.com) - 
-this song deals with escapism, Olympic airways refers to a greek Air Company (greece is Yannis' home Country)
-An aviary for today is a reference to earth (the cage of an aviary being earth's atmosphere)
-An aviary far from home is about leaving earth and finding life elsewhere in the universe.
-dissapear and re-appear is a description of planes weaving in an out of clouds.


(from 0 seconds to 52 seconds)


At the beginning of the video Yannis jumps onto a mattress held by his friends, it has been slowed down to illustrate the pace of the introduction. From this i can make connotations to Yannis trying to escape or go home, as a mattress is a very personal household object, and gives us our place or room with in a home. As his friends are holding the mattress we make connotations to Yannis wanting security from the friends he has left behind. It then cuts to a handheld shot of the sky through the trees of a forest, from this we can make connotations that Yannis is trying to escape as forests are very free and natural, we often assosciate the outdoors as a place you can go to 'clear your head'. 


It then cuts to shots of the forest where the band are sitting down and there are lots of objects and mess on the floor. This establishes the band and creates a performance based theme to the video, as the band are playing their instruments, the only unusual aspect of this is the forest setting. There are minimal headshots of the band, focussing mainly on the instruments being played for instance a foot on the drum pedal, or strumming a guitar, this creates an indie theme, as most indie music uses lots of traditional instruments rather than computer editing. Fast pace editing is used in time with the beat of the song to create pace and movement.


The video then cuts to a man riding a tricycle through a field which creates a more abstract theme, as it has no real relation to the song, however looking deeper into it we could make connotations that he is looking for comfort similar to the comforts you receive as a child. It then quickly cuts to a man sitting in a field with the camera looking through the grass, this gives the audience an overlooking perspective, as if they are in the scene looking through the grass themselves. As the man is alone in what we can connote to be a field, we can make connotations to escapism, and that the boy is homesick and wants to reflect on the memories.


The clips of the instruments being played is then repeated, creating more performance based shots, and creating continuity. The pianist is playing whilst holding an orange creating a quirky image, and also reflecting the natural theme of the video. 


There is then a shot of a man staring through the reed, from this we can make connotations that he is looking for something or that he is feeling lost, which relate back to the connotations of homesickness which I discovered on songmeanings.com. It then cuts again to instrumentals, with Yannis playing the guitar, however there is no lip syncing used. It then cuts to a group of people, two of which are holding hands, the lyrics with this clip are "if only we could move away, from here", this makes connotations to them wanting to escape or go home, and we can make connotations from the friends holding hands that they want to find love and comfort. 


(from 1.04 to 1.07)


Here Yannis sings along to the song, however the lipsyncing is not in time with the song, making connotations to him singing along to the song, or that his mind is somewhere else making him feel very slow and relaxed, almost as if he misses home so much that he cannot be bothered.


(from 1.12 to 1.15)


Here the man covers himself up which look like he is trying to escape to be on his own, and get away from his reality. The next shot (0.16 to 0.18) is of a man alone peddling the tricycle but not moving. There is then a fast cut and another man appears and pushes him, this breaks the continuity creating a visually interesting shot. We can also make connotations that the man is helpless with out his friends and needs them and their comfort in order to move forward.


(1.22 to 1.25)
Here the band are with a group of people and they are all lip syncing, i think this looks really effective, and interesting as the band is made up of boys, yet there are both boys and girls in singing, it looks very interesting as there is a lot to look at.




I like the fast pace editting in the video, and the seemingly random scenes/shots make the video very interesting and visually appealing. I also like the outdoor setting and feel it compliments the indie genre with the natural colours.