Jamie Thraves
Jamie Thraves is a British film writer and director. He started making short, experimental films when he studied at Hull University. His graduation films both won numerous awards at a short film festival, and Jamie got his first breakthrough for his video for Radiohead - Just. The narrative of the video is about a man lying down with many people surrounding him, and what the man said at the end of the video to make the people lie down with him created great debates amongst fans years afterwards. Just like many other directors in the business, Jamie Thraves' livelihood is dependant on each commission. He began his career by shooting three very low budget music videos which costed about £5000 each. One of Jamie's main talents include making the music video into mini films, which grab the audience's attention and keep them watching for they will want to find out what happened at the end, such as his video for Coldplay - The Scientist.
Thrave gave tips on how to make successful music videos. He said to use the lyrics but not be too literal with them, and most importantly, go with the emotion of the lyrics. He wants the audience to connect with the lyrics, and so an effective video would do just that.
Radiohead - Just
Radiohead - "Just" was Jamie Thraves' breakthrough into his music career. It had a £100,000 budget and he directed and shot this video in just three days. This music video was created to fit the idea of a mini film, The video shows Radiohead performing in a flat, and this scene is amplified throughout the video. Subtitles are used throughout the video showing the conversation between the characters. The main plot of the music video is a man who is walking down the street, and suddenly he stops and lies down on the pavement with no apparent reason. Then, a man comes along and trips over him. He questions why the man is lying on the ground yet all the man lying on the ground says is that he just wants to be left alone. However, the man questioning him is curious about his actions, and so he stays with the man, asking questions, until a larger crowd appears. The crowd are all questioning him but he still doesn't give an answer, he just continues to tell them that he wants to be left alone. The man repeats to the crowd that they really do not want to know why he is lying on the ground. This creates an enigma for the audience as they will be wondering why this man is lying on the ground, and they would want an answer for it. However, the audience never find out the answer to this question for when the man finally agrees to tell the crowd why he is lying on the ground, the subtitles vanish, and so we do not know what the man said. Whatever the man said must have been effective though, for the camera zooms out, presenting the whole crowd lying down on the floor around the man. This music video is a good use of an open text for it has an ambiguous ending. Many different interpretations have come about this video. Jamie Thraves uses many different techniques throughout this video; he uses close ups of the man lying down to show his facial expressions and his emotions. The video is effective to the audience for it goes back to Andrew Goodwin's theory as the lyrics do not match the storyline of the video, which could be quite confusing to the audience.
Coldplay - The Scientist
.Coldplay - The Scientist was another of Jamie Thraves' many successful videos. This video has a large budget of £200,000 and Jamie spent three days filming and directing it. This video has a very enticing storyline, and the audience would be intrigued to watch to the end to find out where the story behind the song is created. The video presents the singer of Coldplay lying down singing the lyrics of the song, like Andrew Goodwin's theory which believes that the lyrics should agree with the visuals in the video. However, unlike other music videos, this video was created to be the singer literally going back to the start, like the lyrics of the song. Whilst he is singing the song normally, his actions are put in reverse, and if so, then it would have been difficult for the singer to sing the song backwards to create that effect. The audience begins to understand what had led him to the beginning of the video, and then they find out that the video was leading the audience to an extreme car accident, in which the girl in the car was presented on the floor, unfortunately dead. This would be quite effective for the audience as it would be unexpected, and they will understand the sorrow and guilt of the singer. The editing of the video is very slow, which matches up to the pace of the music.
Death Cab for a Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Death Cab for a Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark is a great video by Jamie Thraves. It was created by the lead singer of the band, Ben Gibbard, who had never lost anyone in his life, yet he had become obsessing over death and the afterlife, The video features Ben Gibbard in a small and plainly decorated bedroom, playing the song whilst sitting on his bed when he becomes aware of a small hole in the wooden floor. He continues to go about his life normally as if nothing was wrong, avoiding the constantly increasing hole. One shot was inside the deep hole looking up at Gibbard, and the music is softly playing, sounding far away. Towards the end of the video, it presents him sleeping in bed, and eventually rolling out of bed into the hole. He tries to hold on and pull himself up into safety, however, he falls, and it shoots to him falling into pure blackness. When he stands up, the audience assumes that the hole is not that deep, for Gibbard looks close to his room above, however, when the lyrics match up to the video and Gibbard walks into the dark, the darkness takes over and presents just how far away the room is from him. At the end, the camera pans, showing the entire room has changed back to its original, intact state. One thing about this video which really intrigued me and kept catching my eye was that throughout the video, there were brilliantly subtle hints of a circular hole in Gibbards everyday life, such as a circular mirror which he looks in, a close up shot of the hole in the middle of his guitar, and in the beginning of the song, the video is made to seem as though it is inside his guitar in the dark, looking out of the hole into the light. All of these little hints could suggest that the hole was unavoidable to Gibbard, and he was always going to follow into the dark.
Tom Odell - Another Love
Jamie Thraves also created Tom Odell's video for Another Love. This video presents an individual's wish to show their affection to their love, yet they feel burdened by their lingering feelings of distrust and hurt from their previous relationship. The video starts off dark, with Tom Odell's face in the middle of the screen, slowly moving backwards, presenting the room Odell is sitting in. The actress in the video shows affection to Odell, however, he ignores her, and doesn't look at her throughout the video. Through the instrumental parts of the video, the mise-en-scene and the actress' costume changes to present the time going by. The actress in the video becomes more and more aggressive as the video proceeds, linking to the lyrics of the song. Odell's facial expressions and the change of lighting presents his distress and hurt from the former love, and when it ends, it shows Odell alone, suggesting that the girl left him. The camera does not move position throughout the video, although it uses different shots, the camera is always in the same place, directly facing Tom Odell, and also, similar shots are used throughout this video, such as close ups, medium shots and medium long shots, which would make sure the main focus for the audience is on the lyrics and Odell himself. Thraves follows his own tips in this video, for he uses the lyrics but does not take them too literal, and so the video is simple but very effective and the audience can easily get the meaning from the video.
The Film Business
Jamie has used the music videos to develop his skills and get himself into the film business. He has so far created three features:
The Low Down
The Cry Of The Owl
Treacle Jr.
