Star Studies- Muse

Comparing two songs and seeing how Muse have changed as a band since the first one...

The songs I have chosen are very contrasting genres of the music video and music. This is why I chose these songs as I wanted there to be a big difference between the two songs. They also show the viewers how the band Muse have changed as the group.

1. The First song I have chosen is 'Bliss': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMqsWc8muj8&ob=av2e 

• Here in the mise-en-scene side of this movie we see that they are wearing normal clothes, The lead singer (Matt Bellamy) has dyed his hair bright red. 
• During this stage of their career, They're music was very rocky and stayed within the heavy rock genre in their album (origin of symmetry).
• The genre of this music video is a spectacle, meaning that they use lots of special effects in the video, such as Matt Bellamy falling down this pit and into (what looks like) space. 
• the editing is very stylized with use of slow motion.

 2. The second song I chose was 'Undisclosed desires':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8OOWcsFj0U&ob=av3e

•  The Mise-en-scene of this video is a complete contrast to Bliss. In this video there is a lot more going on with different machines and TV screens. Their clothes are a lot more futuristic and funky. e.g. Matt plugging in his shoes at the beginning. These changes to me mean that they have changed into a more wealthy and industrial band since Bliss.
• Muse have become progressively more confident with their music over the years so they are now spreading out their genres in this album- The Resistance. So this songs genre is a very electronic/Contemporary R&B/Synthpop. Thus giving them more interesting ideas for a music video. This also means the music can speak out to other people who are into these genres and not just Alternative rock.
• The Genre of music video is now a hybrid of performance/image and a slight hint of sexual (girl dancing in wire suit)
•  The editing, like Bliss, is also very stylized, with use of slow motion and depth of field. They use simple shots like mid shots of Dom Howard (drummer), Low angle shot of Bassist (Chris Wolstenholme), high angle shots of Matt clicking into microphone, and close up on Matt singing (look at picture).

 The overall difference that Muse have created about themselves is their image and style of music. they have changed their image to stand out from other bands in the charts by dressing futuristicly and have a quirky theme about their image. The design of their clothing is more than contemporary, It is ultramodern like in Undisclosed Desires. They have changed their style of music because they want to speak out to a wider range of listeners. So in their newest album they use a wider use of different genres, such as Heavy rock e.g. Unnatural Selection , Synthpop e.g. Undisclosed Desires, Classical e.g. Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture)

Cheers for reading

Nick. x