I am analysing how Arctic Monkeys star image has developed over time through their music videos. Arctic Monkeys are a band formed in Sheffield consisting of Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O’Mally and Matt Holders. Their first and second albums are indie rock while the third and fourth are more lad rock and have a darker feel to them.
All the videos from their first and second albums are mainly narrative but there’s two which are performance based. In their narrative based videos none of the band members are in the videos and the performance based videos are very casual. Fake Tails of San Francisco, which is their first video, is filmed in bars and venues where they played when they were first becoming known. Their music video Teddy Picker was filmed as though they were recording the song, it also shows scenes where they’re in a pub creating a casual vibe to the overall video. It seems as though the video isn’t staged. Their videos from the third and fourth albums are more performing than narrative based and even their two narrative based videos feature Matt Holders following a similar story in both videos which allows them to become remembered by their faces. Majority of their new music videos are performing for example Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've moved your Chair and Crying Lighting. All the videos from the last two albums have are staged.
The style in which they portray themselves in front of the camera has varied album from album. In two of their older videos, Fake Tales of San Francisco and Teddy Picket, arctic monkeys are seen as scruffy young adults with no sense of style. These videos both contain close-ups of the band. From their third album, the video for Crying Lighting shows them with more of a smarter vintage feel. Suck it and See is off their fourth and latest album, this video is narrative based and Matt Holders plays a typical bad boy adding to the darker rock vibe of this whole album.
Their videos from the last two albums all have effects except one, Cornerstone which is a very simple video. Their older videos don’t have effect and are kept to mostly natural tones. Don’t Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair is multi-coloured and has a blurred effect so all you can see are silhouettes of them and their instruments. Suck it and See has a vintage effect on the camera and so does Evil Twin. The video for Evil Twin seems as though it’s a follow on from the video for Suck it and See which is why they've kept the same effect. Finally, the video for My Propeller is in black and grey and you only see their silhouettes like in their other video. All these videos are performing based videos which show them rocking out on their instruments which adds to the rock vibe.
The main ways in which Arctic Monkeys as a band have developed is though how they're shown in their videos for instance, majority of their old videos were narrative based while now majority of their videos are performance based. They've grown in style both musically and in the way they present themselves.
