SUNDARA KARMA
Sundara Karma are an English indie/pop band. The band consists of singer/guitarist Oscar Pollock, lead guitarist Ally Baty, bassist Dom Cordell and drummer Haydn Evans. The band's name is derived from Sanskrit words, meaning 'beautiful karma'. They released their debut single 'Freshbloom' in July 2013, and performed at Reading Festival that year.
LYRICS
MISE EN SCENE
The video has 3 main sections with different sets, lighting and costume. The first one is a family in a living room, which has an old fashioned style. The floral wallpaper and dull yellow colour of the sofa are reminiscent of typical 1970s decor. The lighting is normal, daylight style, with more shadow on the left side of the shot. The costume is plain, each member of the family wearing a different block coloured jumper. 
The second set features the band performing. It, too, uses elements that reminisce of the 1970s, with old fashioned televisions in the background of the shot. The scene is dark, giving the idea of is only being lit but the television screens. However, there would be lights offscreen lighting the band members. They are all wearing black and playing their instruments.
Throughout the video there an a number of cutaways to old video footage, such as people dancing or the army. These are bad quality, with grainy footage and in black and white, sepia, or very faded colours. These cutaways cold represent the shadows in Plato's allegory, the subject of the song. SYNOPSIS
This video is a performance/concept based video. The conceptual parts relate to the subject of the song, Plato's allegory. The old video footage could represent the shadows, and the family repeating motions over and over could be the prisoners. The performance is a typical performance shot in a music video, where the band play and the singer lip syncs.
KEY MOMENTS
0:00-0:02 - As found in most alternative music videos, the video opens with strobe style textures, which then overlay onto the first shot. These give the effect of an old fashioned style, which is a trend in the indie genre.
0:02-0:08 - This establishing shot introduces the family characters, in an interesting way. It is a pan to the left revealing only a portion of the people's bodies.
0:12-0:20 - The family repetitively shake their heads throughout the video, in time with the music. There is a conveyor belt in front of them, and at this point four mugs come onscreen. The family drink from them and put them back down, on the last beat of the introduction.
0:21-0:25 - The first performance shot is the start of the vocals, and is a mid shot of the singer lip syncing into the camera, the conventional way to do a performance shot.
0:29-0:31 - This old video footage is of a freak weather accident, where a house is blown over. It is hard to know if this footage is genuine footage, as it looks very old, however the old effect is realistic, and it would be difficult to recreate on a modern camera.
0:36-0:40 - A takeaway meal comes onscreen on the conveyor belt in front of the family, and they pick up cutlery. These shots are repetitive throughout the video, where the family interact with each object that is on the conveyor belt.
1:00-1:04 - The harmony of the songs drops out at this point, and the singer onscreen lets go of his guitar and lip syncs into the camera. Not playing his instrument here matches the music.
1:06-1:08 - This old video cutaway is the titles from an old cartoon. Further research into this has found it is an actual cartoon, 'Ali Baba the Mad Dog of the Desert', from the 1940s. Therefore I can conclude that all the old video footage is genuine, and as there are some army shots, these could be from WW2.
1:09-1:10 - A spiral effect, where the camera goes inside the old fashioned televisions.
1:20-1:22 - The family scene again, but this time the dad character is replaced by a member of the band, even wearing the dad's blue jumper. This could represent how the singer feels he is one of the prisoner's in Plato's allegory. The family represent the prisoners in their odd reality, and the band member is part of that.
1:24-1:25 - The same thing is used, where the girl is replaced by a band member. He is wearing the same pink jumper the girl had on.
1:27-1:28 - The boy is replaced this time, with a band member wearing his green jumper. The family are still shaking their heads but the band member isn't, highlighting him as different.
1:33-1:35 - Finally, the lead singer takes the place of the mum in the family, wearing the white jumper. As they shake their heads, he looks directly at the camera and leans on the table, juxtaposing how the mum would behave.
2:08-2:11 - The lead singer lip syncs to the song in a different location - sitting on the sofa where the family are. It is a close up so we can't see the rest of the family.
2:41-2:45 - This shot mirrors the opening shot of the video. It is a pan to the left of the band members sitting on the sofa, wearing the same jumpers as the family was.
3:40-3:47 - There is a crossfade from the family on the sofa, to a series of tv screens against the floral wallpaper, all showing old tv shows.
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