Friday, 22 October 2010
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Music Video Research
The Cure - Lullaby
A more theatrical video which both tells a story and works by using amplification to add visuals to the song. The visuals are strange and dramatic but still reflect the actual words in the song, basing the video around an oncoming 'spiderman' which is the focus point of the song. Though the song is rumoured to be about drug addiction and going cold turkey, the video directly represents the songs visual meanings rather than the metaphorical meanings.
The XX - VCR
A video directed by Marcus Soderlund, it starts off in black and white and ends in colour, perhaps visually representing the conflicts and resolutions between the characters in the video and the meaning in the song. Amplification is again presented in this video as it's not a literal interpretation but a visual and less poetically thought out version of the song itself. The song is about a couple, though what the couple do, where they live and how they look or act is interpreted by the director (Soderlund).
Arctic Monkeys - When the sun goes down
This video from the Arctic Monkeys is a controversial example and representation of the issues highlighting prostitution. It's only a music video but it manages to underline a massively important and relevant social issue. It's clear from the song lyrics that the song is about prostitution and the video shows this, though again, it only implies that the girl is a prostitute, we dont actually see any prostition. We see a man who the video cuts to every time the song lyrics mentions 'him' who we assume to be the pimp, and the girl who we assume to be his prostitute. The video cleverly shows the characters roles in the story by simply showing them in the video doing what the song says they're doing and showing their faces when the song mentions them. The video also keeps with the tempo of the song by being slow at the beginning when the song is slow and speeding up when the tempo speeds up.
A more theatrical video which both tells a story and works by using amplification to add visuals to the song. The visuals are strange and dramatic but still reflect the actual words in the song, basing the video around an oncoming 'spiderman' which is the focus point of the song. Though the song is rumoured to be about drug addiction and going cold turkey, the video directly represents the songs visual meanings rather than the metaphorical meanings.
The XX - VCR
A video directed by Marcus Soderlund, it starts off in black and white and ends in colour, perhaps visually representing the conflicts and resolutions between the characters in the video and the meaning in the song. Amplification is again presented in this video as it's not a literal interpretation but a visual and less poetically thought out version of the song itself. The song is about a couple, though what the couple do, where they live and how they look or act is interpreted by the director (Soderlund).
Arctic Monkeys - When the sun goes down
This video from the Arctic Monkeys is a controversial example and representation of the issues highlighting prostitution. It's only a music video but it manages to underline a massively important and relevant social issue. It's clear from the song lyrics that the song is about prostitution and the video shows this, though again, it only implies that the girl is a prostitute, we dont actually see any prostition. We see a man who the video cuts to every time the song lyrics mentions 'him' who we assume to be the pimp, and the girl who we assume to be his prostitute. The video cleverly shows the characters roles in the story by simply showing them in the video doing what the song says they're doing and showing their faces when the song mentions them. The video also keeps with the tempo of the song by being slow at the beginning when the song is slow and speeding up when the tempo speeds up.
Music Video Review
Music video review
‘Stress’ - Justice
‘Stress’ by award winning French electronic/indie band Justice is one of the best songs on their ‘†’ album which since being released has been nominated for ‘best electronic/dance album’ Grammy award. Not only is the song a winner but the 7 minute music video directed by Romain Gavras is also a work of art. It shows a gang of 8 parading around French streets in matching † hoodies, roughing up the locals, smashing up pubs and cars etc. Romain Gavras attempts to portray current French society in this video as there have been many riots amongst young people just like in this video. Therefore the video is additionally clever and interesting to watch as it's not only entertaining but its interesting and controversial as it provides connotations of the society in modern France.
Though we’ve been presented with gangs in music videos before, this one is particularly interesting, no just because of the social outlines but also the technical apects. The jolts and shakes of the intense camera movement and the sudden cuts of the editing make you inclined to watch it, if not a little dizzy at times. We as the audience are also put in the front row seat as the director puts us behind the camera. For half of the video on and off the camera is at our point of view as we see all the action happening and eventually in the end, we get beaten to a pulp by the rest of the gang. Continuity is played with a lot as well in the video as there are a couple of sequences of shots of the gang walking where it cuts to another shot of them standing or jumping around, it makes you disorientated, or ‘stresses’ the mind which is perhaps the directors idea.
Energetic and sleek, it’s not only the technicalities of the video that make it so powerful. At times the content makes you feel a bit uncomfortable and scared in case you walk out of your house and see these hells angels on your street, and you feel yourself shaking your head, sighing and thinking ‘kids today’. Though at the end of the video when they’re eventually caught up by a team of police and they run away you feel yourself hoping they escape.
Creativity is also abundant in this video. For example, when you (the character behind the camera) get in the getaway car with the rest of the gang after being caught you see the sound man getting in as well, which is humorous as well as inventive seeing as there’s no sound in the whole video apart from the song playing over it. Additionally another humorous part is the radio in the car playing D.A.N.C.E which is another big hit by justice on the † album and one of the gang members kicks the radio in disgust and throws it out of the window.
Cleverly mapped out and filmed, this piece of controversial art is a new age of music videos. Forget generic videos of women dancing from behind and a band simply playing guitars to a camera, this video sparks the creative mind. A great video to a great song.
‘Stress’ - Justice
‘Stress’ by award winning French electronic/indie band Justice is one of the best songs on their ‘†’ album which since being released has been nominated for ‘best electronic/dance album’ Grammy award. Not only is the song a winner but the 7 minute music video directed by Romain Gavras is also a work of art. It shows a gang of 8 parading around French streets in matching † hoodies, roughing up the locals, smashing up pubs and cars etc. Romain Gavras attempts to portray current French society in this video as there have been many riots amongst young people just like in this video. Therefore the video is additionally clever and interesting to watch as it's not only entertaining but its interesting and controversial as it provides connotations of the society in modern France.
Though we’ve been presented with gangs in music videos before, this one is particularly interesting, no just because of the social outlines but also the technical apects. The jolts and shakes of the intense camera movement and the sudden cuts of the editing make you inclined to watch it, if not a little dizzy at times. We as the audience are also put in the front row seat as the director puts us behind the camera. For half of the video on and off the camera is at our point of view as we see all the action happening and eventually in the end, we get beaten to a pulp by the rest of the gang. Continuity is played with a lot as well in the video as there are a couple of sequences of shots of the gang walking where it cuts to another shot of them standing or jumping around, it makes you disorientated, or ‘stresses’ the mind which is perhaps the directors idea.
Energetic and sleek, it’s not only the technicalities of the video that make it so powerful. At times the content makes you feel a bit uncomfortable and scared in case you walk out of your house and see these hells angels on your street, and you feel yourself shaking your head, sighing and thinking ‘kids today’. Though at the end of the video when they’re eventually caught up by a team of police and they run away you feel yourself hoping they escape.
Creativity is also abundant in this video. For example, when you (the character behind the camera) get in the getaway car with the rest of the gang after being caught you see the sound man getting in as well, which is humorous as well as inventive seeing as there’s no sound in the whole video apart from the song playing over it. Additionally another humorous part is the radio in the car playing D.A.N.C.E which is another big hit by justice on the † album and one of the gang members kicks the radio in disgust and throws it out of the window.
Cleverly mapped out and filmed, this piece of controversial art is a new age of music videos. Forget generic videos of women dancing from behind and a band simply playing guitars to a camera, this video sparks the creative mind. A great video to a great song.
In-depth Music Video Analysis
Analysis
MGMT – The Youth
This music video is an example of disjuncture, when a music video seems random and unconnected to the music. Though there could be some basic sense in it. The song is called and about the youth. When MGMT were just starting their career, they played a gig and they were booed off stage. A year or so later, they became very famous with the masses of young people and that’s what the lyric ‘the youth are starting to change’ may mean. Though there is this meaning to the song, none if it is resented in the music video which makes it difficult to analyse.
The music video is entertaining because of how overwhelmingly weird it is. It interests the viewer purely because it’s so unordinary. The mis-en-scene is an important factor in making the video what it is as well because of the hazy, 80’s, tacky feel it has to it. The cheap looking backdrop and disco ball which makes the video look like an 80’s school American dance/disco, adds to the tacky, amateur looking mis-en-scene. Even the children in the video look slightly eerie with their facial expressions and when they dance.
The song does seem slightly compatible with the music. When there is a verse, the camera will stay still as the children move round on a moving floor in a medium close up shot and mouth the words to the song. When the chorus comes, the camera is on three of the four children in the video in a long shot while dancing scruffily to the song. Lastly when there is an instrumental part in the song, either one of them or all of them individually are break dancing.
I love this video because it’s imaginative, weird and makes you remember the song which is something a music video should definitely do. You can easily forget a video with women shaking their bums or a talentless Cheryl Cole miming with a low top on, but this video is clearly original and it creates a music video genre of its own.
MGMT – The Youth
This music video is an example of disjuncture, when a music video seems random and unconnected to the music. Though there could be some basic sense in it. The song is called and about the youth. When MGMT were just starting their career, they played a gig and they were booed off stage. A year or so later, they became very famous with the masses of young people and that’s what the lyric ‘the youth are starting to change’ may mean. Though there is this meaning to the song, none if it is resented in the music video which makes it difficult to analyse.
The music video is entertaining because of how overwhelmingly weird it is. It interests the viewer purely because it’s so unordinary. The mis-en-scene is an important factor in making the video what it is as well because of the hazy, 80’s, tacky feel it has to it. The cheap looking backdrop and disco ball which makes the video look like an 80’s school American dance/disco, adds to the tacky, amateur looking mis-en-scene. Even the children in the video look slightly eerie with their facial expressions and when they dance.
The song does seem slightly compatible with the music. When there is a verse, the camera will stay still as the children move round on a moving floor in a medium close up shot and mouth the words to the song. When the chorus comes, the camera is on three of the four children in the video in a long shot while dancing scruffily to the song. Lastly when there is an instrumental part in the song, either one of them or all of them individually are break dancing.
I love this video because it’s imaginative, weird and makes you remember the song which is something a music video should definitely do. You can easily forget a video with women shaking their bums or a talentless Cheryl Cole miming with a low top on, but this video is clearly original and it creates a music video genre of its own.
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