I decided to analyse the music video Pretender by the Foo fighters, I believe this is successful because the action builds up slowly and steadily meaning as an audience we are kept on edge, as opposed to everything being thrown at us from the very beginning. It’s also a creative yet fairly simplistic idea in which I could realistically create on a lower scale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjQ9tuuTJQ
•The music video begins with the lead singer walking to the middle of the stage whilst the lights slowly flicker on, the low key lighting which steadily changes to high key as Dave Grohl walks to take his position in the centre and more and more lights turn on is used to symbolise things coming to life with his emergence which links to his dynamic character as well as the lyrics of the song itself in which ultimately neither he or the band will conform to the norm. This connects to Andrew Goodwin, a media theorists, proposition where he stated not only is there a relationship between he visuals of a music video and the lyrics but also videos demonstrate genre characteristics where stage performances are linked to the genre of Rock or metal. As the lead singer gets into place a clever back shot is used, this not only can be seen to represent his vulnerability at not conforming to society’s norms or ‘pretending’ but also aids in projecting the sheer size of the stage, this in some ways increasing his vulnerability, specifically as he is on his own. After this the camera focuses on the lead singers readying himself, in reality this is to play the guitar but within the context of the video this can be seen as readying himself for the later fight at the end. As the other members of the band enter we see the colour of the backdrop- a vivid red and this has connotations of passion and anger whilst the white stage enforces the dominance of the band. Various shots are then used to display all members of the band performing the song, with fast jump cuts to mimic the pace of the song whilst in terms of Mise en scene their costumes reflect their uncaring attitude, this not only being stereotypical of the genre of rock music but also links in with the lyrics of the song.
• The video focuses on the bands stage performance for a while, various camera movements are used to capture their performances such as Pan or close ups and it is at the point where their performance begins to become repetitive that we are introduced to the back of a mysterious man. The fact he is dressed all in black immediately means we associate him negatively and even fear him and as he beckons towards the line we understand he is a soldier of some sort. The black line that divides the stage acts symbolically as a line that divides those that conform and thus pretend and those that do not i.e. the band whilst the fact he is a soldier acts figuratively to represent the negative consequences of not conforming, even the danger. The performance after his arrival becomes more intense and this is demonstrated through the use of repeat close ups as well as frequent shot reverse shots from the soldier to the lead singers and in terms of Levi Strauss’ theory this enforces the binary opposition between characters.
• By the mid point of the song the soldier is joined by several others, pushing the narrative along as well creating yet more friction between characters where such binary opposition creates both suspense and mystery and later events. The performance becomes yet more and more heated as they band defiantly continue and the use of varying close ups enforces such, once again the visuals bare a significant relationship with the events of the music video where each time the artists states he will not surrender we understand this is a symbolic war between opposing sides. A panning technique is used to reinforce how large the opposition are as well as several long shots which capture both the lead singers back and the soldiers, demonstrating his vulnerability as well as the size of the army and their weapons. Suspense is created by means of camera movement, which is timed perfectly to fit in with the lyrics of the song, as we wait for the soldiers to attack.
• When they begin to attack slow motion is used to track their movement and this coincides with the song losing its intensity and suddenly getting more calm and slower and then rapidly, as the song hits the final chorus the new equilibrium is established as suddenly the red backdrop behind the bands turns to paint and splatters the enemy, this acts as the finale of the big build up. Various close ups are used to present the battle, as stated before red has connotations of anger and passion and this signifies the chaos of the battle, but the last shot presents a close up of the lead singer as this demonstrates his victory.
• In terms of narrative the music video does not have a complex structure and alike to Lady Gaga’s telephone follows a linear narrative structure where the story is told in order of the events which happen. While in terms of narrative view point because we are unaware of what will happen at the very end of the video it is a restricted narrative, only knowing as much, or even perhaps less than the characters do. This adds to the success of the video as we constantly wonder which direction the video is going to take and therefore it creates both suspense and mystery.
The second video I chose to analyse was Misery business by Paramore, this music video focuses heavily on binary opposites between characters and the conflicts that are provoked between these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCyGvGEtOwc
• The video begins with scenes of the band performing and therefore in terms of Andrew Goodwin’s theory, the video demonstrates genre characteristics such as the stage performance which are often associated with rock music. The editing during this performance is fast paced and reflects the overall heated rhythm of the song, this continues throughout. As the narrative progresses we are introduced to the main character within the video, her power immediately demonstrated by the use of a low angle camera shot as she pushes past the group of girls, such power is reinforced by the fact throughout the narrative she mostly occupies one shot as the camera tracks her movement down the school corridor. The video moves back to frequent edits of the band performing where various close ups of the lead female singer are used, this not only supports one of Goodwin’s theories about the voyeuristic treatment of the female and her body (specifically her lips in this music video) for example part of the attraction of the female antagonist is her body, but also plays on the idea of binary opposites where frequent one shots of each opposing character are used to reinforce the conflict between characters. In addition to this the setting uses intertextual references, in terms of needing to understand the clichéd American school with all the stereotypes of groups, the antagonist being the typical ‘bitch’ but various stereotypes are also evident within the narrative for example the cheerleaders and perhaps the band Panic present the ‘Goths’ of the school, therefore when considering such conflict and binary opposition these two are in direct competition with one another and as part of the new equilibrium at the end the Goths win against this ‘bitch’. The competition between groups is furthermore demonstrated by the use of mise-en-scene for example the lead singers mismatched costume and quirky make up, which in effect represents the uncaring ideology associated with rock music, opposes the revealing dress and excessive makeup of the antagonist.
• As the narrative pushes on further we begin to understand the antagonists evilness as she begins to deliberately hurt people within the narrative and this once again links to Goodwin’s theory where he proposes there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visual material on screen, for example the lyrics state “God does it feel so good” and this is projected by the antagonists taking pleasure from hurting various people within the narrative. As she walks down the corridor her control increases, she dominates the whole corridor but the fact people remain oblivious to her horribleness and the fact she is such a fake character are displayed by the use of colour of her dress, light blue connoting calmness and peacefulness. As the antagonist continues to bully people, the band appears to get angrier and their performance becomes more heated and intense, aiding in building up to the final fight at the end.
• At the end of the music video the band teach the antagonist a lesson where the camera two shot, capturing both characters represents the conflict between them. The lead singer wears all black and her costume, in terms of mise en scene this connotes dominance and therefore suggests she upholds power over the female character. The lead singer purposefully takes away from the antagonist the fake aspects that give her her attraction such as her body and make up and this perhaps acts as a feminist commentary on beauty and how the falseness of exteriors and appearances can be misleading when directly compared to the interior of a person, specifically here a female. Her influence has been taken away from her completely by the end of the narrative, one of the last shots that display her back represents her recent vulnerability as a character and lack of control and therefore in terms of Todorov’s media theory the new equilibrium of the story, where peace is restored, is her characters downfall .
• In terms of narrative structure the music video follows linear conventions, where the story is told in terms of cause and effect, it also follows the conventions of omniscient narratives where we understand as much as the band do, unlike the other characters within the video and therefore ‘side’ with Paramore in terms of the conflict that arouses between characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment