Coldplay - God Put A Smile on Your Face (2003, Jamie Thraves)
- Features famous actor Paddy Considine
- Is a hybrid of performance and narrative, juxtaposing between them
- Stylistic choice of shooting in black and white
- Features editing effects such as the transparent body parts and objects as the business man slowly fades away
Arctic Monkeys – The View from the Afternoon (2006, W.I.Z)
- Although performance based as features mainly shot of the drummer, as he is given prevalence, it has major influences of a narrative as it follows him through a story. On top of this the drummer featured is not part of the band and therefore it could be argued that this solely narrative
- Features several surrealistic elements which amplify the meanings of the song as a whole, which include; a running fox, school girl with devil horns and three men throwing chips
- Makes use of binary oppositions of light and dark, night and day to create stark contrasts that tie in with the instruments of the song
The Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin Beats (2003)
- Completely Narrative, actual artist is not featured or shown
- It has a heavy Noir film influence with the use of low key lighting, moral ambiguous protagonists as they are on the run from the police and a femme fatal in the form of the “masculine” looking female performer
Beastie Boys – Sabotage (Spike Jonze, 2009)
- Key element in the video is its comic effect, as it constructed as a parody to the 1970’s crime police drama’s such Starsky and Hutch and Hawaii Five-O
- Although it is completely narrative it is voyeuristic in the fact that most of the characters are played by the artists themselves
- Fast cutting rate throughout the video to connote both the action featured but the liveliness of the music
Thrice - In Exile (2009)
- Constructed of a live performance and montage video of touring
- The camera entirely uses high saturation with a green tint which connotes a mellow and artistic vibe
- Montage parts of the video are shot with a low definition camera giving it a amateur, rustic and “home video” feel
- Makes use of editing techniques such as speed up with time diminishing effects, fish eye camera work and of fading out transitions
Bloc Party – Banquet (Scott Lyon, 2006)
- Comprised of two juxtaposing types of camera shots, Saturated black and white shots and of normal camera work with colourful effects
- Features many close ups and BCU’s of both the artists and their instruments
- Unusual in the fact that makes use of the zoom feature in fast cutting rate sequence
The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die
- This music video makes great use of location, by creating a sense of desolation and harshness through abandoned buildings, debris and power lines
- Use of semiotics with the repeating ant sign which not only reinforces the bands image and identity, but also connotes a sense of tertiary and gang warfare which is a representation of the lyrics and title “Invaders Must Die”
- Quite low budget film, majority of shots are done with a handicam to create a “in the action” feel and disjunctive frame effects are used to create a sense of insanity
Massive Attack – Angel (Walter Stern, 2009)
- Strong use of enigmatic code leaving the viewer with questions such as why is he is running? What is he scared of? And why are they chasing him?
- The enigmatic code is one of the main reason this music video has repeatability, as it creates a polysemic, unanswered text
- The video takes the form of a conceptual video with some narrative elements, as although it does have a vague plot line which maintains a sense of continuity it is very abstract and detached from the song
- The video makes great use of semic code to express the messages that need to be conveyed. This is because they use familiar locations such as a empty car park and settings such as the dark to connote a sense of fear that everyone can relate to as it is a human reaction to feel paranoid alone in such circumstances
- The binary opposition of the chased and chaser (hunter and prey) are unusually represented in the music video as they switch at the end, leaving the viewer wondering which is which
- Camera work in the video is voyeuristic as it lingers and focuses on people’s features and expressions throughout the video. It does this to give the notion of looking to create an overwhelming theme of danger as this lingering “glare” creates hostility in the antagonists.
No comments:
Post a Comment