When considering the key features of a music video, Andrew Goodwin (‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ 1992) identifies a number of conventions which can be applied to the music video for ‘Celestine’ by Spector, directed by Jed Cullen in 2012.
Firstly he stated that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. This video could be categorised as being in the Indie Rock genre. It follows the conventions of this genre but adopting a fast cutting rate that represents and connotes the energy and pace of the music of its upbeat and contemporary style. ‘Celestine’ also puts great emphasis on reinforcing a star image and building upon the bands meta-narrative. It achieves this by giving the members (especially the lead singer) prevalence; with close ups and BCU’s highlighting recognisable personal features and by using a voyeuristic and lingering slower rate of cut when focusing on them. It also follows the Indie –rock trends in the fact that it is in the format of a live performance instead of a narrative, and uses iconography to convey several abstract semiotics that have loaded social messages to the target audience e.g. a playful puppy or a mirror. However ‘Celestine’ does employ an creative approach to these conventions in that it uses cross genre semiotics; it employs the use of flashing fonts and words at the beginning of the video which is a trend often seen in dance or pop music videos and also uses mise-en-scene such as the dog which is a repeating theme in many often rap videos.
Goodwin discussed the relationship between lyrics and visuals. In relation to Celestine it is clear that the relationship between the lyrics and music is disjunctive, as there is no real link. Although there is some link in the simple fact that it is in the form of a live performance and the artists are seen lip synching to the words, the themes and meanings of the lyrics are not amplified or illustrated and instead are played over scenes that seem to juxtapose in abstractness.
In Celestine there are references to the looking retrospectively through examples of mirrors and glass. This could be seen as a artisitical feature as a metaphor for looking inwards at ones self, however in these genre's characteristics mirrors are often used as a way of drawing attention to the artist, seen in a vanity light to make the artist look desirable.
Because Music videos are of a postmodern media form they often borrow and rework ideas from other texts and forms. 'Celestine' does this by using intertexual references in the form of retro 50’s rock n’ roll fashion pastiche utilising mise-en-scene of slick back hair, retro probs etc
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