TB: Auteur Analysis

 Massive attack-Angel

·         The video is simplistic in style, set in a multi-story car park at night.

·         It follows a man being chased, but the audience doesn’t know why (enigma code)

·         There is an amplifying relationship between the music and the video and when the music speeds up so does the running in the video.

·         The lighting is saturated to give the video a grey, grainy quality.

·         This complements the bleak location of the car park.

·         There is an underlying meaning in the video. The most common theory is that the mob of people that is growing larger all the time represents the man’s fears, and they begin to go when he turns around to face them.

Radiohead – No Surprises

• This is a performance/concept based video.
• It is also a very simple video and is includes just one shot, a close up of Thom Yorke’s head inside an astronaut-style dome helmet, as it fills with water.
• You can also see the lyrics of the song reflected in his helmet.
• There are several lights reflected on the glass on his helmet which makes the shot more striking and artistic.
• It was hard to film as Thom Yorke actually had to hold his breath for the duration of the underwater section of the video.
• This gave the video controversy and increased the views.

Fatboy Slim – Praise You

• Directed by Spike Jonze
• It is a concept video featuring a group of people dancing in a shopping mall.
• The main dancer is Spike Jonze.
• Fatboy slim is also in the video as an extra in the background.
• It is largely shot with a POV shot to create the illusion that this is real life and not a music video.
• The camera quality is poor and the colour is not in full focus again to add to the effect of ‘home video’ style.

Radiohead – Just

• It is part concept, part performance.
• It is full of enigma code as the audience questions why the man is lying down.
• This enigmatic style of video is highly typical of the band as well as their genre of music.
• There seems to be no relationship between the lyrics of the song and the visuals.
• It is similar to the music video for ‘Angel’ by ‘Massive Attack’ as both feature a growing crowd of people.

The Chemical Brothers – Electrobank

• It is directed by Spike Jonze and stars Sofia Coppola
• It is concept based and shows a gymnast who gets an injury during a performance.
• The video has a very long introduction; the song doesn’t actually start until 1min 25seconds.
• This makes the video feel more like a film with a narrative with a beginning, middle and an end.
• It also includes the use of slow-motion.

Bjork – It’s oh so quiet

• Directed by Spike Jonze.
• There is a relationship between the music and the visuals. When the music builds and becomes more up-tempo there are large, enthusiastic dance sequences.
• There is strong use of colour for example her bright orange dress.
• Use of slow motion and tracking shots.
• Concept based with Bjork within the narrative but miming the lyrics.
• She floats about the street at the end, possible intertextual references here. Such as the closing scene of ‘Grease’ (Kleiser, 1978).

Daft Punk – Da Funk

• It is a concept based video following a dog/human with a walking dog walking down the street with a boom box.
• Has good use of titles.
• Includes altering of time and speed such as the speeding up of traffic at night.
• And use of slow-motion.
• Includes dialogue.
• No one in the video seems to know or care that the protagonist has a dog’s head.
• At the end the dog has to make a choice between a possible relationship and a chance of love or his music.