The video I analysing is Chicane’s “Poppiholla”. In order to do this I will refer to several key theories notably Andrew Goodwin’s Six Point Analysis and Laura Malvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ theory.
Chicane is an electronic dance music (EDM) act and the alias of Nick Bracegirdle, an English producer. “Poppiholla” was released in 2009 on Modena Records. The video, which was directed by Joseph Kahn displays a mixture of narrative and conceptual elements. There is a clear narrative pattern; the video follows a black man in a hood walking through a town centre in a furtive manner. The close ups of his face show him looking angry and passers by glance at him suspiciously. He sees something in the distance and begins running towards it at a high speed, an over the shoulder shot shows you that it is a woman he is running towards and the audience is led to believe that he is going to attack her. He then grabs her and pushes her onto the floor and low angle shot shows the audience that a pile of bricks was about to fall on her and that he has in fact saved her life. The conceptual elements lie in the ideas behind the video, there is a strong social theme throughout within the ideas of racism and stereotypes that are represented.
The entire video is an intertextual reference to the famous Guardian ‘Points of View’ commercial in which a skinhead saves a suited, ‘City’ man from a pile of falling bricks.
The video challenges the conventions of its genre in that unlike most EDM videos there are no party or club scenes. This is an important characteristic of most dance music videos, clubs and parties would be the main environment for audiences to hear this music so naturally they are prevalent in these videos. This contradicts Andrew Goodwin’s Six Point Analysis which states that music videos display genre characteristics.
A convention which it observes is that the artist does not video in the video. This is common in dance music videos, artists within this genre are often signed to independent record labels and therefore have to submit to the demands of commercial record labels and appear in videos. Again, this is a contradiction of Goodwin’s theory which states that the demands of the record label will include the needs for lots of close ups of the artist.
There are no lyrics in the song but there is a contradictory relationship between the music and the visuals. This contradictory relationship arises from the fact that the song itself is upbeat and cheerful whereas the visuals are dark, the whole video has been shot in black and white and the themes represented in it are quite strong, this contrasts with the happy, upbeat music.
The video is not cut to the beat until around the last minute of the song, during which the pace of the music increases and speeds up. During this final minute, the man picks up speed and begins to run towards the woman.
The main focus of this video is representation of race and the negative ideas associated with it. This is emphasised by the mise-en-scene, the main protagonist is a black man dressed in a tracksuit with the hood up. There are many negative connotations to this manner of dress, wearers are often portrayed as ‘yobs’ or regarded with suspicion because the hood is effectively a way of hiding their identity. This idea is reinforced by the suspicious glances the protagonist receives as he is walking through the town centre. The over the shoulder shots as the man runs towards the woman, which leads the audience to believe that he is about to attack her also reinforce this. This is a pertinent example of the negative ideas associated with the stereotype of young black men, the audience believes that they are about to witness a crime. This relates to Goodwin’s theory of voyeurism and Laura Malvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ theory. The camera observes the attractive woman from the male’s point of view, she appears to be beautiful and vulnerable as she is busy looking in her bag. This doesn’t necessarily conform to the main ideas behind the Male Gaze theory which states that women are often objectified for the gratification and titillation of men but the camera observes her from a male point of view which is a key element in this theory. The perceptions of race and stereotype are strongly challenged in this video, the man is not the violent attacker the audience expects him to be and is in fact a hero as he saves the woman’s life. This idea of a hero does not adhere to the stereotypical image of young black men who dress in that manner.
I believe that this video is highly effective due to the reactions it generates from the audience. It completely challenges audience perceptions and I like the fact that it doesn’t follow the conventions of it’s genre through the use of generic party and club scenes but that it actually has a strong social message behind it. This is something which I would like to incorporate into my own music video.
Sophia Bendo
Showing posts with label Textual Analysis of Videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Textual Analysis of Videos. Show all posts
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Textual analysis of music videos
Textual analysis of music videos
The music video for "Trippin' On You" was filmed at a location in Liverpool in February 2008, and it stars singer Nikki Belle at a house party and the morning after it in which seems to be her apartment. The more upbeat parts of the song, such as the chorus, are played at the same time as the house party scenes which shows the liveliness and energy at the party, and the less lively parts are played during the morning after scenes. The video uses flash back images of the party as ‘the morning after’ scenes show her messy apartment which gives the audience a clear idea of what has gone on the night before. As the main protagonist is walking through her apartment she is finding objects that remind her of the previous night and then the flashbacks are shown.
In the scenes of the house party, Nikki's hair is an afro with plaits in one side, and is wearing a blue outfit and make-up while she is partying with her friends. In the scenes that are the morning after, Nikki appears more normal and she is wearing a grey shirt. Her apartment is empty except for herself and one other man, who is in her bed.
I don’t think that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The only thing that really connects is that she is singing about being broken up with somebody and so she is throwing a party to bring the fun back into her life, as she sings ‘But it’s over now, trippin on you …. So I’m going my way’
The video mainly follows Nikki Belle around the video as she is singing the song. This gives the audience a feel of involvement as we get to see what happened at the party and the day after. Party scenes and flashbacks are used quite regularly in music videos but by showing a house party, this represents the main characteristics of the house music genre.
I am analysing ‘Trippin on you’ By Cahill ft Nikki Belle video which was produced by Oris jay in 2001. The song was made famous by Liverpool house producers Cahill, who released their cover of the Agent Sumo Body & Seoul remix as a single in 2008. This song belongs to the House genre and is performance/ narrative based.
The music video for "Trippin' On You" was filmed at a location in Liverpool in February 2008, and it stars singer Nikki Belle at a house party and the morning after it in which seems to be her apartment. The more upbeat parts of the song, such as the chorus, are played at the same time as the house party scenes which shows the liveliness and energy at the party, and the less lively parts are played during the morning after scenes. The video uses flash back images of the party as ‘the morning after’ scenes show her messy apartment which gives the audience a clear idea of what has gone on the night before. As the main protagonist is walking through her apartment she is finding objects that remind her of the previous night and then the flashbacks are shown. 
I don’t think that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The only thing that really connects is that she is singing about being broken up with somebody and so she is throwing a party to bring the fun back into her life, as she sings ‘But it’s over now, trippin on you …. So I’m going my way’
The video mainly follows Nikki Belle around the video as she is singing the song. This gives the audience a feel of involvement as we get to see what happened at the party and the day after. Party scenes and flashbacks are used quite regularly in music videos but by showing a house party, this represents the main characteristics of the house music genre. 
Laura Mulvey wrote the essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", where she introduced the concept of the "male gaze" as a feature of power asymmetry. The male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. For example, a scene may look at the curves of a woman's body for a longer period of time rather than for just a split second. This video gives quite a few references to Laura Mulvey’s theory as through the video; the main protagonist is walking around in a metallic bra, leggings and heels. This is to concentrate on how men look at women. The video generally tends to follow her around as you see full body shots. When we’re not seeing the singer, the camera is filming the party scene which includes a lot of girls dancing and drinking in party outfits.
textual analysis of music videos
Textual analysis of music videos
According to Andrew Goodwin’s analysis ‘Dancing in the distraction factory’ 6 point theory, all music videos can be distinguished into these 6 points. The first point of this theory being music videos demonstrates genre characteristics.
I am analysing Beyoncé’s Single Ladies video which was directed by Jake Nava. The music video is performance based as you see 3 dancers throughout, of that including the main artist. The genre of this song is R&B, Dance, Pop. It is very upbeat and has a bounce based hand clap beat throughout. The beat for this song was influenced by dancehall (Jamaican popular music) and bounce which is an energetic style of New Orleans hip hop.
The second point being, the main relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is the roboglove she wear on her hand. Whenever she sings about ‘Put a ring on it’, she points to her ring finger. The roboglove is also worn to compliment Beyonce’s alto ego, Sasha Fierce. The visuals have been kept very simple to emphasize solely on the performance. The video has been kept so simple that it is very effective. It is all filmed in black and white with very few camera shots and cuts. The director deliberately used lengthy shots so that viewers "would connect with the human endeavor of Beyonce’s awe-inspiring dance".
The third point is the relationship between the music and visuals can be seen clearly as the three women are dancing in time to the beat of the music. Also throughout the choreography they clap along with the beat which emphasises the hand-clap beat of the song. The cuts of the video are quick paced but not very regular. Between 2.47 -2.50 minutes and again at 2.59, there are some very quick cuts that fit in time with the fast paced beats.
The fourth point is generally to do with the demands of the record label. Throughout the whole 3 minutes of the video the artist, being Beyonce, is featured. Only 3 people feature in this video and the camera is on them at all times. Beyonce remains in the middle of the dancers through the entire song as the director wants her to be the focus. It is shot in black and white to focus on the complex choreography. Also as the video is shot fully in black and white and without a major background or setting, the dancers become the only thing to focus on as there are no other distractions for the viewer. This video is quite different to Beyonce’s other videos as they usually tell a story or at least feature a large setting and surroundings, whereas this video focuses only on the choreography.
This video is influenced by a 1969 Bob Fosse routine called "Mexican Breakfast", shown on the Ed Sullivan Show, which featured Fosse's wife, Gwen Verdon, dancing with two other women. This is an example of an intertextual reference. Beyonce wanted to attempt a similar dance and eventually, the choreography of "Single Ladies" was adapted from "Mexican Breakfast". Some of the fosse choreography was kept and urban choreography was added called J-Setting, where one person does something and the next person follows. This made the video very modern yet very vintage.
I think that there is a slight sense that the artist is on sexual display because the is simply a high cut leotard and high heels with her hair and makeup done influenced by a vogue shoot alongside two look-alike dancers. In terms of the dancing, the artist can be seen to be on sexual display as it includes a lot of leg and hip shaking while wearing high heels. However, the main intention is to attract the viewers' attention towards their hands and ring fingers.
According to Andrew Goodwin’s analysis ‘Dancing in the distraction factory’ 6 point theory, all music videos can be distinguished into these 6 points. The first point of this theory being music videos demonstrates genre characteristics.
I am analysing Beyoncé’s Single Ladies video which was directed by Jake Nava. The music video is performance based as you see 3 dancers throughout, of that including the main artist. The genre of this song is R&B, Dance, Pop. It is very upbeat and has a bounce based hand clap beat throughout. The beat for this song was influenced by dancehall (Jamaican popular music) and bounce which is an energetic style of New Orleans hip hop.
The third point is the relationship between the music and visuals can be seen clearly as the three women are dancing in time to the beat of the music. Also throughout the choreography they clap along with the beat which emphasises the hand-clap beat of the song. The cuts of the video are quick paced but not very regular. Between 2.47 -2.50 minutes and again at 2.59, there are some very quick cuts that fit in time with the fast paced beats.
The fourth point is generally to do with the demands of the record label. Throughout the whole 3 minutes of the video the artist, being Beyonce, is featured. Only 3 people feature in this video and the camera is on them at all times. Beyonce remains in the middle of the dancers through the entire song as the director wants her to be the focus. It is shot in black and white to focus on the complex choreography. Also as the video is shot fully in black and white and without a major background or setting, the dancers become the only thing to focus on as there are no other distractions for the viewer. This video is quite different to Beyonce’s other videos as they usually tell a story or at least feature a large setting and surroundings, whereas this video focuses only on the choreography. This video is influenced by a 1969 Bob Fosse routine called "Mexican Breakfast", shown on the Ed Sullivan Show, which featured Fosse's wife, Gwen Verdon, dancing with two other women. This is an example of an intertextual reference. Beyonce wanted to attempt a similar dance and eventually, the choreography of "Single Ladies" was adapted from "Mexican Breakfast". Some of the fosse choreography was kept and urban choreography was added called J-Setting, where one person does something and the next person follows. This made the video very modern yet very vintage.
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Textual Analysis of Music Video
The video I am analysing is Modestep’s “Sunlight”. Modestep are a four piece live band from North London, their sound is heavily influenced by progressive electro and dubstep. They are key members of the post -dubstep progression in which the ‘filthy’ bass heavy music the genre is famed for, is never avoided but is also incorporated eclectically with electronica.
“Sunlight” is unusual as it has been written and directed by Modestep. The video is a mixture of performance and narrative based. There is a clear narrative pattern; the video follows a group of three pensioners throughout a whole day. There are also performance elements with frequent close up shots of the band on stage.
The video also challenges characteristics of its genre in that there are performance scenes of the band on stage, which this is unusual for dance music videos; however Modestep are a live band and wish to be seen as such. A convention which this video observes is the party scene. This relates to the performance element, the artists need an audience to perform to so party and club scenes are common. Throughout the video alcohol and drug use are if not glamorised, featuring heavily. The use of these substances is prevalent throughout the underground dubstep culture which Modestep belongs to so this is another genre convention the video observes.
Modestep are represented as a cool, young band. The frequent close ups of them show them moving energetically during their performance. This has also been done in their previous music video “Feel Good” There are recurrent motifs throughout the video, the Modestep logo is presented in numerous forms several times, it’s displayed on a vinyl disc, on a balloon and on a t-shirt. The bands logo is always shown in their videos.
Another recurrent motif is the ‘Modestep girl’ a woman wearing a leather jacket and a grey hoodie is seen in the video. This outfit is identical to one previously worn by a girl in the “Feel Good” video.
The lyrics of the song are:
“Put on those shades
And wave to yesterday
The sunlight hurts my eyes”
There is a contradictory relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. This contradictory relationship arises from the fact the video features elderly people, they are refusing to ‘wave to yesterday’ by continuing their youthful behaviour. Also, the lyrics would suggest that the person is drunk or hung-over but this idea contrasts with the visuals as they show the elderly people behaving energetically for example riding bikes and scooters.
The video is not cut to the beat until the last minute of the song during which the pace of the music changes and speeds up, during this final minute the dancers at the party move faster and there is a fast montage of scenes from earlier on in the video.
In the video, several girls are on sexual display. In terms of mise-en-scene they are dressed revealingly and use props such as poles to dance provocatively. The camerawork also implies sexual display with close ups of the girls bodies. The girls completely contrast with the idea of sweet elderly people. An old man suggestively looking at a young, sexy woman and even snorting drugs off of her back completely challenges people’s perceptions of the elderly.
There are intertextual references to the Basement Jaxx “Oh my Gosh” video which also features old people behaving in what could be perceived as an inappropriate manner for their age.
Sophia.
“Sunlight” is unusual as it has been written and directed by Modestep. The video is a mixture of performance and narrative based. There is a clear narrative pattern; the video follows a group of three pensioners throughout a whole day. There are also performance elements with frequent close up shots of the band on stage.
The video also challenges characteristics of its genre in that there are performance scenes of the band on stage, which this is unusual for dance music videos; however Modestep are a live band and wish to be seen as such. A convention which this video observes is the party scene. This relates to the performance element, the artists need an audience to perform to so party and club scenes are common. Throughout the video alcohol and drug use are if not glamorised, featuring heavily. The use of these substances is prevalent throughout the underground dubstep culture which Modestep belongs to so this is another genre convention the video observes.
Modestep are represented as a cool, young band. The frequent close ups of them show them moving energetically during their performance. This has also been done in their previous music video “Feel Good” There are recurrent motifs throughout the video, the Modestep logo is presented in numerous forms several times, it’s displayed on a vinyl disc, on a balloon and on a t-shirt. The bands logo is always shown in their videos.
Another recurrent motif is the ‘Modestep girl’ a woman wearing a leather jacket and a grey hoodie is seen in the video. This outfit is identical to one previously worn by a girl in the “Feel Good” video.
The lyrics of the song are:
“Put on those shades
And wave to yesterday
The sunlight hurts my eyes”
There is a contradictory relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. This contradictory relationship arises from the fact the video features elderly people, they are refusing to ‘wave to yesterday’ by continuing their youthful behaviour. Also, the lyrics would suggest that the person is drunk or hung-over but this idea contrasts with the visuals as they show the elderly people behaving energetically for example riding bikes and scooters.
The video is not cut to the beat until the last minute of the song during which the pace of the music changes and speeds up, during this final minute the dancers at the party move faster and there is a fast montage of scenes from earlier on in the video.
In the video, several girls are on sexual display. In terms of mise-en-scene they are dressed revealingly and use props such as poles to dance provocatively. The camerawork also implies sexual display with close ups of the girls bodies. The girls completely contrast with the idea of sweet elderly people. An old man suggestively looking at a young, sexy woman and even snorting drugs off of her back completely challenges people’s perceptions of the elderly.
There are intertextual references to the Basement Jaxx “Oh my Gosh” video which also features old people behaving in what could be perceived as an inappropriate manner for their age.
Sophia.
Monday, 12 September 2011
About Me: Alex
I have always had a big interest in media studies. I took it at GCSE and now at A-Level. Journalism has always interested me and always been the path of direction that I want to follow. I've worked with the bbc doing filming and i believe this helps me understand how media works, especially when shooting a music video or a television programme.
A-level media introduced me to new programmes such as final cut and garage band which I found difficult at the start but can see how it makes media work look effective and good.
In media I like to work in teams as you find that lots of peoples ideas can go together to make one better idea. Sometimes you reach disagreements but any group can overcome that.
Group Blog Address - http://groupqmediablog.blogspot.com/
Individual Blog Address - http://www.alexpiaguazzelli.blogspot.com/
I like this video because it is so simple yet effective. Throughout the whole video it shows just 3 people dancing rather than focusing on a story. This video also became a very iconic dance routine and look. It shows the female representation of being strong and independant. This video became a huge internet sensation and was a very poular video to do a pardoy of. The video is shot mostly from a long shot as it shows off the coreography and a few close ups of Beyonce as she reamains in the middle throughout while singing. The whole video is shot in black and white so there is nothing main to focus on and just watch the video as it is.
Sunday, 11 September 2011
About Me: Sophia
I have always been interested in communications and media, I have several fashion and lifestyle blogs and I also work for an independent record label so I'm also very passionate about the music industry. Media in year 12 introduced me to various programs which I had not been previously familiar with such as Final Cut. I found it quite challenging at first but I got used to it. Last year also helped me improve my communication and teamwork skills, as I worked with a group of girls who hadn't previously attended West Hatch and I didn't know very well. Initially, there were problems. As a group we weren't familliar with each others style of working, I personally, like to discuss and plan things in detail whereas others may prefer to just get on with the task. Also there were difficulties when it came to shooting as we didn't all live close to each other but we overcame these problems.
Group Blog Address - http://groupqmediablog.blogspot.com/
Individual Blog Address - http://sophiasbrilliantblog.blogspot.com/
A music video which I have always found interesting is Around The World by Daft Punk. The video, which was directed by Michael Gondry is essentially a visual representation of the song. Five different instruments were used in the song and each of those five instruments is represented by a different figure. The spacement represent the synthesised robot voice, the ascending and descending basketball players represent the bass guitar; the brightly dressed girls represent the feminity of the high-pitched keyboard; the skeletons serve for the guitar and the mummies represent the drum machine.
In terms of camerawork, a long shot is used pretty much throughout the video. There are occasionally close ups of the different figures and mid shots. In terms of editing, continuity editing has been used. What I found interesting when looking at this video was that the pace of the editing is a lot slower in comparison to many contemporary music videos.
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