Lyrics correlate vaguely with visuals – ‘glowing lava’ with bright lights of photocopier – strong synaethesia
Urban surrounding of working community with oppressive colouring and protagonist’s emotionless face; is contrasted to vibrant colouring of clothes and smiles connoting joy of alternative lifestyle
Slow-motion time expansion effects of the imaginary world exaggerate the dream effect. Erotic imagery of the hippies is used, of kissing to create love and communal, and friendly atmosphere.
Monochrome footage blends with black and white drawn cartoon
Intercutting of performance – rapper and vocalist have a sense of unity
Lyrics have heavy connotation and are almost demonstrated by the cartoon illustration – range of interpretations, avoiding classic realist narrative
Close ups, many degrees, and views of artists, exposing flesh and giving prevalence to the characters.
‘Xtatic Truth – Crystal Fighters’ – Directed by James Spencer
Minimal lighting in dark car park, unconventional natural light (green/yellow) that flashes – enigma, abstract narrative fuzz
Tribal theme created through dancing
Band members displayed, lots of ‘meat’, retaining mystery through partial obscuring of faces
Lindesfarne – James Blake
Odd rituals of youth, welcoming a new member to their ‘cult’
Connotes the extent of what people might do to be accepted into new culture/world/people
Bruised faces and limbs of characters is shocking, but victims seems to be laughing – oxymoron
Despite strange/disgusting nature of the members, the have a sense of community/acceptance and sensuality – touching the girl’s stomach
Mister Heavenly - Bronx Sniper
Montage editing throughout
Destruction of house, and gang culture – skateboarding/motorbike/chainsaw props
Clown-themed costumes
Full body tattoos give negative connotations and highlight aggressive nature of antagonists
Swim Good – Frank Ocean (2011) – Directed by Nabil Elderkin
The notion of driving for a long while is created through montage editing, and slow motion. Night precedes daylight during the driving scenes to emulate a long journey that perhaps has stretched over the course of the night. The fourth wall is eliminated when we are placed within the car with the protagonist
The main protagonist and artist arouses enigma surrounding his character by the mise-en-scene. He wears an orange gown and is equipped with a samurai sword, causing a middle-eastern feel, as the surrounding coastal is too set in
VCR-style transitions are used to create a 90s, retrospective feel
‘Moby – Shot in the Back of the Head’ – Directed by David LynchIllustration of the music is interpreted by Lynch’s animation – no clear meaning due to instrumental nature· Incredibly basic animation, highlights narrative of video
· Cuts during video correlate with timing of song, creating a sense of unity between audio and visualsAmplification of song title
· Cuts during video correlate with timing of song, creating a sense of unity between audio and visualsAmplification of song title
Detailed Analysis
Radiohead – Knives Out
In the video for ‘Knives Out’ by Radiohead, directed by Michel Gondry in 2008, many narrative codes can be identified. The entire video has been treated to time compression, and is a representation of the life of a couple. The sped-up footage simply demonstrates the motions of their life in a summarising way. There are many demonstrative and symbolic scenes of the video, playing the part of a prominent section of the couple’s life. Near the beginning, the woman appears to be undergoing surgery, and this is demonstrated through a life-size ‘operation’ game. Furthermore, a toy train speeds past, on the same track, carrying different items. The whole juvenile theme and assistance of toys, and that it is viewed in some aspects through a television screen, gives the impression of the approach to life as a simplistic, trivial and insignificant.
One of the two main protagonists is the singer of the band; Thom Yorke, and he is portrayed in a caricature way, with the support of a novelty-sized heart as replacement for his head, placing a picture of his partner inside. This displays explicit meanings, and the actual singer of the music helps the audience feel develop a connection between video and music without the correlation of lyrics and visuals. The artist is fleshed, and positioned in multiple situations throughout the video.
Trouble – Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
In the music video for ‘Trouble’ by TEED, directed by David Lynch in 2011 is a video featuring a large series of seemingly random imagery, putting the classification of illustration in a undeterminable rank. The opening establishing shot of the city features archaic text presenting the title of the song, generating a cowboy western feel. Along with the ringing out of the synths and slow pans of the landscape, followed by static images of buildings, and then their interiors, a solemn, noireistic feel is given to the extract, with a prominent 80s feel from the furnishings within.
As the song picks up, and a beat is added, characters begin to make an appearance. More significantly, the singer of the track, Orlando Higginbottom begins to mime the words. Throughout the song, he is placed in different situations, continually besided by two blond females, caressing and caringly touching him. He is unresponsive and seemingly ignorant to the surrounding affection he is experiencing, which has no obvious typical visualisation, but has implications of a disregard of social ongoing surrounding him.
The particular artist, Higginbottom is displayed in different views and in varying costumes throughout the video, fleshing the character and ultimately displaying ‘meat’. In many of TEED’s videos, he is wearing extravagant head-gear, in this video for example, he wears an Native Indian headdress and a diamond-themed headpiece, designed by jewellers and sculptists, ‘Yunus and Eliza’. This retains his unique meta-narrative, defining him, despite a seemingly timid personality, as an outlandish character. He stares into the camera during the sofa scenes, almost singing to the audience, entirely ignoring the fourth wall and engaging the listener/watcher directly.
Can music videos be seen as an art form?
Music videos are ultimately a promotional video to sell a new single for a band, to gain popularity through exposing them to new audiences. A video on YouTube can gain thousands of views through repeatability and the right marketing campaign. However, a lot of videos are created for artistic purposes, sometimes by the band, and won’t feature the band in the video itself at all. Many videos are abstract, and can contain beautiful cinematography, of slow motion smoke, and extravagant splashing of colour. In fact, many, many videos do not seem to uphold any form of narrative, and are entirely disjunctive to the lyrics or music heard in the soundtrack. Therefore, the absence of any form of narrative fuzz defines a music video entirely for artistic purposes, and therefore an art form.
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