Dry the River - No Rest

In todays lesson we looked at an unknown music video to us called 'No Rest' by Dry the River. Of course none of us have ever heard this song or seen the music video so firstly we listened to the song without seeing the music video and had to imagine what we thought the music video might be.

Genre?
Rock/pop

Artist?
Was a band, had a lead singer.

Style?
A mainstream song that is original but has a unique touch.

Audience?
Targeted towards teenagers.

Lyrics?
Lyrics were about love, but quite confusing lyrics. 'love you in the best way possible' was one of the lyrics.

Pace?
Quick pace but quite slow at the beginning.
My group thought the music video was about a troubled king who lost his power and is singing about everything he has lost, based on the lryics at the beginning saying 'I used to be a king' and also other signs in the song throughout. We thought the visuals would be very medieval as it would suit the story we imagined.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

I used to be a king alone
Like Solomon or Rehoboam
And in the eaves, the Corvidae
Did jealous keep my picture frames
And everything did oxidate in place.

But then you came, a single cell
With astrolabe and carousel
And algebra and symmetry
And none of this was lost on me
And I could see how still I’d been before

If I don’t eat, I don’t sleep at all
Like limbs in procession,
Like so many birds
Stampeding like oxen,
Our hearts are a herd

I loved you in the best
I loved you in the best way possible
I loved you in the best

Did you see the light in my heart?
Did you see the sweat on my brow?
Did you see the fear in my heart?
Did you see me bleeding out?

I loved you in the best
I loved you in the best way possible
I loved you in the best way possible
I loved you in the best way possible
I loved you in the best… 

 

 

This is the actual music video:

 

Radiohead - Street Spirit

Today we watched Radiohead's music video for 'Street Spirit'. We analysed it using the Carol and Andrews theory's, looking at the narrative, pace, editing etc.


Transitions:
- Lots of clean cuts
- fading on the close up shots on the chorus

Order of the Narrative:
- Random - The video had lots of odd clips of people falling/jumping and objects flying about in a random order. This means there is no obvious narrative shown in the music video.

Pace:
- The pace of the video is quite slow as there are many slow motion shots and slow, moving camera angles to slow the pace.

Special Effects:
- Slow motion
- Cut out arm
- Cloning

Framing:
- Close up shots on the artist
- Lots of long shots

Camera Angles:
- Long shots
- Close ups
- Mid shots
- Establishing shots

Movement:
- Falling
- Jumping

Mis En Scene:
- Dark
- Isolated
- Scruffy clothing

Songs of my Childhood

When I was a toddler: Mambo No. 5 use to play at every kids party I used to go to through my childhood.



Middle of my Life: Boom Boom Pow was in number 1 in the charts for a very long time when I was around 12 - 13.



Now: Crying Lightning is my favourite song at the moment, by my favourite band, making it the best song of my life at the moment.

Music Video Analysis 3

Music Video Analysis 2

This is 'Leave Before The Lights Come On' by the arctic monkeys. The video doesn't include the artists at all, it focuses mainly on the story behind the song. It also uses lots of interesting artistic clips to try and put across the feeling of the song. Some of the clips to cut with the music, making the video look much smoother. 

Music Video Analysis 1

This music video shows really good use of though beats. Throughout the whole video thought beats are used to match the beat with the moving image. The whole video is animated which is different to most music videos, making it more creative and original compared to others.

Carol Vernallis Analysis

Carol Vernallis believes there are 4 key aspects in the creation of a music video. These stages are narrative, editing, camerawork and diegesis.

Narrative
- The video is a visual response of the music
- The music video suits the styles and genre of the artist
- The music video must cut in time with the soundtrack
- The video may be partial or fragmented and the video does not necessarily have a balance between narrative and performance
- The structure of a music video may appear disjointed
- The narrative may be putting across a message to the audience

Editing
- Editing may match the musical phrases or beats
- Editing may break many rules on continuity editing in order to keep in time with the music video
- Editing may come to the foreground, this may be done by making the editing really obvious to the audience
- Editing can be made distinctive to that video

Camerawork
- Extreme shots are very common
- Mid shots and close shots are also very common
- The style of framing and movement in the video can be made distinctive to that video
- The camera may move in time with the music or lyrics
- The master shot or other establishing shots are used quite frequently

Diegesis
- The diegesis can be revealed quite slowly
- Actions are not necessarily completed, they can be interrupted or disturbed
- Character or objects movements may move to the music in the music video
- There may be gaps in the audiences understanding of diegesis
- Some frames may be more important than others
- There may be repetitions

Goodwins Theory on Music Videos

1) Thought beats: Thought beats is the relationship between the music and the visuals, which illustrate, amplify or contradict the music. Having different aspects represent this:
-Backing tracks
-Instruments
-Different sections to the song - verses/chorus
-Camera shots, change on every beat



2) A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, which illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics.
For example in This music video 'Crying Lightning' by Arctic monkeys the lyrics 'crying lightning' relates to the video showing lightning.



3) Genre - related style and iconography present
- types of music
- theme fits props
For example this is shown in many pop songs when they're invariably shown in a club. For example in this video 'Just Dance' by Lady Gaga.





4) Multiple close - ups of the main artist or vocalist: the creation of a star image to promote recognisable brand image

Using camera angles, and prevalence can display this.
Laura Mulvey's Male gaze theory - looking at people in the eyes of a man. This is shown in most female artists videos, for example Beyoncé:


5) Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females.In many music videos women are shown as objects, especially in male wrap videos. They are just there to wear skimpy clothes and dancing and therefore look like sexual objects. This is shown in this music video 'Fun' by Pitbull.

The Theory of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin

- There needs o be a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics.
   There are 3 ways visuals are used to promote a song:
   
1) Illustrate: Music videos use certain images and shots to illustrate/ explain the meaning of the lyrics to their song and the genre.

2) Disjuncture: Is this situation, the meaning of the song is completely ignored in the music video.

3) Amplify: Repeatability - This is when the images and camera shots are manipulated and shown repeatedly throughout the music video and is drummed into our vision

- Narrative and performance

Andrew Goodwin believed it was important for an artist to be involved in the music video by performing or acting out a role as the main character or singer. It helps makes the song look more realistic and also giving the audience a good connection and good understanding of the song.

- Thought Beats

Step 1) Looking into the music and interpret it by looking at the verses and the chorus.
Step 2) This is the voice with the song, the artists voice is distinctly recognisable for their quality.
Step 3) Where the artist is telling a story within their song and creates the reputation of a storyteller. This way the music video emphasises the meaning of the song.

- The Star Image
Goodwin identified that a star image is very important to a music video as he believed that an iconic image of an artist can be created, increasing the publics awareness of the artist. A good example would be Elvis Presley.

- Relation between the visual and the song
This is categorized in 3 different ways, amplify, illustrate and contradict (disjuncture)

- Technical aspect of a music video
These are the different things that need to be considered when creating a music video, to ensure the video is a success.