I was quickly lost in the history of the music video - it didn’t take very long. My exploration began, surprisingly, with Walt Disney’s ‘Fantasia’. When it was mentioned I instantly recognised the name; I had watched this before. Of course, it’s been mangled a bit in my memory (something about flying horses?) but I remember its fundamental skeleton, if you will. Fantasia was the first real ‘music video’, and things only stemmed from there in the 1950s with Tony Bennett’s accompanying videos to his music.
Andrew Goodwin wrote his 1992 book 'Dancing In The Distraction Factory' on the topic of Music Video Theory. It details certain conventions that arise - and have arisen - in music videos present and past. It's a helpful tool for identifying things that directors do in videos to provoke audience reactions and putting words to growing trends.
Andrew Goodwin wrote his 1992 book 'Dancing In The Distraction Factory' on the topic of Music Video Theory. It details certain conventions that arise - and have arisen - in music videos present and past. It's a helpful tool for identifying things that directors do in videos to provoke audience reactions and putting words to growing trends.
From there my journey continued through (past the Beatles) to the late 60s, where I have chosen David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ for further analysis. The late 60s, quite literally, brought colour into music videos. For the first time ever, artists could play with more than just a monochromatic setup - David Bowie is the perfect example of this experimentation with colour.
DAVID BOWIE - SPACE ODDITY (1969)
DAVID BOWIE - SPACE ODDITY (1969)
The video for ‘Space Oddity’, directed by Nick Rock, begins with darkness, perhaps to emulate the disconcerting feeling of space. Perhaps it is also to set up Bowie’s blank canvas, on which he can finally paint in colour.
As the first notes of the song play, sound waves rise and fall on a background of blackness. This fades out after a moment, for me personally signifying the end of a black-and-white era, and then we are greeted with coloured video.
Rock uses light in blues, pinks and reds almost exclusively in this video - they are projected onto Bowie's face, giving a sort of ethereal effect. Red is used for dramatic, even dangerous, shots to amplify the viewer’s reaction and provide very clear symbolism through colour. His costumes are bizarre and nonconformist. Everything about this video is likely intended to project the viewer into another world, to allow them to suspend their disbelief and be taken on a journey.
As the first notes of the song play, sound waves rise and fall on a background of blackness. This fades out after a moment, for me personally signifying the end of a black-and-white era, and then we are greeted with coloured video.
Subtle references are made to the 1968 film A 'Space Odyssey', providing an early example of the Indirect Intertextuality detailed in Andrew Goodwin's book. Many people also believed it was inspired by the moon landing earlier in 1969. Bowie perhaps wanted the viewers to relive the excitement of the moon landing and provide a link between them and himself - he is seemingly presenting himself in an alien and foreign way, using a real-world event to bridge the gap between the known and the unknown. DURAN DURAN - GIRLS ON FILM (1981)
Next in my research, I chose another era that interested me - the 80s. In the 80s, MTV was introduced to the public. Solely a channel dedicated to music videos, people had never experienced this kind of focus on the music video format. It brought to life a lot of ways to promote image that had never before been possible. One such way was demonstrated by Duran Duran with their 1981 hit 'Girls On Film', directed by duo Godley & Creme.
The idea that music videos could be displayed on a channel solely created for them changed the way these videos were produced. The video for 'Girls On Film' ended up being heavily censored for MTV and completely banned from the BBC. Looking at it now, this seems a bit harsh - but people had never been exposed to such a raunchy video before. This was very likely deliberate - the ban generated a buzz around Duran Duran, created sensationalism that elevated their fame.
The band are shot playing the song in the same space as the storyline - the genre of this song, 'Synthpop', rose to prominence in the 80s and we can assume that this is a convention of the genre.
The video has themes of female empowerment (shocking, I know), using low and voyeuristic camera angles to convey the feeling of dominance - at one point, a female model walks over the camera. Of course, this isn't exactly the height of progress. These women are half-naked and extremely over-sexualised. The video contains allusions to BDSM and sexual fantasy - something that completely challenged standards of the time. However, the point still stands that this video served to elevate the band's fame - it has a lot of artist close-ups which commit the band to memory and grow their iconography.
The video is set around a wrestling ring and stage - the band perform in the same space as the main 'action' of the video. It forces viewers to connect the action with the artists and builds iconography. We constantly see their faces in relation to the action, ensuring we will remember them and connect them to the controversial nature of the video.
SYSTEM OF A DOWN - B.Y.O.B. (2005)
For the last video analysis, I decided on one of my favourite artists around in the 2000s - System Of A Down. Specifically, their experimental and politically charged videos. The video for B.Y.O.B. (or 'Bring Your Own Bombs') always blew me away and, even in the age of incredibly advanced graphics, will always stick in my mind.
The idea that music videos could be displayed on a channel solely created for them changed the way these videos were produced. The video for 'Girls On Film' ended up being heavily censored for MTV and completely banned from the BBC. Looking at it now, this seems a bit harsh - but people had never been exposed to such a raunchy video before. This was very likely deliberate - the ban generated a buzz around Duran Duran, created sensationalism that elevated their fame.
The band are shot playing the song in the same space as the storyline - the genre of this song, 'Synthpop', rose to prominence in the 80s and we can assume that this is a convention of the genre.
The video has themes of female empowerment (shocking, I know), using low and voyeuristic camera angles to convey the feeling of dominance - at one point, a female model walks over the camera. Of course, this isn't exactly the height of progress. These women are half-naked and extremely over-sexualised. The video contains allusions to BDSM and sexual fantasy - something that completely challenged standards of the time. However, the point still stands that this video served to elevate the band's fame - it has a lot of artist close-ups which commit the band to memory and grow their iconography.
The video is set around a wrestling ring and stage - the band perform in the same space as the main 'action' of the video. It forces viewers to connect the action with the artists and builds iconography. We constantly see their faces in relation to the action, ensuring we will remember them and connect them to the controversial nature of the video.
SYSTEM OF A DOWN - B.Y.O.B. (2005)
For the last video analysis, I decided on one of my favourite artists around in the 2000s - System Of A Down. Specifically, their experimental and politically charged videos. The video for B.Y.O.B. (or 'Bring Your Own Bombs') always blew me away and, even in the age of incredibly advanced graphics, will always stick in my mind.
When I was younger, my parents listened mostly to a mixture of Kerrang (2000) and Scuzz (2003-2018). I grew up on bands like System Of A Down and Queens Of The Stoneage - their music videos influenced me just as much as their music and so they hold a special place in my heart. I've chosen 'B.Y.O.B.', directed by Jake Nava, because of its unapologetic imagery and examples of Intertextuality. It's an anti-war song, specifically protesting the Iraq War that began in 2003. As I've grown older I've noticed details about the video that convey this clearly and realised that it's so much more than self-expression.
Nava uses Direct Intertextuality at the beginning of the video, playing hazy and grey clips of soldiers marching forward. Accompanying this is the sound of many men marching - it immerses the viewer right away, grabs their attention. Those clips then change into staged shots of soldiers marching with words like 'obey' and 'die' projected onto their faces. Immediately this sets the political tone. Later on in the video, this changes to words like "buy", which could be a comment on political systems based on consumerism such as capitalism.
This music video uses both a performance and a storyline to convey a message - the storyline takes place at a party, an extended metaphor that runs throughout ('bring your own bombs' is a play on words referencing party culture). War is referred back to throughout the video. The band is shown performing as well - this is a convention of their genre, referred to as 'Thrash Metal'. Nava also uses harsh red lighting to capture the viewer's attention and convey danger - much like, as mentioned above, Space Oddity's colour imagery. Nava uses the convention of artist close-ups to emphasise certain parts of the song. Colour television was much more advanced in 2005 and we can see colour being used much more consistently to set the tone.
I think that this video was intended, like 'Girls On Film', to shock viewers. It contains swearing and allusions to violence, perhaps aiming to surprise people. However, I believe that its aim was not primarily to generate fame but to create a kind of buzz surrounding topics of war. SOAD were raising issues they saw in the Iraq War and wanted to tell the world about it. I think it's very successful - people enjoy both song and video even now.
EDITING TECHNIQUES
Nava uses some very interesting cuts, including:
Cutting on action -
Nava uses a lot of these to show
dynamic movement and engage the viewer.
Match cuts -
A soldier transitions into one of the band
members as they are walking into the party
scene - the camera zooms in on both.
Crosscuts -
Nava cuts between the band performing the
song and the party scene. The performance is
cast in red light, making it appear urgent. They
end up performing within this scene later on as well.
Jumpcut -
There is a scene on a staircase on which
dancers stand. They are then replaced by soldiers
but the framing stays the same.
Nava uses Direct Intertextuality at the beginning of the video, playing hazy and grey clips of soldiers marching forward. Accompanying this is the sound of many men marching - it immerses the viewer right away, grabs their attention. Those clips then change into staged shots of soldiers marching with words like 'obey' and 'die' projected onto their faces. Immediately this sets the political tone. Later on in the video, this changes to words like "buy", which could be a comment on political systems based on consumerism such as capitalism.
This music video uses both a performance and a storyline to convey a message - the storyline takes place at a party, an extended metaphor that runs throughout ('bring your own bombs' is a play on words referencing party culture). War is referred back to throughout the video. The band is shown performing as well - this is a convention of their genre, referred to as 'Thrash Metal'. Nava also uses harsh red lighting to capture the viewer's attention and convey danger - much like, as mentioned above, Space Oddity's colour imagery. Nava uses the convention of artist close-ups to emphasise certain parts of the song. Colour television was much more advanced in 2005 and we can see colour being used much more consistently to set the tone.
EDITING TECHNIQUES
Nava uses some very interesting cuts, including:
Cutting on action -
Nava uses a lot of these to show
dynamic movement and engage the viewer.
Match cuts -
A soldier transitions into one of the band
members as they are walking into the party
scene - the camera zooms in on both.
Crosscuts -
Nava cuts between the band performing the
song and the party scene. The performance is
cast in red light, making it appear urgent. They
end up performing within this scene later on as well.
Jumpcut -
There is a scene on a staircase on which
dancers stand. They are then replaced by soldiers
but the framing stays the same.
Lovely identification of editing techniques, well done. Consider the impact that certain techniques have - for instance, is the jumpcut/matchcut sequence with the dancers and soldiers giving a visual message?
ReplyDelete