Similar Text Analysis

Similar Text Analysis The prodigy

The prodigy- Invaders must die

Spider symbolises his territory and don’t let them have it means don’t let them take what’s yours and show them that this is yours by tagging it with the spider symbol. Don’t let anyone get in the way not even the police as the black man looks concentrated and feels strongly about his decisions. Man on a mission is what I would describe the young black man in the video. As he looks so concentrated and powered by this one symbol.

Camera work

The video starts off with an establishing shot which is quickly followed by a quick montage of different objects and places within the area around the house creating a flashing/fading effect which as part of the audience I thought it was interesting given some of the objects that are shown such as the army men and the signs such as the unauthorized signs and one particular symbol which was of the spider first on the front door then on the arm men’s flag. I think that the army men represented invasion and war which gave the message to fight. This particular part with the army men is one of the bits in the video that I found interesting and creative as there was a wide shot of the army men on a blank, dirty/old white surface where one of the men are holding a flag with the spider symbol on the front. It then starts to pulls out into a canted high angle which then reveals that the army men are stuck onto the side of the abandoned house with an ink drawing of the spider symbol below them. It then starts to pan to the left slowly and then flashes on a plank of wood on the abandoned house that has got a phrase craved onto it, which says ‘let no one take it’ this to me links in with the lyrics and the army men sending a message to the audiences to fight for your countries as the lyrics are ‘invaders must die’ which links to the army men who support and fight for their countries. It then carries on with a fast montage of flashing images of different signs and then the door opens and the young black man starts walking towards the camera as the camera pulls back cutting to different shots of the man creating close up and mid shots where it then flashes to different objects and animals such as the front door with the craved spider hanging and then back to the man to then flash the two dead birds hanging upside down in the fields.

The way that they have filmed the man is interesting as they have cut up what would have been a long shot of him walking around field. They broke it down with insert shots and different angled shot of him such as high angle shot of just his legs and feet to the spider symbol that was hung on the door which had a special effect on it making it look like it was coming out of the screen to lead onto a close up of the man’s face showing his expression which looked concentrated and angered.

Close up of this arm which is bandaged/casted up it then panned up to his faced to then cut to a long shot of him walking in the field, this is when the montage of slow images starts again this helped to cut the long shot to different angled shot of the man walking where it flashes on the man setting a pole on fire which is then interrupted by more shots of him walking and it then comes back to finish the shot with him throwing the lit pole in the bin which had a spider symbol cut out of it, making it standout with a pull focus on the bin. The shot ends with the man walking off but the camera stays focused on the bin that’s on fire. It then cuts to the man walking with a flash of a dead rat on the floor showing ‘invaders must die’ the rat was an invader. It then cuts to him walking with different angled shots such as long shots close up and a low angle shot making him look bigger and more dangerous, this part also had a special effect worked into it which matched the beat and words which made it sound like diagetic sound making the shot look like it had a computer error and reminded me of CCTV cameras. This is one of the locations which the video was set.

It then cuts to him walking again but this time it looks like he is being filmed by an intruder. He then starts to make a new spider symbol out of branches and nets which is filmed in an interesting way to create a number of different and abstract shots, with a final pull focus shot from the power line in the distance to the spider symbol. It then flashes to the man to show him walking then it flashes to the hanging spider symbol carving on wood, where it pulls out four times with flashes till it goes back to the man walking into the field where the sign keep out flashes with close ups and extreme close ups, it then flashes back to when the man came out of the door at the abandoned house, jumping back to the satellite field where he has a spray can and the shots start to jump/flash again showing him get closer and closer, to the satellite shaking the spray, this is shown with a side profile mid shot of the man. When he is spraying the satellite there are a number of different shots such as close ups of the spray can and high angle of the man spraying the symbol creating interesting shots to keep the audiences entertained. Showing the masterpiece with a wide long shot revealing a phrase under the symbol saying ‘invaders must die’ showing him walk away and then jumping back a step to then carry on walking. He comes to a different part of the field where he finds the paper cut out of the spider which is shown to us twice as he is backtracked again repeating the walk by the symbol with different shots added in.

There is then a panning shot of the white patrolling officer/man with the binoculars and then back to the man walking this time past the abandoned train tracks, where it goes from a long wide shot to a close up of his boots kicking up the gravel. It then pans right and up to show the audience fish heads on poles where the man is walking towards/pass and away from focusing on one fish head while the man is walking toward the camera and walking out of shot which moved the camera to a wide shot of the man walking from left to right of the shot showing that the fish heads on poles have been place to create a pathway. At the end of the path the camera pans down slightly to show the man bend down and pick up a net which he then make a spider symbol out of. Showing that he then pats the ground sorting out the rocks to create the symbol this is shown using a panning shot from the symbol to the man and then a sudden jump back revealing the symbol and the man walking away with a high angled shot. The man is now standing staring at the sprayed white spider symbol when the patrol officer comes up from behind him and a flashing and circling effect starts to happen as the camera circles in from behind the object that was sprayed to the patrol officer and the man there are flashes of the sprayed board and then the two men creating a rotating cycle of shots, which I found very effective and goes to the beat of the song. As the patrol officer starts shaking the man it starts to flash back to all the different spider symbols from before, also a image of a flying bird which could represent freedom and how the young black man feels as he stars at the sprayed board. It then starts to go into a flash backs and you also see the band the prodigy in one of the flashes showing them in a group with a low angle, close up and mid shot of them rambled together in flash flashes. This is all combined with the shots of the patrol officer pulling and pushing the young black man in different shots some with special effects which made the shot look as though the scenery around them was moving but they weren’t.
The video ends with a repeating motion of the young black man jumping on a pile of rope and scraping a long bar in the gravel where it then cuts to a mid shot which zooms slowly into a close up of his face as he says ‘we are the prodigy’ the sound was now computerised and non diagetic, it then cuts and the shot know starts to pan up and left over the sea to reveal stations metres above water level propped on wooden legs. The shot then changes to a high angle panning shot of the station revealing a white painted spider symbol and cuts to a mid shot of the black man standing on the station and then pans away slowly and circles the station. It then does a small montage of different level shots of the stations and the colours of the video have now changed and the sun is setting giving a natural orange effect to the setting, it then fades to black.

The Hair & make-up/Costume

The young black man has a very simple and natural look. He is presented as an ungroomed, which is created by the beard/stubble. He has a leather hat with side flaps. The hat is lined with dark fluff making it warm. The man is wearing a thin black jacket, hood down and sleeves rolled up letting his black hoodies sleeves show from underneath. This created a warm and layered look to finish off his top half keeping the base of his wardrobe to basics which were a white t shirt paired with black jeans and a pair of biker boots which had just been slipped on quickly as they wear untied. He also has a white cast on his right arm creating a sense of vulnerability and injury. Around his neck he has a pair of pilot styled goggles.

The white man who seems to be a police officer/ patrol officer is wearing a black and orange water proof jacket with black trousers and a black hat (standard police hat). We first see him in a close up of his head but with a part of binoculars checking what the young black man is doing spraying the satellite in the large field. He looks fresh and natural with no makeup creating a raw look.

Lighting

The lighting that was used throughout the whole video was all natural lighting. This created a bright clear sky and had to depend on the days that they shot because of the natural light. As some shots could have been gloomy and almost had polluted if they chose the wrong day to shoot on. So for this particular video the lighting was the key element to bring everything together and make the video look professional and well thought of.

Props

Some of the props that were used during the shooting were what made the video stand out from others from the similar genre and created a atmosphere of confusion within the audience, leaving them think what was that and why was it part of the video. I think that it is interesting the way they have left the interpretation of the different props such as the fish head on the end of the thin poles for the audience to work out and come up with a variety of meanings. There was a number of different objects and materials that were used to create the spider symbols in the different locations, such as the spray can was used in the satellite fields and the wood carving was used in the location of the abandoned house, where as the card and branches/nets were used in the fields with a few buildings and the rocks and the nets were used in the field with abandoned train tracks and the pathway marked by fish heads on thin poles.

Locations

There were a number of different locations that the video was shot it started off at the abandoned boarded up house and went through the different locations where you would see the young black man create the same symbol of the spider out of different materials such as brunches, netting, spray paint, rocks, cravings and cut outs from wood and card. Along the way there was a second which is a phrase that was carved into a plank of wood which was nailed to the side of the house, it said ‘let no one take it’ I think that this sends a positive message to the audience to fight for what they want and don’t let anyone take it. Some of the other locations include large fields with power lines and satellite and abandoned and old train tracks. The last location that the audience see is at the beach which is spill into two different shots one being a long wide shot of the black man almost hip deep in the sea until it cuts to a panning worms eye view of the sea, which leads to the camera pulling out and carrying on panning left towards station platforms where on one of them is standing the black man and a spider symbol sprayed in white.

Colours

The colours within the video were desaturated but there was a hint of some orange within the police/patrol officer’s uniform but the rest of the video was set on a palette of black, greys and whites creating different shades and compositions from the lighting which made the different scenes come to life and created the different shadows and tones. This gave the scene an older look and made the field look free and emptier/abandoned creating a world in which the young black man lived and wanted to express his freedom and keep it that way.

Sound

The music was heavy beated and the video matched up to the beat with different and interesting shots which created an abstract video that the audiences want to watch to see what is going on and what will happen next where will he go?. I think that the reapeating effect toward the end was extremely impressive and added a sense of time in the sense of they thought about the beat when it came to the editing.

Similar Text Analysis JOY DIVISION

Joy Division-love will tear us apart

I chose joy division love will tear us apart as the unsigned band arms of Mexico (the band that we are using) have a very different style which is a mix of different band such as joy division, the horrors which the band look up to and were inspired by. There are also comparisons to bands like rage against the machine and the prodigy who are very lively and full of energy which is entertaining for the audiences. The video that I am analysis is joy division-love will tear us apart; the video is very simple but yet still effective giving the audience something other than flashing lights and dance routines. The video is mainly of the band performing in a rundown flat where only the stairway and the old abandoned looking room are used using a number of different shots to create different moods with in the audience.

This video is a performance piece and has no narrative meaning that the video consists of different shots of the band and band members. The video starts off in a point of view shot of someone going up three sets of stairs with a handheld camera making the shot feel like you are part of the video going up the stairs. It then cuts to a close up of a man’s hand which is coming out from inside the room. This part of the video had special effects used on it which had changed the colours of the shots to have a shaded sepia/orange tone to it creating a interesting effect, showing the audience something different then just black and white.

Camera work

Medium shot of the front of the door and the hand letting the door swing open creating a repeated effect four times, which was then reversed two times. The colours change to black and white and in-between each shot the audience are given a glance of the old abandoned dirty room, before the camera cuts to a close up of the keyboard players hands. It the cuts to a close up of the drummers side profile and then straight to the guitarist showing the audience the different band members and what they are playing. The audience is then shown a long shot of the whole band in the abandoned room with the wooden flooring and long glass window which were the main and only source of lighting throughout the video. This created a gloomier and much older look to the video. It then cuts back to the drummers face for a side profile a close up. This is when the singer starts and the camera cuts to the keyboard player, it then starts panning to the right towards the singer, where it pauses for a short while until the shot cuts to a front view of the singer.

Just before the sepia/orange effect started there was a wide shot of the drummer showing his movements and then a shot of the singer which is now in the sepia/orange effect. It then goes back to the keyboard player and starts panning to the right towards the singer, where it pauses for a short while until the shot cuts to a front view of the singer for a mid shot. This is when it starts to zoom out and pan to the right to create a two shot of the singer and guitar player. Fading to an extreme close up of the guitar players hands playing to then slowly pan/tilt up to see the players face with a close up. Then Cut to the guitarists face with a close up showing his expression which seems to be concentrated. It quickly fades to a two shot of the singer and guitarist where it then shows a slightly high angled shot of the drummer and cuts to a close up of his face. This led the audience to a number of close ups of different band members, showing the instruments in different audiences.

Cut to the guitarists face with a close up showing his expression which seems to be calm and concentrated zooming out into a low angle shot making him look bigger and stronger. It then cuts straight to the abandoned room which was now empty. It then starts to fade to a mid shot of the lead singer and then cuts to his side profile shot of his face till it cuts to the drummer with a mid shot followed by the drummers profile shot. Cutting to the guitarists face panning/tilting down to the guitar before cutting back to the lead singer where the sepia/orange toned effect starts again. It then goes to a two shot of the guitarist and the singer then cutting to a close up of the keyboard player showing his concentration with his head down playing the keyboard which then cuts to a close up of the keyboard being played. It then cuts to an extreme close up of the drum set where it then changes to the drummers face then back to the lead singer, which then cuts to a two shot of the singer and the keyboard player which is now back in black and white. It starts zooming out where it pauses for a few seconds then cuts to a close up of the guitarist’s guitar to the drums being played. Before coming back to the drums it shows a close up of the singers guitar and then back to the keyboard player.

Cuts to an extreme close up of the white guitar/the singer’s guitar, which started the sequence of the moving images of different members and different instruments. Next being a close up of the keyboard being played, then another close up of the brown guitar, to then lead back to a close up shot of the drums before, cutting to a high angle shot of the drums. It then went back to the close up of the white guitar and then the brown guitar which were both shots that had been used in pervious shots and was then cut to the keyboard player, for it to then finish on a shot of a close up of the brown guitar. The ending of the video is back at the door again with the sepia/orange effect where the door swings open once to reveal the abandoned room which was now empty it then fades to black.

Mise en scene

The lighting in this video is all natural lighting showing that the band doesn’t need to have fancy lighting effects to show their music and that the video should make the music come to life the music should do that by itself and should create different feelings and emotions within the fans/audiences.

The setting was all in location using different parts of the location such as the stairway and empty room which look old and dirty almost abandoned looking. The wooden flooring gave me the sense of the place being old and creaky and the not lighting situation created a scene of abandonment.

The hair and make-up is not a big part of the video as there was no makeup used in the video on any member of the band which made the band look even more natural and created a very simple look, which the lighting went hand in hand with to create the natural looks. The wardrobe is very basic as well all four of them have shirts on the lead singer has a black button up shirt with a black skinny tie with faded smart black trouser and to finish off the his hair is brushed down smartly. The guitarist had a full black suit with a pattern tie; his hair is a bit longer then the singers but is styled to the side. The keyboard player has a white shirt with a pattern tie his hair is parted at the side and styled towards the side unlike the singer who has a different look to everyone else. The drummer has grey shirt with grey smart trousers on with his hair which is longer and styled to the side which created a thick and flowing effect.

As part of the editing there was some use of special effects which were also very simple but made positive effect on the audience. In some parts of the video the effect that was used would change the tone of the picture to an orange/sepia tone picture creating a bit of an interesting and creative aspect in the video.

The positions of the band members was the same throughout the video the drummer in the back with the singer in front showing he is the main singer and has an important part in the band with the keyboard player to the left a few paces behind the singer in line with the guitarist who is located on the right hand side of the singer.

Forms and Conventions

Forms and conventions are enforced as they allow the audience to become accustomed with seeing certain things in the different genres. For example, they would expect to see scantily clad, or even topless, women dancing behind rappers in hip-hop videos and lots of dark, demonic and scary imagery in heavy metal videos. Another reason they are enforced is that they ensure an artist’s music video fits into its relevant genre well. Therefore, a music video must keep some conventions, even if the artist wants to challenge others, as straying too far away from the forms and conventions can confuse and alienate the audience and may also give the artist a bad reputation.

There are three main types of music video: performance, narrative and concept. The conventions of a performance video is that the band or artist performs, whether that is to the camera (like Red Hot Chili Peppers video for Tell Me Baby) or on stage in front of a crowd (like KISS’s video for Rock and Roll All Nite) or during a ‘rehearsal’ (like Guns ‘n’ Roses video for Sweet Child o’ Mine).


Narrative videos feature a story, which is often relative to the lyrics of the song, but are sometimes unrelated. These can feature ‘cameo’ performances from the band members themselves, such as Learn to Fly by Foo Fighters, where the members are playing different characters, but not performing. Lyrics generally affect the music video’s subject, particularly in narrative and concept videos. However, some videos do not reflect the subject matter and appear to be totally disconnected to the lyrics. But, it is generally the norm to have the video reflecting the lyrics.

Concept videos take a deeper look at the lyrics and explore things that are not immediately obvious to the listener, but are perhaps representative of feelings and emotions the artist had while writing the song. Parodies and intertextuality occur often in concept videos, such as references to famous films, television shows or even other videos. For example, the video for The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars is a parody of Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining, while Killswitch Engage’s video for their cover version of Dio’s Holy Diver is a parody of the original video.

These types of music videos often cross over into each other, so it is possible to have a performance video with a narrative sequence or a concept video with a performance sequence.

Both digital and stop frame animation can also be used to tell a story or represent certain concepts that the artist has and wants to show the audience. Often, the animation is mixed with live-action footage of the artist. Examples of this are Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and G-Dragon’s A-Yo.

The tempo of the music can help determine the pace of the editing, the style of the video and the subject of the video. For a fast and hectic song, one would expect the video to fit the music perfectly, rather than the footage being slow and steady.

The camerawork is also important in establishing conventions. For example, performance videos generally have a lot of close ups of the artist and their instruments, with lots of shots of the same performance taken at different angles. This is called jump cutting.

Some narrative and concept videos are filmed in one shot to relay a story that is happening in a single setting for the duration of the song. For example, one of the versions of Super Junior’s video for the song It’s You consists solely of one shot, depicting the different members in cameo roles. Another version has this footage mixed in with performance shots of the group.

As a general rule, the sound in a music video is non-diagetic, as the artist mimes the song and the original track is played over it. However, sometimes speech is used between characters in a music video, such as in Aphex Twin’s video for Windowlicker.

In some music videos, diagetic sound is played over the track. In Richard Ashcroft’s video for Song for The Lovers, he is listening to the track on CD player, so you can hear diagetic sounds, such as him singing over the song and walking round his flat. This is a good way to create something interesting and challenge conventions, but not challenge them too much.

The mise-en-scene depends on the genre of the music video. Location is an important factor in this. A typical hip hop or R’n’B video would be set in a luxurious setting, such as a hotel in the Caribbean, with a large pool with girls in bikinis lounging around.

A typical setting for a rock video would be a darker place, perhaps an old, creepy castle or house. The costumes are often typical for the specific genres – gothic rockers wearing black with heavy make up, rappers wearing caps, vests and gold jewellery. The band’s merchandise and logo can sometimes be found in videos, as a way to reinforce the artist’s iconography.

Characters and body language depend also on the genre of the music. For a romantic pop song, you would not generally cast a scary looking, tattooed couple and for a heavy metal rock song, you wouldn’t generally cast an innocent, ‘normal’ looking girl or boy as your main character. If an artist, such as Leona Lewis, was making her music video, she would not perform in the same way Snoop Dogg would and vice versa.

Interview - Template

1. What do you think makes a music video effective?

2. Do you think a music video needs to be controversial to gain publicity?
- If yes, ask Why
- If no, ask what would make a music video gain publicity

3. What’s your favourite music video?
- Why?

Questionnaire - Template

1. Gender?

Male [ ]
Female [ ]

2. Age?

4 – 10 [ ]
11 – 15 [ ]
16 – 24 [ ]
25 – 30 [ ]
31 – 40 [ ]
41+ [ ]

3. What genre(s) of music do you prefer? (Tick as applicable)

Pop/Chart [ ]
Blues, Soul and Reggae [ ]
Rock/Indie [ ]
Classical [ ]
Dance/Techno [ ]
Urban/R’n’B [ ]
Jazz [ ]

4. What is your favourite Artist/Band?

_______________________________________________

5. What is currently your favourite music video?

_______________________________________________

6. What type of music videos do you prefer? (Tick as applicable)

Narrative [ ]
Performance [ ]
Concept [ ]

7. Where do you usually watch music videos? (Tick as applicable)

Internet [ ]
Television [ ]
Phone [ ]
MP4/iPod [ ]

8. Do you prefer a music video which includes special effects?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

9. Do you feel that special effects are important in making a music video effective?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

10. How often do you watch music videos?

Daily [ ]
Twice a Week [ ]
Weekly [ ]
Monthly [ ]

11. Do you think that where you live affects the type of music you listen to?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

12. Do you think it is important for the music video to reflect the lyrics of the song?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

13. Do you think a music video should challenge the conventions of the specified genre?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

14. Do music videos inspire you to buy the song?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

15. Do music videos help you to discover new Artists/Bands?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

16. Do you think that music videos are an effective promotional tool?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

17. Do you listen to unsigned bands?

Yes [ ]
No [ ]

18. If yes, what genre are they?

_________________________________________

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