Music Video Analysis #1

 Analysing Music Videos

The song I have chosen to analyse is 'Rue' by Girl in Red (Marie Ulven Ringheim), this music video was shot and directed during 2020 and published/premiered on 26th of August 2020. My chosen artist works for the 'AWAL' Record Company in London, UK and was directed by 'Niels Windfeldt' as well as produced by 'Aleksander Aurdal',Edited by 'Henrik Pedersen' and Creative Director being 'Clare Gillen'. Although the artist is an Indie Pop Singer, the style and tone of her new music video juxtaposes her familiar approach with a twisted, dark and ominous atmosphere, almost as if it were a horror music video.

In the opening of the music video the artist is seen sat in a chair in a modernistic room whilst heavy rain is falling in the background, the artist sings "I remember you couldn't stop crying", I feel this is a direct correlation to the lyrics. The atmosphere being extremely melancholic with dark lighting and grey colour palette tones creates this effect, to emphasise this I feel the heavy rain is a symbol of the tears that someone is "crying". Furthermore, the lyrics following say, "I tried so hard to change", the shot immediately changing to a separate scene that is even more unlit, giving the sense you are diving deeper into the narrative, creating a smashcut. Moreover, the lyrics, "the long nights you helped me through", immediately after this a large light is scaled above the artist standing in a field, almost alien like. This contradicts the lyrics with a visual light overpowering the dark tone of the song, creating subtle symbolism of positive verses negative within the music video.

The lyrics stop for a moment while there is a music overlapping, where the artist was once seen having a close up creating an emotive moment between the audience and artist and uses a smashcut to immediately change to a wide long shot of the character is action running while the music gets progressively louder. This creates a relationship between the music and the visuals by the sequenced change in visuals and quiet to louder bass within the song. Moreover, the beat in the rhythm mimics one of a heartbeat, maybe being a symbol of the characters fear as she runs through a field, creating audio suspense. As well as this the lighting changes drastically later on to an even further darkened setting in the midst of a wood while the lyrics again become quieter and less auditable, a symbol of possibly the darkness overpowering the character.

As 'Girl in Reds' genre is Indie Pop, her target audience mainly being teen girls from 13-19, the video style and iconography is purposely darker and moody, being more relatable to younger teenagers. The signature style this artist always wears is oversized black clothing; being an iconic fashion statement from this artist. In the music video there was little use of close ups of the artist, the company possibly not wanting that to be included in the music video and more of a narrative to be told. The close ups that were used in the music video there to convey emotion and to possibly be a matchcut to keep the story going.

As 'Girl in Red' is a majoritively unknown and indie artist they have not established their own star iconography, although the singer is a well respected member of the LGBTQ+ Community and many of her lyrics and songs are to raise awareness of the community and become a relatable icon to look up to for a young target audience. Although there is no voyeurism within the music video, the artist I feel has created an intertextual reference to the hit show series, 'Euphoria'. The title of the video being 'Rue' a main character within the show, as well as the style and outfit mimics/copies the fashion from the same character in the show, showing a clear connection between the two medias. The depressive tone and mood in the music video imitates the atmosphere of 'Euphoria' as well as themes of depression, therapy and running from mental illness.The artist herself in a interview described her music video to be about 'escapism' inspired by 'Euphoria', as well as the reflection on mental health, "a lot of people don't know about mental health. People lack knowledge and don't understand that your mental health isn't necessarily who you are". This invokes the idea that the artist admires the series and wanted to dedicate her music video towards the show or a subtle reference that her song was inspired by the TV show.

The genre convention of the music video is a subtle theme of horror and action, the setting being in an eerie and uncomfortable atmosphere set within a forest, makes the audience feel fearful for the main character. The colour scheme for the music video is made up of dark shadows, greys and deep greens, as well as the lighting being specifically unlit and difficult to see, sets up an even further sense of horror and fear. The camera work within the music video follows the main character throughout, seemingly tracking them, this enables a feeling of the character being hunted by something. The audio of the forest, rain and river is still heard within the music and lyrics, immersing the audience into the setting, this use of dramatic irony in film lets the audience be apart of the music video and creates a relationship between the viewer and artist. At the very start of the music video, the artist ensues a direct mode of address towards the audience, the camera work invoking the audio she is looking into the eyes of the viewer. This creates an emotive response when we see the artist crying towards us; contorting a personal touch, generating a relationship with the singer and viewer. I feel this is ironic as at the very end of the music video, a hostile mode of address is displayed when the artist bellows/screams at the audience; this direct feeling of hostility and anger ends the music video in a serious tone the way it originally started with, leaving the audience with a feeling of catharsis. However, throughout the majority of the music video, a restricted mode of address is commonly displayed; the narration/story is focused on the following events as the artist experiences them, this generates a sense of suspense. This is often used in music videos to draw us into the protagonists experience and create empathy. On the other hand, there is glimpses of omniscient modes of address, where the camera laves the main character to show the audience something the character doesn't know; this is used in the music video when showing the shapes of people around the artist.

Throughout the music video the artist is nearly always in mise en scene. At the very beginning of the narrative we see a therapists office setting, props off books and secondary characters are used to even further portray the theme of the setting. The composition of the shot originally starts with a long shot, a dolly shot then being used to zoom into the characters expression with a close up. Furthermore, the camera is nearly always on the artist, either in action or portraying an emotion in a still shot, the ever changing long shots to close ups demonstrates the continuity filming while the artist is singing. Even further, the setting within the music video is all filmed at night, this I feel would have proved a challenge to the director and production team by being under a time limit after dusk. This ominous aroma creates an unsettling feeling throughout; as well as this, the never ending night scenes may be symbolic for the character to always be in a dark place, invoking symbolisation of depression.

Shot #1 - This is the very first shot seen in the music video, it being an extreme close up of a 'Newtons Cradle'. The fast paced rhythm of the desk decoration sets up the tone for the music video, the sound progressively getting louder and faster. Within the shot, the Newtons Cradle is in a clear fixed camera shot while the rest of the panel is blurred, drawing the audiences attention to the desk decoration; as well as this, the camera is set to be directly in eye line of the Newtons Cradle, invoking the idea that the audience is only a viewer/spectator of the next scene or music video as a whole. Moreover, this could be a symbol for the mental health theme of the music video, a common item found in movies/videos/shows in a therapists office, as well as having a cyclical nature of the rhythm having an everlasting clink of spheres mimics her everlasting mental health.

Shot #2 and #3 - This is the proceeding shot from the opening extreme close up; a dolly shot is used here to transition from a long shot to a medium close up.The dark and dreary atmosphere is introduced in this from the unlit set, only using one light shade to illuminate the two character's. As well as this the enclosed and seemingly tight ambiance creates a feeling of the artist feeling trapped or overwhelmed, again demonstrating an eerie and unwelcoming undertone. The medium close up displays the main character, giving clear evidence that the artist is the focal point of the music video; medium close ups are often used to create a relationship between the audience and protagonist. Her hooded figure and dark lit face again shows emotions of sadness and depression even without the audio beginning, setting up the tone for the music video, almost foreshadowing the later events.

Shot #4 and #5 - This match-cut immediately changes the atmosphere of the setting, instead of a therapists office the artist is now in an unknown field at night, evolving from day to night sets up the ominous tone for the music video. The first shot being in nearly complete darkness would generate a fearful effect on the audience, the face of the protagonist being nearly unrecognisable; compared to the brightly lit shot where a glaring unnamed light shines above the artist, the first time the audience see's any symbolism of positivity or even a a clear direct light source. These two medium close ups showing the features of artist is used to set up who the protagonist is within the music video and create the start to the narrative.

 Shot #6 - This extreme close up of the artist looking up at a bright light source invokes a feeling of hope and positivity in the video or on the other hand the character looking into heaven. By looking upwards and away from the audience draws attention to the question of what the light is, letting the audience query the subject matter of the light. One could interpret that the light source is alien like character. This practical effect is used repeatedly throughout the music video.

Shot #7 and #8 - The first panel we see after the extreme close up is a use of cutting on the beat to transition to another scene as well as to create emphasise on the audio and visuals. This extreme long shot/master shot/establishing shot expands the setting of the dark forest with the light source still in view. This shot cuts into an action shot, the protagonist running in a dolly shot as the camera moves with them; the light source is constantly above their head, illuminating the character, perhaps to demonstrate what is happening in the scene instead of the total pitch darkness in earlier scenes. On the other hand, this could be a use of symbolism of the artist running away from the light, something positive and warm, into the dark unknown of depression, a visual representation of escapism. The secondary panel is a mid shot of the character, a simple use of editing to create the feeling of passing of time.

Shots #9, #10 and #11 - These establishing shots give more detail to the audience of the setting; the dark and ominous lighting as well as the towering forest around the protagonist makes the viewer fearful for the character in such a gloomy setting. In addition, the shot is seemingly always in time lapse, the light of passing clouds/moon/previous light is always in view. This effect of passing time lets the audience know that the protagonist is trying to escape from something, running from possibly a monster. As well as this, each scenery shot like this is always directing upwards or downwards, possibly concealing what ever is in the forest from a fontal view; again creating a sense of fear.

Shot #12 - This wide shot off cross cutting, lest the audience jump into the action of the scene. The protagonist running through the unlit forest, the cameraman/women using a dolly shot to follow the artist, emanating the feeling the audience is following/tracking the character. You could also say this is an example in the music video of the character in motion cutting to the beat or cutting on action. Again the character is seen running from the light source, a further attempt of symbolisation of escapism; the now later scenes evolving into almost a montage of action.

Shot #13 - This point of view (POV) angle is a direct use of audience perspective, the viewer almost to be running with the protagonist. This action scene again is edited to be cut on the beat, each running scene to be in time with the music.

Shot #14 - This bird of view angle/camera shot concentrates on the face of the protagonist, a possible symbolisation of the character looking up for help from the audience. Again, with the rest of the panel being in complete darkness demonstrates a clear understanding of the narrative revolving around the artist; possibly giving an emphasise the lyrics said in this scene, "I try to get it off my mind".

Shot #15 - One of my personal favourite shots from the entire music video is this use of practical effects in this mid shot. The camera is rotated to create an illusion of the forest being turned on its side, this quick and easy shot adds flavour to the music videos panels that have repeatedly been dolly shots of action or mid/extreme close ups. Although I feel it doesn't completely fit with the music videos original theme, I feel it demonstrates a feeling of mirage like imagery. As well as this, it is a use of cutting on action/beat; within the scene when the artists feet touch the floor the beat essentially drops and the bass becomes lower, emphasising she is feeling lower and lower mentally.

Shot #16 and #17 - The shot the audience sees here is a close up, the light emitting onto the protagonists face gives a clear view of her facial expression. At this moment in the narrative the artist is running from the symbolisation of light, trying to hide again within the darkness. This eerie atmosphere is followed by a pure horror theme shot of the secondary extreme close up of hands coming out of tree branches/soil of an up turned tree, again creating an uncomfortable, shocking atmosphere, now involving themes/genres of horror.

Shots #18 and #19 - The panel zooms out from a close up to a mid shot of the artist, light emitting from the background nearly swallowing the artist; this slow repetition of light sources demonstrate she cannot outrun the light, either a metaphor for positivity and warmth or a form of a monstrous character we have not yet discovered from a viewers perspective. The next shot is a wide/establishing shot of the artist being overwhelmed by the light, seemingly being people holding lights towards her, a possible symbolisation of people trying to help her escape her escapism. Throughout the music video, light has been used to follow the protagonist, nearing the end of the music video it is something the character can no longer avoid.

Shots #20 and #21 - This mid shot demonstrates the protagonists expression with the help of clear visual light. Her once confused expression turned to anger/sadness is shown through her rigid body and motions. The secondary shot of an extreme close up emphases her emotions of distress and makes it evident to the audience the feelings now in the narrative. Moreover, as a viewer we see these emotions coming out for the first time when she is being absorbed by light, the camera even having reflections of light emitting across the panel, demonstrating she cannot withhold her feelings when in this state. As well as this, within the 21st shot, the camera angle seams to shake and create the illusion the whole scene is doing so, this could be a use of practical effects to emphasise the characters feelings.

Shot #22 and #23 - Concluding to the end of the music video, the artist returns to a setting of darkness, ironically reflecting the original starting scene of the character sitting in the therapists office. This long shot is quickly mash-cutted to fit the beat of the music, the tone of the audio becoming lower and more melancholic mirroring the dark visuals and start of music video. As well as this, we can see the character is looking downwards, contrasting to whenever the unknown light source is in shot, she is always looking upwards away from the camera in restricted mode of address. 

Shot #24 - Once more we see the character spotted by the alienating light in this mid shot; a sense of defeat is felt by the audience as they perceive themselves within the narrative.

Shot #25 - In the concluding shot of the music video we have a clear visual of the artist screaming/bellowing in a close up. This is the first time as a viewer we see a clear demonstration of the characters emotions. At this point in the music video the music has stopped finishing the song on a high beat and we are left to hear the audio of the artist screaming. This provokes an emotional response from the viewer either reflecting the artists anger or feeling empathy for the protagonist. The disconcerting and emotional audio leaves the audience with a melancholic feeling.

Shot #26 - This text shot of the songs title 'Rue' is used to leave an impression on the audience of the song; the bold red font against the black is to exaggerate the title clearly and to materialise out of the darkness the meaning of the song.

Throughout the music video the editing used is create a quick montage of the artist running through the metaphorical forest, commonly using match cuts and cutting on the beat. The angle of each panel although doesn't have much variety from long shots, mid shots and close ups helps convey a story. I feel the editor may have used a filter over the footage to even further emphasise the darkness in each shot and to create more of an immersive atmosphere as well as when working constantly at night the light may not always fit together when working on multiple days on a set. Although no special effects of CGI were used, the production team repeatedly used practical effects of the large light emitting over the character throughout the musics videos narrative helping to generate a compelling story.

In this music video it creates an ominous sense of the world, including themes of aliens, horror and the supernatural. The narrative told is mainly adventure, surrounding the artist, showcasing attitudes of an un ideal world and she reacts to it. As the music video is more surreal it doesn't imply many themes, although it showcases some topics of mental health/mental illnesses/ etc. This isn't a typical type of music video, the meaning of the music video surrounding around the show 'Euphoria' although the setting is stereotypical and simple, only using a forest and a small set of a dark room. The music video is aimed ambiguously, at both men and women, the issues involved of mental health effecting all genders as well as the lyrics not aiming at a 'he' or 'she'. It is speaking to a wider audience of people, not having a specific target audience but aiming at all genders, however, the age rating may be aimed at teenagers or young adults, the character used being of a young age. The music video represents the difficulty of mental health and suppressing emotions, this invokes a supportive viewpoint of the meaning behind the music video. The stereotypes of this music video I found was mental illness seemingly always been shown through the eyes of a girl and the therapist side character being a male, although this isn't a main theme of topic it is still shown in the music video. I feel this is used to advertise itself to the young female audience, portraying a teenage women who creates relatability towards teangers through imagery and symbolism of depression.

Student Videos

 

Music Video Review/Analysis

The music video I watched I feel is effective as it displays a clearly frightening, disturbing tone with violent imagery, flashing lights and props used to panic its target audience. It presents the effect the artist intended as they used such graphic imagery and an unusual tone for setting, characterisation, music, props and even camera angles. The artist used a range of visual effects, using different lighting, wether it be flashing, monochromatic or iridescent shades of colour. Aswell as this they used an unlit atmosphere/setting(s) to present an eerie, unsettling tone; the lack of light source foreshadows a dark, ominous ending to the music video. Furthermore, they extended a level of visual affects by onion skinning a background and foreground, allowing movement of a scene in low opacity while the main character is in full opacity in the central composition of shot. In addition to this, while editing their footage the artist incorporated static across the video footage as well as using filters and reversing the footage to make the impression of it being an older/used video, once again giving it an eerie and unwelcoming effect.

The opening to the music video is silent, besides from the natural sound of a river flowing in the foreground. The opening shot being an establishing shot of the lead character helps demonstrate to the audience that they are the focal point and will lead the narrative. The second shot is a close up of a paper boat with symbols of two people holding hands and distorted heart shape, this invokes an idea of the song being about heartbreak or loss. After this the music within the video starts and the audience is welcomed with a frightening sheep/goat masked character who is mainly in the central shot throughout the entire music video.

At 1:40 seconds, the atmosphere and tone of the music video changes to a direct moving shot off a secondary character moving closer to the camera, introducing a new role into the narrative. After this the tone changes again, to romantic settings and holding hands, thus demonstrates a love interest within the video. The swift changing atmosphere merges into a setting behind the character, who is still in the central shot, of holiday videos abroad, thus giving a happier and more cheerful mood. Shortly afterwards the secondary character is seen leading the main role into an ominous door where the footage changes to a bright concert setting of a band playing. More edited/reversed footage is played until the music stops; the artist brings the audience back to the original setting of the river, where they let go of the paper boat into a stream, seemingly symbolism of letting go or guilt.

I feel the artist could have picked a better song that would correlate to the tone of the music video; the lyrics and base of the song being more harmonious than the horror themed video. There may have been production challenges by traveling to different settings/locations to capture certain shots as well as technical difficulties of creating a backdrop that would play past footage used in the music video.

I recognise from other famous music videos, the effect of using reversed footage and grainy/faded shots; I feel this worked well for this specific artist and conveyed an eerie, unsettling tone.

Video Style

 

Concept--

 A music video is short film primarily to advertise a new song and demonstrates imagery that correlates with the theme of the lyrics. 

Whether you are analysing or constructing a media text, you are expected to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the following concept: 

• Audience
• Genre
• Institution
• Narrative
• Media Forms
• Representation

The song lyrics "Likes her gentlemen to not be gentle, was it a Mecca Dauber or a betting pencil?" doesn't directly portray to the audience and doesn't match what you see on the screen.

The notable feature of a concept video is the story/imagery that is demonstrated through the video; a concept allows you to demonstrate your ideas/feelings and stories to the audience.

Performance--

Performance based music videos feature a solo artist or a band performing to the camera. This category includes the recording of live performance, with the aim of demonstrating an artistic talent that is not captured in the recording, such as capturing the energy and enthusiasm of live fans.

The song lyrics, from the song 'Bohemium Rapsody', "Mama, just killed a man, put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead" flow with the painful theme of the song aswell as the direct video of the artist singing directly towards the audience.

A performances notable features is the physical and raw movement shown; there is lack of a story but more direct towards the audience and is normally shown in a live studio setting or streamed on an online platform.

Narrative--

A narrative music video tells a story through imagery, logically or sequently that are put together to create a story that paralells the song lyrics. It also may seam like a character that is communicating to the audience, the music video helping the artist tell their story through imagery as well as words.

The lyrics, "They want to see us, want to see us alone, they want to see us, want to see us apart" reflects the movement of the narrative, the lyrics correlating when the singer is alone or with someone in the music video.

The notable features of a narrative music video is the vivid imagery/movement that tells a story and conveys emotion/ideas and opinions to their direct audience.

Applying Andrew Goodwins Theory

Direct intertextuality

A relationship between the lyrics and visuals = in the 'Artic Monkeys' song 'Fluorescent Adolescent' the visuals contradict the lyrics by the main artist singing about a love interest when visually there is a fight scene ongoing within usual and unconventional characters. This style refutes a stereotypical conventional music video within songs about love with visuals that may confuse

 the audience compared  to the lyrics.
A relationship between music and visuals = in the 'Artic Monkeys' song 'Fluorescent Adolescent', as the characters within the unconventional music video are violent with each other (punch, slap, break objects) a beat or guitar base starts and becomes louder. This emphasises the song with a visual that helps symbolise that sound, complimenting the music style in Indie Rock.
Particular genres may have their own video style and iconography = in the 'Artic Monkeys' song 'Fluorescent Adolescent', the band is known to have violence or strange visuals so is not uncommon to not convert to stereotypical genres in popular music videos. A symbol the band uses in many of their music videos is clowns, cars and old guitars; this is a known reference of the band throughout many of their videos.

A demand from the record company to have many close ups = this music video doesn't feature many close ups of the band or main singer but focuses more on the narrative and action of the film.

Artist develops their own star iconography in and out of their videos = the band the 'Artic Monkeys', the band uses many key symbols (their own use of iconography) through the animated curved line symbol that is commonly used throughout their videos as a symbol of their music.

Reference to voyeurism = within the 'Artic Monkeys' music video there is a shot was a character is looking over the shoulder of a phone reading texts, thus being a reference to voyeurism. Furthermore, there are angle shots of the camera sitting in the front seat of the car, allowing the audience to feel as if they were there within the music video.

A relationship between the lyrics and visuals = in the video, which is more live action than a narrative, the artist sings "mama, I killed a man" while this is sung the artist looks pained and cries to reflect the melancholic atmosphere of the song. 

A relationship between music and visuals = the artist drops to the ground when there is a drop in base when the music becomes lower, again reflecting the music sound.

Particular genres may have their own video style and iconography = the artist is known for is bazar and unusual outfits as well as taking the microphone off its stand and using the stand to dance with. As well as this, 'Queens' music videos often feature close ups and long shots of the bands group.

A demand from the record company to have many close ups = Within the music video, it is less a narrative but captured in live action film, because of this for the audience to have a view of the band there is many close ups of the artists faces.

Artist develops their own star iconography in and out of their videos = the main artist, 'Freddie Mercury' is usually dressed in unordinary fashion, thus now a symbol of their band.

Reference to voyeurism = As the music video was shot on a live video/streaming at the time there was availability to use any voyeurism. 

A relationship between the lyrics and visuals = In this music of the artist 'FK Twigs', the visuals juxtapose the lyrics, where the artist is dancing on a pole whereas the lyrics are melancholic and not sexual. Although the lyrics "They're watching" invokes the audience watching the artist in the music video to be wrong, creating emotive visuals.

A relationship between music and visuals = In the music video, the artist demonstrates visuals falling down a hole, while this is happening, she sings notes higher and more noticeable, juxtaposing the visuals and sound.

Particular genres may have their own video style and iconography = The iconography I feel differs from other music videos by using CGI to make symbols such as dragons, dancing poles and flowers, these help create personality from the character vision of the songs visuals.

A demand from the record company to have many close ups = Within the music video there is not many close ups as the main focal point of the music video is the CGI and actions around the main character within the video.

Artist develops their own star iconography in and out of their videos = this artist creates strange visuals through CGI in many of her videos, thus creating a well known symbol for herself.

Reference to voyeurism = Although there is no use of voyeurism within this video, there is a use of illusions and subverted angles that fit better with the genre of the music video and artist.

The term Intertextuality refers to the process of creating references to any kind of media text via another media text. In other words Intertextuality essentially means for a type of media(film, television, music etc) to pay homage to another media text.

This video demonstrates intertextual references and voyeurism as mirrors are used in the music video to deceive the audience and create illusions in this imagery. As well as this there are references to Cirque du Soleil as well as the character 'Joker' and 'The riddler' from batman in the original films, with a gritty and off-putting atmosphere.

Imbedding videos

My name is Alex Mallinson at Ilkley Grammar School, I have created my own blog in my A Level Media class.The clip below is a favourite analysed video on the hit TV Show Euphoria that depicts a teenage girl battling addiction and mental health issues.This clip analyses one of my favourite shots in cinema where they have used a spinning set to create an illusion towards the audience of a rotating room.