Christian Metz - Music Videos

4 Types of music videos:

·         The Experimental

·         The Classic

·         The Parody

·         The Deconstruction

The Experimental

The experimental phase is the period of time of film making that explored and experimented with how to film a band whilst they were performing. It can also be used to describe a video that is experimenting with new ways to film a band that is different to the ordinary way that most directors shoot a music video. The first music video produced was in 1925 and it was called ‘Gus Visser and his Singing Duck’. It shows a wide medium shot and the camera is static, this is an experimental video as no one had done this before. Gus Visser was a comedy artist and the video consisted of him singing and the duck make a noise at the appropriate times.

A more modern ‘experimental’ music video is ‘Sharkey’s Day’ by Laurie Anderson. This song was released in 1984 and the music video consists of animation, lots of bright colours and has a very psychedelic sense to it. This is classed as an experimental music video because no one has done a music video like this one before.

Musicals also influenced in how music videos should be made. The Beatles music video ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ directed by Richard Lester in 1964 helped form the codes and conventions of how to film a band. The codes and conventions included: close ups of the lead singer, cutaways of instruments that are being played, filming a band together and separately, cutting to the beat of the song and filming a love performance with multiple cameras.

The Classic

The classic phase of the music videos which established the codes and conventions in its most successful period, the 1980s. Michael Jackson’s Thriller is an iconic video, the length of the music video is around 13 minutes and showed a full story completed with dance routines, a song and an open ending. Thriller was so successful because it was new, different and had Michael Jackson in his prime. MTV also helped Thriller as it was the first TV channel that played music 24/7. MTV premiered in 1981 with The Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star. This Music TV channel was very popular as it played new, unavailable music that the teenagers of this time could listen to. MTV also increased record sales for the artists, as they were able to reach a wider audience via this medium, which led to more people enjoying the music.

The parody

The parody music video involves an artist mimicking another famous music video and song, changing the lyrics and video slightly to make it comical. The biggest parodist is ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic. He parodies artists like Michael Jackson, Nirvana and NWA.

The Deconstruction

The deconstruction music video consists of elements of other music videos and combined them into something else. One of the best well-known examples of this is Madonna’s 1985 video ‘Material Girl’ which was closely shaped from Jack Cole’s staging of ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The elements that have been shared between both videos are the men waiting on the girls with hearts, showing their love and affection for them. The colour palette that they both use are the same, red background, red hearts and a pink dress; these symbolise the universal colour of love and affection, portraying that the protagonist of the female is the one that all the men around her are devoting their time to.

Wasp by Andrea Arnold

                Wasp is an Oscar-awarded short film created by Andrea Arnold. This film was made in 2003 and shows a single mother with four children trying to get by with little to no money. She bumps into her old friend who convinces her to go out on a date with him. The film describes the relationship between the children and mother whilst also representing British society and child poverty.

                This shot uses a handheld camera at the start of the film to depict a realistic feeling this creates the effect of a documentary. This close up of the young girl walking down the stairs describes that she is living in a rough neighbourhood, the dirty walls and cold colours also illustrate that she doesn’t belong in this kind of environment because she is vulnerable. The unsteady camera also highlights the instability of the family that is being shown. The one source of light from the window behind them creates a low-lit scene and helps to build sympathy from the audience towards this girl as it describes a situation that she shouldn’t be in.

               

                Sound is used in this short film to predominantly represent danger. This high angled shot gives the audience the realisation how small and young these children are on their own and added with the overbearing noise of the pram wheels on the pavement sets the audience on edge as they’re expecting something bad to happen. The sound of traffic as background noise also depicts how exposed these young children are to the outside world. The use of the doll in the pram is ominous and it makes us lead back to the actual baby in the pram, it describes the real baby as another toy that the children play with. The use of sound depicting danger was also used throughout the short film, earlier there was a bull terrier passing behind them which was barking, the traffic was oppressive when they were walking above the motorway and the wasp became a distinct feature during the short film.

                The wasp in this film is very symbolic. I believe that it represents Zoe, the mother of the children and the main character.  Their value to the animal kingdom is questionable and when provoked they lash out and sting, this parallels Zoe’s behaviour at the very start of the film where she has a fight with another woman. The extreme clos- up used to identify the wasp on the window is meaningful as it shows the wasp is trapped in their house and has no way of getting out, in a sense this illustrates Zoe, as she is trapped in her poverty-stricken life and isn’t able to claw herself out of the struggle she finds herself and her children in. The extreme close- up from the wasp then cuts quickly to an extreme close-up of Zoe’s eyes which people say ‘’are the windows to your soul’’. This creates a bond between the wasp and this character and shows that Zoe has empathy for the wasp, also knowing what it’s like being stuck in one place, and opening the window for it could describe a turning point for her to sort her own life out and not be ‘trapped’ anymore.

Gasman by Lynne Ramsay

                Gasman was made in 1997 by a Scottish director called Lynne Ramsay. This was her third short film and the one that gave her the most recognition as this led to her gaining awards at the Cannes Film Festival and earning a Scottish BAFTA. Due to this acknowledgement of her work, she has gone on to create feature films like Ratcatcher and We Need To Talk About Kevin. Gasman is a short film that is about a working-class man who lives a double life as he is married and has two children with one woman and then another two children with a mistress. This short encompasses controversial themes and issues of child rivalry, unemployment and neglect.

                At the beginning of the film, no faces were shown, and instead the only sections of characters the audience are exposed to are arms, legs and hands. Lynne Ramsay has done this purposely so the audience do not see the main character which creates an enigma and keeps the audience hooked until a character is established. Throughout the series of close ups of the different scenes of the family, different framing is used with each shot. No object is central in the frame which produces a different ambience as this creates a realistic viewpoint for a working-class family as nothing in the house would be perfectly symmetrical and neat. The diegetic sound is heard which lets the audience know what time of year the short film is set as Christmas songs were played loudly. The joyful aura around these Christmas songs is juxtaposed by the shouting and arguing of the family, this sets the tone of the film and gives the audience the impression that this family isn’t particularly in harmony.

There is a long tracking shot which shows the daughter, son and the dad walking along an abandoned railway track. This shot is significant because this, paired with the grey, washed out colour scheme, presents the idea that the family is going to be in this situation forever and displays the sense of hopelessness. Eventually the trio meet another boy girl and their mother. The other children’s clothing is dirty and the opposite of the brightly coloured style of the father’s daughter. This gives the audience the sense of the economic status of the other family. The children’s clothing is also pointed out by the girl, ‘’Look at what they’re wearing, they look like tramps’’. The theme of poverty is significant in this scene, and the theme of adultery rises when the boy says to his sister, ‘’She looks like you.’’. This then creates an omniscient narrative as the audience then realises that the father is all the children’s fathers, however the children don’t realise and this gives us a foreshadow of what may come up later in the short film. The dirty state of the clothes is then understood as it shows that the father isn’t wealthy enough to pay for both sets of kids he has.

A conversation between the father and the mistress is shown through a series of close-up shot reverse shots displaying both of their emotions towards each other. The intimate conversation plays out and we can see from the haggard expression from the man that he is under a lot of stress but we can interpret that he does care for this woman, however she clearly expresses that she doesn’t feel the same way. When the man affectionately touches her hair she backs away, therefore rejecting his advances. The camera then cuts to a mid-shot of the girl watching the interaction between the new woman, this is important because it displays the beginning of the loss of innocence she once had towards the situation.

The father and his two sets of children end up at a run-down pub that is having a party for Christmas. The mise en scene creates the idea that it is set in the 70s, the clothes, music and wallpaper are all stereotypically from the 1970s. The adults are all sitting on their own in the corner of the room, drinking and smoking whilst leaving the children on to their own devices, this shows the negligence that some families show to their children. The girl with the nice dress is later shown dancing with Santa whilst the other girl watches on, isolated. This represents how the girl with the dress is more fortunate than the other little girl, the father gives the other girl the most money and sees her more often and she gets to dance with Father Christmas. Because of the alienation the girl is feeling, she goes over to her dad and sits on his lap, the other girl, noticing this goes over and tries to pull her off, continuously shouting ‘’That’s my daddy’’. The father eventually tries to break up the fight, meanwhile looking for a drink or some cigarettes, this shows the lack of parenting skills as he isn’t able to solve the conflict without the comfort of alcohol or nicotine. The quick cuts that show the fight and his searching create an uncomfortable scene to watch and the fast pace produces the sense of the loss of control the father has on the situation.

The family leaves the pub and on their journey back shows the father with a girl either side of him holding his hands, representing reconciliation between them all. When they meet the two children’s mom by the railway tracks, no words are spoken and they all walk in opposite directions. The little girl with the brightly coloured dress then runs back and a lengthy shot that displays her back and the view of the mother and the other two children walking away. The girl picks up a stone and the audience is hit with the realisation that she might throw it at the trio. This symbolises hatred and gives us the impression that the girl looks up to her brother and learns what he does as he threw a stone at his dad earlier in the short film as a joke. The dark lighting suggests how morbid this short film could end if she decides to throw it, and the audience cannot deduce whether she will or not as they can’t see her face and the emotions that play on it. Eventually she throws the rock down and catches up to her father and brother. The shot just shows the abandoned railway tracks that are dark with the only lighting created is by the moon. The railway tracks could be a metaphor suggesting the hopelessness that will never end for both families.