NME Music Video Analysis 1 – Johnny Cash “Hurt”: The video uses a lot of montage shots to build up an understanding of the location, as well as a lot of close ups and mid shots of the artist performing to the camera. These shots created a sense of regret and sorrow, and this video became even more powerful after Johnny Cash’s eventual deaths 7 months after the video’s release. After the line “I remember everything” a collection of shots in black and white are used to create the impression of remembrance, which is followed by a series of older shots to demonstrate remembering his whole life. Towards the end, the video begins to mix shots of the artist pouring wine on a table, a run down apartment, his wife looking down on him looking sad (followed by another short montage of clips, this time of the 2 of them), and clips of Jesus Christ being crucified together into 1 compilation, creating a very powerful visual. The video belongs to the acoustic rock genre and uses a performance style of video, where the artist performs to the audience through a variety of scenes and camera angles, for example when the artist plays the guitar, the piano and when he sits at a dining table and pours wine over the food. The video portrays a feeling of sorrow and regret throughout and plays retrospect to the artist’s career of working with Rock and Roll, Blues and Gospel music, both through video clips – used as flashbacks – and through the song’s genre of acoustic rock, and also through the video’s performance based style which is a common convention of rock music videos as it emphasises the performance of the band; all of these link back to the video’s overall meaning as they help to build up the atmosphere of the artist’s sorrow and regret. The video uses a lot of close up shots to show the sorrow and regret through the artist’s face, and his slow paced and sombre actions and the way he gazes onwards aimlessly, which backs up the idea that he is having flashbacks of parts of his life and career. The sound in the video is purely non-digetic as it consists purely of the soundtrack and the sound has not been recorded live. The video starts with an unusual montage of shots over an animated background, which is reminiscent of the graphics for a PSA, other than this, the editing of the video is done through fast jump cuts to immediately switch between shots as oppose to slower fade throughs, however the jump cuts still manage to fit to the pace of the video despite its slower nature. The video takes place, mostly, in different rooms in the artist’s house, showing its size and all of its decorations, which also shows great wealth. However, some scenes, used as flashbacks, take place outside. There are also some scenes shot in a run down apartment with shattered awards on the floor, normally over the lines of “My Empire of dirt”. The lighting in the scenes inside the artists home seems to be naturally lit from a sunset with assistance from some electrical lighting, however rather then being well lit, the set is still relatively dim. During the flashbacks that take place outside only natural lighting is used, and during the scenes inside the run down apartment, little lighting is used to add to the overall effect that it isn’t lived in. This helps to achieve the style as it creates an overall quite sad atmosphere and sombre performance during a slow paced video. I feel that the meaning portrayed in the video is that the artist is depressed knowing that he is near the end of his life, and is regretful that he has lost so many people close to him, and is now looking back over his life and career in retrospect. The genre links to the meaning of the music video as it is the same genre, as he was most well known for during most of his career, linking to the idea of the artist looking back over his career. The style of the music video also links to the meaning, as most rock videos use a performance based video, all be it at a faster pace to this video’s slower pace, which is used to create the idea of looking back. I think the music video was initially successful because of the impact the performance had on the audience due to its sombre nature and what the artist was revealing about his life, however I feel that a large amount of its success came from how the impact and effect of the video was amplified after the artist’s eventual death 7 months later. 2 – Radiohead “Just”: The video’s genre is alternative rock, and takes place in a half performance based, half interpretive style, as part of the video is the band performing to the camera, and the other part is an abstract mini storyline of a man lying on a pavement. The story itself is extremely unusual and is completely mute; instead, all of the dialogue is spoken through subtitles, which cut out at the big reveal, meaning that the audience never find out why the man is lying on the pavement. The video seems to lack much meaning, and is instead used solely to create an abstract and confusing story, in doing so, the interpretive style fits the video well, and as the band is an alternative rock group, it makes sense that they would use the conventional performance based section of the video. During the performance based section of the video, a large amount of close up and mid shots of the lead singer are used, to emphasise the lyrics, and occasionally, long shots of the entire group performing. The performance section of the video mostly uses the close up shots of the lead singer, however there re also occasional alternate shots showing the guitarist and the drummer alongside the lead singer. At the start of the interpretive story section of the video, the video focuses on the movement of the actor around the city with mostly long shots and 1 low angle shot. During the majority of the rest of this section of the video, close ups are used of each actors face to show their reactions and facial expressions, and occasionally crane shots are used to show the arrival of more passers-by and the final crane shot used to fly over all of the passers-by in lying down on the street. The sound in the video is purely non-digetic as only the soundtrack of the music is present, even the dialogue spoken between characters is only done through subtitles. The video uses a lot of jump cuts to match the fast pace of the music, however towards the very end of the video, a few cross fades are used to connect the different fly-over shots of all the passers-by who are lying on the ground. The video uses 2 main locations, a street, and an apartment with a view over the street. The apartment is used during the performance section of the video, whereas the street is used during the interpretive story section of the video. Both locations throughout the video are lit very similarly, as they both use the same natural lighting, from outside the apartment, this helps to give a sense of continuity to the story, adding the extra feeling of immersion, rather than having the video be shot in a studio and not having natural lighting. The clothing throughout the video perfectly matches the locations they are worn in. For example, in the apartment, the band is wearing very casual clothing that would be worn on a daily basis and seems to match the bands’ style well, and during the story section of the video, which we can assume is an early morning commute due to the lighting and previously seen bathroom shot, the costumes match the characters as they all are wearing business attire. The performance based section of the video uses a variety of instruments and a microphone which the band is seen using to give the impression that the music is being played live to the camera, as opposed to the music being added in post, however the story section of the video uses no props and instead focuses on the interactions between the lying man and the bystanders – ultimately, however, props are not needed for the story section to be effective and an interesting addition to the video. The video conveys no real meaning at all throughout its entirety, and is instead used to create an abstract and strange story – that being said, the video’s interpretive and performance based style links to the lack of meaning as the style is used without displaying many conventions or any meaning, which creates an abstract and almost surrealist story, which could potentially make more sense had the subtitles not cut out at the end of the video. I think this video was successful as it was the pinnacle of the group’s enigmatic style, as well as the fact that the main bulk of the video builds concern and interest for the final reveal, and the final moments before it build tension with the lying man repeatedly asking if the passers-by really want to know why he is lying there, and then throws that tension back in the audience’s face by not revealing the reason why all the passers-by decided to join the man in lying on the pavement, which keeps the audience interested and wondering why they all decided to lay on the floor even well after the video ends. 3 – Soundgarden “Black Hole Sun”: The video’s genre is hard rock, and takes place in a half performance based, and half surrealism based style, as half of the video focuses on the band and their emphasised performance to the camera, while the other half of the video focuses on creepy distorted visuals as playful satire of American family life, which jars against the dark subject matter of the song, but still manages to create an uneasy or confused feeling while watching the video, rather than the visuals seeming out of place. The video has been described by NME as “one of the classic WTF videos”. When asked about the video in an interview, Chris Cornell, the song’s writer and the band’s frontman, stated, "It's just sort of a surreal dreamscape, a weird, play-with-the-title kind of song.” and in another interview he also stated "It's funny because hits are usually sort of congruent, sort of an identifiable lyric idea, and that song pretty much had none. The chorus lyric is kind of beautiful and easy to remember. Other than that, I sure didn't have an understanding of it after I wrote it. I was just sucked in by the music and I was painting a picture with the lyrics. There was no real idea to get across." which shows that the video has no real intended meaning, although Cornell has gone on record saying that, although the video has been interpreted many times as being positive, it is intended to be sad. In this way, the surrealist style of the video relates to the video’s meaning as it shows the bizarre imagery of a neighbourhood being sucked into a black hole, which is intended to be sad, although is confused by the creepy yet brighter imagery earlier in the video. The genre also relates to the video’s intended dark, and sad meaning, as hard rock is a genre often associated with dark or sombre meaning. The video uses a large variety of shots, from mid shots used for emphasis of performance or location, to close ups to emphasise imagery and potential meaning as well as facial expressions and reactions, and finally, long shots to show a large area on screen, which are mostly used during the end section which emphasises on the neighbourhood being swallowed by the black hole. The sound in the video is purely non-digetic as the only sound present is that of the soundtrack, which was added in post. The video’s editing is fast paced, using only jump cuts to connect shots, which creates a fast paced video, even though the song itself is not massively fast paced. The video uses overly high key studio lighting in an attempt to create an emphasised ‘natural’ lighting effect, which is pulled off well and adds to the overall surreal style of the video The costumes for most of the ‘characters’ throughout the video is very standard of a hot summer day, very light clothing, such as T-shirts, in bright colours and patterns, however the costume for the band is nearly the exact opposite of that, although the clothing is still relatively light, for example T-shirts, they are wearing heavier trousers and all in darker colours, representing the more sombre tone of the group and their respective genre. The video uses a large variety of props, for example, the performance section uses the obligatory instruments which can be found in any performance based video, while the surrealist section of the video uses the majority of the prop variety, including a fish, an insect, a magnifying glass, a doll melting on a barbeque, a “The end is nigh” sign and a barely functional TV. The video creates a strange meaning, because while the initial intention was to create a sad video, overall the video ended up being more confusing and unusual, which somewhat blocks the sad themes from showing through. 4 – Weezer “Buddy Holly”: The video’s genre is alternative rock and uses a performance based style, although the music video itself is actually taken directly from a scene where the band made a cameo in Happy Days. The video uses a variety of shot types, including close ups to emphasise the lyrics or character expressions, mid shots to emphasise the band’s performance, or long shots to give a view of the full performance from all the dancers. The sound in the video is mostly non-digetic as it contains the soundtrack which was added in post, however also contains some digetic sound, such as the characters speaking on set. The editing throughout the video is fast paced and focuses on using jump cuts, which matches the fast pace of the song. The video takes place in a set from the show “Happy Days”, the location is a diner, which can be seen from the pans on the walls, ketchup and mustard bottles on the tables and the head chef. The scene is well lit in a way that looks like the sort of lighting that would be seen in a typical American diner. The clothing worn, by everyone, in the video is very standard of America in the 90’s, for example, the shirts, jeans and jumpers, and Fonzie with his “cool guy” leather jacket and T-shirt. The video uses few props, however the standard collection of instruments that can be found in any performance based music video can be found here. This video does not convey any deeper meaning; instead it focuses solely on the performance of the band and dancers. I think this video was successful as it tied in with a popular TV show to promote itself, as well as the song itself paying reference to Buddy Holly. 5 – Beastie Boys “Sabotage”: The video’s genre is rap rock, and is of an interpretive style, as the visuals don’t match the lyrics of the song, instead the video focuses on the performers “act” in which they mainly just drive and run around a city. The video uses large a variety of shots, including close ups, mid shots, long shots and over-shoulder shots.
The video’s sound is purely non-digetic as it consists only of the soundtrack that was added in post. The video uses jump cuts to maintain a fast paced video, which matches the pace of the music. The video takes place in a city environment, showing variety in the scenery from backstreets and alleyways to the main streets. The video’s lighting appears to be natural, as it changes depending on the scene. The costumes worn by the performers in the video appears to mainly be almost cop styled outfits, with suits and jackets; and then other characters wearing more unique clothing such as a chef’s outfit. The video occasionally uses props, such as radios and cars. I feel the video was created more as a type of joy ride, adrenaline rush for fast pace action / entertainment purposes, rather than to display a deeper meaning. I think the video was as successful as it was because of how well it build adrenaline through its tempo and editing, creating a fun and entertaining atmosphere throughout the video.
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