Music Video
Radiohead - Burn the Witch
In this section there are two questions.
Only TWO out of the three media forms in this section will be assessed each series.
In the specimen paper music videos and magazines are assessed.
There will be NO theory questions in this section.
When music videos are assessed unseen sources will never be used.
Students will be expected to use recall from their classroom learning.
Music video questions could ask about one or two of the set videos.
This is a knowledge and understanding question on music videos (AO1).
There is no command word to ‘analyse.’
Questions can be focussed upon the non-theory content of the media language and representation subject content (spec pages 24-26)
“the impact of industry contexts on the choices media producers make about how to represent events, issues, individuals and social groups”
Radiohead
Key Points:
- Transfers the quality of the video itself to the image of the artists.
- Interweaving of referencing (intertextuality) of The Wicker Man and Trumpton with contemporary issues of xenophobia in the Radiohead video.
- Representation of a dark undercurrent beneath the apparent cohesion of a tight-knit community contributes to the image of Radiohead and their fans as politically committed, knowing and pessimistic.
- Linear Narrative
- Abstract, ‘high art’ expressionist video
In a recent interview with Billboard, the animator behind the video, Virpi Kettu, discussed the motives behind “Burn the Witch”. Interestingly, she believes the video was intended to be happier than the song. “They wanted the video to contrast with what they’re playing and to wake people up a bit,” Kettu explained.
Kettu also said that the band wanted the video to raise awareness about Europe’s refugee crisis and the “blaming of different people… the blaming of Muslims and the negativity” currently engulfing European politics. She brought up the cryptic postcard that some Radiohead fans recently received in the mail, which read, “We know where you live.” Aside from being downright terrifying, she opined that the band was trying to recreate the climate of fear that politicians have encouraged in response to Muslim immigrants.
Massive Attack - Unfinished Symapthy
Key Points:
- Social realist representation of ‘street life’ to represent the authenticity and cultural currency of the artists.
- Single shot naturalism and use of non-actors to emphasise the realism of the representation to add to the ‘cutting edge’ image of the artist.
- Single take shows ‘reality’ and gives the video a higher value of appreciation
The music video for "Unfinished Sympathy", (a docu-fiction) was directed by Baillie Walsh, who had also directed the video for Massive Attack's previous single "Daydreaming", and was filmed in a single continuous shot from 1311 South New Hampshire Avenue to 2632 West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The video, filmed on Steadicam, begins with a shot of a street gang before moving to follow Nelson walking along the pavement unaware or uncaring of her surroundings, which include drunks, bikers, and disabled people. As the video progresses, first Daddy G, then 3D (having finished making a call on a public phone booth) and then Mushroom (pushing a cart) can be seen walking several paces behind her, slightly out of focus. At the end of the video, Nelson walks past the camera and off down the road into the distance. The video was originally supposed to conclude with an overhead shot of Los Angeles, but the scene was ultimately scrapped.
Not all the people featured in the video were actors: 3D told Melody Maker that "some of them were extras. And some of them couldn't be f***ed to get off the street. The gang at the beginning with the dog – they were real, they lived there."Sean O'Hagan of The Guardian described the clip as a "benchmark in modern video direction, more a breathtaking short film than a mere pop promo". English alternative rock band The Verve later paid homage to it in the video for their 1997 song "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which in turn was parodied in the video for the song "Vindaloo" by Fat Les.
Dan Kneece, best known for his work on the 1986 film Blue Velvet, operated the Steadicam for the video shoot. 3D said that Kneece was one of the main reasons why they had chosen to shoot the video in Los Angeles, "because there aren't many people [in the UK] who have the expertise to hold a Steadicam on their back for five minutes", the other reason being "the light, because you can't get that kind of golden light anywhere else". Kneece recalled that the shoot started with him on a Shotmaker arm on which he filmed the gang before being lifted into the air and then down again, at which point he had to take a running jump off the arm onto the sidewalk to follow Nelson. Six takes were recorded before Kneece became too exhausted to carry the camera any more. The equipment used for the filming included an Arriflex III camera, a Cooke triplet lens, and a 400-foot camera magazine. Precision speed control was used to fit the entirety of the song onto the camera roll.
Exemplar Response (Corrine Bailey Rae)
The purpose of music videos is to promote the artist to their audience. The representation of Corrine Bailey Rae (CBR) in her music video Stop Where You Are associates her with the idea of transcending prejudice and inequality. In the video the artist is seen to transcend prejudice. This is achieved by placing the artist in an urban environment encountering young characters who are stereotypically on the edge of society. We see the artist interact with these characters at different points in the video. For example, she goes up to the lonely girl and touches her shoulder as she walks past; she stops the girl gang from fighting by holding up her hands with the lyrics ‘stop where you are’ and she dances with the black youths at the end of the music video. The use of constructing two sides to the characters’ representation, firstly as a threat and then as people with qualities and skills, helps to reinforce that young people are approachable and valuable and that the artist not only believes this but can make the lives of these people better. These representations would appeal to the target audience either through identification with the characters, their age or cultural diversity, or the idea that the artist accepts them all regardless of social stereotyping. The representation of the artist through the production values used in the music video is another way in which the representations of CBR can be seen to appeal to her target audience. Although the video has a social realist, urban theme, the production values are artistic and the way the urban environment, the artist and the characters are represented is stylized. This suggests that the artist is concerned with urban and social commentary but is artistic and stylish regardless. This representation is achieved in a number of ways. The introduction of the artist is very conventional fading her in from a black screen, cutting to her face, her legs and back to her face when singing. The cross cutting of these shots of the artist with the urban location using low angle shots to reinforce the extreme angles of the building with glimpses of the blue sky above creates a meaningful connection between the artist and her environment and suggests that it is one that she, and her target audience, can transcend. The framing of the stairwells and corridors serves to create a sense of entrapment for the characters, especially when contrasted with the placement of the artist with the characters in more open spaces in the choruses and towards the end of the music video. A further way in which the artist is promoted to her target audience is by the use of costume. The red dress is a powerful symbol in the music video. The use of the red provides the only colour in the video and this contrasts vividly against the desaturated colour palette. This simple use of costume helps to construct the artist as feminine and unthreatening but also as powerful to her target audience and further enhances her appeal as she stands out against the everyday. To conclude, representations in music videos are chosen by producers to promote the artist to their audience. This is apparent in a number of ways in CBR’s music video which construct an image of the artist as powerful, open minded and as a musician with important social values and messages that will appeal to her audience.
