Music Video Analysis

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Music Video Analysis

RIHANNA – DISTURBIA

Conduct an analysis of a music video in any genre... You should make full use of the technical terms studies last year for the analysis of TV drama.

In the music video Disturbia, from Rhianna, the visuals add many semiotics to the audio and this is done in a variety of different ways... I am going to look specifically at Andrew Goodwin’s theoretical framework in order to analyse the music video.

Many transactions are used between the clips; mostly the dissolving technique, and fading into another clip. The dissolving happens quite frequently throughout the music video, one example is shown to the right and this connotes a sense of confusion for the star image, which in this case is Rihanna, the artist. As seen on the right, both images are close up’s of the women, one a front close up and one a close up of the side of her face, (the fact that the star image is frequently shown with a close-up shot could be because major labels sometimes expect close-ups of their star so that they are the main person seen in the video – possibly because of advertising) in both close-up’s on the screen shot above, both show that she is very disturbed, as she is looking away from the camera and in both she looks very distressed and deep in thought. Both these denotations connote that she is in an environment in which she feels quite isolated in, enhanced more so because she is the only person in the shots making her look more alone and scared, the narrative in these parts of the video show that the women is very confused, and the overlap of the two clips suggest that she is quite tormented as her thoughts are all over the place, the numerous amounts of dissolving could also be to represent the amount of time that she is trapped in the torture, as it could connote different timescales. – relating to Andrew Goodwin’s theories, these clips of her looking distressed could suggest that synaesthesia is being used, as the visuals are emerging from the sound, as throughout the audio there are many overlaps and fast beats which correspond with the fast, quick and sharp images; this is used throughout, as the quicker the music beats, the quicker, and shorter clips are used. Also relating to this – Roland Barthes theory of the grain of voice, he thinks that the singing voice is an instrument of its own and therefore can make associations of its own – this could relate to the music video ‘Disturbia’ because the audio in the song is already very brutal and harsh, with quick, fast, jagged beats and so even without the visuals of the video the audience could still imagine the artist (Rhianna) feeling very distressed, and in a very miserable and confused place.

The audio corresponds with the visual in many ways throughout the video, for example near the beginning, the lyrics ‘I’m going crazy now’ are used, and the visual shows Rihanna, the star image, behind bars, ellipsis is used here, as very short quick clips are omitted to make her look like she is moving very quickly, which makes her look very disturbed, almost as though she is being tortured. The mise-en-scene is of her being shown behind bars in some clips and tied up in others, with a very dark and clustered theme throughout, all clips are set inside, and it looks as though she is in cold, dark cellars which automatically connote danger and uncertainty for the women. The video shows Rihanna tied up in various positions and this could connote her vulnerability in the situation she is in, and with the jagged music this creates a sense of urgency and shows how constrained she must be feeling.

In particular shots, her eyes have been edited so that her pupils aren’t there, thus creating a very scary effect on the video itself, these shots are generally close-up, eye-line matches which show her looking straight into the camera making the audience feel her pain and horror, this also relating to the jagged and quick paced music, as the ellipsis in the video also adds to the very distressed confused theme of the music video, all these effects combined suggest that she is very troubled, and is probably being tortured – this again is relating to the narrative of the music video. As Goodwin explained, it is important that music videos ignore common narrative, and the narrative and performance must work hand in hand because this makes it easier for the audience to watch again and again – this video does exactly that as the clips are very short and snappy, which creates a very interesting theme throughout the visuals, and it makes the audience want to involve themselves in the music video... the star image, (the artist) acts as both the performer and the participant in the narrative, which makes it even more interesting to watch as it helps to increase the authenticity of the music video; the lip-sync used by Rihanna is used mostly when she isn’t as dressed up with outrageous costumes and make-up, and it is usually with a more mid-shot or close-up of the artist, so the audience can see the star singing whilst stripped down and this helps relate the audio and visuals to herself, as well as making the video seem more believable. All these visuals respond to the music in an amplifying way as they add more meaning to the audio of the song, as it tells the audience more about where she is and why she is as distressed and confused as she is, which you might not have been able to tell from just listening to the lyrics/audio.

              As shown in the picture (the shot of Rihanna with her eyes blurred out) this clip, of her is shown at a very fast pace when the chorus of the song comes on, (which is the quickest part of the audio, and is also the most jagged and peculiar part of the song... visual is also very peculiar – especially with the quick pace of the elision and the blurring throughout the clips, thus connoting that she is quite ‘messed up.’ Many of the clips from the video, shown in most of the pictures above are of high entropy because they all contain unpredictable elements, for example the visual’s of the artist tied up and in dark and weird poses, however on the other hand, there are also some clips of Rhianna sat on a chair, with a over-the-shoulder shot and she lip-syncs directly into the camera – this has an element of redundancy as this is something that is quite predictable and sends a conventional message – that she is just sat singing her heart out to the camera, showing her emotion and her pain.

               The image that he star is creating is that she is in a very distressed place, and that is shown with the distinctive ‘weirdness’ shown throughout the video.  Another technical aspect which is used frequently throughout the video is the unusual lighting, an example is shown to the right, as there is a long-shot of the artist, with streaks of light down the camera, this creates a dramatic effect, especially when linked with the fast upbeat music, the sharp and fast lighting often appear on certain beats of the song, and the lighting then cuts to another clip when the beat finishes and this adds emphasis onto the audio track.

http://www.gregsandow.com/BookBlog/grain_of_the_voice.pdf

http://voiceisalanguage.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/essay-roland-barthes-the-grain-of-the-voice/

Redundancy and Entropy

Redundancy - When something has a high degree of redundancy it means it is a very predictable image or video, for example a shot of a women singing into the camera in time with the audio would have a high degree of redundancy... therefore it is conveying a conventional message.
Entropy - This is when something is the complete opposite of Redundancy, and so it is not predictable. For example if a women was in a music video dressed as a man singing into the camera, this wouldn't convey a conventional message and would therefore have a high degree of Entropy.

In the video I have chosen, Bananarama - Venus ...I am going to write what is redundant about it, and what is entropic:

During the video there are many different scenes, and for the most part they are a lot more entropic than redundant. This is because they are very unfamiliar and unpredictable scenes, for example there are various scenes which have vampires and demons in it, as well as scary looking women coming out of graves... all of these things aren't what you would expect from a predictable music video and so they have a high degree of entropy..

There is one particular scene which could be classed as slightly redundant, and slightly entropic and that is the scene where the 3 women are singing into the camera, it is entropic because they are doing some extravagant dancing which may look a bit peculiar compared to the dancing that they do in today's charts videos, and there is a lot of fire around them, which you also may  not expect giving it a high degree  of entropy. However the fact that there are 3 women standing and singing into the camera could also be quite redundant, as that itself is quite predictable in a music video and sends a conventional message that they are the star image. 

Andrew Goodwin's Analytical Framework

Andrew Goodwin is a theorist which has identified 5 key aspects of how to analyse a music video, he has therefore came up with a theoretical framework - I will be following this framework to briefly analyse the music video Venus - by Bananarama. 

Venus - Bananarama

SYNAESTHESIA, SEEING THE SOUND; 

Synaesthesia - seeing the sound is quite self explanatory - it is all about how the visuals emerge from the sound. For example if you could see the musician play the instruments, this would be seeing the sound. 

• The visual responds to the audio throughout the video, as you can see in the screen shot on the right, the 3 women in the band are singing along to the song. In other parts of the music video, they are also dancing in time to the music, and with the rhythm of the music. 
• Another way the visual responds to the audio is by what's actually happening in the visual, the lyrics to the song are 'I'm your Venus, I'm your fire, Your desire.' Below you can see that fire is all around the women that are singing, as well as another clip of a women looking like a devil coming out of coffin, and this also corresponds to the lyrics.

• The structure of the song is also reflected in the visuals because on the chorus of the song it goes back to the 3 women singing (which could also reflect the star image) and throughout the verses there are various different scenes, which the video keeps returning to in particular parts of the song. 

NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE;

Narrative & performance is the storyline of what is happening, and what kind of story line that is, for example one aspect of the storyline could be the band doing a sound-check. The performance is when the artist is performing the song. 

• I'd say the music video is an amplifying video, as the visual adds extra meaning to the sound, and it tells a clear story throughout, (which can been seen to the above left) about how there are some vampires, as well as a women and a man dancing, and various other clips, all relating to how women are more in control of men, and how they can dominate them... however it also has a large percentage of the artists performing the song (which are shown in the pictures above) which shows of the star image.
• During the chorus of the video the 3 girls are performing, and whildt doing this they are looking and dancing directly at the camera, which makes the audience feel as though they are singing directly to them, this creates an authentic theme as they are being quite unique with the simplicity, however they are also adding many effects around it, by using fire etc. 

THE STAR IMAGE 

This is when the music video is aimed at the artist specifically; so the artist is the front man and the person who is in the video the most - who the story is about. This is also known as selling the brand image. 

• The video is selling the star image because they are singing into the camera, and this shows a broader narrative of the star persona as it makes the audience feel as though the Artist is actually part of the video and the song relates to them - which inevitably will make the audience connect with the artist, and the song. There are also close up's of the women singing and this again relates to the Star Image, and selling the 'brand' image. A screen shot of this is shown here - 

RELATION OF VISUALS TO SONG

This is quite self explanatory - it is about how the visuals relate to the song.  

• A few examples of this is shown by the pictures, corresponding with the lyrics (I spoke briefly about this in the Narrative - performance section) 

"Goddess on the mountain top"      

 As you can see by all these pictures, they relate to the lyrics quite directly, as the lyrics say something, and the visuals show it. 

-There is only 3 examples here however this theme goes on throughout the music video. 

"The summit of beauty and love

And Venus was her name"

"I'm your Venus, I'm your fire

At your desire"

TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF MUSIC VIDEO 

This is about what is actually happening - the technical parts (pan etc) It's about what camera moves are used, the different shot types, zoom, lighting.. etc.. It also links to the effects that are in the music video such as smoke, blur, and so on. 

• In this video, when the 3 women are singing in to the camera - which is about 50% of the music video, the camera is at a medium three shot, so you can see all of the women in the shot. The camera is on a stand and then stays still, and the women walk towards the camera - this makes it look slightly hand-held but it's not. 
• There are also other shot types, for example a long shot which is shown below. In this particular shot it zooms into the image.
• There are smoky effects throughout to make quite an unusual look, and also to adapt a sense of 'super hero's' etc
• The lighting is quite dark in certain places when referring to Venus, as the shots are of somebody coming back from the dead.
• The video also pan's in various places to show a wider image of the women singing and dancing.