Ten Little Girls - Curve

 

Goodwin

The video uses close shots showing the band members which, as Goodwin clearly states, is done to make the audience recognise them and remember their faces.

Mise en Scene

The video is quite dark and frequently uses high contrast to make the video look ominous and creepy. The video uses lots of shots filmed on a handheld camera; this is evident as the visual is shaky and unstable, an effect I quite like and will be using myself in my video. The video is mainly black and white with an exception of a few shots filmed in sepia or with a sepia-like filter, this is cool as colour would make the video seem too happy and would draw away from the cool dark feeling.

Camera

Lots of close-ups and big close-ups of faces are used to get the audience familiar with the band members. Fast camera movements along with short cuts are used to make the video feel disjointed and fast

 

Editing

Close-ups of instruments and other things are used as quick cutaways throughout, this creates an effect I am fond of too and may also be using. Slow exposure (probably) has been used to create a warm yet sinister feeling whilst again showing a big close-up of the lead vocalists face.

Planning - Ideas so far

Stigmata - Ministry

The video for Stigmata by Ministry is the video I like most out of all the videos I have chosen to research as I want to make my video similar to this. I especially like the flashing of images that is frequently used in industrial music videos.

 

 

 

Krank - KMFDM

Goodwin

One of the points in Goodwin's theory states music videos present genre characteristics. This video does this by showing the band members playing their instruments, representing the stage performances shown in a lot of other metal and industrial metal videos. Another way that this video fits Goodwin's theory is the fact that the lyrics are directly related to the video; for example after the lyrics say "With another motherfucking Dirty Bomb" an explosion graphic appears as a woman falls into frame. It also relates to the notion of looking a lot showing loads of screens. Finally, this video fits Goodwin's theory as there are frequent close-ups of the band members.

Mise en Scene

The video is mainly quite dark with high contrast, this has been done to show the dark side of Industrial metal however the video uses quite a lot of electric greens, I believe this has been done to make it really obvious that they are more electronic than regular metal music. There has been lots of fire and explosions used to show the destruction and anarchy that their music reflects. The video has a sort of digital feel to it; heavy use of screens, static, glitch art and pixelated images have been used to exaggerate the digital feel to make it obvious that they have a much more electronic sound than most metal artists. The outfits used in this video are like Skinhead style if it were crossbred with Cybergoth, I really like their style but it is not for me and would not suit my song by any means.

Camera

Fast, jolty camera movements reflect the high-speed, crazy, alternative music lifestyle that KMFDM presumably lead. Lots of weird camera movemnts (including a spinning zoom out) make the video feel disjointed and thus more exciting. Low angles of the artist performing make them seem more important. The direct address to the camera makes the video feel aimed at you when you watch it, it isn’t just a video, it’s like a video for you which makes the audience more attached to the artist..

Editing

This video is so heavily edited I don’t know where to start. Quick takes and short cuts and cutaways make the video faster and more extreme and thus more interesting to watch. CGI oh people riding on falling A-Bombs make the video even more violent and extreme. Flashes of the band name help the viewer remember the name and help the band get their name out more. Every sing shot or scene in this video is edited to a ridiculous extent, all to make the video cooler to their target audience.

__

This video is sort of exempt from Archer's music video analysis as it shows no narrative whatsoever. I really like this video as it includes fast placed flashes between images and text like a lot of industrial videos do. I plan to use this technique in my video as my song is industrial sounding too, however my track (track 4) is far from industrial metal and is much more industrial rock/goth/darkwave.

In the lyrics they say “Krank it to 11!” this is a intersexual reference to the American Rock-Mockumentary ‘This is Spinal Tap’.

Research - Steve Archer

All the information I could find about Steve Archer's theory is that he says that all music videos have some sort of narrative.He also says that all music videos switch between a performance of the music by the band/musician and the narrative. A great example of this is the video for Stan by Eminem (ft Dido). The Narrative shows a guy, Stan(ley) as he makes poor choices causing his, his wife's and their unborn childs' deaths.

This narrative is constantly being switched between narrative and performance as the characters in the narrative are singing the song.

Research - Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer created a theory known as star theory. This theory states that stars are constructed, artificial images, even if they are represented as being "real people", experiencing real emotions etc. It helps if their image contains a USP — they can be copied and/or parodied because of it. Their representation may be metonymic — Madonna's conical bra in the early 1990s, Bono's 'Fly' sunglasses, etc. Pop stars have an advantage over film stars in that their constructed image may be much more consistent over a period of time, and is not dependent on the creative input of others (e.g. screenwriters writing their lines).

 

Dyer proposes that:

A star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (such as advertising, magazines etc as well as films and music).

Research - Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London.

Laura Mulvey coined the term 'The Male Gaze' in 1975. The theory suggests that the audience are forced to view the text from the perspective a heterosexual male as the films constantly focus on womens' bodies and because for some reason everyone thinks that's all any heterosexual male can ever think about.

The camera sexualises women by lingering on their breasts, curves and booties much like hetero men do all the time supposedly. To an extent I agree with Mulvey's theory as it is what is done in the media the male gaze is used an awful lot to sexualise and objectify women. However I find it generalises far too much about men saying the camera focusses on womens' curves and bodies because that is what all men do. I will admit that a lot of hetero men do do this but I think it is quite harsh and a little bit offensive to state outright that this is all that we think about.