Sunday 16 October 2011

Goodwin Textual Analysis- Natalia Kills-'Mirrors' (2010)


"It's about celebrating your own power." -Natalia Kills


Natalia Kills is an Electro / Hip Hop / Pop artist with a very strong sexy female empowering style. The video for Mirrors was directed by Natalia herself and Guillaume Doubet, with whom she created Love, Kills xx a visual companion to her album, 'weaving motifs from her lyrics and songs throughout…exploring the deepest and darkest impulses of her imagination'. 




Relationship between lyrics and visuals?
'Mirrors' has an underlying S&M theme, discussing sex and the pleasure of being in control. The lyrics are amplified by the visuals with the styling of both the miss en scene -an underground edgy and grungy room filled with gothic props and the artist herself: with tight black clothing, chains and spiky stilettos. The mirror theme is referenced by the use of symmetrical shots and many OTS, frame within a frame and reflections throughout. The video is split into three acts "Vanity", "Control" and "Sex" which is directly taken from the lyrics of the song. Technically, the use of soft focus and focus pulls echo the lyrics 'the mirrors goon' fog tonight' and the low key lighting 'turning the lights out'. 

Relationship between music and visuals? 
Throughout the video there are cuts to the beat and particular emphasis on certain musical phrases. At the beginning there are flashes of Natalia being pulled into the mirror, echoing the rhythm of the the synth. At 2:00 on the television we can see her lips doing a drop frame repeat to the 'Na na na'. 

Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
There are lots of close ups of the artist featuring very heavy eye make up, lipstick and lots of jewellery, which she can often be seen wearing. This is further exacerbated by the clips of her eyes and lips on the television during Act II of the video. She is also frequently featured holding an axe, a symbol for authority in Roman history, illustrating her power and strong female attitude, which characterises her as an artist. 

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
Lots! Right from the very beginning mirrors and reflections are used to displace Natalia and create the sense she is being watched. At 0:10 the shot looks like that of a security camera, suggesting someone is spying on her. At 1:02 there is a flash of something across the screen and in the mirror her reflection differs to her actions in the foreground, creating a schizophrenic quality and conjuring supernatural, fairytale ideas. Throughout the video there is the eye motif on the television screen and the man in the glass box videoing her- creating a sense of voyeurism and amplifying the S&M themes of the lyrics. However, in contrast the video also displays notions of not being able to look. At the beginning, people are wearing masks, in some of the shots her fringe is cut so that it covers her eyes and at 3:44 we can see the man in a chair, blindfolded (ironically with material with an eye design). Through this, the video is referencing the idea of vanity whilst amplifying the sense of exerting control, by subverting the sense of sight. 

Are there intertextual references?
Natalia is seen talking directly to a skull, reminiscent of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The video also features shots of pin badges for Cherrytree Records, the record label she is signed to. There are obvious references to sadomasochism both lyrically and in the video through the use of chains and erotic bondage style clothing. The skull is seen wearing Beats by Dr Dre Headphones, Dr Dre belonging to Interscope, the company that owns Cherrytree Records.

Is the video performance, narrative or concept based? How much of each?
I would say this video is an amalgamation of all three. Throughout the performance, the notion of voyeurism propels the video forward but a narrative is established at the beginning with the cinematic introduction, not featuring the music.


Critical Response- The Plasticines- 'Bitch' (2011)

Having mutually agreed on the idea of an edgy/ rock girl band we began researching other singers and bands in this genre. I have chosen to critically evaluate The Plasticines 'Bitch'.

What is effective about this video?
I think the styling of the band is great, they all look amazing and fashionable too. I love the shots of them drumming the floor and play fighting with the glow sticks as they are laughing and smiling and you get the impression they are a lot of fun and don't take themselves too seriously. They all have their hair down and they shake it around a lot which creates a really interesting texture as well as head banging being a convention of the rock genre. I really like the idea of the band drawing the name of the song on places and people and think we could incorporate this into our own music video. I also really like how some of it is shot in black and white, juxtaposed by colourful shots. The lighting is low key and I love the shots of them in the shadows dancing together. The cinematography is cool and quirky and all the colours and high contrast give the video a really modern, edgy feel. I particularly love the beginning shot with the searchlight-style lighting and the fencing as it makes them look like criminals so the audience wonders what they have done and adds to the rebellious rock and roll nature. 


What doesn’t work? What could be done differently?
I personally think there is a little too much going on so the narrative becomes a little bit unclear. I think they could have just had them running havoc around the town cross cut with the black and white shots but instead there is also the glowstick parts and the shots of them getting ready in mirrors to the point where it all becomes a bit too overwhelming. Some shots seem rather random and almost gratuitous like the one of them eating and the eyeshadow being applied and this seems to detract away from the focal point of the narrative: that they are cheekily brandishing their song in chalk on the streets. I think it could be simplified to create a better sense of the bands personality and image rather than just the aesthetics. 


Vernallis Analysis- Jet- 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' (2003)





Carol Vernallis is an American Film and Media Studies professor at Arizona State University specialising in Music Videos. In her 2001 Essay 'The Kindest Cut- Functions and Meanings of Music Video Editing' Vernallis differentiates between classic Hollywood film conventions and music video construction, outlining 4 key concepts; narrative, editing, camera movement and framing and diegesis. I have used some of the conventions and criteria outlined in her work to analyse Jet's Are You Gonna Be My Girl Music Video.






Narrative

  • There is no separate narrative in this video, however it could be called a concept driven performance as the paint is a constant theme running throughout and serves as a visual motif.
  • There is no clear reason why the paint and floral shapes and patterns are appearing from the wires of the guitars however they resemble the artwork on the band's album Get Born- a clever way to establish the band's image and identity.
  • The  silhouette of the woman is a response to the song's lyrics.
  • There is no closure at the end of the video- it just ends…


Editing

  • High contrast black and white
  • Really fast paced editing, matches the beat of the music
  • Breaks several rules of continuity editing such as 180degree rule, VLS followed immediately by an ECU
  • Edits are foregrounded or obvious to draw attention to particular aspects e.g the guitar players fingers or the drummers hat
  • Jump cutting- no smooth transitions at all

Camera Movement and Framing

  • Shots from unusual angles: underneath as though the band are treading on the camera
  • Lots of quick zooms and pans from left to right, lots of movement of camera, juxtaposed by some stationary shots
  • Extreme shots, ECUs and CUs of the band as well as HA VLS
  • Band is often positioned on one side of the frame- complete disregard for the rule of thirds- Lots of empty white space


Diegesis

  • The video is shot in infinite white, so the audience is literally catapulted into the world of their performance. 
  • The video features silhouettes of woman that dance to the music and flower patterns that appear from the wires of the instruments.
  • There are many gaps in the audience's understanding of the diegesis, no clear time or space given and the paint concept (serving as a sort of narrative) seems to be pretty much random.
  • Repetition of shots e.g the paint seeping out, camera pans from side to side, CUs of the lead singer, lyrics: "Be my girl, be my girl, are you gonna be my girl", flower imagery, paint blob imagery