Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Ashanti - Rain On Me
The music video produced by Hype Williams is a dramatic, heavily narrative even somewhat like a short movie, based on a woman living in a violent relationship with a man who is jealous of her success and fame, however the woman (Ashanti), cant find it in herself to leave him.
It starts off in a brief scene composed with dialogue, and not music, and we as the audience are already thrown into the intense drama and acknowledge the pressure the woman is in, as well as being aware and foreseeing the troubles and struggles that she will face because of this man, Andre (Larenz Tate). We are already gripped into the story and can sympathise with the character of Ashanti, and this subconsciously allows us to have a more immense sentiment and emotion for the song. There is dark lighting all throughout the video, along with poor weather of rain and a thunderstorm, reflecting upon the mood of the events at hand as both the lighting and pathetic fallacy expresses the ugly, atrocious situation that their relationship is in. The event of the first scene being taken from behind a dark door, also suggests strong, dark mystery over the couple and we the audience are incited to believe there is something bad happening over their relationship.
There is a strong distinguishing of power throughout the video as we see the woman often becoming subdued by this angry, powerful male figure that happens to dominate her life. As he abuses her and smacks her, we see him tower and colossal over her, whilst looking down upon her body with a low angled shot, which portrays the power levels and authority that this man Andre has over Ashanti. There is a strong sense of irony within the video as although Ashanti is the superstar who should be happy with all the fame and glory she possesses, she is still becoming easily brought down by an envious and hateful person; who happens to be of much significance in her life. And he contains the majority of the power in the relationship instead of her. Although it can also be believed that Andre does not believe he has much power at all, as there is another low angled shot in a part in the video where he is looking up at a massive billboard of Ashanti, and he himself appears tiny before it, which could illustrate how insignificant and inferior he feels to compared to her and that could explain to an extent why he feels to beat on her, and believe he will gain power back by doing so.
There is a startling scene where Andre is knocking down on the door and eventually breaks through. This, alongside with the thunder strikes appearing as he starts pounding down on the door, symbolises the sheer forcefulness, brute and power of this character both figuratively and literally. It also reflects upon the role he takes in the relationship. When he has finally broken through and slams the door shut from the audience, we can only guess in horror what is happening as we hear the shouts and screams from the other side of the door. The camera fades away from the scene that could also represent how helplessness that Ashanti is feeling and suffering through at the moment. However it is not only his physically demanding and dominant attitude that portrays the monster of his character; his cunning is also shown effectively to do so as well. It is made existent when he was attempting to break through the door, he shows the kind of demented character he is and decides to act differently and friendlier in order to get to Ashanti instead and get the door to open. His character changes from a raging, hulking savage to that of a sympathetical, calm, friendly spouse. However, just him speaking the words “I just want to see your face” is enough to prove all may not be right yet as though they may seem like nice, caring words they can also leave the audience wondering, due to his previous actions, of what exactly he wants to do to her face. His brief smile when saying “I just want to talk” also leaves room for question. 
Although, after, there is a scene of the couple making out, appearing as if everything may be okay and well again, and we can only assume that’s the boyfriend’s way of trying to make up to her because of his actions and he therefore portrays the type of typical, shallow men in relationships that assume and attempt to use sex as ways of solving major problems and where the women may have become too scared, fragile and therefore passive to change matters. However when we see a menacing silhouette of Andre leaving the room, and leaving the saddened state of Ashanti on he bed alone, we are confirmed that things are not settled yet, and that both are still isolated in their own lonely worlds, regardless of whether it was created and consumed by fear and anxiety or jealousy and hate. 
The appearance and mise-en-scene of Larenz Tate (Andre) in this video also endorses a more powerful portrayal and depiction of a scary and monstrous figure. He is a muscular and bulky man, which already allows us to understand he has a grasp on power and strength, whether it is physical or not. A technique that is used often in the video to create such an illustration of this type of character as well is how he is often presented within shadows. 
I believe what makes this video very gripping and powerful, is that the music video attempts to exemplify what is a low key however very real and existing type of relationship, where it involves a subdued and terrified individual, and an abusive and aggressive one. It portrays the true light upon the domestic violence, where both participants of the relationship may be in their own separate mind states and one cant find it in themselves to stop hurting the other and one cant find it in themselves to leave. In the end, despite all of the abuse, there may still be some love as neither want to leave the other, (this is apparent as Andre is angry but also devastated when Ashanti finally tells him enough is enough and that he needs to go; 
It starts off in a brief scene composed with dialogue, and not music, and we as the audience are already thrown into the intense drama and acknowledge the pressure the woman is in, as well as being aware and foreseeing the troubles and struggles that she will face because of this man, Andre (Larenz Tate). We are already gripped into the story and can sympathise with the character of Ashanti, and this subconsciously allows us to have a more immense sentiment and emotion for the song. There is dark lighting all throughout the video, along with poor weather of rain and a thunderstorm, reflecting upon the mood of the events at hand as both the lighting and pathetic fallacy expresses the ugly, atrocious situation that their relationship is in. The event of the first scene being taken from behind a dark door, also suggests strong, dark mystery over the couple and we the audience are incited to believe there is something bad happening over their relationship.
There is a strong distinguishing of power throughout the video as we see the woman often becoming subdued by this angry, powerful male figure that happens to dominate her life. As he abuses her and smacks her, we see him tower and colossal over her, whilst looking down upon her body with a low angled shot, which portrays the power levels and authority that this man Andre has over Ashanti. There is a strong sense of irony within the video as although Ashanti is the superstar who should be happy with all the fame and glory she possesses, she is still becoming easily brought down by an envious and hateful person; who happens to be of much significance in her life. And he contains the majority of the power in the relationship instead of her. Although it can also be believed that Andre does not believe he has much power at all, as there is another low angled shot in a part in the video where he is looking up at a massive billboard of Ashanti, and he himself appears tiny before it, which could illustrate how insignificant and inferior he feels to compared to her and that could explain to an extent why he feels to beat on her, and believe he will gain power back by doing so.
Devices such as flashbacks and close-ups are used to bring out the intensity in the scenes, and also to provoke a more immersive experience upon the audience, making us feel closer to the characters in more ways than one. Examples of this are when Ashanti glares into the mirror and is looking at the bruises caused by the spouse’s out-lashes, and she reflects upon them in flashes of shadows fighting.
The violence being shown in shadows can also, actually make the scene appear very brutal, sinister and horrifying, as the images seem far too grim and graphic to be fully recognised and captured, leaving us as the audience not knowing to exactly how much detail of pain she has endured and feeling more sorrowful to the woman. There are also many close-ups such as when Ashanti is on the red carpet runway and is aware that her spouse is getting upset and infuriated, and although she doesn’t show it blatantly, we the audience are aware at the fear she is feeling when we also witness another close up, this time of Andre clinching his fists.
These techniques bring out, to more of a vivid and detailed extent, the emotion of the characters. Other techniques used by the director were attempts of making the camera appear more ‘life-like’ than it actually is, and these also worked well for a creating a more immersive yet tense atmosphere. During a scene that has the boyfriend Andre trying to break through the door to get to Ashanti, there is a far, long shot and the camera moves slowly to where the main scene is taking place, allowing us to feel more involved in what is happening.
Because the camera is so far away from him, it could represent the terror and intimidation that this character brings as we are trying not to get so close to him. When Andre starts kicking the door, the camera then briefly becomes shaky and unstable, reflecting upon the event at hand, the emotions and feelings of both characters of both fear and anger, and it also enhances the realism of the scene.
Various techniques such as these are used throughout the video to provide a more dynamic, atmospheric, realistic and engaging environment that all becomes successfully cinematic.
Heavily scripted moments of the music video also provide a greater cinematic approach to the media production. Not only this however, they also give the audience further insight to the terrifying life that the main character Ashanti must endure because of the viciousness of her spouse. In the video she is scared, confused and fleeing often allowing us as the audience to know to a greater degree, how victimised and brutalised she has become in her own home. Her boyfriend on the other hand is doing much of the chasing, enhancing the intimidation of his cruel, predatory persona.
There is a startling scene where Andre is knocking down on the door and eventually breaks through. This, alongside with the thunder strikes appearing as he starts pounding down on the door, symbolises the sheer forcefulness, brute and power of this character both figuratively and literally. It also reflects upon the role he takes in the relationship. When he has finally broken through and slams the door shut from the audience, we can only guess in horror what is happening as we hear the shouts and screams from the other side of the door. The camera fades away from the scene that could also represent how helplessness that Ashanti is feeling and suffering through at the moment. However it is not only his physically demanding and dominant attitude that portrays the monster of his character; his cunning is also shown effectively to do so as well. It is made existent when he was attempting to break through the door, he shows the kind of demented character he is and decides to act differently and friendlier in order to get to Ashanti instead and get the door to open. His character changes from a raging, hulking savage to that of a sympathetical, calm, friendly spouse. However, just him speaking the words “I just want to see your face” is enough to prove all may not be right yet as though they may seem like nice, caring words they can also leave the audience wondering, due to his previous actions, of what exactly he wants to do to her face. His brief smile when saying “I just want to talk” also leaves room for question.
Although, after, there is a scene of the couple making out, appearing as if everything may be okay and well again, and we can only assume that’s the boyfriend’s way of trying to make up to her because of his actions and he therefore portrays the type of typical, shallow men in relationships that assume and attempt to use sex as ways of solving major problems and where the women may have become too scared, fragile and therefore passive to change matters. However when we see a menacing silhouette of Andre leaving the room, and leaving the saddened state of Ashanti on he bed alone, we are confirmed that things are not settled yet, and that both are still isolated in their own lonely worlds, regardless of whether it was created and consumed by fear and anxiety or jealousy and hate.
The appearance and mise-en-scene of Larenz Tate (Andre) in this video also endorses a more powerful portrayal and depiction of a scary and monstrous figure. He is a muscular and bulky man, which already allows us to understand he has a grasp on power and strength, whether it is physical or not. A technique that is used often in the video to create such an illustration of this type of character as well is how he is often presented within shadows.
It creates a menacing and threatening aura to him and makes him appear less humane and more demonic. This technique can also be subtly interpreted that he doesn’t want to live in her shadow, therefore that is why he abuses and dominates her in his (he lives in her house and he drives the car she bought for him; it can be implied that he may feel somewhat emasculated because of his male insecurities and perhaps his inability to provide for her frustrates him more too as she is already providing more than enough for the both of them). He also has a tattoo underneath his eye and body, exclaiming to us faintly that stereotypically he is of a rather thuggish nature. The presentation of his character has also been associated variously with danger and foreboding of it as when Ashanti was on the red carpet runway, he stops and hides behind shadows and crowds, and then we are taken to a close up of his fists clenching illustrating the tension, and then a short clip of flames from a lighter burning, revealing the upcoming peril.
(Another low angled shot here to emphasize upon his power. If you were to look carefully you would notice that is eyes are glowing from reflection of the fire from the lighter, which further exemplifies his monstrous characteristics.) There is also another clip where we see Andre buying drugs, which can tell us that that may be what has fuelled his hate and negative feelings to the main character Ashanti.
I believe what makes this video very gripping and powerful, is that the music video attempts to exemplify what is a low key however very real and existing type of relationship, where it involves a subdued and terrified individual, and an abusive and aggressive one. It portrays the true light upon the domestic violence, where both participants of the relationship may be in their own separate mind states and one cant find it in themselves to stop hurting the other and one cant find it in themselves to leave. In the end, despite all of the abuse, there may still be some love as neither want to leave the other, (this is apparent as Andre is angry but also devastated when Ashanti finally tells him enough is enough and that he needs to go;
and Ashanti is devastated and distraught when she discovers of the death of him by the end of the video, and kisses him one last time which shows that he still indeed meant a great lot to her.
The hatred may have in many ways out-shadowed the love and disallowed the relationship to work, however it did not mean that love was entirely non-existent there neither.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
Ironically, the 'Bittersweet symphony' music video was loosely based on this video, and follows the style of it as we follow a continuous travel/ walk of a character who appears troubled and isolated from the world. This suggestion is provoked due to the sadness that appears on the characters and the fact that they have no interaction into any other people on the screen. They just go on their way alone and this connotes the loneliness and suggests the sorrow upon both these characters.
The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
Video may not be working so I have provided a direct link to the video on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx3m4e45bTo&a=GxdCwVVULXcryeuWDmkM06_JLPPuPei1&playnext=1
Bittersweet Symphony & Vindaloo
Not all music videos aspire to copy that of existent movies, celebrities, television programmes ad other medias etc.
In this analysis I will be discussing the famous music video created by ‘The Verve’ with their track ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, and how a famous football song happened to create a Horizontal Intertextuality of it and become a parody and pastiche of the video. 'Vindaloo' was released a year after it, made by ‘Fat Les’, and successfully managed to create an imitation of the song that was both incredibly similar yet totally different to the original music video.
Firstly, the music video for ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ and ‘Vindaloo’ are both concept based and start off in almost exactly the same way as there is a slight fade in, into both main characters as they happen to be making a long walk up towards the main scene and the ‘Vindaloo’ video is an almost uncanny replica for the original video as they both centre the main character around the middle of the screen, both appearing very depressed. However, for examples of how the ‘Vindaloo’ video creates a humorous parody of the ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ one, the ‘Vindaloo’ video at this particular part of it shows a difference in the background as the pedestrian sign is pointing in an opposite way (indicating the direct change and contradiction this video has over the original) and instead of the cones and road-works items, there happens to be a rather overweight man in a towel to forebode the subtle hilarity that will be present within the video that could only be fully appreciated and understood if one had seen the original to the music video, ‘Bittersweet Symphony’.
The ‘Vindaloo’ video imitates the original video in many ways, some perhaps more subtle and faint and others much more blatant and ‘in your face’. The mise-en-scene is almost exactly the same, which is key to the success of the ‘Vindaloo’ video being a parody. The lighting of ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ has a strong theme and tone of blue to it, to connote a dark, gloomy and depressing sentiment to the video and the song. However in the ‘Vindaloo’ video they are aware of this fact and therefore create a very intense and powerful tone of blue to exaggerate on the style, providing a somewhat dark humour to it. The events of the video all happen to poke fun at the ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ one as well, as in that video the main character pretty much happened to get his own way and move through obstacles regardless of what/who they were and how they felt about it. Although this is not apparent in ‘Vindaloo’ as the main character happens to experience the exact opposite kind of consequence and unfortunate reward for his own actions, and gets treated horribly and dreadfully regardless of the actions he takes. An example of the opposite result occurring for the main character would be where in ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ the main character happens to jump on a car in order to get past it, and the driver gets out stern and upset and follows the main character, whereas with ‘Vindaloo’ the main character here attempts to jump on the car to get by however the driver quickly reverses, therefore we see the main character embarrassingly take a tumble off and everyone around laughs at him.
A factor that made the ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ video so significant is that all the shots taken are continuous and therefore there feels as if there is a natural flow to the video create a strong sense of realism and generating a realistic journey of the main character through the video. Another factor is that the main character is rather unique because he isn’t a typical likeable person or a particularly pretty character that an audience can all feel comfortable liking, instead he seems to have a more pessimistic style and his behaviour resembles that of a bully, however it is still possible that we as an audience do not loath or feel strong distaste for him. Instead we may feel confusion and sorrow for him as we don’t know anything about him or why he is behaving in such a way, but can only either assume that he just generally has anti-social behavioural issues or that maybe he has liven an unfortunately sad lifestyle which has endorsed upon him such a negative attitude. The area he goes by is also rather dull and illustrates his character, along with the weather creating pathetic fallacy and exemplifying to us his personality, and this only subliminally makes us the audience feel more depressed for him as well. The sense of loneliness and isolation may only increase our sadness for this character too but by the end of the video the audience may feel a bit better for him because he has re-united with his companions. We may feel sorrow for the character within ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ although this all changes with ‘Vindaloo’ as the mood is altered greatly that we actually would feel no sorrow or sadness for the main character here and even though we actually literally see him suffer, the comedic effects of the video allow us to divert any feelings of sympathy or mercy we could’ve felt for him into hilarity and amusement.
In this analysis I will be discussing the famous music video created by ‘The Verve’ with their track ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, and how a famous football song happened to create a Horizontal Intertextuality of it and become a parody and pastiche of the video. 'Vindaloo' was released a year after it, made by ‘Fat Les’, and successfully managed to create an imitation of the song that was both incredibly similar yet totally different to the original music video.
Firstly, the music video for ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ and ‘Vindaloo’ are both concept based and start off in almost exactly the same way as there is a slight fade in, into both main characters as they happen to be making a long walk up towards the main scene and the ‘Vindaloo’ video is an almost uncanny replica for the original video as they both centre the main character around the middle of the screen, both appearing very depressed. However, for examples of how the ‘Vindaloo’ video creates a humorous parody of the ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ one, the ‘Vindaloo’ video at this particular part of it shows a difference in the background as the pedestrian sign is pointing in an opposite way (indicating the direct change and contradiction this video has over the original) and instead of the cones and road-works items, there happens to be a rather overweight man in a towel to forebode the subtle hilarity that will be present within the video that could only be fully appreciated and understood if one had seen the original to the music video, ‘Bittersweet Symphony’.
The ‘Vindaloo’ video imitates the original video in many ways, some perhaps more subtle and faint and others much more blatant and ‘in your face’. The mise-en-scene is almost exactly the same, which is key to the success of the ‘Vindaloo’ video being a parody. The lighting of ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ has a strong theme and tone of blue to it, to connote a dark, gloomy and depressing sentiment to the video and the song. However in the ‘Vindaloo’ video they are aware of this fact and therefore create a very intense and powerful tone of blue to exaggerate on the style, providing a somewhat dark humour to it. The events of the video all happen to poke fun at the ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ one as well, as in that video the main character pretty much happened to get his own way and move through obstacles regardless of what/who they were and how they felt about it. Although this is not apparent in ‘Vindaloo’ as the main character happens to experience the exact opposite kind of consequence and unfortunate reward for his own actions, and gets treated horribly and dreadfully regardless of the actions he takes. An example of the opposite result occurring for the main character would be where in ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ the main character happens to jump on a car in order to get past it, and the driver gets out stern and upset and follows the main character, whereas with ‘Vindaloo’ the main character here attempts to jump on the car to get by however the driver quickly reverses, therefore we see the main character embarrassingly take a tumble off and everyone around laughs at him.
A factor that made the ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ video so significant is that all the shots taken are continuous and therefore there feels as if there is a natural flow to the video create a strong sense of realism and generating a realistic journey of the main character through the video. Another factor is that the main character is rather unique because he isn’t a typical likeable person or a particularly pretty character that an audience can all feel comfortable liking, instead he seems to have a more pessimistic style and his behaviour resembles that of a bully, however it is still possible that we as an audience do not loath or feel strong distaste for him. Instead we may feel confusion and sorrow for him as we don’t know anything about him or why he is behaving in such a way, but can only either assume that he just generally has anti-social behavioural issues or that maybe he has liven an unfortunately sad lifestyle which has endorsed upon him such a negative attitude. The area he goes by is also rather dull and illustrates his character, along with the weather creating pathetic fallacy and exemplifying to us his personality, and this only subliminally makes us the audience feel more depressed for him as well. The sense of loneliness and isolation may only increase our sadness for this character too but by the end of the video the audience may feel a bit better for him because he has re-united with his companions. We may feel sorrow for the character within ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ although this all changes with ‘Vindaloo’ as the mood is altered greatly that we actually would feel no sorrow or sadness for the main character here and even though we actually literally see him suffer, the comedic effects of the video allow us to divert any feelings of sympathy or mercy we could’ve felt for him into hilarity and amusement.
Postmodernism
Postmodernism
*1970s onwards
*The breakdown of barriers between genres and style
*The breakdown of distinction between binary divides (E.g. Lady Gaga – Paparazzi = human and machine)
*Mixing up time, space and narrative
*Emphasis of style over content
*Blurring fiction and reality/ representation and the real
*Becoming more use to a mediated version of reality, than reality itself (hyper-reality).
Parody
Is a spoof-work that replicates an existent piece of work by mocking, making fun or just presenting it in a different and humorous perspective. They usually possess a satiric, ironic or sarcastic imitation to the original to endorse the hilarity into it.
Pastiche
An artistic work in a style that imitates that of: another work, artist or period. This is a self-conscious imitation and unlike a Parody is a form of homage instead of mockery.
Bricolage
Is a mixing up and usage of different genres and styles, and is a piece created from diverse resources and Medias.
Postmodernism is a strong factor in music videos of today and is featured in a multiple number of works from various generations and eras of music videos.
Theories on Intertextuality and Postmodernism
John Fiske (British Film Theoretician) believes there is a distinction that forms specific types of Intertextuality and can separate them, being ‘Horizontal’ and ‘Vertical’ Intertextuality.
Horizontal Intertextuality
Horizontal Intertextuality denotes references that are on the same level and reside in the same media (e.g. songs referring to other songs).
Vertical Intertextuality
Vertical Intertextuality denotes references that are to different medias than itself (e.g. songs instead referring to movies, books, games etc).
Norman Fairclough (Linguist) likewise distinguishes through types of Intertextuality by branding two forms, being ‘Manifest’ and ‘Constitutive’ Intertextuality.
Manifest Intertextuality
Manifest Intertextuality signifies intertextual elements such as presupposition, negation, parody, irony, etc
Constitutive Intertextuality
Constitutive Intertextuality signifies the interrelationship of discursive features in a text, such as structure, form, or genre.
For Example…
Videos such as Kanye West’s ‘Touch the sky’, Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ and Ashanti’s ‘Foolish’ show a form of Vertical Intertextuality, but also a form of Pastiche and homage as they aim to show a portrayal or imitation of celebrities and movies (different medias to songs), however from an honourable and aspired perspective. The video of ‘Touch the sky’ pays homage to the infamous stunt devil ‘Evel Knievel’.
‘Material Girl’ pays homage to the renowned musical starring the actress Marilyn Monroe called ‘Gentlemen prefer blondes’.
And finally ‘Foolish’ pays homage to the famed gangster movie ‘Goodfellas’.
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