Detailed analysis of three music videos

Pantera-5 minutes alone




This music video structure is representative of one of the three basic structures, recognized by Joan D Lynch. This particular video represents: "the most common by far, the one centered on performance". The intro to this video is really artistic and sets the mood of the video. The re-winded clip of the light bulb being smashed into the wall with an overlaying image of Phil Anselmo (the singer) suggests towards the somewhat violent video to proceed. By Looking at Diane Railton and Paul Watson's suggested four genres of music video, we can assume this to be a hybrid of  a staged performance and an artistic music video, that has interesting close ups and angle's throughout. The technique of overlaying images is used to show the different band members playing without having to necessarily loose one or the other member. This is a useful technique to use when several really nice performance shots are taken and you don't want to waste a shot. This also builds up the layers of the video along with the music. These more artistic elements make this video an 'enhanced performance' video according to Joe Gow's six central genres of music video theory as it blends both performance elements with other visual elements. The song is made as a response to someone insulting Phil Anselmo to which he replied 'Give us five minutes alone'. We can see the violence of this throughout the video. The use of strobe lighting creates a pace in the video and the graphic merging between the eye and dimebag (guitarist) again creates anger and pace to the video. By using close up shots of the artists with this song it creates a sense of being close to them and possibly in the 'mosh pit' atmosphere, usually associated with gigs for this genre of music, which fans of this music would enjoy. These close ups are also useful in presenting the artists image, and the two most famous members: Dimebag and Phil Anselmo, are seen in c/u most. Certain clips are also slowed down to show the emotion and action that would usually be too fast to make head nor tail of. The staged preformance is mixed with clips of phil in a cage-like structure with us looking down on him, showing him as trapped sorta hints to his boiling anger and how he's holding it in. We also see him break a light which relates back to the initial clip of a light being broken on the wall. Looking at Steve Jones' 'narrative forms' theory this can be associated with his analog narrative theory, as it has non-concert performance elements of the song intercut with other material. However towards the end of the song at about 4.20 a live preformance video is also faded between and the action crosses between staged and live to show the atmosphere's in the two . At 4.53 several clips of phil singing, a light being broken and the guitar being played are merged to really emphasize the pace and emotion between the three and the song.

Slipknot-Dead Memories



Dead Memories is, when categorized by Diane Railton and Paul Watson, an artistic video that follows the singer: Corey Taylor, as he follows through different rooms with each of the band members in which represent the different characters in which they are supposed to play and, somewhat, the stories that are associated with them. It was directed by P.R.Brown who creates music video's for songs of similar genres and has also created videos for other slipknot songs such as 'psychosocial', 'sulfur' and 'snuff' and Shawn Crahan, the percussionist of Slipknot. It centres on the Joan D Lynch's theory as a hybrid between narrative and 'experimental film' video and has no performance aspects. In the intro to the video we see a man dragging a shovel and it is by using this shovel to create a grave that the video commences, this man is Corey Taylor also, just without his mask on, and this connects the two 'sections' of the video and suggests that the normal Corey Taylor wants to bury this other side to himself, which connects to the song's title and theme as it suggests that he is burying his past memories of himself and his previous character. The hyper-enhanced contrast between the two Corey's make us assume that this other Corey is like a nightmare to the normal one, and something he wants to escape from. It uses many different techniques to pull off a very dark video of the band. Editing techniques are used to both slow down clips of the video and speed it up which give a 'disjointed' feel to the video which marries into the song. It has been edited after being filmed so that effects such as the turntabilist, Sid Wilson, can be seen crawling on the wall, and a subtle use of editing within the guitarist, Jim's 'room' wherein the footage from that room has been reversed but in such a subtle manner that the only area where it is really evident is by the feathers which float upwards due to this. These effects are used to help create a more surreal video. Due to these effects i would categorize this as a digital narrative when looking at Steve Jones' theory as these elements help to create an impossible performance with no elements of staged or concert performance whatsoever. Due to this lack of performance and both the effects and style the video is shot in the music video is also a hybrid between an anti-performance piece and a 'special effects extravaganza' when looking at Joe Gow's theory's. I think this video was created to help further the fans understanding as to the characters within the band and their relationships' with one another. When Corey firsts enters the 'nightmare world' we see him in a room with turntabilist Sid Wilson, whilst in this room Corey looks out a window, only to see dirt, suggesting he is underground, it is important to note he does this on the lyrics 'i can't go back again' which suggests that he is trapped within this place, with no escape and has no choice but to proceed through the rooms. In the first room, Sid is represented as a creature that know's only to crawl on the walls and seems very primal in character. In the Next room Corey encounters Joey Jordison, the drummer, whose mask can be associated with Jesus due to the crown of thorns and the symbolism this has for christians. Joey's character can be seen as mocking Jesus and the celebrity status he is given, as Joey acts very vain, surrounded by women and looking at himself in a handheld mirror, surrounded by photographs of himself on the wall whilst he sits on a throne and is treated like a king. In the third room Corey meets sampler Craig Jones, who wears a mask covered in nine inch nails, an inch per band member, this room has been edited so as it is solarized, or put into negative, and as it appears so white we can assume the room is infact very dark, this can also be assumed by how carefully Corey steps around the room. As Craig's character is known as 'the silent one' this room reveals little more about his personality other than that. In the fourth room Corey encounters recently deceased bassist Paul Gray. The room is surrounded in mirror's and although we see Paul in one of the mirrors as Corey initially enters the room, Corey doesn't notice he is there until a few seconds later, where we see him look back at the mirror, visibly shocked by the reflection. Corey then appears to 'play' with Paul and watches as he copies his moves, however when Corey waves into the mirrors, Paul returns the wave using the wrong hand, revealing that he is not in fact a reflection, however this does not appear to be noticed by Corey. Paul then looks at Corey in a terrifying manner and runs at the glass seperating the two, attempting to break through, although Paul doesnt reach Corey, Corey falls to the floor through a door, proceeding him to the next room. In this room percussionist Shawn Crahan, who also directed the video, is seen dancing with lots of women and seems not to pay attention to Corey. As Shawn Crahan's mask is of a Clown, this associates him with the idea that clowns are often at parties and creates the idea that he is somewhat 'the life of the party'. As Corey leaves this room some of the girls try to pull him into the dance but Corey manages to proceed through to the other room. The next room is a small white corridoor and Corey is faced with 'Seven',guitarist Mick Thompson. Mick Thompson is quite a dominating figure and looms over Corey's small frame. Corey runs at Mick and is, easily, rebounded. However when the two run at eachother and a painful collision is set to ensue, Mick disappears and Corey appears to have just ran into a door. This next room holds James Root, another guitarist, and this is the room in which the action is reversed so that the feathers are rising upwards, due to this reversed movement, when James whips his hair across it gives a warped effect and this looks really strange and unnatural to the viewer, there are many girls dancing in this room also, but they are more focused on throwing the feathers up in the air. When Corey leaves this room the feathers come off him and he is back to normal for the next room. In this room percussionist Chris Fehn is seen lighting candles in a room that is heavily covered in graffiti. This makes him appear quite unhinged, especially in how religiously he lights the candles. A woman can be seen walking backwards through part of this room but as to why she is there is unclear to me. When Corey and Chris meet face to face after Chris has lit a candle they observe each other momentarily and then Corey blows out the candle, coinciding with the music coming to an end. After this we see the 'normal' Corey shoveling dirt into the grave as the other Corey rises out of it. This effect is the same that I have attempted as Test Footage in response to the Radiohead 'Street Spirit' video where this effect is much more evident.
Korn-Twisted Transistor



This video is a parody with a short staged performance in it, however is mainly pseudo-documentary as suggested by Diane Railton and Paul Watson or, when looking at Joe Gow's theory, a hybrid between pseudo reflexive (as the entire video center's on the production of a music video which doesn't actually exist) and performance documentary as there are elements of live performance and staged performance where they show the video within the music video being made. The key points to this video is that the people used instead of band members are all black, and they've switched the members of Korn with Xzibit, Snoop Dogg, Lil John and David Banner. The video is directed by Dave Meyers, best known for his video of Missy Elliot's ''loose control'' which won a Grammy award for Best Short Form Music Video. He also works with artists such as p!nk and Britney spears, meaning this video represents very different music to his usual productions. The main themes of his music video's are to have video high contrasting sky's and deep colours, however not much of this is seen in this video apart from at times when they do the staged performances. The video is mainly for comedic reasons, presenting each of the Korn members in very exaggerated ways. The video has interviews of both the musicians and the staff that would work with them, each done . I really like the use of Snoop Dogg as Munky, as Snoop is the most recognizable of all the hip hop artists and looks so similar to munky that when i first watched the video and realised that he wasn't actually munky i did a double take. I really like that they have used well known hip hop artists as not only does it promote interest as to why the hip hop artists are in this situation but it also presents them in a very different way to how they're usually seen, and the performance of them in this video is really great and they completely embody the heavy metal characters. I really like towards the end when the real band pretends to have a meeting with the imitators, this promotes the actual bands face but also creates a relationship between the different artists. I really like the quote ''you know we all black when the lights go out'' from snoop Dogg as this is kind of laughing at the video and referencing the reasons as to why they may have chosen to do a music video such as this. I think its a great example of a pseudo documentary music video. When looking at Joan D Lynch's theory i would categorize this as a narrative music video, however as you can see many similarities between this and the film spinal tap it can also be associated with the experimental film category as it shows similarites to the film, as it is shot almost like a documentary of the band. By Looking at Steve Jones' categorization of narrative music video's i would then further categorize it as analog narrative even though it does have some elements of concert performance footage but as the band members are all switched these would be staged specifically for the music video.

Radiohead Test Footage.

Quick Test footage of technique used in Radiohead's 'Street Spirit' video. I really like the effect this technique creates as it's quite interesting as to the different things you could use it for. Here we did it quite simply and just as a way to explore the technique. The video does not relate to the music and no editing was done to try and achieve and 'on the beat' effect. i like the outcome of the video as i think that the two different pieces of footage are blended quite well on each of the three sequences. however a slight line of connection is seen when looking very carefully however i think that if it wasn't pointed out to the viewer they wouldn't necessarily be able to notice this. This technique is done by filming two different happenings whilst keeping the camera in the same position and other factors such as the lighting as similar as possible. It is a much easier technique to control when done inside as, obviously, sunlight is subject to change and the same lighting conditions cannot be guaranteed. After filming the two shots you then crop one so that the other can be seen through it, being careful not to overlap the action within the two shots, unless this is the desired effect. If the camera moves just a little during filming then it is subject to change how the two are overlaid and create a visibile line between the two which can also be created due to changes in lighting.


The Original Radiohead Street Spirit video.

Claymation Test Video.

This claymation Test footage was done as it relates somewhat to my initial ideas for my actual music video. I think to improve on this test footage more shots should be taken to create a slightly more fluent camera movement however i am pleased with the video and the story within it. I think it is a cute, clear story as to what is happening within the video, in which the clay character decides to write 'poo' on the keyboard to which the computer decides to fight back and drops his mouse onto the character, resulting in his untimely demise. This is a childish piece of test footage as we felt that might be easier to display than something much more serious and the cute claymation character is easy to use for more comedic videos. This technique is done by taking many 'stills' of the claymation character and moving the character ever so slightly between each shot to create a more fluid movement. The less shots taken for each movement, the less fluid the movement will appear.

An example of Claymation used for a music video - The Bishops 'Nowhere to Run'

The Kabeedies Test Footage

This video was done in response The Kabeedies 'Jitterbug' video. In our video we only did a few shots and i thought it would be nice to try and create somewhat of a story between the shots. This is a very loose story as it was only a test footage piece, however i tried to create the idea of the girl and boy who feature most, being in a relationship together and just a rough idea of this is seen through i feel. This was very loosely the theme and not the focus for the video. However i think we were able to edit the images so that they related to the beat of the music quite well.

The Original Kabeedies Music Video To Jitterbug.