The music video for "The Racing Rats" features the band performing in a rural suburb in slow motion, much like the video for the band's other single "Bullets". Lead singer Tom notices a little girl who is drawing a big circle on the pavement. Near the end of the video a solar eclipse occurs directly parallel to the girls circle causing it to light up spectacularly as the band look on in awe. At the end of the video the town is empty of life suggesting the eclipse consumed all the townspeople. The relevance the video has to the song is from the lyrics "Slow down little one, you can't keep running away / You mustn't go outside yet, it's not your time to play / Standing at the edge of your town with the skyline in your eyes / Reaching up to God, the sun says its goodbyes”. This is noticeably relevant to Goodwin and demonstrates a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. It most certainly is illustrative in the sense it relates directly to the lyrics and helps to explain the songs.
The band themselves have a unique take on the indie rock genre and are heavily influenced by older and contemporary bands. There video does not necessarily demonstrate the typical conventions of an indie video. A typical video from the likes of the Kooks or the Wombats would demonstrate the band in a playful manor or live performance, however the Editors video challenges these generic conventions and pursue a more artistic and post-modern approach much like the work of REM and Radiohead. The video focuses on young girl and a hidden meaning behind the song which has become a common factor in Editors videos, that life is fragile and miniscule in the grand scheme of things. Director Vince Haycock is relatively new to music video direction however has established a very cinematic approach to 'epic' songs and hopes to avoid the commercial aspects of music videos by concentrating on the meaning behind the song and incorporating this message through the video.
The little girl is a key part of the mise-en-scene of the video as she demonstrates the innocence in the world today and this is amplified by the white dress and blonde hair. This reinforces the ideological discourse that the typical victim has these features to amplify this meaning. In addition to this the unique lighting from the sun and also the circle drawn onto the pavement creates an emphasis of the key moments in the song and in particular the eclipse. Colour is also used to represent a change in the song, after the eclipse the volume is increased and the video becomes extremely dark. along with colour the cut speed increases and demonstrates this louder concluding and dramatic ending to the song. also the non-verbal language by the singer indicates a passive viewer of this girl and he is often seen looking into the sun and being disorientated which is relative to the songs lyrics of a surreal and emphatic moment.
This song also reminds me of the film Donnie Darko and the reading behind it. In particular the part about if a plane were to fall from the sky. As for the interpretation and intertextuality, it seems to be another song about impending death. Or the feeling of being aware that everything comes to an end eventually. this is one of many readings and i have found some from others. Many fans believe there meaning is about a relationship situation, he might have been fooling around with other women alot, and that now he's correcting himself: You can't keep running away from the pain through other women(Slow down little one, you can't keep running away), and you're also not ready yet for a serious relationship (You musn't go outside yet, it's not your time to play). This is a common reading of many Editors songs. There is also the reading of a message about terrorism andSeptember the 11th, along with the location being that of an US suburbian area , this can easily be interpreted in this way. In this sense Editors are most ecrtainly a multiple maening band
The representation of the band is unique in the sense that there is no relation to the meta-narrative and it seems the video is aimed towards the passionate and focused viewer. However it is obvious that the essential aspects of a music video are there such as the meat shots of the band including various close ups of the lead singer and other instrument players.
They are clearly though portrayed to be deeper and focus on more important aspects of life in their songs. Many bands aim to create a unique view of there music and this video certainly amplifies the fact that Editors are creating this view. However, it is still evident that the star image is still of key importance in many music videos. Because of the genre of the band it is likely to be viewed on channels so as MTV 2 and Q as they are focused more on this genre and also the the alternative approach to music is highly rated with it viewers.
Wednesday 29 October 2008
Jonathan Glazer by Sam
Information
Jonathan Glazer (born 1966 in
Music Videos
Glazer has directed many music videos including ones for artists such as, Massive Attack, Radiohead, Jamiroquai and UNKLE. He has certain themes which are noticeable across most if not all of the music videos he has directed. The themes are listed below:
Narrative Driven
All Glazer's videos are narrative driven with almost no performance shots at all, besides occasional lip-syncing in some of them. Examples of this include 'The Universal' by Blur, which shows only quick shots of the whole band and 'Karma Police' by Radiohead, which shows lip-syncing by the lead singer occasionally throughout the video. However the majority of his videos concentrate heavily on amplifying the lyrics and songs by adding further meanings, and moving away from the image of the actual band. Another key example is ‘Rabbit in your Headlights’ UNKLE. This video has no lip-syncing and the diagetic sound of the world in some places almost drowns out the actual song of the music video, almost dismissing it as not important. This demonstrates that Glazer wants the audience to concentrate more on the narrative of the video than the track playing.
Rabbit in Your Headlights
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3ClCwcCvdQ&fmt=18
Surreal
Glazer’s videos have a certain uniqueness to them and often have quite surreal elements included. Glazer can be seen as an auteur because of the connotations, negotiated readings and other possible hidden meanings behind some of the elements and themes present in his work. This also adds a lot of repeatability into the music videos, with audiences wanting to watch again to get more of an insight into what he is ‘trying to say’ in a particular sequence. An example of this is ‘Street Spirit’ by Radiohead, in which seemingly random events occur in a trailer park, in normal and slow motion, with no real ‘storyline’ or clear narrative that the music video is following. Another example is ‘Karmacoma’ by Massive Attack. This video contains many extremely surreal elements, including a posing man covered in dirt, a man playing golf in the hallway and a small man being drowned in a bath.
Street Spirit
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=nPX3u0XJzKM&fmt=18
Karmacoma
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MGwcz_DzyyI&fmt=18
Intertextual References
Two obvious music videos that include intertextual references are ‘Karmacoma’ by Massive Attack and 'The Universal' by Blur. ‘Karmacoma’ is influenced heavily by the film ‘The Shining’, and includes key motifs from the movie such as, the twin girls, the typewriter, looking for the specific room with the number and general other surreal things that happen in the movie, shown in the music video in a new original way. ‘The Universal’ includes clear references to A Clockwork Orange, with the lead singer using similar makeup and dress to the main character from the film, Alex. The location of the performance scenes also shares resemblance to the milk bar featured at the start of the film, although in the music video, it is a regular bar.
The Universal
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PGc2f2282NE&fmt=18
Blood
Seen in a few videos he has directed, it doesn’t play a prominent part but does feature within a lot of the frame and so is still important. Two examples can be seen in ‘Karmacoma’. Firstly a man with possibly a gun shot wound to the chest is clutching his hand on it whilst sitting down. This shot is shown a few times. As well as about ¾ of the way though a woman tilts up to look at the camera and blood drips slowly out of her nose. In ‘Virtual Insanity’ by Jamiroquai blood pouring out from under sofa chairs can be seen within the last 30 seconds of the video. And Finally in ‘Street Spirit’ by Radiohead a short cut of a man with blood pouring down his face is shown roughly a minute before the end of the video.
Virtual Insanity
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YMMQqE9x6i4&fmt=18
TV Adverts
Sony Bravia
Balls
Two of the most well known adverts he has directed have been for the Sony Bravia TVs; the paint and the bouncy balls. Two very outstanding and original adverts based around colour with the slogan ‘Like No Other’. The ‘balls’ advert featured 250,000 real brightly-coloured rubber balls bouncing down a
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9NymcQJjPCs&feature=related&fmt=18
Paint
This advert took place in a residential area in which a tower block in Toryglen in
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GURvHJNmGrc&feature=related&fmt=18
Making of
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=R-NxdTdrRss&fmt=18
Guinness
He directed several Guinness adverts, the most well known one being ‘Surfer’ which has won many awards and been voted best ad of all time by Channel 4 and The Sunday Times. It features a group of surfers waiting for the perfect wave and then riding it to shore and celebrating.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ueKvBThaqR4&fmt=18
Films
Sexy Beast
This film was generally received well, with many review sites and newspapers praising it very highly. Total Film magazine named Sexy Beast the 15th greatest British film of all time and Ben Kingsley got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. This film, like much of Glazers work, contains very surreal elements. One important one is the rabbit, seen in dream sequences and at the conclusion of the film. It is possible that it is a metaphor for an emotion, for example guilt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexy_Beast
Birth
This film was in fact not received well at all, and only just made a profit; the budget was 20mill and it grossed 23mill. There was also a lot of controversy surrounding the film, for some specific scenes that some people felt were inappropriate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_(film)
Links
http://www.palmpictures.com/film/the-work-of-director-jonathan-glazer.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Glazer
http://www.coloribus.com/focus/jonathan_glazers_best_works/
Chris Cunningham by Mark
Chris Cunningham is an acclaimed English music video film director and video artist. He was born in Reading, Berkshire in 1970 and grew up in Lake Heath, Suffolk.
Cunningham has had close ties to Warp Records since his first production for Autechre. His infamous video for Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy" is perhaps his most well known. His video for Björk's "All Is Full of Love" won multiple awards, including an MTV music video award for Breakthrough Video and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. It can still be seen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His video for Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker" was nominated for the "Best Video" award at the Brit Awards 2000. He also directed Madonna's "Frozen" video.
Cunningham has had close ties to Warp Records since his first production for Autechre. His infamous video for Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy" is perhaps his most well known. His video for Björk's "All Is Full of Love" won multiple awards, including an MTV music video award for Breakthrough Video and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. It can still be seen at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His video for Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker" was nominated for the "Best Video" award at the Brit Awards 2000. He also directed Madonna's "Frozen" video.
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