What Else Is There? by Royksopp was directed by Martin De Thurah. From my interpretation of the song, the narrative is following the singer in a dream state because the world created in the video is very surreal. It seems that in this dream state the world is collapsing. The singer is floating through this world in a ghostly manner, which could suggest that the singer has died and is on her way to an afterlife. The lyrics of "Road's end getting nearer" could suggest the world, or at least the singer's world, is ending with 'road' being a metaphor for a journey or lifespan, in essence, we have an end of the road situation. In this world we see buildings floating along and crumbling in mid air, and combined with the destructive forces of thunder and lightning shown in the video, I again got the impression of a collapsing world.
At parts the camera work is very shaky as if the cameraman is trying to keep the camera steady during an earthquake. There is also a part showing the singer violently jerking from side to side in mid air which connotes an apocalyptic and out of control time. A number of close up shots mixed with simply random things are used to amplify the surreal nature of the dream state. For example, near the beginning of the video, the audience sees what looks like the hairs on a person's body are standing up, but it turns out to be a hairy apple at the end of the video. Now I've never seen a hairy apple so the stuff seen in this video can only be the stuff of dreams surely. Another example of the randomness is during the video the singer's foot appears to be lactating which does not seem explainable by science in any way. There are plenty of long shots used to give the viewer a good view of this dream world.
Jesus Walks - Kanye West > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYF7H_fpc-g
Jesus Walks by Kanye West was directed by Chris Milk. The way I gather it the narrative is, as the name suggests, about how Jesus has a presence with everyone and how good will always eventually prevail over evil. The end of the video shows this best. Here we see a member of the Klu Klux Klan taking off his hood and falling onto his knees into submission to Jesus and good, whilst the rain puts out the flaming crucifix next to him, and good also suggest the evil being washed off him. This part of the video shows how anyone can redeem themselves and that the good of Jesus prevails over the racism and hatred of the Klu Klux Klan. In the video Kanye says "The Devil's trying to break me down" and as he says that, fire comes up behind him. This connotes the message that hell has opened and the Devil is trying to claim him or turn him against Jesus.
Certain shots are used to improve the video aesthetically and audio wise. For example there is a close up of a pickaxe striking some wood at exactly the same time as the beat. There are close ups of the prisoners' fee that are taking steps to match the rhythm. These shots simply make the video look better. As the prisoners are working it is filmed in black and white to connote the bleakness and hopelessness of their situation.
Can Music Videos Be Seen As An Art Form?
To be able to respond to this question we must first ask: what is art? The Oxford Dictionary defines art as "the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination". By this definition music videos are most certainly an art form as it requires creativity and imagination to make one. I suppose the part of the definition that is questionable for music videos is whether they're an expression.
There's no doubt that music videos are used to promote singles. As article 2 says, "emerging artists and established acts are increasingly turning to Sean Duncan's Redcap Productions for videos to promote their singles. But even the music videos of the most commercial artists such as Rihanna, Katy Perry, or Lady Gaga, should be considered as an art form because they are products of skill and imagination. They may not necessarily be an expressions of the artist's emotions but that only makes them commercial art. Either way they're still art. The big artists have songs written for them most of the time so there isn't much to do with a message that the singer is trying to get across or to do with their feelings. The music artists that do write their own songs often have some sort of message behind the lyrics and this does translate as an expression. The music video should reflect this expression. Then a music video perfectly fits the definition of art.
Having said all that, big names in the music video world have implied that music videos are no longer an expression. Jonas Odell said "the industry has the power to choose which direction music videos are going; if the record label doesn't like your style, you don't get to make videos." And Adam Levite said "Once the industry becomes involved, labels, artists, and such, then everything can get pushed towards sameness and mediocrity unless you fight really hard." These two quotes blatantly suggest that the expression and individualism of music videos is being diminished in favour of something that is tried and trusted by the corporations in the industry.
To finalise my answer I still believe that music videos are an art form. Something that should be considered is who's to say what's art and what isn't? There's a piece of 'art' called My Bed that sold for £150,000, yet it is literally just an unmade bed. How can an unmade bed be considered art and a marriage of music, lyrics, and visuals not? I'm not denying that many music videos are made for purely commercial reasons but that doesn't mean that they're not art.
No comments:
Post a Comment