L.P: Deconstruction Of Music Videos

Sia- Chandelier



Genre and Narrative

When applying this video to Andrew Goodwin (dancing in the distraction factory, 1992) conventions of the music video can be picked out. The genre of this track is pop and is therefore a chart song, there are indications the song is pop because the little girl in the video is contemporary dancing. This video is a conceptual video as you are focusing on a single concept- in this case the girl's dancing,  this unusual concept is an attraction to the consumers.

The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is amplified as their is some relationship between them, the lyrics describe someone swinging from a chandelier and the little girl in the video is very carefree, she also seems quite insane with the facial expressions she makes, for example her widened eyes. However the lyrics also talk about the person being intoxicated and this little girl is only 11 so wouldn't be intoxicated.

The relationship between the music and visuals however is illustrative as she is dancing to the beat throughout the whole video. There is one close-up at 1.37 which shows her mad wide eyes implying she's a bit crazy, however other than this there aren't really any. This is because the video focuses on her dancing therefore showing her whole body. However one of the most important aspects of this video is the visual motif of the wig, which represents Sia as this is her hair style, and appears in her other music videos and also on her album front cover. This video shows aspects of voyeurism as the camera follows the little girl around in the room whilst she's dancing, however Sia isn't actually in it at all, the wig is the only aspect you see of Sia.

Media Language

When applying Dyer's critical framework to this music video it can be noticed that a very talented star persona is trying to be established, this is clear because of the incredible dancing the little girl is doing, for example in the shot where she walks into the room with the table in rubbing her stomach and just sits down in splits. The song is a long shot which lasts about 6 seconds allowing the audience to be shocked by her amazing position.

Also another key value this video embodies is a youthfulness approach as the young girl is so young and is dancing typically as a little girl would attempt to do. She may represent Sia when she was younger as she is wearing a wig which portrays Sia's hair. The purpose of this video is to show a little girl going mad, in other words "living like tomorrow doesn't exist" like the lyrics state, when no one is looking. She is in an empty house and the first 3 shots make this clear as they pan in on these abandoned rooms. The low key lighting and dull colour wash help to further reinforce this abandoned feeling. This music video could be considered art as her dancing is so incredible and would therefore have taken a long time to choreograph and put together. The only aspect that is commercial is the wig other than that Sia doesn't appear in the video so therefore I would say this music video is an art form.

Representation

The only character is this music video is one little girl, who is about 11 years old as she's wearing a wig that is the same as Sia's hair.  The meta- narrative is this wig because it's a repeated iconography of Sia as it represents her work. The ideological discourse of gender is dominant in this music video because they have cast a stereotypically beautiful, slim little girl to dance in their video. This girl is also very young and her character is almost sexualised, for example in the first shot she is hanging on a door frame but it's a long shot therefore it's hard to tell whether she is naked or not, is she also too young tobe put under so much pressure? However the video does portray little girls correctly, as this is what they do- dance around a room when no one is looking. The authenticity of this performance is very important in this video as the consumers can see and must see a talent that they wouldn't necessarily see in the artists themselves.

Disclosure- White Noise (ft. AlunaGeorge)



Genre and Narrative

Goodwin

Visual techniques



AlunaGeorge- Best Be Believing



Audience

This video would be consumed by audiences on YouTube. It would also be viewed on Vevo, a video hosting service owned and operated by Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). It shares videos from some of the top artists and millions of people follow the youtube channel and also the website to see new music video releases. Also Pitchfork shared the 'Best Be Believing' video, describing it as "the video has a sort of One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest theme expect it stars Aluna Francis and George Reid and there's a lot more dancing." It's also shared on Ultimate Music website, http://www.josepvinaixa.com/blog/alunageorge-best-be-believing-vogue-video-premiere/ explaining that Aluna Francis also sang the song in a video for Vogue modelling in Alexander Wang's clothing.
The video is shared on many websites and is therefore very popular therefore the video would have been highly industrial produced with a huge amount of money put into it. Therefore the video would have media consumption with focused viewing as the video has an interesting edge to it, they are all in a mental hospital because they can't stop dancing.
The video would appeal to a young audience as it's a dance track and therefore would be played in clubs and remixed ect.

Representation

This video has been set in a mental hospital however it breaks the stereotypes of mentally ill people as these people have a problem where they can't stop dancing. This reflects the dance genre, and fits the song as it allows the characters to dance throughout the video. Their meta-narrative can therefore be established, as AlunaGeorge is known for their dancing and both of them always appear in their own videos. For example in their video 'You Know You Like It' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWR9MR5juWI which features both Aluna and George dancing and other dancers are part of the video as well, this seems to be a theme throughout their videos.

Mental illness is represented in a positive way as the video goes against the dominant belief that mental institutions are depressing places, through the use of non-verbal language, Aluna is smiling all the way through the video and everyone is dancing really well. The video portrays the mental institution as cool, also the costume is all very fashionable clothing.

From this video we want to take the idea of mental health and dance music being merged together, our character is going to have Bipolar and therefore he is a very emotional character. We don't want to represent mental illness negatively, therefore this video is a good example of our inspirations.

Arctic Monkeys - Snap out of it

Forms and Conventions



Visual Techniques

Camera
- shot of her shadow, she is clearly naked
-

Mise-en-scene
-she is standing in her bra next to the tv with alex turner on screen

Editing
- slo-mo as she comes out of the water, emphasis on her
- intercutting between shot of her watching the tv and the tv showing the arctic monkeys (mainly alex turner) she isn't blinking, eyes fixed on tv...slowly starts crying maybe she is in love with him?
- really fast cutting rate of her eating the meat - sexually, really enjoying it


Representation