Analysing Music Videos

I have analysed two similar music videos. They are similar in the respect that they are both extremely creative narratives which excel in artistic editing methods, however both express themselves in different ways. The two videos are Coffee and T.V by Blur: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXRVX1AKAew and D.A.N.C.E by Justice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWV4TIb776Q . Coffee and T.V follows the adventure of an animated milk carton, which eventually leads to the band performing, and D.A.N.C.E is an interesting video the camera tracks two men's t-shirts which the pop-art style images and lyrics.

In Coffee and T.V they're is a subtle connection between the lyrics and the visuals. The lyrics describe a desire to start fresh and get away from their environment; "So we can start all over again". The visuals illustrate a milk carton escaping from his surroundings and starting fresh. As well as this the singer pictured in the video has run away from home and at the end he decides to return. Andrew Goodwin, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (Routledge, 1992) states that relationship between visuals and lyrics can often amplify the meaning of the lyrics. This is true in Coffee and T.V as the visuals emphasise a need to be away from home. In D.A.N.C.E however, the lyrics are much more related to the visuals. Lyrics appear on the t-shirts making the statements more bold and powerful. One example is "You were such a PYT" which appears at 1.12 minutes on the youtube link. In both music videos the music fits well with the visuals. Towards the end of Coffee and T.V the boy is returning home on the bus. Every few seconds, we cut back to the band who supply the visuals that match with the instrumental. In D.A.N.C.E however, the whole video is narrative based and to keep the audiences attention their is no instrumental during the song.

Neither video focuses on portraying the artist. Instead abstract and creative ideas are use to engage the audience attention. Both videos aim to create a music video which is original and will entertain the viewer because of this. Neither of these videos conform to the statement made by Andrew Goodwin. Andrew Goodwin, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (Routledge, 1992) states: "The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs (or star iconography) which recur across their work." In Coffee and T.V there is some, yet minimal screen time for the band, and as a result the video is mainly narrative based. This differs greatly from previous videos by Blur such as Song 2 which where the visuals are predominately performance based; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlAHZURxRjY . The record company producing the video for Song 2 focus greatly on selling the image of the band. In D.A.N.C.E by Justice, however there are no images of the band at all. The visuals focus entirely on the abstract concept they have designed. This video is almost typical of Justice as the band normally defers from showing the faces of the band. Such examples include, The Party and Waters of Nazareth.

As both videos show very little of the band, neither band's sex appeal is promoted. This means that the bands image is sheltered and is not typically expressed. The notion of looking is normally used in videos to express the bands views; a vision through the artist's eyes. In these videos however, this is not done. Despite this, in Coffee and T.V we do see the world through the Milk Cartons eyes at sections. This is done to show how big the surrounding world is, but can also be interpreted as showing how scary the world is for anyone running away from home, or starting fresh.

In D.A.N.C.E there are many intertextual references that relate to Michael Jackson. Such examples are "Easy as ABC" "Black or White" and "PYT" (an abbreviation for pretty young thing). This song was released during the time of the Michael Jackson paedophille trialls. Such references could display an appreciation for such a legendary performer and are trying to display him in a good light. According to Pete Fraser in Teaching Music Video (BFI, 2004) "Not all audiences will necessarily spot the reference and this need not massively detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but it is often argued that greater pleasure will be derived by those who know the reference and are somehow flattered by this." This means, those who spot the reference may enjoy the song more and possibly encouraging them to look harder for other references. In Coffee and T.V they're are now intertextual referenecs.

Both music videos are very much narrative based however both have very interesting and abstract concepts that draw in the viewers attention. Coffee and T.V has some perfomance towards the end of the narrative, however this is used to show a resolution to the narrative, rather than to promote the band. Previous videos by Blur however (such as Song 2) have focused on promoting the band, so the producer may have felt a more concept based approach was needed to keep the band original and refreshing. D.A.N.C.E however has no perfomance aspect.

Both videos are an interesting mixture of creative flair and ingenuity. The original ideas engage the audience and are entertaining to watch, rather than just a video accompany the music. I aim to make a similar video to the ones I have analysed here and will use the analysis to help plan my video