Music Video analysis

The Music video Analysis

1. The way we consume media has changed beyond the grasp which those thirty years ago could grasp. For example media was consumed by the two direct means of media these being Television and Radio which where used by the vast majority of the population of all ages and generations. Now in the present day thirty years later we have the means of consuming media take for example the likes of the internets streaming services most notably Youtube which in some way could be the todays of version of MTV which still exist however lacks any real hold on the young audiences which act as the majority of the music consumer base. Youtube acts if one wants to act old school on the matter acts as a radio and video substitute for the then Television and Radio sectors of the media industry. Also to add with the use of streaming services which acts as a means of Spotify and Soundcloud allow the audience of a particular music genre, band or even artist for the matter without the problem of obtaining the albums or singles without the fear or despair of shortage or even scarcity on the matter of physical copies or even the national or international limitations of music or genre. The Streaming services give there audience unlike 30 years ago the ability for one to obtain a song or an album of any artist that they desired at any time and anywhere with there own choice and preference all at the touch of a button. The way one should also focus on is the alteration of recorded and hard media copies take for example VHS which was replaced by DVD now DVD is being replaced by Streaming services such as Netflix. Again with the same observation one could make about the the likes of Youtube and Spotify replacing ones ability to consume music now with the likes of Netflix and Amazon prime have begun to replace how people consume media such as television shows or series for that matter and entire films. However this trend of change began to take place during the 80s when the movie stores where places that the public could obtain a copy of there desired film and watch at there own Pleasure under a select time period until returned. This was replaced with cheaper means of obtaining copies of ones desired media through the means of DVD. Now with the use of streaming services we are baring witness to the end of DVD and hard copy media. Who knows what will render the streaming services useless in the future we have yet to wait.




2. Music videos are the visual element of the music production. The video is designed to present the story of the song or production. From my analysis of music videos from what I have concluded is that the music video acts as the audio feature and the video acts as the visual. This could appeal to the Audience which could potentially speaking increase the Artists production revenue profit. An example of this would be Michael Jacksons "Thriller" which is said to be one of his most successful music videos which indefinitely increased its popularity. According to Forbes online publication Michael Jackson still manages to earn about 75 million dollars despite the fact he is currently dead.


3.
The band I am covering is the Police which was a band that began to garner popularity during the late 70s. There styles which by todays and then standards which are popular comprise of the following being New wave, Reggae rock and Post punk. The style "New wave is a recurring style generation speaking. With the likes of reggae rock being confined to the past or gaining a cult following on minute scale. Post punk would be a state from by observation of music that still exists today but on a slight and less noticeable degree. The Police are a band that are well known for there Live and recorded performances. A good example to focus would be the song "Message in a bottle" which had its recorded performance or music video published in 1979 and ever since the release the band performed the live rendition of the song up until the band broke up in 2007 this however did not stop live performances with the likes of sting still going on tour after this date and performing some of the bands well known classics despite the band no longer existing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbXWrmQW-OE


Though the Band did not have any animated music videos they did however have a musical spin which parodied the song "Every breath you take" which was changed for the feature credits of a show from the 80 and early 90s called spitting Image which changed the songs lyrics and title to "Every bomb you make" which featured the band to perform the rendition. Also I must add in detail that the show that they performed in question was a show that used puppets so that to some extent and by todays standards that would fall under the category of 2D animation. Covering the bands piece on interpretation we would have to back to the song "Message in a bottle" which by the analysis of the lyrics one could come to the position that the song focuses on mans quest for companionship or relation to be more precise this is because the song focuses on lyrics about being "alone" and being a "cast away". The song also focuses on the sanity and state of being character within the story with one lyric stating "Rescue me before I fall into despair" with also the lyrics focusing on the character in the song trying to reach put to the world "I hope that someone, gets my message in the bottle" which from my own interpretation would show that the narrative of the story follows two aspects.
 On the topic of Narrative another well known piece by the band "Roxanne" which focuses on the protagonist who in the song is voiced by Sting accompanied by his the band in telling the story. The song about "Roxanne" which focuses on the woman in question being implied as a prostitute or so it would seem with the lyric "You don't have to sell your body to the night" also the use of the reference "Red light" which is described as a form of attire that Roxanne wears is a reference to the Red lights district which is a place in Amsterdam  which is infamous for its notoriety for its prostitution ring and other activities and establishments of that nature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmDP-PYpPRY


Focusing primarily on the narrative of the story told in the song it would appear that the protagonist is trying to plead with Roxanne that she does not have to go out and sell her body to which we can only interpret from the lyrics that the protagonist receives no response since he is heard repeating the lyrics throughout the song with the accompanying vocal pieces in the background singing the word "Roxanne" over and over again throughout the climactic part of the song. The narrative appears to be vague only with the setting and establishment of "Roxanne's" role we cannot establish wether Sting's Character is a Husband, Boyfriend, Brother, sister or family or friend of "Roxanne" all we can establish from the lyrics is that the protagonist is pleading with Roxanne not go. To add a final layer of narrative we as the audience do not know what happens as a result and outcome of the protagonists plea to "Roxanne" which leaves the audience in suspense and up to are own interpretation on the outcome of the story.


The Surrealist part of the Bands work would be the song that comes to mind being the famous "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" which from ones first Impression one would come to the conclusion that this would be a vocal impersonation of the songs notes however the reason for why the band would title there song would be found quite puzzling nevertheless. The visual aspect of the video only shows what would appear to be a very amateurish appearance in the way the band members act with all of them at first singing along to the song however as the video proceeds they begin to almost occupy other activities other than acting as a band while this is accompanied with footage of the band skiing and more or less enjoying themselves in a child like manner in the sense that they seem to mess about more and act quite immature with almost a very hyper nature. This adds to the surrealist element just slightly but not sufficiently enough though. The Musical lyrics which follow with lyrics such as "They're meaningless and all that's true" this shows that the music video is not following any trail of narrative however only seems to have slight and subtle messages to the connotation of the music video. 

The band used styles that where adopted by the Jamaican reggae music which had also an intertwined influences of the Local city folk music as well as the bands heavily influence of the post punk time in which the band derived most of its influences from. The likes of Joy division which is another band that began to gain popularity durning the same time as the Police took off. In regards to Parody the bands most notable form of Parodying took place during the 80s after the bands most famous single was released "Every breath you take" which was altered by a television show popular in England during the 80s and 90s known as "Spitting Image" which changed the name to "Every Bomb you Make" which focused on the leaders of the 80s around the world at the time e.g Ronald Reagan and Margaret thatcher. 

CONVENTIONS


Lyric Interpretation: The song Roxanne is a song about a prostitute this is because of the lyrics which would describe the setting of the song being as such and the character in question being as of such. With the lyrics such as "You don't have to sell your body to the night" which would imply that Roxanne is a prostitute and the fact that she wears a dress called the "Red light" which is a infamous part of Amsterdam.

Extending or Consolidating song's meaning: The song every breath you take is a song that focuses on sting the singer talking through the lyrics of the song about who he is talking about how he is watching over someone, who we do not know is it someone he loves or hates however this isn't the main premise of the song however it is the detail that matters how he observes this individual in question. The song complemented by the music video establishes by the audience interpretation that the singer Sting who is the character or in the case of question embodies the protagonist who is depicted as alone in the video as Sting is on his own singing for the most part as the video focuses on him which gives the audience the multiple impressions that because of him on his own that he could be getting stalked or he could be the one getting stalked. I want to add that I myself held the latter thought first from my first interpretation and the former being the impression gather by a friend of mine who got the impression that he was the stalker. With the first rendition of the song being to some degree subjective to the listener, however the audience would be left without any power of interpretation with the rendition "Every bomb you make" which leaves the audience with one interpretation form the music videos message. The show is called Spitting Image is a show that focuses on the political affairs of the world during the 80s and 90s, I also must add the show was satire and used hyper realistic caricature puppets of political figures and world famous individuals. The song was altered to parody "Every breath you take" to "Every bomb you make" this was performed by the same band who performed the original the "Police" as well as the main singer "Sting" singing the lyrics. The song performed by the show was a more creative rendition of the music video. The lyrics follow with the people who are presented with each lyric implying that the person presented is one who is guilty of the deed the lyrics of the song detail, for example with the beginning of the music video shows the then U.S president Ronald Reagan being displayed on the screen with the lyrics  in the video following "Every bomb you build" which imply that he was responsible for developing weapons which have killed people this was during the Soviet-Afgan war which President Reagan supplied the "Freedom fighters with" with Missiles to halt the Soviets. The song in it self is factual and is designed to be obvious in its message to the audience.

Allusion: The music video "Message in a bottle" is my example of a media piece that is under the category of "Allusion" the reason given is because the music video in question goes into detail about something that is not present in the video only a metaphor used in the lyrics of the song. For example in the song "Message in the bottle" there is a lyric which is "100 Billion bottles washed up on the shore" though this is not actually something that is in the video as we are shown the band itself and the crowd. This appears to contradict the nature of the music video which could be designed to up against in the lyrics or it could be holding a more metaphorical meaning of the video.

Links to other artists: The Police which is a band that takes its inspiration from other but least known bands and music groups such as The Clash, The Beetles and The Animals all of which where bands that where at the height of the popularity in the 60s which would have been the time the band members of the Police had grown up under influence of. The Police had influenced other bands that have taken off in popularity long after the Police's rise to fame such as Men at Work, U2 and Tears for fears all of which began to take in popularity a decade after the Police's rise to fame and notoriety.




                                                            Techniques

Cutting to the Beat: The song that is most exhibited with this element would be the music video of the King of Pain which was released in 1984 with music video acting as its introduction to the new piece. Also to focus more Importantly on the video it self and the characteristic in question we should focus on the beat of the song with the change of the moving slides frame which focuses on the band members and other obscure details as the beat proceeds throughout the duration of the song.


Effects: The band uses an old trick of smoke to give the music video of every breath you take a sense of mystery and to emphasise on the darkness of the visual element of the video as well as the metaphorical sense of the video. The use of smoke which appears to be blown to the camera or is within the peripheral of the camera which is seen emanating from an ash tray as its source.

Miming to the lyrics: In the music video Message in a bottle we see the three band members mime to the lyrics in the video to give it the sense as if though the group of them are singing the lyrics altogether at certain verses of the song for example after the song focuses on the protagonist's state of being alone which is contradicted by when the trio sing that famous lyric altogether which has a multitude of meanings and reasons however they are too many to go in so to sum it up simply that the reason is, that the band embodies the more the one person throwing the bottle in search of someone which has to be summed up by more than one person singing it at once.

Playback and lip sync: The music video Roxanne is an example that the use of lip sync is used to more or less reinforce the lyrics and stabilise and rid any of the impurities of the sound or music qualities of the song which would usually be performed live. The Music video is played in sync to live recording of the band performing which is unusual however is something that the band uses to help with the videos more realistic appeal.

Multi-image e.g. split screen or superimposed: The multi-image effect is seen in the video of the song King of Pain in which again the use of the slide of images which constantly alter despite the images being merged together to form the image which is done in a manner to create a mural looking effect.

Camera movements: The music video Walking on the Moon is a video that uses Low angle shots and secondly tracking shots which give the video an out of this world look to it as the members of the band are shown in front of the Apollo 11 booster. The camera is used to give a different atmosphere by the perspective of the

Camera angles: The video uses the Camera angles in the sync of the music piece altogether which consist of the Low angle and Tracking shot give the video with synced affect of the song give the video an out of world experience to the viewer and give a more ever lasting impression to the viewer.


Chroma key: Was likely used in the production of the music video parody of "Every bomb you drop" with the use of the background of the explosion of a nuclear detonation in which the most famous characters of the show are presented with each lyric directed to there crimes that they have allegedly committed. Since that the images of the characters are phased over the footage would show the audience who review this piece that the use of the Chroma Key would be apparent.