We watched two music videos by ‘Ok Go’, the first was called ‘Here it goes again’. The band members use treadmills to organize a dance routine on. Each movement flowed smoothly into the next and the band worked together and in-sync to convey a cleverly organised dance routine. The band must have rehearsed this dance for months on end to be able to complete it without any mistakes, and to be in time with the music when they dance and sing (lip-syncing). Even though the music video is very simplistic, it is very effective. There is a consistent lighting and scenery, the location never changes which could usually be boring for the audience however the unusual dance routine keeps the audience entertained throughout. Only non-digetic sound is used- the track played on top on the footage. The camera also does not move, is stays still on a tripod portrays a wide shot so the whole dance routine can be seen.
The next video we watched from ‘Ok Go’ was called ‘This too shall Pass’. This video is more detailed than ‘Here it goes again’, the music video shows a complex contraption where one event leads to another and so on. The music video still takes place in only one location with a continuous lighting however the camera pans the equipment the give the audience a clear view. At the beginning of the video digetic audio is used however non digetic audio is used when the music kicks in, but the audience can still hear the digetic audio; this audio is also in time with the track making the two pieces of audio blend together. I think that ‘Ok Go’s’ music videos are very effective. Rather than having just a normal music video which portrays a story line Ok Go have thought out of the box and made their music videos interesting and obscure to keep the audience interested throughout the whole music video. I have replayed each music video a couple of times because of how interesting each music video is, this will get the song stuck in the audiences head, making the audience more likely to purchase the song/ album.
La La La- Naughty Boy.
This music video represents the large meaning to the lyrics of the song, there is also a lot of deep meaning throughout the music video. Firstly, a mysterious corridor is presented with an eerie sound effect- this introduces the atmosphere and the naivety of the child, how he is aware that he is in trouble but not exactly sure why until he enters the door into the scene of the (assuming) parent. The whole music video conveys a child (presented in the song through the child-like chant “La la la” which is sung when you block out someones voice), who is neglected and shouted at by their parent and the music video then presents the childs path is over-coming the fear of the parent. As soon as the door opens in the first scene, the parent is presented in a pitch black room. This lighting is used to represent what the child sees, his vision is blinded apart from his parent, who stands out- wearing a red shirt to symbolise danger/ anger. The music kicks in exactly when the parent punches the table, which shows how he is the catalyst of the whole situation throughout the music video.
A dog is later used as it is a symbol of a man’s best friend- the dog stays with him throughout the whole music video. As the child begins to run away from the parent the lighting brightens to immediately display the change in atmosphere and mood from being with the parent and being away. As the child enters a run down/ slightly derelict building a grey man with a cassette player is presented sitting in a room filled with only females. This character could present a lost soul/ personality- being lost in a crowd and being unable to express yourself. The child begins to encourage the character to stand up for himself and leave the building. The character is at first hesitant as he explains through small movements that the woman at the front of the crowd is similar to the child’s parent as they control the child and the grey mans actions. The dancers behind this woman have mascara running down their face as if they have been crying- this conveys that the dancers also can only show their true emotions through natural behaviour rather then through their personality.The child then teaches the grey man to cover his ears and say ‘La la la’, this gives the man the confidence to leave the building.
As they begin walking together a man on the side of the road is selling hearts. This could show how you can’t buy love or friendship as it is not a literal object- the grey man keeps the heart in his pocket but nothing changes as he keeps it to emphasise this point that you cant buy love.
Another character is then introduced- this character is dressed as an elephant, as he guides traffic through dancing. He could be the elephant in the room. The child again teaches this man to cover his ears and he inevitably joins the other two characters. The three characters are then shown in a deserted area, by a train track. This shows that there is none there to judge and there are no obstacles in the way of them. The area becomes more and more deserted- as time goes on, less obstacles are presented. As the three characters enter a cave they leave the dog tied to a post, to show how they are leaving everything they care about behind them to be able to stand up for themselves. A statue is presented, it is hard to make out what the statue is of, there are horns which presents a devil like figure. The child then hugs the grey man, and the elephant man, and presents his emotion for the first time in the music video- he shows that he is scared however he continues to stand for what he believes. The elephant man, and the grey man continue walking the dog without the child as their life’s have been influenced by the child but they have to move on with their life’s are perfect everything wrong in their life’s like the child did.
As I researched this music video a few people said that the music video is a bit like The Wizard of Oz. The grey man representing the tin man, the elephant as the scarecrow and the dog as the lion. As well as this, I saw that the video could be based on a ‘Bolivian Tradition’. The tradition is explained on this website. http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Bolivian_Tradition
We watched Madonna’s music video to Material girl during lesson and discussed the narrative structure. The music video presents how the industry would have made music videos around 1985. The director character in the music video fancies Madonna, and firstly buys her expensive jewellery, however realises she is not interested in it- even though she’ll happily take it. In the end of the video the director uses his money to get cheep but meaningful objects, like flowers and a pickup truck.
Some of the imagery used suggests Madonna is a sophisticated but spoilt woman as everything is handed to her. The use of the colour pink suggests Madonna is still a young girl, and immature. Men surround her in the video and lift her when dancing which implies how dependant she is on them- without them fancies her and buying her gift her fame would not be as big as it currently is.
Throughout the video Madonna contradicts herself as she accepts expensive gifts from men, when she claims she does not want them. Also, the first line of the lyrics are “Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me, I think they’re O.K. If they don’t give me proper credit, I just walk away” which implies that she prefers the expensive gifts even though at the end of the video she ends up with the director character who gives her the cheeper presents.
Throughout researching this music video I discovered that it is a copy of the video to ‘Diamonds are a girls best friend’ in the film ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’.
Kerry Hatfield 