Section 2: Close Analysis of 3 professional music videos.

Lily Allen- Smile

Genre:
The video forgrounds Lily's performing of the song. The performance combines with the narrative, often merging together in the same scene. The genre of music by Lily Allen is typically British Pop. This is reflected in the gritty, working class, urban mise en scene, with a generally unspectacular cinematography.

Narrative:
The main concept of the video is Lily's revenge on her cheating boyfriend.
It has a beginning, a middle and an end.
Beginning- She is sad and alone.
Middle- She gets her revenge and it is 'sweet'
End- She's finally gotten over her boyfriend but she is still alone.
The narrative illustrates and amplifies the meanings in the song 'with a little help from my friends'. It's generally linear but with some ellipsis and flashbacks to start it off.

Binary Opposition:
Good vs Bad
Sad vs Happy
Men vs Women
Individual vs Group
Sweet vs Nasty
Violence vs Pleasure
Kindness vs Cruelty
Colourful vs Drab
Togetherness vs Alone

The meanings conveyed in this video that the audience can gain is, if you're a boy, don't cheat, and if you're a girl, don't let any boy mess you around.

Media Language:
Mise En Scene
All the working class locations that have been chosen: the flat, the alley way, the club and the street. Lily is very girly, she's feminine but tough, chosing to wear a dress and jewellery with trainers. Lily's flat is also bright and chearful compared to that of her boyrfriends whose is very drab and colourless which, again, emphasises the contrast between the two characters and also the conflict. The final scene where Lily is walking down the middle of the road convey's confidence in herself, shown through the mise en scene.

Cinematograhpy:
We are given a close up of Lily's face whilst she is singing and this creates a bond or connection to the audience as she is singing 'to' them. The mid-shots show the face and hair which is depicting Lily's personal style. The longer bedroom shots emphasise the loneliness that she is feeling at the beginning when she is looking back at the good times with her boyfriend. The frequent tracking shots we are given promotes the stillness and the hand-held camera we get during the violent scenes which shows the gritty realism of the situation. The final reverse track shot emphasises Lily's power and control she is finally feeling. There are no over-dramatic shots as it's all down the Earth.

Editing:
We are given generally fast-paced editing, no dweilling. The open flashbacks is Lily remembering the happy times she used to share with her boyfriend. Ellipsis is used quite frequently to show the passing of time yet continuity is used throughout as we get a sense of progression. The cross-cutting that is used shows Lily smiling while her friends are secretly taking revenge on her boyfriend for her to emphasise the binary opposition between her and her boyfriend. And finally, shot-reverse-shot is used to show the conflict between her and her boyfriend.

Representation:
Lily Allen is represented as being feminine but tough; her sweet and innocent grain of voice contrasts with her harsh lyrics, and her facial expressions contribute to this representation. The working class youth are generally unsophisticated, they are driven by their urges like revenge or money. The use of violence to get even.

GENDER representation: Males are seen as dishonest and cheats, and females are victims of male dishonesty, yet not too weak as they are capable of being devious and cruel themselves.

Audience:
The target audience for this video, I believe, is more for British females. The song is addressed to 'you' but in the video shes sings to the audience not him, she shares her secret with us, in front of him. The occasional eye contact and sly smiles also help build a connection with the audience it shows her pleasue in sharing her revenge. I think she is trying to tell her audience to be less accepting of a boyfriends dishonesty and she is sharing her thoughts on relationships.


The Golden Path- Chemical Brothers

Genre:
This video has a narrative and no performance, whatsoever, from the artist. The Chemical Brothers have develpoed their own style/genre of video.

Narrative:
The main character goes to work and the lyrics suggest that his work place is 'hell'. He often escapes to a hppy place- and the contrast between the work place and his happy place is very distinct. There is a slight connectivity between the lyrics and the events occuring in the video e.g. the coffee machine 'explodes like a volcano', work= hell, the printer is the devil.
There is a clear beginning, middle and end.

Beginning- Walking to work, everything is very repetetive and everyone does the same trip every day.

Middle- At work he often escapes into a better world, one which is happy and colourful , compared to the dull, colourless 'golden path' of his office.

End- He escapes the dull work place for his happy place :)

The structure is generally linear as we are presented with a sense of progression throughout the song. We don't really have any non-linear aspects in this video. The narrative sticks to the conventions of a story by having the villian as the boss man as he's tough on the main character and gives him really bad wages for doing his work.

Genre:
The video has a narrative but there is no performance, whatsoever, by the actual artists in this video as The Chemical Brothers have developed their own style or genre.

Binary Opposites:
Stress vs Calm
Work vs Play
Colour vs Black and White
Control vs Freedom
Good vs Bad
Happy vs sad

Mise En Scene:
The costume is scruffy showing the fact that he has low wages, and the girls yellow dress helps create that contrast between the happy place and his work place. It also shows the 'hippy' side of it. There are dull lights in the office to emphasise the 'hellish' feeling to the office and then it changes to natural lights outside. The props are very much office like props to show his work place, but the photocopier turns into 'the devil' in this video metaphorically.

'Hippy stuff':
Smiley, yellow campervan.
The record player and the bubble are all connotations of happy or cheerful.
The setting in the office is very dull compared to outside on the field where it is much more happier and cheerful.

Cinematography:
We get a close-up of a man with the sun behind him and this shows how miserable the man is. We get a close-up of the payslip which shows us how terrible this life that he lives day in day out is. An over the shoulder shot we get shows how much the boss has power over his employees. We get a 2shot as the man gets changed and the other workers are confused about what he is doing. Then the full shot is of the hippies to show that no one is unhappy here, its a wonderful, happy place to be so the screen is filled with happiness, it connotes freedom. The handheld shot we get of the boss as he walks into the office shows his anger at the man. And last but not least we are presented with a POV shot as the man and woman are spinning and this shows their closeness and gives a good view of the others happy facial expressions.

Editing:
We are presented with lots of continuity editing as we get a sense of progression, which follows a storyline/fantasy. The slow cuts we get are of the hippy place where time and worry doesn't seem to be a factor unlike the fast cuts in the office to show how much of a catastrophy it is. The wierd transitions as the man gets lost in the shirt turns out to be a clever metaphor.

Representation:
The idea of the video with lyrics shows the Chemical Brothers as free-spirited and the leading male represents this as gonig into a dream world. The workplace is seen as boring with bland colours which shows the main characters lives and style. The dream world is colourful and everyone is having fun and this shows what he aspires to be like.

Target Audience:
The target audience is the younger male orientated and its aids the fantasy of the male gender. it dramatises the fantasies of young people in boring jobs. They may be influence to quit their job and have fun. Dancing= Pleasure.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers- Higher Ground:

Genre:
The performance by the artist makes it a music video, they are performing their song in front of a blue screen and adding images into thr background. There is no narrative in this video as it is focusing on the band, it shows off their instruments and the singer singing. It dramatises the instruments and the band playing their instruments.

Narrative:
The song is about the 'world' going round and round, and people being stuck into wars. The images in the background link to this general narrative. It's montage and not linear. The lyrics somewhat match the images in the background.

Binaray Opposites:
Black and white vs Colourful
Past vs Present
Band vs The World
An Individual vs A Crowd

Mise En Scene:
The colourful costumes promotes the bands images to contrast with the black and white images. It creates a visually exciting picture. The topless look again promotes the band and a 'manly' look with the muscles on show. The props are just the instruments which gives us an insight as to which band member plays which instrument. The blue screen images are black and white footage in a mixture to the colourful animations. The picture of the people round in a circle mirroring the 'world turning round' and the kaleidoscope image helped to emphasise that and the band members lying head to head as the world was spinning.

Cinematography:
There are a lot of low angle, dutch angled shots which create a weird sensation of the world spinning. The tracking shots gonig towards and around the performers as we get a shot of all the band members not just the main singer. The high angled shots lookin down on the group of people walking around to show the full circle of the world going round and also to look down on the band as they are performing so we get a variety of different shots on the performers.

Editing:
We are presented with fast paced editing and this reflects the heavy or fast tempo of the song. Montage editing in the backgroun when using the images to link to lyrics and the lipsynching of the singer helps in creating fluidity.

Target Audience:
A young audience but in the late 80s as this is an older video. The bright colours and energetic performance by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers is what is appealing to the younger generation's values. The pleasure of watching a high energised performance with a charismatic singer and musicians is what attracts the younger audience to this band. It could possible influence a new fashion statement as the clothes are very individual and unique.