Music Videos

1
Music Videos

• Why do we have music videos?
• Where do we see music videos?
• Who makes music videos?
• How have music videos changed over time?
• What are we likely to see in music videos?
• How much do music videos cost and how long do
  they take to film?

2

• Representations
• Contrast businessmen/women in smart suits
  stereotypes used as in a 4 minute video theres
  not that much allowance for complex characters
• Radiohead also wearing suits (Thom Yorke) but
  the suits are untidy. Tom Yorke wearing a
  leather jacket over his suit rebellion?
• Setting drab city, very cosmopolitan (link to
  the businessmen)

• Values and Ideology
• Deliberately there isnt a message use of the
  MacGuffin perhaps a reaction against story
  music videos
• Ideas of alienation no one understands the
  man
• Non-conformity see the representation of the
  band in contrast to the representation of the
  business people

• Institutions
• Radiohead British band of the 90s, known for
  making obscure videos that challenge perceptions
• Director of the video is Jamie Thraves, known
  for his experimental short films

• Audiences
• Fans of the band
• As it is unclear whether this is set in America
  or England from the video, we can assume that
  its for English speaking audiences (seen by the
  sub-titles and the fact that the song is in
  English) but cant be more specific than that

• Narrative
• Contrast as theres two narratives which
  converge at the end the main narrative with
  the man lying down and the singers.
• Possibly the singers are featured as Radiohead
  were not particularly well-known when this video
  was made perhaps the band are featured to ensure
  that people know their faces for publicity
  purposes
• MacGuffin used intrigue of why the man is on
  the floor keeps the audiences interest.

Radiohead Just

• Language and Forms
• Contrast the movement of Thom Yorke
  contrasting the stillness of the people on the
  floor at the end accentuates both (acts as a
  foil)
• Soundtrack is the bands song rocky,
  dramatic, full of riffs.
• Very washed out colours, man wears grey suit,
  etc. The only colour is Thom Yorkes hair,
  possibly to accentuate his importance. Link to
  Sid Vicious?
• Lyrics of the song dont particularly relate to
  the story, though possibly you do it to
  yourself refers to the paranoia of the main man
• Subtitles used so that we can hear the music
  and work out whats going on
• Stillness or very little movement when there is
  silence e.g. at the beginning and when Thom
  looks straight at the camera so movement linked
  to the sound

• Genre
• Mystery use of MacGuffin
• Drama dramatic ending, exacerbated by the
  dramatic impact of the music
• Obviously within the conventions of a music
  video short, featuring music and the band, etc.

3
Analysing Smooth Criminal

• Do a Med1 analysis, looking particularly at
• The use of colour (media language)
• The narrative presented, and the link between the
  lyrics and the narrative (narrative)
• The use of special effects (media language)
• The representation of Michael, Annie and the
  villains (representations)
• The message that the clip might show (media
  values)
• The target audience (media audiences)

4
Analysis of ATL Front Cover