Friday, 28 June 2013
Thursday, 20 June 2013
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Monday, 17 June 2013
A wonderful vid from Film Riot
Just watched a Film Riot video on YouTube. Great insight into how a professional looking music video is made. Although we may not have access to the kind of equipment used, as said in the video music videos are entirely visual. I feel confident that I can make a great video if I use great visuals.
Friday, 14 June 2013
Danny Clinch
John Mayer's Slow Dancing In A Burning Room - Where The Light Is
Clinch's Artist History:
- Eddie Vedder
- Spoon
- Ryan Bingham
- Kris Kristofferson
- Charlie Mars
- Ben Harper and Relentless
- John Legend
- O.A.R
- Melissa Etheridge
- Chris Daughtry
- Tom Waits
- Pearl Jam
- Bruce Springsteen
- Willie Nelson
- Van Morrison
- Dave Matthews
- John Mayer
Above is Daughtry's Home, another video by Clinch
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| Showcase 01 |
Clinch's most successful work is arguably his grammy nominations, Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" and Mayer's "Where The Light Is". He has also released other successful music documentaries and full length concert videos, such as "Immagine in Cornice" which followed Pearl Jam throughout their tour of Italy and 2006's "Skin and Bones" which tracked the Foo Fighters. (From here the links are optional)
Clinch is also heavily involved in photography, perhaps more so than film. He has photographed anyone who is anyone in the music business, and held a photo room at the 53'rd grammy awards ceremony. On his website there are numerous show cases to be viewed. He has also delved into advertising, taking on the fashion work of John Varvatos in which he photographed many famous musicians wearing Varvatos, such as Dave Matthews, Slash, Joe Perry, Paul Weller, Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop. He is a great photographer, and his work speaks for it's self.
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| Varvatos Fashion featuring Dave Matthews and a monkey |
Clinch has also set up his own production company called Three on the Tree, and all his full concert films and documentaries are produced through his own company. This means that the success of his grammy nominations is also linked to his production company.
I love Danny Clinch's work and he happens work with some of my favorite artists. I love the minimalist style of just recording shows and studio work. I also admire that he has stuck to what he enjoys and still found success. He hasn't followed other directors in forcing narrative lines and such.
Saturday, 8 June 2013
The Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger
Artist: The Police
Song: Wrapped Around Your Finger
Album: Synchronicity
Date of Release: 1983 (UK), '84 (US)
Label: A&M
Genre: Pop Rock, New Wave
The video begins with a shot of a single candle, but then pans up to reveal a whole field of them. We the see Sting doing a crazy Sting-like dance in the centre of them.
Next, we see Stewart Copeland on his kit and Andy Summers on guitar. It's interesting how Sting is doing a dance rather than playing bass. This 'New Wave' genre was new and exciting, and the video is slightly unconventional in the sense that Sting isn't playing his instrument. This video is again probably closest to Goodwin's heavy rock/metal from band setup perspective. There is a lot of live performance as Goodwin suggests. The first shots we see of Copeland and Summers are of them playing. This shows that for the genre and band playing is important.
The visuals and lyrics do not really match up. The weakest link is in Stings dance/run, which is slightly suggestive of breaking free. The song is about relationship manipulation and how relationships can turn and become a power game. The candles are over the top (as there are thousands) and perhaps suggest romance which is slightly contradictory to the lyrics.
The music and visuals work well together. The song is slightly spacey and the visuals are too. However there isn't any strong links between the music and visuals. Shots are often cut in time to the music.
The Label doesn't seem to have had too much of an influence. There are many shots of Copeland and Summers, although the prevalence lies with Sting. His dance seems pretty genuine and as singer he naturally comes to the front of the band.
There is no reference to the notion of looking, as no screens feature in the video. This is perhaps to draw away from technology and pop culture and focus on the music. There are also no females in the film, again because attention is focused on the music and Sting.
Dave Matthews Band - Satellite
Artist: Dave Matthews Band (DMB)
Song: Satellite
Album: Under the Table and Dreaming
Date of Release: 1995 (Live version released in '93 on Remember Two Things)
Label: RCA in the US, V2 everywhere else
Genre: Well DMB are kind of their own genre, but I guess it's umbrella'd into Rock
This is another really cool music video. Goodwin suggested that hard rock/metal video's will feature live performance. Although DMB is neither of these, the video's main narrative is watching them perform the song. The demands of the label are also shown through the prevalence of Dave Matthews. Any DMB fans know that in this particular band the usual hierarchy is ignored. Each member is valued the same by the band and fans alike. Obviously the label want Dave to be at the forefront and as the singer/guitarist he need to take up most of the shots. There are interestingly two other parts to the video. One of a lady blowing bubbles outside, and the other, played by Johnny Galecki (Leonard from TBBT, although much younger), of a man watching multiple screens flicking through channels.
The first person seen in the video is a bubble blowing female. She circles around blowing bubbles for all of her shots. One particular shot displayed a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, when she blew a string of bubbles into the air while the lyrics were 'Rest high about the clouds, no restriction'. The bubbles have no restriction and float up to the couds.
The footage of the video is generally 'feel good'. The band look happy and the girl is enjoying herself. Galecki's character is perhaps slightly frustrated that there's nothing on TV. This is a clear relationship between the music and visuals, as the music is also blissful.
Galecki's narrative is based on the idea of screens within a screen, as he's staring at multiple screens looking like a bit of a nerd. This is another relationship between the lyrics and visuals as the song is about the 'Television we bounce round the world'.
This also links to pop culture and obviously television. The lyrics are reflecting on the amount of TV that's accessible and the idea that the tabloids are like vultures and we all love to follow them following certain high profile names, for example 'Peeping Tom for the mother station'.
Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble - Couldn't Stand the Weather
I am a huge Stevie Ray fan and he is a massive influence on the music I play outside of school. Couldn't Stand the Weather was released in '84 and is Stevie's best work since his rehabilitation. The video for the title song was frequently shown on MTV, clearly because it's such a cool video.
Chroma keying features heavily in the video, supplying the background weather imagery for SRV and Double Trouble. In the 80's green or blue screens were popular, especially with presenting the weather (perhaps a small link). The use of this obviously allows for the appearance of stormy conditions without having to submit yourself to an actual storm. However, SRV decided that he would use real weather conditions anyway. They must have had a blast filming, trying to keep the cameras and such from getting soaked. This must also be one of the only music video's around where the band get covered in rain and play against a gale, which shows a clear relationship between the lyrics and visuals. So cool.
The video is iconic amongst blues lovers, mainly because SRV is held as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. For me, he is the greatest of all time. Interestingly Stevie puts aside his preferred Fender Strat and picks up a Hamilton, probably so that is doesn't get wet. I like the close up shot towards the beginning of the video in a kind of dated way, where Stevie grabs the neck and as he pulls it upwards in comes a shot of the headstock. It seems quite a clever shot as it seems to be one piece of footage, but obviously it isn't.
The video features a lot of band performance as well as a sequence of conflict or confrontational scenes with two people standing in front of their flag. SRV and Double Trouble's performance fits Andrew Goodwins genre theory of the heavy rock/metal genre. Blues features a similar band setup as these genres, in this case a trio. There is heavy instrument focus, such as the close ups of the drum kit, bass and guitar towards the beginning.
The sub-narrative of the conflicts taking place infront of difference flags is perhaps aiming to make a political statement of some kind. I think this is free from interpretation. It's interesting, however, that similar to Bowie's 'Just Dance' (which also features SRV for the guitar solo :P), this seems to perhaps have weak relations to the song itself.
The video also features accurate lip syncing, although perhaps sometimes a little behind. Lip syncing is present in nearly every music video. The shots are also usually cut in time to the music. This makes the video easy to watch because it flows and rolls off the music. It also helps the music to be the audience's focus.
SRV is wearing clothing that is very iconic of himself. He is using his favourite guitar strap, and wearing baggy 'Hendrix' style clothing. He was often seen in his hat, and this is used well in the shot where the rain is dripping onto the peak. This clothing style is reoccurring in all his videos and live performances, and so is perhaps a motif or icon.
Overall, I have a very biased view of this music video. Being a huge SRV fan I automatically love the video. That aside, I think it's a pretty cool video anyway. Who else would play in the rain?
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