~Music Video Evaluation~ [Teardrop]

The final music video I have chosen to evaluate is Teardrop by Massive Attack. The song is mainly known due to being the theme tune to the TV series 'House', but the album to me is important as it features Elizabeth Fraser of the Coctau Twins working alongside an incredibly sophisticated Trip Hop/Electronica group.

The video is quite frightening in an unconventional way. Something about seeing an unborn baby singing and floating is terrifying. Initially, the camera pans downwards from the umbilicle cord to the baby floating below. The lighting here is incredibly low-key, and everything has a warm orange glow to simulate the womb. Simulating a heart beat, we see the lighting going light and dark continuously every few seconds, and much of the video is filmed in one continuous shot following the babies actions and his lip syncing. The baby is initially seen in a shallow depth of field, secondary to the bits of tissue floating aroung in the foreground. We see a close up of the babies face coming into focus soon after. The camera often zooms out and editing makes the entire screen black, so that when colour is restored we can see a new image beneath, for example the baby in a different position. When the babies face is zoomed in on he is slightly off-centre to avoid being directly symmetrical with the shot. We see a close up low-angle shot of the babies eyes illuminated as they open, developing the ominous sense of the video further.

The baby is then seen in a medium shot, his or her entire body in complete view as light flashes across their body from an outside source. We are led to believe that perhaps this baby is about to be born, although it is difficult to tell from the video. As the baby slowly fades into the darkness, we see them beginning to sink in the womb, and the lyrics and atmosphere of the song almost make it seems as if the baby is dying. The horrific image of them fading into the darkness is rather horrifying, and it is clear that Teardrop uses lighting as the main way in which to demonstrate the emotional impact of the narrative. The flashing bright lights spanning across the babies small form at the end of the video during the songs climax hit this frightening, thought-proviking atmosphere home, and we can only wonder what happened to the baby at the end - either he was born, or he's died. There's no way really to tell, which is incongruent to the almost inaudible lyrics of the song, and the atmospheric music accompanying the video.

~Music Video Evaluation~ [Life in Technicolour II]

Continuing with my surreal theme, Life in Technicolour II by Coldplay is an interesting little music video. The band-members don't make an appearance within the track, and are instead represented as figurines of themselves on a fate stage, mirroring Punch and Judy. We see humans in the audience opposite the figurines, who are playing their intstruments and singing, to create a rather intricate parallel between the two.

The video begins with a long shot of a tavern, which cuts to a close-up shot of people walking into the building. Overlapping these scene is diagetic sound, as the song does not yet begin. Instead, we hear voices of people talking incoherently, as if waiting for something to happen. Inside the room we see elderly people talking, and there is some sort of bake sale occuring. As the shot shows the puppets in medium shot, we see a reaction shot from the children laughing as the puppets attack one another. We then see an establishing shot of the stage as the camera zooms out, giving us a good scope of events which will occur next. We see close-up shots quickly edited together of the members of the band playing instruments, and a high-angle shot of a girl reaching for a Coldplay book. An over the shoulder shot shows her point of view looking at the book, and she looks back up from a low angle to see the figurines playing their instruments, and the Chris Martin puppet singing when the music begins.

The lighting in this scene is rather high-key, and the children are all dressed in typical young clothing to show their innocence and surprise when the puppets and figurines on stage begin singing. A panning shot is seen circling the stage to capture the singer. The stage then becomes more of a realistic one, with speakers and amps placed around, and the lighting becomes low-key, with the regimented band members playing their song, the light from above centering on the singer. As Chris Martin walks out nearer the audience, we see a shallow depth of field with him in complete focus and the background blurred to show his importance as the main focus of attention. There are frequent medium reaction shots of the confused audience as they watch the show before them. At the end of the video the band take off in a helicoptor and leave the surprised audience behind, their shocked reactions making us wonder what has exactly happened within this video. Their shocked responses can be expected, especially when these little puppets begin smashing their equipment and bursting into flame at the end of the video.

~Music Video Evaluation~ [Piano Lessons]

Piano Lessons is one of the most bizarre music videos I have ever seen. Watching it through the first time, I have to say that it confused me. The surreality here is unsurpassed by anything I've seen before in a music video.

The video begins with a close-up shot of the dealer playing cards, which cuts to a shot of a faded shot of the members of the band in blur focus. The shot then pans very quickly to a spaceman from a high-angle shot, and the camera zooms in to show the spaceman ironing a CD. The editing works in time with the music, which is fast paced, to create a sense of disjointedness in the song. For example, lines typically seen in old-fashioned films often flash across the screen during the video, as if this is being filmed in the past. The camera often shows those within the video in soft, shallow focus, and the depth of field alters often. The cunning use of zooming in, rarely used in music videos, works brilliantly here to create a sense of surreality once more.

Interesting captions show up throughout the video, referencing the video within. For example, at 8 seconds a circus-like poster tells us that his is a 'promotional video'. At various stages of the video we are also greeted by messages such as 'Hook' and 'Guitar Solo', informing us of what is coming next. This creates an odd sense of certainty about the music, and the way in which the whole concept is one of a circus develops an almost sinister sense. We see the members of the band tied up, or attired in odd clothing, and they frequently stand beside this space-man character who is seen performing a variety of odd tasks (pushing a hoover over a CD, ironing a CD). This could be some form of subliminal message, or it could just be to lend shape to the overall bizarre music video. The lightning within the video is oftne low-key and gritty, with various different locations changing the context. Part seems to be filmed within a studio, and the other features open-area landscapes. Flashing imagery of the members in a mannequin-type stance develops the sense of uncertainty about the video, and the way in which the music is psychadelic further makes the viewer wonder just what's going on.

We see odd use of props to centre the characters - they often appear off-centre, and for example, standing in front of a frame re-enacting some form of drama piece, as if to reference memories (''I remember Piano Lessons/the hours in freezing rooms''). Between 30-33 seconds we see a cheeky deliberate subliminal message telling us to buy their album, so the band are very much aware that their video is a work of humour as well as art. The old-fashioned theme of the music video in conjunction with modernism seems to suggest that Porcupine Tree are reviving a genre of music which began in the 70's in the 2000's, and we have to sympathise with the video - the clever use of lighting, blur effects and flashing bizarre images all work together to create a sense of wonder and fascination.

~CD Cover Evaluation~ [Odelay]

Odelay is Beck's second studio album, and a particularly striking one to look at. Two things initially jump out at us whilst viewing this CD - firstly, the bathmat mop-head...thing jumping over the stand. The second is the outrageous font expressing the word 'Odelay!', a completely fictional word. Two things we learn from this is that, 1) This album will not be another typical alternative affair, and 2) There is something very odd about this album.

As much as the mop-head looks like...well...a mop-head, it's somewhat of an eye-opener to read the linear notes within the album to find out that actually, this isn't a mop-head at all; the bounding creature is in fact a dog called a Komondor, originating from Hungary. Focusing less on the dog itself, but what it stands for, the album seems to suggest that this dog is leaping over a hurdle, which could emphasise the hurdle Beck was experiencing after the less-than-successful release of his first studio album, One Foot in the Grave. On a less pretentious outlook, the dog is merely a comical, jaded image used to promote the album as iconic. No other album will have an image like this on the front, and the fact that the dog might as well be a mop-head further enforces the uniqueness of the CD cover. The dog is clearly the focus of our attention, and the trees in the background are in shallow focus. The trees serve little purpose, other than to show that the dog is at a racing track. The image itself is humerous and is designed to grab the attention of walkers by into the vice-like grip of Beck's silky smooth alternative music.

The font is inherently important on this CD cover. Whereas The Sky Moves Sideways and Awake use fairly small font, merely to show the name of the band and album, Odelay seems far more focused on telling the audience who this album is by. The use of the exclamation mark after 'Beck' seems to make the audience think that they HAVE to respect Beck for this album, and that it's some great feat of musicianry that he's created. With added emphasis on Beck's name, followed by the album name, 'Odelay', we clearly denote that this is an album designed to use a sudden, bizarre image in dichotomy with an abstract and blunt font to hammer the message of the album in. This album is Becks announcement to the world, and he's going to damn-well show it. Through the use of otherwise simplistic artwork (Odelay is a photograph rather than an illustration), Odelay is very to-the-point, just as Beck's music is on the album. Therefore, although there is no reference between the album cover and the songs within, the fact that 'Odelay' isn't even a word makes this sort of the point. Just as 'Odelay' isn't recognised as a real word, the crazy mop-like dog isn't a conventional animal, and moreover, this album is not a conventional album.

For the humerous and bluntness of Beck's cover, Odelay is an interesting and enticing CD cover.

~CD Cover Evaluation~ [The Sky Moves Sideways]

The Sky Moves Sideways is the third studio album by Progressive Rock group, Porcupine Tree. The album cover is particularly striking to me above many others, mainly due to the bizarre and surreal aspects to it. What begins at first to be a simple rocky plain soon becomes much more through the inclusion of the red phone booth. The inclusion of such a structure is debateable, and interestingly none of the songs on the album reference it. Perhaps the red phone box is a reference to Britain? The band are most certainly British, and so perhaps they wish to show this through the use of the red phone booth.

On closer inspection however, other aspects of the cover become important. For example, the grey, cloudy sky above is appearing to be moving sideways, which is a reference to the name of the album. Moreover however, it paints an illustration of a powerful conceptual album, with looming clouds above threatening to crack lightning down upon the vista below. This use of weather imagery and pathetic fallacy of the storm mirrors the music within - it will be deeply thought-provoking and powerful, rumbling and ominous like the storm above.

The craggy rocks are also an area of discussion. There appears to be a telegraph pylon sticking out of the side of one of the cliffs. At first, this seems odd - why would the pylon be on it's side? But then it becomes clear. The rocky mass to the left of the album is in fact on it's side, flipped 90 degrees to emphasise the 'moved sideways' aspect of the album. This creates an interesting sense of wonderment to the album cover. It's not instantly clear that the ground is on it's side. It is interesting that the mass of rock takes up so much of the cover - whereas 'Awake' is distributed with enough space for all of the objects in question to be seen, The Sky Moves Sideways album cover seems almost dominated by this craggy mountain-side.

Ultimately, the way in which the album cover once more directly references the name of the album is an intelligent aspect of the design. Through the use of vibrant colours, foreboding, dark clouds and surreal elements, The Sky Moves Sideways is a bizarre but fascinating album cover.

~CD Cover Evaluation~ [Awake]

Awake is the third studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater. The cover is symbolic of the songs held within, making it a very useful album cover for evaluation. The track listing is as follows:

"6:00"
"Caught In A Web"
"Innocence Faded"
"A Mind Beside Itself: I. Erotomania"
"A Mind Beside Itself: II. Voices"
"A Mind Beside Itself: III. The Silent Man"
"The Mirror"
"Lie"
"Lifting Shadows Off a Dream"
"Scarred"
"Space-Dye Vest"

The tracks are heavily referenced on the cover of the album. For example:

- The hour and minute on the moon represents the song "6:00". The moon is seen as a clock, which is interesting as it's not instantly clear that it represents time. However, the hands are clearly pointing to the time 6:00, which is indeed a reference to the song within.
- The spider web beside the mirror represents the song "Caught in a Web". The spider again is difficult to see in the face of the larger objects on the album cover, but is clearly there to reference the song, 'Caught in a web'.
- The big mirror on the ground represents the song "The Mirror". The mirror itself is one of the largest objects in the foreground of the album cover, acting as an intelligent way of attracting viewer attention. The fact that the album cover is surreal in this way entices the reader to purchase the album.
- The false reflection seen on the mirror represents the song "Lie". The reflection is of an ominous figure who, in the face of the statue isn't the person before the mirror. In this way, the reflected image is a 'Lie'.
- The mirror's reflection in colour represents "Lifting Shadows Off A Dream''. The rest of the images are dark and foreboding, making the colour within the mirror interesting and clearly designed to be there.
- The old man represents "The Silent Man". The gothic feeling that this image creates develops a looming sense of wonder about the cover, and the fact that he is made of stone emphasises the fact that he is a'silent man'.
- The night sky with the planet represents the song "Space Dye Vest". The song itself speaks of a distant planet, which is clearly shown in the image of the night sky and space above.

The album to me is one of special interest due to the fact that it references so many of the songs within. The album cover is intelligent - individual areas are initially overlooked. I at first didn't realise that the moon was intended to be a clock. However, when listening to the songs and observing the album, it is quite clear to see that these references have been made for a reason. The album cover fits the genre of the music; as a rather heavy-sounding album, we receive a rather heavy illustration. The dystopic city in the background churning out smoke and smog emphasises the dark demeanor of the album, and the mountains leading over to it show the up and down riffs of the looming guitars and instruments, symbolic of the progressive genre.

The symbol on the floor before the mirror is the Dream Theater logo, elevated from the ground to show that they're advancing their music into the mainstream eye. The aforementioned images on the cover are surreal and seem out-of-place in a desolate landscape, invoking feelings of detachment and sorrow. The album itself is not a particularly upsetting or even dark album - the dark undertones of the album cover merely show the mystical essence of the album within.

On the ground before the mirror is the Dream Theater logo, and above is the trademark font of 'Dream Theater' written to show the bands prominence. The album itself is heavy and in line with the surreal imagery on the front cover, and therefore 'Awake' makes clever use of symbolism, references to songs and gritty realism to make their album appealing to an outside audience, and to surprise veterans to the album as they discovered the lyrics of the songs are interwoven with the images on the CD cover.

An Introduction to the Blog

Year 13 Blog (more coming soon)