Avant Garde refers to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture and politics. This artistic movement began in France in 1850.
Robert Florey, The Love of Zero, 1928..
The literal meaning is "Advanced Guard" and it represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or status quo.
Avant-Garde 2: Experimental Cinema
The concept of Avant Guard refers to artists, writer, composers and thinkers whose work is opposed to mainstream cultural values and often has a social or politicaledge.
Avant Garde music is a term used to characterise music which is thought to be ahead of its time or containing unique and original elements, or unexplored fusions of different genres.
This is the full 35 minute version. Kanye West says that the video is a narrative about a phoenix, which is a mythical bird that lives for thousands of years and then burns to ash before a new phoenix arises from the ash. The phoenix is a symbol of spiritual revival. This is a video that includes Avant Garde because of it's juxtaposition between stillness and fast movement and because of it's powerful images.
Lady Gaga is one of the more obvious choices for examples of Avant Garde because of her out-there fashion sense that, most of the time, seem to be depicting messages.
In a way our music video idea is a parody of the majority of narratives you see in music videos today. Most narratives are about love and relationships, our idea starts off like this, but then turns twisted as the boys date doesn't show up.
After choosing'Two Devils' Dog Is Dead as our song we needed to do a lot of planning for our music video, including getting permission, discussing and designing our story board, and market research.
The music video I am analysing is Family Portrait by Pink,
which Sophie Muller directed. Pink is normally associated with songs of a
rocky-pop genre however this song is thought to be of an R&B genre. However
the music video only follows a few of the typical characteristics of an R&B music
video. Typical characteristics of an R&B video include:
·Part lip synching from the artist and part
narrative
·Close ups of the artist
·‘Showing off’ material possessions
·Maybe some dancing
·Usually set in nightclubs or party atmosphere
The music video has subtly taken the lyrics into account. If
you were to hear the song before seeing the video you would imagine a random
family’s lives being portrayed or Pink’s family being portrayed. The song is
about Pink’s relationship with her family, and the lyrics and video portray the
events through the eyes of her as a child. So in the video most of the
lip-synching is done by a child version of Pink, (although some is done by Pink
herself) who wears the same clothes as Pink to show this.
The lyrics “glasses breaking” near the beginning of the song
links to when Pink wakes up right at the beginning of the video and smashes the
glass as she answers the phone. As well as this the end lyrics of “pretty
happy” is shown through the cereal that is aptly called Pretty Happy.
The editing of the music video is fast paced and at the
beginning it cuts in time to the beat of the music. This is a common convention
in most music videos. This is demonstrated from the beginning when Pink is
lying in bed and there are quick cuts of her changing positions in time to the
beat. This is also done with a range of close-up shots and long shots to show
Pink as the artist of the music video. There are also a lot of uses of jump
cuts when “little Pink’ is playing with Pinks hair and arguing with her over
cereal.
The critical response to the song was that it was ‘stripped
back’ and ‘different to what Pink originally released’ which is reflected
through the music video. Compared to previous music videos that Pink had
released previously this music video is simple and really highlights the issues
and urgency that is underlying in the lyrics of the song. Pink also tried to
make the audience understand and accept her representation of pain, frustration
and aloneness through the lyrics and the images of her as a child and her as an
adult. This song has unofficially been named the national anthem for young kids
who have been through the harsh effects of divorce of their parents. The song
addresses how Pink struggled through her parents divorce but it also addressed
to other kids, encouraging them to talk to their parents.
The use of a TV advert in the music video highlights the
‘perfect family’, which is essentially what Pink wants. The contrast between
how the family dress and act towards each other and how Pink and “little Pink”
dress and act towards each other is highlighted through cross cuts. It portrays
how upset Pink was with her family and what she wished she had. This is again
highlighted at the end of the video when “little Pink” is taken into the TV
screen to join the perfect family. This again shows that this was what Pink
wanted to do when she younger ‘run from the noise run away’.
Some conventions of a typical music video are followed as
Pink lip synchs to the lyrics but there are also cross cuts between Pink and
“little Pink” lip synching to show that all the events that took place when she
was a child still affect her now.
There are subtlemessages in the music video highlighting
how Pink felt through all the different scenarios. For example at 1:23 in the
music video when Pink is talking to the lawyer, there is a picture behind them
saying ‘CRUEL’ which is how Pink felt towards her parents when they were
getting a divorce when she was younger. The music video is an amplification of
the lyrics and the visual.
The music video ends with the perfect family portrait, which
appears to be real but through the nature of the lyrics is there a hint of
fakeness behind it? It also ends with cross cutting of the family portrait and
Pink, which highlights her aloneness and her wishes of being in the perfect
family. The music video is primarily narrative-based although there is an
element of performance by Pink, however it is stripped back and just her
lip-synching to the lyrics.
Overall the Pink music video “Family Portrait” has
successfully achieved an outcome of delivering a message to her fans and
expressing and revealing a vulnerable side to herself.
Illustrationis the simplest and easiest concept to base a music video around as it is just a literal meaning to the song’s lyrics in visual form. For example, Coldplay use illustrative ideas for their music video 'Paradise'. When Chris Martin (lead singer of Coldplay) sings the lyrics 'When she was just a girl' the lyrics are written on a piece of card that he holds.
Amplification is closely related to disjuncture, but amplification is just the enhancement of a concept while still retaining a link to it. An example of this would be 'Please Don't Leave Me' by Pink. The message is simple; she doesn't want her boyfriend to leave her, however the idea of not letting him leave is amplified.
Disjuncture is the idea of completely ignoring the song’s meaning or concept and instead, creating a whole new set of meanings or images that can be put to the song. An example of this would be 'Telephone' by Lady Gaga. People assumed that because the lyrics were pretty simple meanings that the video would be simple too. How wrong they were! Lady Gaga set a whole new meaning for calling someone.
It is very clear that music videos released nowadays have very typicalconventions. For example most music videos feature:
closeups of the artist - whether they are doing a dance routine or following a narrative themselves - E.A.Kaplan's theory
scopophilia - this Laura Mulvey's theory that women and men are portrayed in music videos as sexual objects and the artists themselves implore the audience to look at them in this way
edits that match the beat/speed of the song
close ups, long shots and mid shots used to emphasise artist, location and emotions
camera tracking to follow artist
colours that set the mood of the song
Here are a few examples that follow these conventions Rihanna - Only Girl In The World
In this video there are definitely close up's of Rihanna, there is use of Rihanna being seen as a sexual object and luring men and women to look at her in that light. Recently being provocative in her music and videos has been Rihanna's trademark. There are cuts throughout that are in time with the beat and the speed of the music. The closeups of Rihanna are used to show her emotions which convey that she is happy therefore the song is a feel good song, the long shots and mid shots also show her surroundings and the colours of the location. The location is flowery which may symbolise being girly and the colours are reds, pinks and yellows, which symbolise lust, love and happiness. There is also use of camera tracking throughout and it follows Rihanna everywhere. JLS - One Shot
Obviously this is a boy band so of course there are going to be close ups. However boy band video close ups tend to focus on the mostpopular boy band member. In this case it is the member who starts the song, he is usually the main focus in most of their videos and he also gets the most solos in their songs. This video is an example of how scopophilia can be used to show men as sexual objects in their music video and JLS are known for showing off their bodies. The close ups are also effective in showing off more of JLS' trademarks, such as low cut tops, fashionable clothing and dance routines. Cuts and also the transition of dance moves are in time with the beat and speed of the song, as well as lighting and the specialeffects that were added post-production. The colours are bluish and grey which sets a sombre and serious tone to the music video however the sparks and the lights, as well as some of the burgundy colour clothing JLS are wearing, makes the video have a slightly warm feel to it. Chris Brown - Don't Wake Me Up
When this video first came out people noticed the intertextuality of the film 'Inception'. Having abnormal dreams and the special effects of this video match how it was done in the film. Transitions, which are also leading to a close up of Chris Brown, are in time with the beat and speed of the music. And the long shot at the beginning shows the location and also the mood of the song because the sunrise and warm colours are completely contrast with the cold colours that are in the video later. His dreams have warm colours which show that it is where he wants to be, but the shots of him sleeping have cold colours showing that he is trying to escape his reality and live in his dreams. However Chris Brown's trademark is highly choreographed dance routines which this video does not have, this was Chris Brown's way of showing that he can do "ballads" and simple songs/videos.
Ferdinand de Saussure talks about the theory of semiology, which is the deconstruction of the significance of images and words; the meaning of images; the associations the audience brings to the symbol. Roland Barthes breaks down semiology of image into 3 components:
the signifier - the associations
the signified - the meaning behind the associations
the sign- the signifier and the signified are interwoven in the shape you see
There are also 3 types of signs Iconic - the object it is representing. For example a photograph or drawing. It usually represents a person
Indexical - direct connection with the object. For example black cloud = rain or a scream = fear Symbolic - the connection with the object is a matter of convention, rule or cultural knowledge/agreement which is learnt. For example a red rose = romance or a heart = love. For our music video I think that we will use some symbols but I think that these symbols may be perceived differently through different interpretations. For example one of our ideas for a shot is to have post it notes around a picture of our main character's date, with information around them. Even though this is not technically a symbol it is still down to interpretation whether this is creepy or showing our character's attentive nature.
1) Music videos demonstrate genrecharacteristics. For example metal music videos are normally of stage performances.
2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals - illustrative, amplifying and contradicting.
3) There is a relationship between music and visuals - illustrative, amplifying and contradicitng.
4) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. A trademark or symbol that they are known for.
5) There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the male/female body. This is very apparent right now with such artists as Rihanna and boy bands such as JLS.
6) There is often intertextualreferences from films or if it is a parody video that reflects an argument in the lyrics.
The first thing that is noticed in this video is that Eminem is absent in most of it, which is not ordinary for most music videos, he only appears in flashbacks and then right at the end. But his presence is felt as Stan has a sort of shrine to him, so Eminem is there through pictures, posters and videos. The song features Eminem's voice but as Stan's monologue and Stan's appearance is a copy of Eminem. In this song and video Eminem underlines the relationship between him and his fans, he explores the over-identification of a fan with a star. The idea that a fan can feel like they know their idol personally because of how much access and information we have and know of them. As soon as the video starts it is gloomy and rainy which is echoed at the end when Stan is driving his car. Stan's girlfriend is played by Dido who also features on the track. It starts with Dido knocking on the door of the bathroom, she is heavily pregnant with Stan's baby. Stan is bleaching his hair to look like Eminem and the house that they live in looks shabby and under furbished. The style of this scene is reminiscent of the killers' lairs in Silence Of The Lambs (Jonathan Demme 1990). The dialogue in this scene is very important as Dido questions his behaviour and asks 'Don't you think you're taking this too far?' which then leads to a shot of Stan's basement which is a shrine to Eminem. The fragmented cutting and movement of the camera add to the uneasiness and creepiness of Stan and his behaviour. The final horrifying sequence begins when Dido goes down to Stan's basement and finds a picture that Stan has cut her out of and replaced with Eminem. With her in the boot of the car, Stan drives manically in the rain towards the bridge whilst recording his monologue on a tape recorder. It is essentially his suicide note blaming it on Eminem not replying to any of his letters and ignoring him and his little brother. The irony of this is that he never gets the chance to send it, because of its high use of violence and swearing I opted for analysing the clean version. This video was also heavily censored when it appeared on TV music channels. Eminem delivers the last verse, sitting in his trailer replying to fan mail. As he writes the letter, urging Stan to get help, he realises that the news story that had been playing in the background is of Stan. The visual imagery is closely linked to the lyrics which is a distinctive feature in most rap music videos. There is also a strong emphasis on looking and being 'peeping Tom's' into other people's lives, which is how most of us are with celebrities. I think that this video could influence some of the choices we make for ours. None of us want a heavy lip-synching video, we would prefer to have none at all. So the narrative will be very important. Now it's just to decide whether to have a narrative that is an amplification of the lyrics or a disjuncture.
For my first music video analysis I used AndrewGoodwin's concept of synaesthesia. He states that listeners 'see' images when music is heard. So first I listened to Madonna's song Frozen without watching the video and noted down a few images that I 'saw' when I listened to the song.
The notes I made whilst listening to the song
I then watched the video and saw that many of my images had been correct although they had been intensified to suit Madonna. Through research about the video I found out that this was filmed in a desert in California and was directed by Chris Cunningham. The bluish colours and appearance of Madonna make her look like a witch in my opinion. Especially with the patterns on her hands and wrists. The colours also create an atmosphere of cold and ice which relates to the lyrics and title of the song. The low key lighting also creates this effect by producing a lot of shadows. The shadows are very important in this video as they link Madonna with the other animals (dog, horse, birds). There is also use of scopophilia which is the concept of a male or female artist inviting people to look at her. With all the hand movements and close up shots of Madonna this is very apparent but it is also obvious that this is done because it is Madonna and she is such a big star. It is also related to E. A. Kaplan's theory that the return to the close up of the singer's face acts as a key anchoring motif - a visual hook.
