Explain how representations in music videos are chosen to promote the artist(s) - Massive Attack & Radiohead...
Radiohead. A classic of alternative British music, maybe even said in the same breath as other alternative greats. Massive attack. A legacy of British hip hop and post punk attitude to music. Each represent each in different ways, each being better for the different bands. Here is my interpretation of each bands music video, Burn the Witch by Radiohead & Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack.
First of all, an analysis of the music of Burn the Witch, the chords chosen and the instruments used, and to what effect these certain things have on the audience. Now to begin heavier, the key chosen for the songs. Looking at it, it would seem quite simple, F Sharp Major is used. However, the chords used do not follow F Sharp Major, and instead follows the chords of F Sharp Minor but all the chords are major. This technique is hard to explain but easy to explain the effects it creates. As a listener to the song, you have a sense of creepy happiness, out of place happiness. The instrumentation changes the feeling of the song, and emphasizes this weird choice of musical theory, as the full orchestra sounds more horror than the happy major sound of the chords. This as an audience enhances the effect of the songs choices. However, as a critic, I prefer the live version, as the light instrumentation creates a sense of subdued foreboding I haven't seen a band do ever. The lyrics of Burn the Witch perfectly fit the instrumentation, showing and creating parallels of a hidden happiness which seems odd and out of place. In my opinion, the song shows the alienation of British culture and the fear of standing up to injustice seen in our modern society. It is therefore interesting that the music video creates a clear link between the song and The Wicker Man, a film entailing the demise of a man who was alienated by a community of crazed fanatics. However, this music video isn't all connected by theme. A huge juxtaposition of the music video is the use of animation seen in the video and the content this music video explore, such as religion, alienation, surveillance and hatred, as the video shows graphic material from the Bible and satanism with a bright, childlike animation style. This form of animation actually refers to the Trumptonshire Trilogy, a childhood series of Radiohead. This could be to market to a certain audience for Radiohead. However, I see it more as an oxymoronic style of animation the songs content and context that really shows Radioheads style of plain old bizarre. This video, and its representation, appeals to the interesting demographic of Radiohead. A weird and bizarre adventure that is psychedelic in nature. The fact that you can tell it's Radiohead without having Radiohead in it says something about the music and the video that accompanies.
Next, an analysis of the music of Unfinished Sympathy and what effect it has on the audience. To make it easier, the production of the music is quite effective and simple, taking queues and ideas from American hip hop and its sampling. Using samples from Jazz &C. genres. This style of production, whilst using quite classic and old fashioned samples, creates a weathered and aged feeling. This is also supported by the mixing of the song, having quite an aged and crackling sound. The way the song is made seems quite modern, especially the use of orchestral backing, seen in other hip hop music like Eminem, Plan B, etc. This unique instrumentation creates a huge weight to the music that might not be there if traditional hip hop production was used. Next is the lyrics, to some it seems quite plain and simple... a love song. But from my perspective, due to the over flood of love songs, there is a kind of cliche attitude towards any love song and the emotion. However, there is a kind of hate to this song that makes me think it's not a love song but instead a song of hatred that leads to obsession, the title also seems quiet supportive of this not being a love song, with Unfinished Sympathy having a sense of cut off care, maybe due to an abusive relationship or even an unrequited love? Once looked into deeper, this song means so many things from different perspectives. An interesting thing about this video is the realistic background to the surrealist main lead, an impossible forth wall lead with a quite average normal day life. This makes it so the people you see seem more realistic but the lead Shara Nelson doesn't. It helps the lead stand out. The way the band mates are represented is quite minimal because you don't really see style of them.
Overall, I believe the representation of each music video and song is drastically different, with Burn the Witch oozing stylistic choices only Radiohead would make, whilst Unfinished Sympathy is quite bland in the way it is shot, the colour scheme, and the style. However, both have different aims, with Radiohead wanting to be as Radiohead as possible, whilst Massive attack wanted a more real video. It's my opinion though that representation is so much better in Burn the Witch because it's so weird only Radiohead would do it. Whilst Unfinished Sympathy seems cliche, not at the time, but as a viewer now, most viewer have seen a better executed version of this.
