In the late 50’s a machine was invented in France called a ‘Scopitone’. The ‘Scopitone’ was the first visual jukebox to be created and lead to the creation of several short films made by music artists in order to promote their music. This invention had a big influence on the way other countries and its use lead to the Italian invention of the ‘Cinebox’ and the American invention of the ‘Color-sonic’, these were both different models of the original ‘Scopitone’. The band ‘The Animals’ created one of the earliest performance clips for their 1964 hit ‘House Of The Rising Sun’. This was one of the first high quality, colour clips that was used to promote music. The clip was filmed in a studio on a specially built set that featured the group in a lip-synched and choreographed performance, it was made using an edited sequence of tracking shots, close-ups and long shots.
The Beatles were the first big, A-list band to catch on the idea of music videos, they realised that instead of going to gig’s and going on tour they could just make re-release their songs as music videos and sell their songs to their audience all over again, this was a big money maker. They made music videos for some of their songs such as, ‘Pennylane’, ‘Strawberry fields’ and ‘Yellow submarine’. This idea was soon used by bands such as ‘Queen’ and their hit single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ which has been noted for being entirely shot and edited on film.
It was from 1981 to 1991 that music videos really took off and went mainstream. In 1983 Michael Jackson released the video for his song ‘Thriller’ which has been quoted to be most successful and influential music video of all time being nearly 14 minutes long. It was in 1981 that MTV (music television) was created and was the first television channel that specifically broadcast music videos. In 1985, MTV launched the channel VH1 (video hits one) which was created to play softer music and appeal to the older audience. This was the first music channel that specifically appealed to a certain audience and you could say it was from this idea that all music channels were created to appeal to different audiences.
It was between 1992 and 2004 that music video directors really became credited and for the work they had done and started to become popular. This was when music videos started to become a representation of the song and the artist and when big money started to be thrown into the music video industry. It was in 1995 that a music director called ‘Romanek’ directed the video for the Michael and Janet Jackson song ‘Scream’ which cost $7million to make and is recorded as being the most expensive music video of all time. In the same year he also directed the video for Madonna’s ‘bedtime stories’ which cost $5million to make. These two videos can be credited for starting off the craze of making
Saturday 14 November 2009
Tony Petrossian
The director I have decided to do my study on is Tony Petrossian. Tony Petrossian is an Iranian director of music videos and advertisements. He was born in 1975 in Tehran and moved to europe during the Iranian revolution. His interest in directing stemmed from when he was 12 and his father brought home a video camera and he spent all night in his room fidling with the single frame recording function and made a 30 second stop motion animation peice in which his G.I. Joe action figure was filmed having fights with other toys. Tony got into 3D animation using the 'lightwave 1.0' software at the age of 13. At the age of 18 he majored in English Literature at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). He took a break from the world of film after this and Law school at USC (University of southern california). After passing his bar exam he went back into the world of directing for good. Tony signed with 'Rockhard Films' in 2002 and has been directing ever since. He has done groundbreaking work for many artists. Tony's Three Days Grace video "Never Too Late" was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2007 Much Music Video Awards. His Slipknot video for "Vermillion" won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival in 2006. And his video for "Before I Forget" won Slipknot their first and only Grammy for "Best Metal Performance." Now, he supplements his music video career by helming commercial spots around the world. He has directed such music videos as, Slipnot, Gene Simmons, Killswitch engage, The diplomats, Millionaire, Orson, Avenge Sevenfold, Automatica, Bullet For My Valentine, Stone Sour, Three Days Grace, Taking Back Sunday, Slayer, Rise Against, Apocolyptica, Serj Tankian, Seether, Lloyd Ft Ludacris, Sam Beeton, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Theory Of a Deadman and Newton Faulkner. He also directed such Advertisements as, Futuroscope - "Robotic Seats" (Paris, France) (2005), Nike - "Beijing Ballers" (Beijing, China) (2006), Zoo York - "Tough" (New York, NY) (2007), Zoo York - "Spread The Word" (New York, NY) (2007), Environmental Defense Fund "Grounded" (Los Angeles, CA)(2008), Subway "Fence" (Charlotte, North Carolina) (2008), Dannon Danimals "Into Thin Air" (New York, NY) (2008), Beeline "Sea of Communication" (Kiev, Ukraine) (2008), Beeline "Wakeful" (Moscow, Russia) (2008), Beeline "Hockey" (Moscow, Russia) (2008), Beeline "Tattoo" (launch into Cambodia) (Bangkok, Thailand) (2009), Beeline "Baby Chickens Rave Party"(launch into Vietnam)(Los Angeles, CA) (2009), Beeline "Baby Chickens Rock Concert" (followup into Vietnam)(Los Angeles, CA) (2009), Sony Ericsson AINO global launch (Barcelona, Spain) (2009), Sony Ericsson SATIO global launch (Barcelona, Spain) (2009), Sony Ericsson SPACE HOPPER INVASION viral film (Barcelona, Spain) (2009)
Bit about the career: Tony’s early passion for filmmaking has evolved into a full blown directing career. He signed with Rockhard Films in 2002 and has been directing ever since and has worked with many artists such as Slipknot, Rise Against, Orson, Newton Faulkner and many more. Tony's Kenna "Freetime" video was nominated for both best director and best editor at the MTV Music Video Awards in 2002, his Three Days Grace video "Never Too Late" was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2007 Much Music Video Awards and his Slipknot video for "Vermillion" won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival in 2006. Now, he supplements his music video career by helming commercial spots around the world.
Videography:
2004
Duality - Slipknot
Firestarter - Gene Simmons
Vermilion - Slipknot
The End of Heartache - Killswitch Engage
S.A.N.T.A.N.A. - The Diplomats
2005
Before I Forget - Slipknot
I'm On A High - Millionaire
2006
No Tomorrow - Orson
Beast and the Harlot - Avenged Sevenfold
Bright Idea - Orson
Graduation Day - Head Automatica
Tears Don't Fall - Bullet for My Valentine
Through Glass - Stone Sour
Pain - Three Days Grace
Liar (It Takes One to Know One) - Taking Back Sunday
Eyes of the Insane - Slayer
Prayer of the Refugee - Rise Against
2007
Never Too Late - Three Days Grace
I'm Not Jesus - Apocalyptica feat. Corey Taylor
Empty Walls - Serj Tankian
Fake It - Seether
Scream, Aim, Fire - Bullet For My Valentine
2008
Sky Is Over - Serj Tankian
Rise Above This - Seether
Breakdown - Seether
Never Too Late - Three Days Grace
How We Do It In The A - Lloyd featuring Ludacris
What You Look For - Sam Beeton
You Better Pray - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
2009
Not Meant to Be - Theory of a Deadman
Careless Whisper - Seether
If This Is It - Newton Faulkner
My personal favourite out of his videos has to be the video for 'Looking through the Glass' by Stonesour, im not entirely sure why i like it so much, but i think its because its just such an interesting video i find myself never being able to look away and the idea of the fake blown up pictures of evryone just fits the whole fakeness of the hollywood scene
I looked on google to see if i could find some reviews of Tony Petrossian's work, but as he isnt a very well know director i found it difficult to find reveiws of his work. i decided to go onto youtube to see what reveiws of his work i could find, and ater sifting through thousand's of comments i found some that were directely reflectice of the work of Tony Petrossian. One comment i veiwed read "i have been looking at a lot of work by Tony Petrossian and i looked at hours and hours of his videos, and all i found is that he likes slow motion lol" Tony Petrossian has recieved several good reveiws and his strong use of slow motion has been labelled as one of his main characteristics. i read comments left on videos he had directed and been posted on youtube.com. One read "for those of you raniting about how good it is this video is directed by Tony Petrossian, one of the greatest musiv video directors of all time!" As with all work not all reviews are good, one comment i read said "i usually like the work of tony petrossian, but then you get crap like this".
The two videos I have decided to look at in particular are, “rise above this” by Seether, and “not meant to be” by Theory of a deadman.
The two videos have a lot of similarities. The costumes are quite similar in the way that they are made to look quite well off. The location is also very similar in the way that they have decided to shoot it in an apartment type of place with very nice views out of the window, which are there to just make the video cinematically nice to look at. The editing is the most interesting part of the videos as they are so similar. Both of the videos use parallel editing and switch between the band playing their instruments to a type of narrative that is going on. We can tell these two videos are the work of the same director as the shots where the band are playing their instruments are all panning shots and the camera is never stationary filming the band, which is the same as the video with Theory of a deadman.
Tuesday 3 November 2009
Analysis of music video, Theory of a Deadman - not meant to be, directed by Tony Petrossian.
The first shot we see of this video is a medium close-up of a wine rack hitting the floor and a couple of wine bottles breaking and wine pouring all over the floor. This doesn’t really tell us much about the style of the video or about the song but the next shot is a lot more revealing. The next shot we see is a close up of a glass table with a few glasses on it and a plant, but in the background we can see Tyler Connolly, the lead singer from theory of a deadman. He is out of focus and is clearly not the main focus of the shot. A glass of drink is then thrown into the centre of the table, we can see it smash, and all of the objects on the table fall through the broken table. I think the director has decided to use inanimate objects to try to show the emotion that the person in question is feeling. I think the table represents that his relationship is falling through and its something that cant be undone. I think the next show is a good representation of the man in question falling to pieces and that when his relationship started to break he started to break to, as the next shot is a close up of a small mirror landing on the ground and the glass shattering into lots of pieces and in the reflection of the mirrors we see Tyler. It seems as though before fully introducing the character the director shows his emotion using inanimate objects whilst Tyler (the character) makes small appearances in the background and mirror as it is almost like he is being slowly eased into the story. The next shot is of Tyler and a woman standing in what is clearly their apartment and Tyler is being pushed backwards by the woman. I think the main use of this shot was to make sure that the audience understand the video is about the breakdown of a relationship by actually showing a couple arguing. Although it does tell us more about the couple as the apartment they are in is very tall and very large so we know they are going to be quite a well off couple which could either mean that one of them depends on the other and uses a lot of their money or it could mean that they are both independent people and need a lot of space. I would say its the space thing as the apartment is not only very big but very open as well with loads and loads of windows, although these could just be so that the audience can see the amazing view to make the piece look nice. The apartment is also completely white, the windows, walls, floor, everything is white, and white is a very dull, plain, boring colour, so this colour could be used to describe the couples relationship. The next shot is of what appears to be a fish tank possibly at the top of a flight of stairs. The fish tank is full of water and is seen falling down the stairs and smashing as all of the water pours out of the fish tank. This seems to me as though it represents the emotions of the couple, it represents the lack of communication and keeping your feelings bottled up about how you really feel about the relationship, so the smashing of the fish tank is representative of the couple arguing and letting all of their emotions out and maybe telling each other how they really feel about the relationship. The next shot is an over the shoulder shot of the woman standing in front of the man and tearing off a beaded necklace she is wearing, causing it to break and leading to the next shot of an extreme close-up of the beads from the necklace hitting the floor. We can assume that the necklace was a gift from Tyler. Then we go back to the over the shoulder shot as we see the woman tilt her head towards the floor with an expression of extreme sadness. The next shot we see is an extreme close up of a drop of liquid hitting the floor of the apartment. We can assume that this drop is a teardrop from the woman, which is a representation of sadness and the pain she must be feeling from the relationship. The next few shots are just of the band playing their instruments in the same apartment. The main focus is on the Lead singer (Tyler Connolly) although he is positioned in the right hand side of the frame, but this is just to show the audience the view from the apartment to set the background and having a few of the other band members in view but still having Tyler in the foreground. The next shot we see is a long shot of the woman walking away from Tyler and Tyler standing watching her walk away. This makes it seem as though she is the one who is leaving him and he may not want her to leave. Then there is a quick shot of the broken mirror again just to remind the audience of how her leaving is making him fall to pieces and then we go back to the band playing instruments. Again, Tyler starts in the right of the frame but he soon reaches centre frame as the camera pans around him in a close-up of his face. Then there are two shots of guitar close-ups from the other band members and then we go back to the initial shot we had of Tyler’s face, before we go back to the shot of the woman walking away from Tyler again. We then cut to a wide shot of Tyler sitting on the floor in his apartment surrounded by loads of broken objects, as Tyler looks and the camera and lip syncs the words. Tyler is centre framed in this shot and is the main focus but he is not the foreground of the shot. There are a few broken objects on the floor in the foreground of the shot, the main one of those being the mirror from earlier that was used to represent his emotion of falling to pieces. This tells the audience that he is kind of giving up hope and he surrounded by all his broken objects (emotions). A close-up of his face in the next shot shows his emotions as he is shot with a look of despair on his face. Then we have an extreme close-up on the broken pieces of mirror, glass and other broken objects on the floor, before we cut to another close up of the mirror laying broken on the floor, this is because the mirror is the main focus throughout the video as this is the biggest representation of Tyler’s emotions and how he is falling to pieces. We then have a long shot of the woman driving out of the driveway of her house. I think this shot has been used purely to show that she is leaving. Then we go back to another shot of Tyler singing, which is basically identical to the other close-up of his face used whilst he was singing. The next shot is a mid shot of the woman in the car, it is shot from the passenger seat. After another panning, mid shot of Tyler singing we have an interesting over the shoulder shot of Tyler sitting in front of the fireplace. In this shot we see Tyler holding a picture and throwing it into the fire. We cant see what it is a picture of but its quite clear that it must be a picture of him and the woman, or just of the woman. Tyler throwing this picture into the fire is symbolic of his feelings towards his relationship with the woman, it says that he realises that it’s not going to work and there isn’t anything he can do about it. Fire is used to show a strong feeling of despair as when something is burnt it cannot be undone, fire is very representative of destruction as something that has been destroyed in a fire cannot be fixed. So this is being applied to his relationship with the woman and he feels that’s it is beyond repair. This is when something interesting happens and as the picture is about to land in the fire the shot is paused and an effect is added to make it look like it is being watched on a video or something as the blurry lines you get on videos appear on the screen. Then the shot is rewound and the picture starts to go back towards Tyler’s hand, but before the picture lands back into Tyler’s hand the shot is fast forwarded and rewound a few times to make the picture go further towards the fire and then back towards his hand. I think this is the most important shot used in the music video, as this is the point where everything turns around. This is a very representative and symbolic shot with the picture being representative of Tyler and the woman’s relationship, the fire being representative of their relationship being ended and Tyler’s hand being representative of making the relationship work. From the way the shot has the blurry video lines going across the shot says to me that it is representative of being watched, as if Tyler has the controller and it is his choice as to whether the relationship works or not. The fact that the pictures ends up in Tyler’s hand at the end of the shot shows that he chose to try and make it work. This is the point where the whole tone of the video is changed. This is shown by having a shot of the wine rack with all the bottles on that we saw in the first shot laying on the floor broken, only the shot is played backwards and the bits of glass that came from the wine bottles starts to piece back together. The wine rack is symbolic of the breakdown of their relationship, and when it smashed, it was representative of their relationship falling to pieces and being destroyed. So by playing this shot backwards and making it appear that the pieces are putting themselves back together, it is representative of the couple overcoming their problems and wanting to make it work. This ideology is carried on throughout a lot of other shots used in the video such as when we saw the mid shot of the woman driving in her car, we then see the car moving backwards, giving the audience the idea that the woman is going back to Tyler. The same representations are used with the shot of the glass table being smashed being played backwards and making it look as though the table is piecing itself back together. The next few shots are made up of switching between close-ups of objects we he saw breaking piecing themselves back together, and close-ups and mid shots of the band playing their instruments. Although a few of the shots that are of the band playing their instruments use a different style of cinematography, they are filmed using a handheld camera which we haven’t seen yet in the video. The use of a handheld is that it gives the shot that real point of view aspect and gives the piece a much stronger element of realism, which makes the audience feel more involved and feel like they are being brought into the action. The rest of the video is just what we have already seen but being played backwards so we see the woman driving backwards in the car, and instead of her walking out of the house we see her going back to the house. The video ends with everything that was broken being back to its original condition. The reason everything was breaking and falling apart in the first place was because it was representative of the breakdown of their relationship. So when everything starts to piece itself back together it represents the couple building back up their relationship. The shot that we saw earlier with Tyler being pushed away by the woman is the shot that we end up on, but as everything is going backwards it means the ending could be different, and instead of the woman going back and pushing Tyler again she goes back and wraps her arms around him instead of using them to push him away.
Ideology
The above analysis is written for the music video ‘not meant to be’ by the band ‘theory of a deadman’. The main ideology of this music video is the breakdown and build-up of a relationship. Looking at the narrative structure of this music video it is clear that the main goal Tyler wants is happiness. From what we see on the screen it appears as though happiness for Tyler is to get back with the woman who has left him, and that “…taking one step forward…” is him and his partner sorting out their problems and “…taking two steps back…” is the woman leaving him. This seems like it’s the case but once you listen to the song the lyrics seem to contradict the video a bit. To me the song says that maybe happiness for him is not being with the woman. Tyler uses lyrics such as “Nobody wins when everyone’s losing”, which could mean that neither of them is happy being in this relationship and that it’s best for the both of them to just go their separate ways. In addition, Tyler also sings lyrics like “its like one step forward and two steps back” and because the video literally does start to go forward (with all the objects breaking) but then goes even further back (the objects piecing themselves back together). The main goal in this song is the idea of finding happiness. In addition, it seems that maybe for Tyler happiness is not being together. When he uses such lyrics as “I’m starting to see, maybe were not meant to be.” He is saying that it is already too late to try to fix the relationship and he knows they would both be happier if they separated. If we look at the narrative structure of this video, it seems to me that happiness for Tyler is ending the relationship, and his “…taking one step forward…” means taking one step in the direction he wants to go, which could be breaking up, which is represented by the breaking of all the objects. And that “…taking two steps back…” could be him just giving into the pain of breaking up and getting back with the woman to save the hassle when really its not what he wants.
I think that the reason the video is made to almost contradict or juxtapose the song is so that more people can relate to the video. People who are going through either of the types of relationship I have described will be able to identify with the video.
Editing
Like nearly all music videos the cuts are quite frequent and fast, you don’t really tend to see shots hold for quite long in music videos. The interesting thing about the editing of this music video that all of the shots that aren’t of the band singing, for example the objects falling and the woman leaving, are all in slow motion, and all of the shots that are of the band singing are panning shots, the camera is not placed still. I think that the only reason slow motion is used is just so that cinematically the piece is a lot better watch, I think this is also the reason why panning shots are used to film the band.
Cinematography
Most of the shots used in this music video are close ups and mid shots, which is very common for music videos as this allows for the things of importance to be focused on more in order to help tell the story of the video. Foreground and backgrounds are used a lot in this video to tell the story, for example whenever there is an object breaking to show Tyler’s emotion, instead of just filming the object breaking, the director has put the breaking image in the foreground of the frame, but still had Tyler in the background. This is done just to really drive home the face that the breaking objects are representative of Tyler’s emotion.
Mise-en-scene
Many of the props that have been used appear to be quite expensive. The apartment that the video is filmed in is certainly a very expensive, luxury place. The clothes that they are wearing back up the idea that the couple are wealthy. They are wearing quite smart, expensive looking clothes. I think the wealth of the couple could be used to show that they are both very independent people and this is the reason they are having such problems. I also think that another reason the couple have been dressed in smart expensive clothes is that this stops them from looking as though they are just relaxing around the house. It is clear that there is something wrong from the first time we see them as it feels awkward and uncomfortable due to the fact they are not dressed like a couple who are sitting around the house enjoying each others company. The whole piece is very well lit, and due to the fact that the walls and most of the apartment is white makes the whole video look even brighter. The colour white has connotations of death associated with it, which is why I am lead to think that maybe the reason many things are white is that it represents the death of their relationship.
Conclusion
I think the Video does a vey good job in promoting the band and the song. Cinematically the video is very eye cathing and interesting to watch with the spectacular veiws from the apartment and the beautiful woman and the slow motion effects of watching things smash everywhere.
Reveiws
The video has received mainly very positive feedback from people veiwing the video. They have been described by fans as being 'unstoppable' and many people reffer to other songs by the band Theory of a Dead man and say who much they like those. Newmusicreviews.net have described the song/video as 'A little less “rock style” than most of their releases so far, but it’s nice to hear a different side of them. 8/10'
Analysis of Johnny Cash - hurt, Directed by Mark Romanek
The first shot we see in this video is a close up of what appears to be a statue of Jesus. So automatically, we can tell that there is an aspect of religion in this video. The statue is holding something above his head, something that is covered in ivy and greenery. This tells me that strength may be a topic touched upon in this video, as the battle Christ went through is directly linked with strength. The shot seems to have been shot from a bit of a high angle, slightly looking down on the statue. The statue seems to be looking up, we can see his bottom half, but he is not wearing anything on his torso and he has quite long hair and a rather large beard. These three characteristics put together is what leads me to believe the statue may be Jesus. The next shot we have is the same statue shot from the same angle, but zoomed into a lot more of a close up on the face of the statue. Having a better look at the face of the statue, it is clear to see that there is a look of struggle on his face. This again leads me to believe it is Jesus as it seems as though the statue is representative of the struggle Jesus went through as he looks up to his father in heaven for guidance and help. This can be applied to the video and we could almost go as far as to that possibly a lot of the video could be directed around the idea of Johnny Cash going through his own struggles he has had to overcome. The next shot we cut to is a close up shot of another statue. This statue is of a man riding a horse. It is clear that the horse is travelling at great speed as the horse’s legs are in a prone running position and the man on the horse is leaning forward as if he is struggling to stay on the horse due to the speed. The man seems to be a very historic military man, possibly from somewhere around the times of the 18th century war, due to the clothing he is wearing, and the sword he is carrying. As the horse is travelling very fast, I would be lead to believe that the statue is a representation of escaping. But due to the fact the man on the horse is wearing military attire and carrying a sword I am lead to believe the statue is actually a representation of the opposite and it actually represents facing your fears and getting through the struggle (which was represented in the previous shots) as the man on the horse charges into battle. We then have a mid shot of a bowl of fruit. The bowl is made out of possibly bronze or copper and clearly an antique as it has lots of shaped and patterns carved into it, and with the handles on each side it almost look like a trophy. Behind the bowl, we can see a large tall vase that is holding peacock feathers. This is clearly a reputation of beauty as a peacock is meant to be the creature of beauty with all the beautiful colours and patterns in the feathers that a peacock uses to attract a mate. There are also several grapes that are hanging out of the fruit bowl, which gives a representation of wealth, as grapes are the fruit that was traditionally fed to Greek royalty by their servants. If we look back at the history of Johnny cash he became very rich and very well loved, and I think the struggle represented in the first few shot could be the struggle he went through loosing his looks and some of his fame after he stopped being able to tour and things. When this shot comes up it is clear that the length of the shot is directly related to the beat of the song, every time the guitar strums on the low string the shot changes. The next shot we see is a mid shot of Johnny’s guitar as he is strumming it. The next shot is still of Johnny playing the guitar from the same angle but zoomed out a bit to be more of a long shot so we can see his face as well. Behind Johnny, we can see a lot of antique looking objects, this shot follows the rest of the piece so far with the very dark theme. Then we have an interesting shot of an American flag blowing in the wind. This shot looks very power full as it contains a lot of colour coming from the red, blue, and white of the flag to the blue of sky. This doesn’t fit in with the rest of the piece, as it has been very dark and colourless. This is how we can tell that this shot is being used to tell a different narrative. I think this shot of the American flag is used just to show Johnny’s patriarchy to his country. I think the flag is shot from a low angle to make the make it look as if the audience is looking up at the flag to show its great importance. The next shot we see is off the same flag shot from the same angle but again the shot is more zoomed out so we can see the surroundings, and we can see a sign saying ‘House of cash’ which is the house Johnny cash used to live in and has now been transformed into a museum. In the next few shots the editing seems to follow the pace and rhythm of the song again, jumping shot every time that the guitar strikes the low note. For the second time in the music video we see a sign saying ‘closed to the public’. To me this adds on to the idea of Johnny saying goodbye to his fans because he is saying that he is going to somewhere that the public (his fans) cant go. The first shot we see Johnny in involving the piano is very interesting because this is the first shot, in the room Johnny is in, where we have light. The others shots we have seen previously have all been very dark and had the colour drained from them. This is done to form a representation of death that directly reflects upon the depression Johnny was feeling about the recent death of his wife. This first scene with the piano is a long shot of Johnny lifting up the cover of the piano keys in front of a big open door that’s used to let the light in. Shortly afterwards we se the first shot that has been taken from another source of Johnny and this is the first of a number of shots that are used to look back over the life of Johnny cash. There is an interesting extreme close up of a Johnny cash record in a glass frame, with the glass in the frame smashed. This is a clear representation of Johnny’s career coming to an end after he stopped touring and releasing records. This could be one of struggles he suggests that he has had to overcome in the first few shots. When Johnny uses the word ‘hurt’ at the end of the chorus there is a shot of a prison door being closed which was taken from ‘Prison Time’ which was a film Johnny starred in, but this shot is used just as he says the word ‘hurt’ because this gives us a clear representation of being trapped, trapped with the pain. The last shot is quite interesting as well. It is a shot of Johnny putting down the cover of the piano, which is the opposite of what we saw earlier when he opened it. The cover of the piano could be a representation of his career, and when he closes it at the end of the video the shot is held for quite a while showing the audience it is of great importance.
Ideology
The main theme of this song is death. Johnny cash released this song shortly after his wife died and just before Johnny himself died. It seems to me, as though, the reason there is such a dark tone to some of the piece is to represent the depression he is suffering from his recently deceased wife. As we continue with the video there are parts of the video that are a lot lighter and have a much brighter tone, and I feel that this represents the death of Johnny cash. I think that after the death of his wife he felt as though he had nothing else to live for. He knew he was getting old and I feel as though he knew he didn’t have much longer to live so this video was used to represent that Johnny felt as though he was ready to die. If the darkness represents the depression he is feeling from loosing the love of his life then the light that is shown in some of the shots is used to represent heaven, which will be Johnny Cash dying, which will mean freedom from the depression he is suffering, and the light represents this freedom. There are several shots used in this video that are old clips of Johnny in films, or of him performing, or of his family. As it is seems that Johnny knew he was close to, and prepared for, his death, I think this video is almost a timeline of his life. He isn’t depressed about his approaching death, he is celebrating his life and sharing all the good times he has had throughout his life with the world through this video. It feels as though this video is his way of saying goodbye to the world.
Editing
The editing of this video does not necessarily follow the usual codes and conventions of music videos. Music videos usually use short shots that’s are edited together to be fast paced. This music video seems to be a lot simpler because there may not be as much of a narrative as there are in other music videos. The shots used are quite long shots that seem to last longer than usual shots would be in music videos.
Cinematography
The cinematography of this video is quite interesting. I have noticed that in several of the shots the camera started on a scene filming it in a close up or an extreme close up, then the next shot would be the same scene from the same angle but moved out a lot more, maybe into a long shot. This seems to me that it has the representation of kind of things don’t always seem as they first do. This is because once the shot is moved back out there is normally something else in the shot that makes you feel differently or change your opinion about that scene.
Mise-en-scene
As I mentioned earlier lighting is used to give good representations of life and death. The costumes that are worn are also very dark to fit in with this representation, and the same applies for the props. The location has a very dark and lonely feeling to it, which was done to represent Johnny’s mood and emotions.
Conclusion
I think this music video is very good at providing the representations it set out to and portraying a certain idea to about Johnny Cash and his life to his fans.
Task 1 - Purpose Of Music Video's
- Promotion
- Raising profile of the artist
- Entertainment
- Music video director - great oppourtunities
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