Monday, 7 December 2009
Analysis of Chosen song lyrics
For my music video I will be using the following song:Newton Faulkner – Uncomfortably slow
Travelling again I know exactly how it’s going to end
The routine daydream starts as I get off
I’m holding up the queue because my ticket won’t go through
I know it should be simple but it’s not
So don’t take my photograph
Cause I don’t want to know
How it looks to feel like this
As cars and people pass
It feels like standing still but I know
I’m just moving uncomfortably slow
Yeah
Slow
Something’s got to change I know I’m lucky in a lot of ways
So why do I want more then what I have
Brace myself to hear the lies I wonder if they know that I
Don’t get the jokes but I just need to laugh
So don’t take my photograph
Cause I don’t want to know
How it looks to feel like this
As cars and people pass
It feels like standing still but I know
I’m just moving uncomfortably slow
Yeah
Slow
Just moving uncomfortably slow, down
There’s infinite detail when you break it down
It all becomes simple how
It all becomes clearer now
So don’t take my photograph
Cause I don’t want to know
How it looks to feel like this
As cars and people pass
It feels like standing still but I know
I’m just moving subconsciously
One day I guess I’ll be
The man you think you see
I’m just moving uncomfortably slow
Yeah
Slow
Travelling again I know exactly how it’s going to end
The routine daydream starts as I get off
I’m holding up the queue because my ticket won’t go through
I know it should be simple but it’s not
So don’t take my photograph
Cause I don’t want to know
How it looks to feel like this
As cars and people pass
It feels like standing still but I know
I’m just moving uncomfortably slow
Yeah
Slow
Something’s got to change I know I’m lucky in a lot of ways
So why do I want more then what I have
Brace myself to hear the lies I wonder if they know that I
Don’t get the jokes but I just need to laugh
So don’t take my photograph
Cause I don’t want to know
How it looks to feel like this
As cars and people pass
It feels like standing still but I know
I’m just moving uncomfortably slow
Yeah
Slow
Just moving uncomfortably slow, down
There’s infinite detail when you break it down
It all becomes simple how
It all becomes clearer now
So don’t take my photograph
Cause I don’t want to know
How it looks to feel like this
As cars and people pass
It feels like standing still but I know
I’m just moving subconsciously
One day I guess I’ll be
The man you think you see
I’m just moving uncomfortably slow
Yeah
Slow
Textual Analysis
For my textual analysis I will be analysing music videos which have been uploaded on YouTube for its audiences. The videos will be of similar style and genre to the song I will be doing and I will also analyse a different music video to compare and contrast.
City and Colour – The girl - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGTm4u1UWvg
This music video starts by fading from black into a close up of the main artist, Dallas Green playing guitar. As the image fades on the music starts in time with the visuals.
After zooming out down the neck of the guitar the camera then pans across a forest/woods in autumn with the sun low in the sky, breaking through the trees and their branches. The pan shot then cuts to a static shot of a bush with some green leaves on it still despite it being autumn and it also is swaying a little in the wind which. The foreground in this shot i.e. the branch is in focus where as the rest of the back ground is blurred which draw your attention to the branch.
The shot then cuts back to the artist but from the opposite angle so instead of looking down the neck of the guitar it is looking up the neck which gives the video more variation to entertain the audience. As the lyrics being to be sung the shot tilts up from the guitar to Dallas Green as to show the audience he is singing them.
The camera beings to zoom out and as it zooms out it returns to the opposite side angle in a way that the camera is circling the artist and then continues to zoom on the other side. This shot reveals more of the location which is to be an old bridge with urban graffiti underneath it. There is also dead brown/red/orange leaves on the floor which re-instates the idea of autumn. As the camera zooms off a woman enters the shot and walks towards the artist. However, she doesn’t seem to stop to talk to Dallas which could represent how this woman doesn’t even acknowledge him in life and goes well with the song lyrics too. The next shot then fades in over the last shot which is a close up of the artist in a different location. The camera then cuts to a long shot of the artist and this shot reveals more of the location which is an old room with little light. This shot then ends and cuts to the artist in a different location which is an open space in front of someone’s house. The angle of the shot is from the side, almost behind him so it looks as we’re observing and watching the artist. But then the camera zooms out through a door frame away from him and up the stairs as some passers by walk in front of the shot. There’s another fade to the next scene which works well because its a slow song rather then a cut which makes the tempo of the song seems faster. This shot starts at a high angle shot of the ceiling and then tilts down to show the artist in another room full of antiques including a mirror which gives the reflection of the artist. Once the tilt down stops it cuts to a close up shot of the artist playing guitar from an angle looking down the neck of the guitar but only the fretting fingers are in focus and the strumming hand is out which draws your attention to what he is playing but then switches. It then cuts to a close up of the artist singing. There’s another fade to another room as people are walking out of it the camera zooms into the room to the artist. This room is better lit then the others. Then there’s another fade to a previous room with the mirror and the camera circles the artist and zooms in until there’s another fade to a close up of the artist in the first location in the autumn woods under a bridge. The camera then tilts down and zooms into the neck of the guitar and then circles to the sound hole of the guitar where the video started and ends with a fade to black. The title of the song comes up in white writing that looks hand rendered. It then fades into another shot where the camera tracks a few people into a crowded room where the artist is playing along with other musicians. The footage is in black and white now which varies the video. The zoom is a lot faster as the tempo of the song has sped up. It then cuts to a multiscreen with a black and white shot and a colour shot from the woods with the credits in the same text as before. The colour screens shows the making of the video while the black and white ones show the artist still performing the song which is a nice way to roll the credits.
Newton Faulkner - Dream Catch Me - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o40ivRiHeDE
This video is a more abstract video then City and Colour’s video and is a faster tempo. The video starts with reel burns which suggest nostalgia already in the song. There are then fast cuts to random objects which could be portrayed as memories from one of the artist’s relationships. Then there is a cut to the first shot of the artist which is a close up of him in low lighting so only half his face is lit. Then cuts to a more zoomed out shot of him as it pens right. The next shot is behind him as he plays which then quickly cuts back to an extreme close up of the artist and lasts longer than the other shots until it cuts to a photograph in a frame surrounded by other photos which connotes memories. These photos seem to be floating in a very abstract way. The video then cuts back to the artist’s guitar as he plays. Then cuts back to the shot behind the artist and then to a photo frame with him playing inside it which could connote that he is some ones memory. Another cut to a shot to a close up of the artists guitar as he plays. Then, there is a cut to a close up of a larger photo frame with a women walking across it in a red dress. Then there is another cut to a close up of the artist and the cuts to a wider shot of him. Then there’s another close up of him playing followed by another cut to another photo frame with a woman picking flower petals in it. Then there’s another close up and an orange light flickers like on an old cinema reel which also connotes nostalgia. There is a very wide shot showing the artist surrounded by all the photo frames which seem to be floating which could connote that he is surrounded by his memories.
Ben Harper – Morning Yearning
City and Colour – The girl - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGTm4u1UWvg
This music video starts by fading from black into a close up of the main artist, Dallas Green playing guitar. As the image fades on the music starts in time with the visuals.
After zooming out down the neck of the guitar the camera then pans across a forest/woods in autumn with the sun low in the sky, breaking through the trees and their branches. The pan shot then cuts to a static shot of a bush with some green leaves on it still despite it being autumn and it also is swaying a little in the wind which. The foreground in this shot i.e. the branch is in focus where as the rest of the back ground is blurred which draw your attention to the branch.
The shot then cuts back to the artist but from the opposite angle so instead of looking down the neck of the guitar it is looking up the neck which gives the video more variation to entertain the audience. As the lyrics being to be sung the shot tilts up from the guitar to Dallas Green as to show the audience he is singing them.
The camera beings to zoom out and as it zooms out it returns to the opposite side angle in a way that the camera is circling the artist and then continues to zoom on the other side. This shot reveals more of the location which is to be an old bridge with urban graffiti underneath it. There is also dead brown/red/orange leaves on the floor which re-instates the idea of autumn. As the camera zooms off a woman enters the shot and walks towards the artist. However, she doesn’t seem to stop to talk to Dallas which could represent how this woman doesn’t even acknowledge him in life and goes well with the song lyrics too. The next shot then fades in over the last shot which is a close up of the artist in a different location. The camera then cuts to a long shot of the artist and this shot reveals more of the location which is an old room with little light. This shot then ends and cuts to the artist in a different location which is an open space in front of someone’s house. The angle of the shot is from the side, almost behind him so it looks as we’re observing and watching the artist. But then the camera zooms out through a door frame away from him and up the stairs as some passers by walk in front of the shot. There’s another fade to the next scene which works well because its a slow song rather then a cut which makes the tempo of the song seems faster. This shot starts at a high angle shot of the ceiling and then tilts down to show the artist in another room full of antiques including a mirror which gives the reflection of the artist. Once the tilt down stops it cuts to a close up shot of the artist playing guitar from an angle looking down the neck of the guitar but only the fretting fingers are in focus and the strumming hand is out which draws your attention to what he is playing but then switches. It then cuts to a close up of the artist singing. There’s another fade to another room as people are walking out of it the camera zooms into the room to the artist. This room is better lit then the others. Then there’s another fade to a previous room with the mirror and the camera circles the artist and zooms in until there’s another fade to a close up of the artist in the first location in the autumn woods under a bridge. The camera then tilts down and zooms into the neck of the guitar and then circles to the sound hole of the guitar where the video started and ends with a fade to black. The title of the song comes up in white writing that looks hand rendered. It then fades into another shot where the camera tracks a few people into a crowded room where the artist is playing along with other musicians. The footage is in black and white now which varies the video. The zoom is a lot faster as the tempo of the song has sped up. It then cuts to a multiscreen with a black and white shot and a colour shot from the woods with the credits in the same text as before. The colour screens shows the making of the video while the black and white ones show the artist still performing the song which is a nice way to roll the credits.
Newton Faulkner - Dream Catch Me - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o40ivRiHeDE
This video is a more abstract video then City and Colour’s video and is a faster tempo. The video starts with reel burns which suggest nostalgia already in the song. There are then fast cuts to random objects which could be portrayed as memories from one of the artist’s relationships. Then there is a cut to the first shot of the artist which is a close up of him in low lighting so only half his face is lit. Then cuts to a more zoomed out shot of him as it pens right. The next shot is behind him as he plays which then quickly cuts back to an extreme close up of the artist and lasts longer than the other shots until it cuts to a photograph in a frame surrounded by other photos which connotes memories. These photos seem to be floating in a very abstract way. The video then cuts back to the artist’s guitar as he plays. Then cuts back to the shot behind the artist and then to a photo frame with him playing inside it which could connote that he is some ones memory. Another cut to a shot to a close up of the artists guitar as he plays. Then, there is a cut to a close up of a larger photo frame with a women walking across it in a red dress. Then there is another cut to a close up of the artist and the cuts to a wider shot of him. Then there’s another close up of him playing followed by another cut to another photo frame with a woman picking flower petals in it. Then there’s another close up and an orange light flickers like on an old cinema reel which also connotes nostalgia. There is a very wide shot showing the artist surrounded by all the photo frames which seem to be floating which could connote that he is surrounded by his memories.
Ben Harper – Morning Yearning
LLIAR
Language
The language of a music video is everything you see visually from mise en scene which can include props and location to the lyrics themselves being represented through visually means.
Narrative, Sound, Edit, genre
Institution
Record labels: Sony WB Roadrunner
Ideology
Audience
The language of a music video is everything you see visually from mise en scene which can include props and location to the lyrics themselves being represented through visually means.
Narrative, Sound, Edit, genre
Institution
Record labels: Sony WB Roadrunner
Ideology
Audience
Representation
Brief
A promotional package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with a cover for its release on DVD and a magazine advert for the DVD.
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