Music Video Analysis by Jade Podmore

The JCB Song by 'Nizlopi'

The video is based upon the drawings of a child as he tells the story of his father and riding in his JCB at the age for 8. The drawings are simplistic to represent a innocent, childish point of view.  This is emphasised by the background which looks like a piece of lined paper with a margin, resembling a a child's school work book.

   

At the beginning of the video, we see a drawing of a man sitting at a desk in a cluttered office. There is a pan shot that shows us the cluttered office. This sets the scene and give us the impression that the man is dissatisfied with how his life is now and is thinking about his childhood. This is emphasised by the use of dark colours within the drawing. As the man then leaves the scene, the video is edited by a cut  to an over head shot of a work book. The camera then zooms in so that the page of the work book fills the screen. It is here that the mood of the video changes with the use of much lighter colours and the music begins. 

 Although there is little editing within the video as a whole, the editing that is used aims to represent the transition between adulthood to childhood through a memory and so is still very effective and essential to telling the story of the video.

To begin with, the song is slow and steady with a constant beat. The video is synchronous to this as it is a continuous flow of picture animation that represents a road on which the JCB is driving along. This however changes as the pace of the music changes. The song is sang Acapello for three repetitions of 'Im Luke, Im 5 and my dad's Bruce Lee', during which the JCB in the animation stops moving. This then changes again as the pace of the music increases and the instrumental layering of the music increases from a single guitar to a full band of drums, guitar and bass guitar, during which time the JCB becomes a flying machine and the characters in the video fly off into the sunset. The video finishes at the same time as the music and so is synchronous throughout the entire video as it stop as and starts according to the texture and pace of the music.


Gregory and the Hawk - Ghost

This is a video created using the Stop-Start animation technique, a technique that has become very popular recently within music videos as it is seen as being something quite different or unique because of its 'quircky' style and simplistic charm. This video is however very unconventional. Although it uses all the same techniques that most Stop-Start animation videos use, is seems to have no real connection to the song in the sense that is does not convey the intended message of the song. However, the band 'Gregory and the Hawk' are most certainly not considered a 'main stream' band and so they are allowed to break the boundaries of convention, also this means that their budget for projects such as music videos is very limited, this is made obvious in their video for 'Ghost' as it has been made with only one camera, it has no complicated editing or special effects. This however does not hinder the video at all, in fact it only adds to the simplistic, childish feeling of freedom, fun and individuality that I feel they are aiming to be associated with. I think that the way in which the video has been made is partly intended, as Gregory and the Hawk's music is very original, quite unknown and does not fit the desired 'main stream' image. I think that Gregory and the Hawk are proud of this identity and have tried to cater this music video to fit that.      
      The sound is synchronous to the video as the song is fast paced throughout, as is the video. The video increases in its pace of editing as the texture of the music becomes thicker and increases in volume towards the end.  

    The stop start animation is very fast paced and makes the audience feel slightly disorientated, the use of natural high key lighting and bright coloured clothing also does this. Repartition of scenes is also a feature of the editing that creates a slightly 'eerie' feeling sot the video, especially when a girl within the video is seen climbing down a steep hill in a forest bare foot wearing a white dress. It is only here that we get a representation of the 'Ghost' that Gregory and the Hawk are talking about. However, there are small hints towards the idea of ghostly figures through mise-en-scene. As part of the costume in the video, hand-made masks are used to cover the faces of some of the people. Combined with a number of extreme close ups, and the abstract costume and scenes within the video, a feeling of acute fear is created when watching the video. The video is very surreal; the extreme close ups are unexpected as the nature of the stop start animation means that they can cut to an extreme close up immediately.       

         


Kate Nash - Foundations

This video is quite similar to the Gregory and the Hawk video as it features stop start animation in a real life environment. Again, Kate Nash is aiming for a 'quirky'  representation of the break of  a relationship. inanimate objects are used to represent a man and a woman, for example there are two watches that move from being entwined together to moving away from each other and lying down. This represents a relationship breaking apart, where every feature of the people involved, (for example their clothes and belongings) are complete opposites and the distance between them is getting bigger. 
    The camera is always zoomed in on the action with a close up or severe close up, the image is also often off centre, but ignores the rule of thirds. This gives the feeling of chlaustrophobia which is emphasized by the Kate Nash's lyrics. The off centered and canted camera angles represent the relationship also being 'off-centre' or slipping out of focus. 
    The video is synchronous to the music. The camera uses fast paced editing through cuts to tell the story of the lyrics. This is true throughout the video and is especially noticeable at the beginning where there is a a series of single piano chords and the camera cuts between close ups of Kate Nash to  similar close ups of the man in the video who the song is directed at.  
    The colour filter used throughout the video makes the bright colours look far less vibrant. This represents the relationship, portraying the way in which the relationship has become dull and boring when it was once vibrant and colourful.

For our music video, we intent to use the Stop Start technique and so are aiming for something along the same lines as the 'Ghost' and 'Foundations' video. it is interesting to compare the two different types of animation I have analysed. They both aim to portray an idea of simplistic 'quircky-ness' that gives the artist and the video an identity an of individuality and despite being so very different in their style of doing so, they all achieve this.